I think if you are to compare the 2, you need to look more at the history of each.
The Crystal Palace Phoenix only came about after Malcolm Allison rebranded their own badge, to represent rising from the ashes of the palace that was burnt down in 1936.
Before this, their badge had been just about the palace itself, and an even bolder change than ours took place in 1972, which I think is where your comparisons should perhaps lie.
However, gradually, their emphasis has been drawn much closer to the Phoenix, which was changed to the more 'aggressive' Eagle by their chairman at the time, Ron Noades and they even scrapped the palace altogether at one point, which was a bit bemusing.
The rest I think you have.
As for our badge, our nil satis nisi optimum motto only started in 1938, and was dropped for long periods of time throughout.
I have an article on my site where I've reconstructed the badges for a better image, so no need to rewrite what is already written in that respect
. http://loveevertonforum.com/page/new_everton_crest
You can read about our crests history there too.
As for our own changes, I'm not as upset about it as many others, but it's not really a badge I would have designed myself.
Everton have never actually played in Everton, and Goodison is actually in Walton. Anfield was further away again. It strikes me that they could have used the Liverbirds that sat upon the gates of Walton Zoo, as a more appropriate image, but the rest is history regarding those. The Prince Ruperts tower was actually a local eyesore to the Everton residents, who wanted it removed according to the history books.
Prince Rupert was a German too, who has his own interesting history, amongst which was the slaughter of most of Bolton during the civil war. For me, I'd be happy for the tower to be removed altogether from our badge, but then I've done a little research on it, which most won't have done.
However, the change has been made, and the timing of it was unfortunate, as had we not lost Moyes, and qualified for Europe, it might not have caught so many at a bad time. I do think it needs to be revcised though, but it should in my opinion be revised to suit our clubs history, and indeed our future a little closer.