Now that the June 6 launch date and the $300 (before a $100 mail-in rebate) price tag is official for the Palm Pre, it is time to take a closer look at how the Pre compares to the iPhone 3G.

When the Palm Pre was first announced in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it offered features like universal search that scans contacts on the phone and the web, copy-and-paste and multi-tasking that were not available on the iPhone 3G.

But in March Apple closed the gap significantly. The iPhone 3.0 update to be released this summer would bring many of the Palm Pre's features to the iPhone.

It's an even contest for now.

Though Sprint's network ranks third among the big carriers, Palm Pre users in some areas will have access to Sprint's 4-G network. AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone is not expected to start rolling out its 4-G network until next year.

Meanwhile, the iPhone trumps in the App store. Apple and AT&T have advertised the independent applications available through the store heavily. And, so far, despite attempts by competitors such as Research in Motion's the BlackBerry App World store, the iPhone's App store is still far ahead in the choices it offers. Though Palm has launched its own app store, we'll have to wait and see how successful it is gathering developer interest.

For those interested in the raw specs, here's how the Pre and the iPhone compare (click the image to see the spreadsheet full-size):

Source: Palm and Apple websites.

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Top photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com