Asus unveils world's 'fastest' smartphone

Asus has announced what it claims is the world's fastest smartphone to date: the Windows Mobile 6.1-based P565.

The business-oriented PDA phone, which has a Marvell TavorP 800MHz processor, was announced on Friday. The only other 'phone' with a processor as fast as 800MHz is the HTC Shift; although, since the Shift runs Vista, it is really less a smartphone and more a small notebook.

By contrast, the processor used in Apple's iPhone 3G has the potential to run at 667MHz, although it only runs at 400MHz — probably to save battery life.

The P565 uses a 1300mAh battery — similar to that used in rival devices such as HTC's Touch Diamond, which has the same screen-size and resolution — with Asus claiming up to four hours of talktime. However, the Touch Diamond offers a claimed maximum of five-and-a-half hours of talktime using its 528MHz processor, reflecting how the faster processor in the P565 negatively affects its battery life.