Weekend Personal Finance Links (Palm Pre vs. iPhone Edition)

I’d like to wish all the father’s out there a Happy Father’s Day. I’m not going to go into Father’s Day very much… my father died when I was young. Also, at age 33, I’m not a father myself. I suppose I’m a daddy to our dog, Jake, but I’m not expecting a cake or anything. In fact, he didn’t even let me sleep late this morning – ungrateful mutt :-).

Now that I’ve thoroughly depressed everyone, let’s switch to a more happy topic… the new iPhone came out this week. My office is abuzz and of course a couple of people had them on the first day. I’ve been loving my Palm Pre. (The drawback is fairly poor battery life – even after implementing the suggestions from around the web). One of the more interesting things that I’ve found is that people ask me what amazing thing the Palm Pre thing that the iPhone doesn’t do. Personally, I’d like to just say “work on Sprint which is a lot cheaper.” It’s funny these people only seem to care about the price of the device… and these are the smart, mature ones.

I’ve come up with a new demo though to why the Palm Pre is great. I pick up the phone and slide it open and start typing in “Ted Williams.” It’s great to show how the first few types of “Ted” show options to dial 314 (the same number keys on the Pre), as well as my contact list. I finish off the Williams and then hit the Wikipedia button. In 6 seconds I’ve finished my typing and in around 10, I’m at Wikipedia reading about Ted Williams. I can’t think of a faster, more direct way to get the information.

There’s a bit of a rivalry coming along between the two devices. Fans of both sides are starting to compare the two devices. I’ve been a little drawn in by them on sites like:

• Anandtech’s Review – According to them the new iPhone’s web browser is 22% faster than the Pre and other applications load a lot faster.
• YouTube is Faster on the Pre – The YouTube application starts up faster, gets to the video at the same speed, but is much higher quality.
• Palm Pre Wins CNET’s PrizeFight – The part where the Palm Pre loses here is boot up of the phone – something that I’ve done about once a month on average.
• More Browser Wars – The iPhone seems a little faster here in a place with poor Pre coverage and great AT&T coverage (i.e. it’s not a fair test), but the iPhone flubs up the wifi test and has to be completely restarted while the Pre continues showing the page

Before we get to the links, I have a short money story to share:
In other news, I was doing some cleaning this weekend when I my wife suggested that I use the Clorox Ready Mop pads with the Swifter we have. I take it out of the box and ask, “How does this clean?” The answer, “It doesn’t, you have to put down cleaner first?” My response, “You mean we paid money for paper towels on a stick?” It seems we did. They didn’t even absorb very well.

Oh, I forgot to mention that my wife is surprising me with doggie daddy pizza. Yay!

Here are the links for this week:

Money Writers:

• Brip Blap examines the four(ty) hour workweek. What would you do with 36 hours of empty time a week?
• Frugal Dad writes the path to contentment.
• Your car is making you poor and what you can do about it over at Generation X Finance takes a good look at American car ownership.
• Million Dollar Journey shares an early retirement story of a man who retired at 31.
• My credit card account got closed says Digerati Life.
• Money Smart Life blogs about day trading vs. long term investing.
• My Dollar Plan provides a shopping list for a newborn baby.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary asks where is gold heading to?

Awesome Personal Finance Posts:

• Mighty Bargain Hunter asks how much is that gold jewelry worth?
• Consumer Commentary blogs on the new consumer financial regulation.
• Five Cent Nickel shares the following benefits of homemade household cleaners.
• Your Money 2 Keep comes up with some of the simplest and stupidest ways to save money!
• My Money Blog wonders if my car qualify for the Cash for Clunkers program?
• How many stocks are needed for a well-diversified portfolio? Find one answer at The Skilled Investor.
• Savvy Frugality posts the top 5 unnecessary expenses.
• Master Your Card says these are 10 things I would never go cheap on – again!
• My Two Dollars blogs when spending the money is worth the cost.
• Joseph Sangl also lists ways on how to NOT save money.
• Fabulous Financials writes on why the poor pay more.
• Pay Less for Money shares How to Eat Healthy, Lose Weight and Save Money at the Same Time
• Rich Credit Debt Loan offers this guide to saving money in five minutes flat.