Remi El-Ouazzane welcomes the shift. A vice president at Texas Instruments ( TXN - news - people ), he oversees the development of multimedia applications processors that power high-end phones. The company's Open Multimedia Application Platform (OMAP) processors can be found in the Palm Pre, Samsung Omnia HD, Nokia ( NOK - news - people ) N900 and Motorola's ( MOT - news - people ) next Android handset. "Devices are integrating more and more functions," El-Ouazzane says. "The latest generation is really pushing the envelope from a performance standpoint."

A vice president at Texas Instruments ( TXN - news - people ), he oversees the development of multimedia applications processors that power high-end phones. The company's Open Multimedia Application Platform (OMAP) processors can be found in the Palm Pre, Samsung Omnia HD, Nokia ( NOK - news - people ) N900 and Motorola's ( MOT - news - people ) next Android handset.

Originally Posted by matthewcc

Today Forbs magazine published its list of "The Most Powerful Smart Phones" by Elizabeth Woyke, 10.05.09, 06:00 AM EDT

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/03/iph...martphone.html

• Asus P565 - This PDA phone, from Taiwanese gadget maker Asus, boasts an 800 megahertz processor and 128 megabytes of RAM. At its launch last November, the company dubbed it the fastest phone in the world.
• BlackBerry Bold - What's the fastest BlackBerry on the market? Based on processing speed, it's the Bold. The AT&T device has a 624 megahertz processor and 128 megabytes of memory. Other BlackBerrys, including the new Tour and the touch-screen Storm, have 528 megahertz processors.
• HTC Imagio - HTC makes a number of high-end phones, some using Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, others with Google's Android mobile platform. The company is more consistent in its choice of processors. Most of its phones, including its latest, the multimedia-focused Imagio, use Qualcomm's 528 megahertz processors.
• IPhone 3GS - In June, when Apple unveiled its newest iPhone, the 3GS, it noted that the "S" in the name stood for "speed." True to its name, the 3GS' processor runs at 600 megahertz, compared to 412 megahertz in previous models and packs 256 megabytes of RAM, up from 128 megabytes before
• Palm Pre - Palm designed its flagship smart phone, the Pre, to support multitasking between several open applications. Palm chose Texas Instruments' 600 megahertz OMAP 3 platform to provide the necessary horsepower. Palm's latest smart phone, the Pixi, also uses OMAP 3 architecture.
• Samsung 360 H1 - Samsung's H1 is a showcase for operator Vodafone's new "360" social networking service. The feature aims to gather a user's contacts--whether on the phone, Facebook or e-mail--into one address book. A 600 megahertz processor helps the device keep up with the constant stream of information.
• Samsung Jet - Like the iPhone 3GS, the Samsung Jet was named to highlight its speed. The company says the device's 800 megahertz processor makes Web browsing faster and improves video playback.
• Samsung Omnia HD - When Samsung introduced its Omnia HD phone last February, it was the first handset that could record video in high definition (720p). A 600 megahertz processor helps the device process images and multimedia quickly.
• Sony Satio - Sony Ericsson's highest-end phone, the Satio, is mostly known for its 12.1 megapixel camera. A 600 megahertz processor helps the phone support sophisticated camera features.
• Toshiba TG01 - The fastest phone in the world, based on processor speed, may be the Toshiba TG01. It's powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform, which has a 1 gigahertz CPU. The TG01, which is only available in Europe and Japan, will have rivals soon; Qualcomm says more Snapdragon smart phones will launch before the end of the year.

Not one Nokia on the list...

"Several phones, such as the Asus 565, Samsung Jet and Toshiba ( TOSBF.PK - news - people ) TG01, are even faster, clocking in at 800 megahertz or, in the case of the TG01, one gigahertz, making them more powerful than early computers.

Processors aren't the only measure of a phone's speed. Memory plays a part by allowing for the buffering and storage of information. This affects a phone's speed by enabling it to quickly return to what you were doing after it has fallen "asleep" or by buffering ahead streaming video to cut down on "lag" during viewing. "Speed is one thing, but if the phone's memory is underpowered, the applications and software will start caching, and whatever you're trying to do will take forever," says iSuppli analyst Francis Sideco.

Software plays a part, too. Apple's ( AAPL - news - people ) iPhone, for instance, is widely considered to be a "fast phone," but its processor (600 megahertz) isn't extraordinary.

Originally Posted by ysss

@andybehr: there's a recent hack for iphone to enable swapdisk (works on 2g, 3g and 3gs), now the big games and apps (eg: sims 3) can run smoothly and without ram suffocation even on the 2g.

it's just a .plist edit and a reboot..