TapTapTap, developers of the upcoming Plasma app decided to slap a big, honkin’ frame rate indicator on a raw version just to see what differences, if any, the iPhone 3GS hardware provided compared to the previous generation iPhone 3G. The results?

As the video shows, in our OpenGL ES testing, the 3GS is generally close to four times faster than the 3G. Results will vary depending on the application but this is remarkable to say the least.

Check out the link above to watch the full QuickTime video. Impressive stuff.

TUAW, meanwhile, had this to say:

On a related note, we hear that Apple has done “even more” than we can publicly disclose around speed improvements on the device.

Hmmm, do tell?

This morning we wondered aloud about whether the iPhone 3G S would be splitting Apple’s mobile OS X platform. Looks like we weren’t the only ones wondering.

Engadget‘s Chris Ziegler takes a look at the new hardware’s PowerVR SGX graphics-core‘s support for OpenGL ES 2.0, and that led him to this language in Apple’s iPhone SDK documentation:

“When designing your OpenGL ES application, the first question you must answer is whether your application will support OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenGL ES 2.0, or both… Your application should target OpenGL ES 1.1 if you want to support all iPhones and iPod touches.”

Sure, with 40,000,000 iPhones and iPods touch on the market, many developers will want to stick with OpenGL ES 1.1 support, but like with any generational transition — even slow ones — eventually more and more might just want to push the new hardware and see what it can do…