Web apps are not exactly the most exciting thing on the iPhone. Sure, they’re great, they’re useful, but they’re just not as good or as fast as what you’re likely to find if you just go straight through the Mobile Safari app instead.

It’s bad enough to fuel some speculation that Apple may deliberately hobbled their performance, so that users will be forced to use their app.

At least, that’s the iOS 4 experience.

The iOS 5 on the other hand may present a way around that. Developers are reporting that web apps launched from the home screen can access ‘Nitro Javascript,’ a sort of engine that was responsible for the speed up of Mobile Safari on iOS 4.3. What that means is that users may be able to access their web apps and get the same sort of speed and flexibility originally enjoyed only through Mobile Safari.

Of course we could continue to speculate over whether this bug was deliberate, and whether Apple is only fixing it now that there’s been significant outcry. But what does it matter? They’re fixing it, and ascribing a sinister motive can only work for so long.

So, if any of you have access to the beta, what sort of quirks have you noticed performance-wise? Is there a speed-up for web apps in there?