It annoys me that my Recently Added and Top 25 Played are all not in order when they’re in my iPod Touch. The Smart Playlist in iTunes looks correct but it never syncs correctly to iPod Touch. In my iPod Touch, it just shows in some random order.
How to fix iPod Touch Smart Playlist appearing randomly
I chanced upon the fix to this by unchecked “Live Updating” in Smart Playlist. Just click on the smart playlist and choose “Edit Smart Playlist”, then uncheck “Live Updating”. It does syncs in order now although it is still not ideal.
Smart playlist in iTunes
This has been broken since the OS 3.1 update. Currently at iPod Touch OS 3.1.2, it still does not work. 
This is just a temporary fix, at least my playlist look more sensible.