imageWithContentsOfFile vs. imageNamed: have things changed?

Hello All,

I have read on many threads that the UIImage imageNamed method was not advisable due to memory issues etc and that i was always better to use the imageWithContentsOfFile method to load in images. I am experimenting making a simple game with some images being loaded into UIImageViews and animating them (with the startAnimating call) and I noticed that when I set up all my images with the imageNamed it runs smoothe as butter; but when i use the imageWithcontentsOfFile its choppy as ****.

Has something changed with a new version of the SDK or something that fixed the problems with imageNamed or some such?

Thank you in advance.