The rivalry between the Palm Pre and the iPhone 3GS has been going on since before either phone was released. Palm served their new baby up as a faster, smoother alternative to the old iPhone and, they hoped, to whatever Apple had in store for the 3GS. The first speed test we saw went clearly in favor of the iPhone and showed it to be substantially faster than the Pre.

Now another speed test is out, this one courtesy of CNET. It shows that the Palm Pre is the speed demon of the smartphone world. CNET does note that the tests were carried out in San Francisco, a place where iPhone connectivity has a reputation for being sub-par.

Honestly, we don't have enough data yet to really draw any conclusions as to which smartphone is objectively faster. The Anandtech test (which gave victory to the iPhone) is probably the most scientific speed test we've seen carried out yet. If I were a betting man, I'd bet on the 3GS being slightly faster than the Pre. But, again, we won't really know until we get a large-scale, comprehensive speed test that names one phone or the other the winner.