[MRM]

When the iPhone was new, conventional wisdom seemed to be that it was a great web tool, but not much of a smart phone. With the new generation, I have heard that this maxim may no longer be true. At the same time, the Pre is out there, claiming that it is the real smart phone with web access, and that the iPhone is a mere toy by comparison.

Can anyone help me keep score at home? I'm interested specifically in the Palm Pre/iPhone war.

My sitation is that my trusty Treo is about ready to leave this earth and I need to replace it. I always milk old technology until it can't be milked any more, then I try to get the latest cutting edge technology and hold onto it as long as possible.

My scorecard is pretty simple, but what I need done I need done fast and I need ease of use. I live or die by my ability to send and receive email by PDA, keep my calendar and synch to Outlook. I attend a lot of inspections where I want to take pictures at the inspection and email them to my client or personal server with comments. I also need GPS access. I send and receive some documents by PDA, so I need to be able to open and read attachments. The only other thing I need is fast internet access so I can keep up with Pelican wherever I am.

By these measures, how do the Pre and iPhone measure up to each other?