A quiet revolution is under way that could transform mobile devices and the way they are used in enterprise companies.

As outlined in our recent news story, chip firm Spansion has developed a new type of Flash memory that it claims combines the advantages of Nor and Nand, the two main Flash memory technologies.

With Nor Flash, every memory location is directly addressable, just as with RAM. This means it can be used to hold small amounts of code that can be executed right from the chip, such as the Bios firmware in a PC.

Nand Flash operates more like a hard disk: the data can be written or read only in an entire block, each holding, say, 2kB. This allows for greater storage density, but means that code has to be copied from Flash into RAM before it can be executed.

High-end devices need bootstrap code in Nor to copy the operating system out of files held in Nand and into RAM, leading to a delay in starting the phone from its powered-down state.

According to Spansion, its MirrorBit Eclipse memory supports in-place execution of code, but its access speed and storage density is comparable to Nand Flash. A single Eclipse chip can therefore replace Nor and Nand, saving on costs and cutting start-up times.

Meanwhile, Symbian last month unveiled changes in its smartphone operating system that also make more efficient use of memory. Symbian OS 9.5 introduces Demand Paging, which loads into memory only those fragments of code that are required. It also features RAM defragmentation to optimise the way memory is used in real time.

Taken together, these developments mean that handsets should soon receive a performance kick and also become less costly to make. They will be able to accomplish the same tasks with less memory, or keep the same memory profile and fit in more applications and data.

Symbian OS 9.5 also introduces a SQL database and compliance with the widely used Posix programming interface, making it easier to build mobile applications. Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile 6 has similar capabilities, adding a mobile version of SQL Server and supporting its own .Net Compact Framework.

These changes will take a while to filter through, but it looks like smartphones and handhelds will soon be much better equipped to serve as mobile business clients. Expect a new wave of devices that can hold more data and run serious applications.