It's actually not slow on the new iPhone 5, but on my iPhone 4 it is still significantly much much slower. I don't know if that has to do with how much faster the phone has gotten over the last 2 years, or if it's because my phone is old and is bogged down with all the stuff that it currently has on it. Long live Phonegap. Really the only gripe I had with it was speed, other than that it's a very useful framework.