Asus unveils world's 'fastest' smartphone

The Asus P565 has 2.8-inch, 480x640-pixel touchscreen, which is slightly less impressive than the 'high-definition' displays appearing on recently released handsets such as HTC's Touch HD. The Touch HD has a resolution of 800x480 pixels.

Many manufacturers now put their own user interface skins over the Windows Mobile engine, in a bid to both differentiate and enhance the experience of using their handsets.

Asus, with its Glide interface, is no exception. As with competitors' skins, Glide allows users to navigate their handsets' functionality using simple finger motions. Asus has incorporated its own applications into Glide, including weather forecast updates, photo slideshows and a media player.

As the P565 is a business-focused phone, features such as Microsoft Office Mobile, push mail and business-card recognition are also built in.