iLounge

By Charles Starrett

Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Monday, November 24, 2008
News Category: iPhone

Despite the fact that all of Apple’s iPhone OS devices use similar ARM processors, the second-generation iPod touch has been revealed as the fastest model thanks to a boost in speed from 412MHz to 532MHz. Thomas Fessler, CEO of Handheld Games Corp, has said that the performance of its TouchSports Tennis game is noticeably different across models, with the second-generation iPod touch being the fastest “by far.” Speaking with Touch Arcade, Fessler said, “Our first step to increase fps performance was to introduce hardware dependent levels of detail. Where we can easily display two 1500 polygon tennis players with 32 bones each on the iPod touch 2G and maintain fast and fluid game play, the original iPod touch just chokes, and in some instances so do the iPhones. To speed up the touch, we reduced the players to 800 polygons in farther away moments of gameplay, and are now using 1000 polygon models for close ups, bringing the original iPod touch game play performance level close to that of the iPhone 3G.” As Apple has not disclosed differences between the hardware in its pocket devices, it remains to be seen whether performance variations such as this will remain tappable by developers after future software updates.