1. A handheld device, comprising: an image sensor for capturing an image; one or more memories for storing image data that represents the captured image; and one or more processors operatively coupled to the image sensor and the one or more memories, wherein the one or more processors are configured with computer executable instructions for: reading the image data; converting the image data into linearized RGB (red green blue) image data; planarizing the linearized RGB image data; and writing the planarized and linearized RGB image data to the one or more memories; wherein planarizing the linearized RGB image data comprises storing data representing each of the red, green, and blue components of the image as an independent plane; wherein each plane is a data structure that can be read or written independently of the other planes wherein the one or more processors include an image capture processing unit, an image histogram processing unit, an image enhancement processing unit, and a central processing unit; and wherein the image enhancement processing unit is configured with computer executable instructions for performing white-balancing, range expansion, image resampling, color conversion, and image sharpening in parallel.