Nows heres a great vs slash discussion topic. Now im not to versed in linux rather im a newb with training wheels on however ive tweaked my pre and well pretty much every phone Ive had and thus far love the pre the most. Heres the lineup:

Operating system

* Palm® webOS™

Processor

* OMAP3430

** Palm base clock 600mhz However can be OVER clocked to 800-1000mhz

RAM+capacity: 256 MiB

Network specs|

* 3G EVDO Rev A

Display

* 3.1-inch touch screen
* 24-bit color
* 320×480 resolution
* HVGA display

Keyboard

* Physical QWERTY keyboard

Email

* Microsoft Outlook® email with Microsoft® Direct Push Technology
* POP3/IMAP (Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, etc)

Messaging

* Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS

GPS

* Built-in GPS

Digital camera

* 3 megapixel camera
* LED flash
* extended depth of field

Sensors

* Ambient light
* accelerometer
* proximity

Media formats supported

* Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV
* Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264
* Image Formats: GIF, Animated GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP

Wireless connectivity

* Wi-Fi 802.11b/g with WPA, WPA2, 801.1x authentication
* Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support

Memory

* 8GB of user storage (~7.4GB user available)
* USB mass storage support

Phone as laptop modem

* Bluetooth tethering

Connector

* MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed

Headphone jack

* 3.5mm stereo

Palm® Touchstone™
charging dock

* Compatible

Dimensions

* Width: 59.5mm (2.3 inches)
* Height: 100.5mm (3.9 inches)
* Thickness: 16.95mm (0.67 inches)
* Weight: 135 grams (4.76 ounces)



HTC Hero Specs

Processor Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz

Operating System Android™

Memory ROM: 512 MB

RAM: 288 MB

Dimensions (LxWxT) 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm ( 4.41 x 2.21 x 0.57 inches)

Weight 135 grams ( 4.76 ounces) with battery

Display 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320x480 HVGA resolution

Network HSPA/WCDMA:

*
900/2100 MHz
*
Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:

*
850/900/1800/1900 MHz

(Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent.)

Device Control Trackball with Enter button

GPS Internal GPS antenna

Connectivity Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets

Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g

HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)

3.5 mm audio jack

Camera 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus

Audio supported formats MP3, AAC(AAC, AAC+, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV,

MIDI and Windows Media® Audio 9

Video supported formats MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media® Video 9

Battery Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery

Capacity: 1350 mAh

Talk time:

*
Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA
*
Up to 470 minutes for GSM

Standby time:

*
Up to 750 hours for WCDMA
*
Up to 440 hours for GSM

(The above are subject to network and phone usage.)

Expansion Slot microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)

AC Adapter Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz

DC output: 5V and 1A

Special Features G-sensor

Digital Compass


Points of Consideration**

Now its a pretty even match as far as hardware is concerned. Through Android the HTC Hero provides a similar version to WebOS multitasking and allows for a specific layout for each day, eg weekend mode/work mode.

Beyond that WebOS is just coming out of the box with their recent release of their SDK and the homebrew apps have just hit the market where as Android has had plenty of in-field play through app developers

The OMAP3430 on the Pre has a much more complex architecture and is much more powerful then the MSM7200A meaning the Hero will more then likely be laggy just like any other HTC device released on the market

DING! Huge factor though its not much more then the 1240 mah that comes with the pre the HTC Hero comes with a 1340 mah battery providing longer talk time and longer idle time.

Expansion, now the pre comes packed with a nice 8 gigs which for me is plenty but with the heavy users out there or major media based users 8 gigs just plain isnt enough. Take a look at Samsung's take on the venue releasing the Omnia II with 2 8 and 16 gig options PLUS an expansion slot option. Boo on Pre for not providing expandable memory and BOO on Hero for not providing in device flash. I guess since the Hero is devoid of on-board memory its up to the user, Id like to see a release of Pre with an expansion slot option or maybe an option for a device with more storage would be nice.

Video, now Palm has released statements that the Pre will be updated with video capabilities however currently this is a depressing fact that hey I have this 3 megapixel camera that I cant even utilize the full capabilities of... HTC Hero allowes video at 720x480 out of the box.

The Hero has a bit more ram however having the slower CPU unit compared to the Pre this more then likely wont show a noticable difference

Multi-Touch both devices have it, cool! First phones since the iPhone to release a multi touch phone kudos!

Flash Palm boasts that both Palm and Adobe are working together and the Pre will be flash capable however DING! Hero wins here being flash capable out of box.

Now Id like to add more however this is just the matchup I can provide just delving into some online researching. If anyone has anything to add feel free and when the Hero is released (supposedly 10-11-09) I will be ordering one and testing it myself. Ill provide a followup =)