The most significant thing that Apple’s been touting about new iPhone 3GS is its speed. Generally, when you think about speed improvements, you think of faster CPUs, faster GPUs, and such. But one very important difference in the 3GS that’s contributing to the overall performance is the increased RAM and that’s pretty much gone under the radar.

[…]

CPU (central processing unit):

• original iPhone: ARM 11, 412 MHz
• iPhone 3G: ARM 11, 412 MHz
• iPhone 3GS: ARM Cortex, 600 MHz

GPU (graphics processing unit):

• original iPhone: PowerVR MBX Lite
• iPhone 3G: PowerVR MBX Lite
• iPhone 3GS: PowerVR SGX

RAM (random access memory):

• original iPhone: 128 MB
• iPhone 3G: 128 MB
• iPhone 3GS:256 MB

via tap tap tap ~ 256÷128=10?! The impact of the iPhone 3GS RAM increase.

Just goes to show, once again, that you can ALWAYS do with more RAM, regardless of whether you’re upgrading a computer or an iPhone – especially when you’re doubling the original amount of RAM to begin with.