Discussion
Has nobody started a thread on this already?
The entire range has been updated. Shuffles get new colours. Nanos have gone wider with video capabilities. Normal iPods have been rebranded iPod 'classic' and bumped in capacity.
And at the top of the range is a new iPod Touch .. essentially an iPod with the phone gubbins removed - still got the wifi, the OS X base and the web browser. Awesome
I'm £200 lighter already...
The entire range has been updated. Shuffles get new colours. Nanos have gone wider with video capabilities. Normal iPods have been rebranded iPod 'classic' and bumped in capacity.
And at the top of the range is a new iPod Touch .. essentially an iPod with the phone gubbins removed - still got the wifi, the OS X base and the web browser. Awesome
I'm £200 lighter already...
Probably because the Apple fanboys who paid the equivalent of $900 dollars for the first 8 GB iPhones have just found out that Apple is now selling them for $399. 
Apple shares have tanked... perhaps they didn't sell as many iPhones as all the fans are claiming... or there's some nonsense with AT&T...
I'm still hacking my iPhone so won't be bothering with an iPod Touch - but when you get it, let us know whether it's got a microphone built in or not. If it has, then along with the Wifi and some enterprising hackers, you may have a cheap, brilliantly designed VoIP solution... I'll bet the iPod Touch is using the same OS X kernel and userland software as the iPhone, and it's only a matter of time...
Apple shares have tanked... perhaps they didn't sell as many iPhones as all the fans are claiming... or there's some nonsense with AT&T...
I'm still hacking my iPhone so won't be bothering with an iPod Touch - but when you get it, let us know whether it's got a microphone built in or not. If it has, then along with the Wifi and some enterprising hackers, you may have a cheap, brilliantly designed VoIP solution... I'll bet the iPod Touch is using the same OS X kernel and userland software as the iPhone, and it's only a matter of time...
Just looking at ordering one to replace my dead 3G iPod.
Not sure whether to go for the Touch or not. It looks great and i love the interface etc but 16gig is just simply not enough. I'm thinking of buying a Macbook now as well so could always just shift the music around on the touch... but i'd much rather have 160gig to play with and have all my music/pics etc on there. So at the moment i've got both a touch 16gb and a classic 160gb in my basket.
Not quite sure what to do. Might get the 160 and then wait for the UK iPhone to appear and have the best of both worlds...
Not sure whether to go for the Touch or not. It looks great and i love the interface etc but 16gig is just simply not enough. I'm thinking of buying a Macbook now as well so could always just shift the music around on the touch... but i'd much rather have 160gig to play with and have all my music/pics etc on there. So at the moment i've got both a touch 16gb and a classic 160gb in my basket.
Not quite sure what to do. Might get the 160 and then wait for the UK iPhone to appear and have the best of both worlds...
Details are a bit scanty from third parties, but it appears that the iPod Touch will have the same OS X base so theoretically will be hackable in the same way as the iPhone, so all yer Unix stuff and a terminal window for the 1337 out there along with pre-packaged utilities and apps (e.g. AppTappInstaller and the stuff available through that software).
There's even a nice Minesweeper game so you can laugh at the memories of Windows 3.1 whilst using your unix-based iPod.
However it does very much sound like Apple have removed the microphone and small speakers in the iPod Touch... the speakers in the base of the iPhone aren't up to much but are just about usable. Forget the lack of camera - the removal of a microphone and speaker means that the iPod Touch has specifically been designed to prevent anyone using one as a cheap VoIP device with the Wifi connection. It appears that they've even gone to the extent of removing the Bluetooth radio to prevent people using BT headsets for that purpose...
Seems very odd since the component cost between an 16 GB iPod Touch and an 8 GB iPhone (both same retail price from Apple) will be higher for the iPhone... and suggests that the internals are completely different and that the iPod Touch isn't just a cut-down iPhone, but an entirely different internal design (the reduced thickness points to this, there's no spare room inside an iPhone, so the iPod Touch must be a single-layer logic board whereas the iPhone has two boards stuck together).
What will be interesting is whether the headphone socket on the iPod Touch has the same microphone input as the iPhone... allowing some voice recorder / Skype (eventually) facility... certainly would make an interesting toy to hack about with.
As to anyone considering one as use as a normal iPod - I've been messing about with my iPhone but also use it as an iPod... the physical size (not thickness, it's very thin) means that it has a habit of turning on in your pocket if wearing jeans - the recessed 'on' button isn't recessed quite enough. It will be interesting to see whether the iPod Touch has the same problem - even if you don't 'swipe to unlock' it's still turning on the screen backlight and wasting power.
Also, like the 1st gen iPod Nanos (of which I managed to snap one in half, and I'm ridiculously careful with my kit) - it's very thin but quite long and wide - it will be interesting to see whether it's as vulnerable to lateral flex or torsion like the first Nanos. Certainly sitting down with one in a tight jeans pocket may be risky....
There's even a nice Minesweeper game so you can laugh at the memories of Windows 3.1 whilst using your unix-based iPod.
However it does very much sound like Apple have removed the microphone and small speakers in the iPod Touch... the speakers in the base of the iPhone aren't up to much but are just about usable. Forget the lack of camera - the removal of a microphone and speaker means that the iPod Touch has specifically been designed to prevent anyone using one as a cheap VoIP device with the Wifi connection. It appears that they've even gone to the extent of removing the Bluetooth radio to prevent people using BT headsets for that purpose...
Seems very odd since the component cost between an 16 GB iPod Touch and an 8 GB iPhone (both same retail price from Apple) will be higher for the iPhone... and suggests that the internals are completely different and that the iPod Touch isn't just a cut-down iPhone, but an entirely different internal design (the reduced thickness points to this, there's no spare room inside an iPhone, so the iPod Touch must be a single-layer logic board whereas the iPhone has two boards stuck together).
What will be interesting is whether the headphone socket on the iPod Touch has the same microphone input as the iPhone... allowing some voice recorder / Skype (eventually) facility... certainly would make an interesting toy to hack about with.
As to anyone considering one as use as a normal iPod - I've been messing about with my iPhone but also use it as an iPod... the physical size (not thickness, it's very thin) means that it has a habit of turning on in your pocket if wearing jeans - the recessed 'on' button isn't recessed quite enough. It will be interesting to see whether the iPod Touch has the same problem - even if you don't 'swipe to unlock' it's still turning on the screen backlight and wasting power.
Also, like the 1st gen iPod Nanos (of which I managed to snap one in half, and I'm ridiculously careful with my kit) - it's very thin but quite long and wide - it will be interesting to see whether it's as vulnerable to lateral flex or torsion like the first Nanos. Certainly sitting down with one in a tight jeans pocket may be risky....
The ipod touch looks simply awesome... but why only 16GB! I was ready to order one but you can't have something that size with only 16GB... Surely thats going backwards... I mean my 3rd gen ipod that I'm looking to replace has 10Gb and that came out donkeys years ago. Think i'll be sticking with an ipod classic when I upgrade soon...
navier_stokes said:
The ipod touch looks simply awesome... but why only 16GB! I was ready to order one but you can't have something that size with only 16GB... Surely thats going backwards... I mean my 3rd gen ipod that I'm looking to replace has 10Gb and that came out donkeys years ago. Think i'll be sticking with an ipod classic when I upgrade soon...
Flash storage vs. hard disks.Hard disk iPods have huge storage, flash based (which was always limited to the Nano and Shuffle before the iPhone came along) are limited to the cost of the memory chips. 160 GB of flash RAM is not only bulky but also rather expensive.
Horses for courses. Hard-disk based players use more battery power and weigh more. They also are much more sensitive to shock and vibration - I've had virtually every Apple iPod since the very first 1st gen 5 GB disk-based iPod, and only the flash-based ones are any good for running / exercise of any sort.
In terms of size, you'll find that the iPod Touch size is dictated by the touchscreen (which is the one off the iPhone) and nothing to do with the size of the flash memory chips. Incidentally, 16 GB is pretty big for a flash-based device, the previous biggest Apple flash-iPod was the 8 GB iPhone and Nano...
If it's not enough for you, then get a disk-based iPod. Apple are being fairly shrewd by offering both - the disk-based iPods appear to appeal to the non-Mac owners who like to carry around their entire music and video library without regularly syncing with a computer (PC or Mac) - you can get 160 GB iPods now (which is 60% more capacity than my business laptop, which contains 10 years worth of intellectual property and all my previous project data.....) - whereas the flash-based Pods are used by people who regularly sync and can swap music playlists / etc. on the fly. I've never complained about 4 or 8 GB of space, it's enough for me since I can always change the entire contents when I get home to my main Mac kit...
If what you really want is a 160 GB disk-based iPod but with the Touch screen and Wifi, then I'd have to say nice dream, but unfortunately precluded by battery technology and heat dissipation. Given that the iPhone and the Touch both run a full-on unix OS, a small iPhone-sized device with a large backlit touchscreen, a large hard drive and a proper OS would effectively be a full-on Mac computer in the size of a fag packet - and thermodynamically nobody has been able to do this yet... Would be cool though
TheLearner said:
Oddly enough my Video's headphone socket has just broken. £200 or a dab of solder... £200 or a dab of solder...
They do look exceptionally tasty, especially the Touch, but can't really justify it at the mo.
If you're that good at soldering.... and I lose patience waiting for the software unlock.... would you feel confident doing the George Hotz hardware unlock method on my iPhone??? Don't have the soldering skills myself, and even if I did I'd have to have a week or two off the booze to avoid the shaky hands in the morning They do look exceptionally tasty, especially the Touch, but can't really justify it at the mo.
cyberface said:
TheLearner said:
Oddly enough my Video's headphone socket has just broken. £200 or a dab of solder... £200 or a dab of solder...
They do look exceptionally tasty, especially the Touch, but can't really justify it at the mo.
If you're that good at soldering.... and I lose patience waiting for the software unlock.... would you feel confident doing the George Hotz hardware unlock method on my iPhone??? Don't have the soldering skills myself, and even if I did I'd have to have a week or two off the booze to avoid the shaky hands in the morning They do look exceptionally tasty, especially the Touch, but can't really justify it at the mo.
That way when it goes completely, it's his fault 
I'm starting to think i really NEED an iPod Touch now 
!!
Just watched the guided tour again on the Apple website and i'm smitten. Espescially if i get a Macbook/Pro of some description so i can fart about with the music/pics etc i keep on the iPod.
Ooooh, shiny multi-touch goodness....
!!Just watched the guided tour again on the Apple website and i'm smitten. Espescially if i get a Macbook/Pro of some description so i can fart about with the music/pics etc i keep on the iPod.
Ooooh, shiny multi-touch goodness....
I think the iPod Touch is going to be massive. It really fills a lot of niches. Sure it's not going to replace a phone but I give it a few months at most before someone like belkin makes a little gadget that dock with it that gives you sound and mic.
The key I think is the interweb browsing capability. People reckon it's top notch on the iPhone, so a £200 16gb iPod, flash drive, internet browser, it's the ultimate tool for anyone who's a bit workshy!
The key I think is the interweb browsing capability. People reckon it's top notch on the iPhone, so a £200 16gb iPod, flash drive, internet browser, it's the ultimate tool for anyone who's a bit workshy!
Johnny said:
I'm starting to think i really NEED an iPod Touch now !!
Just watched the guided tour again on the Apple website and i'm smitten. Espescially if i get a Macbook/Pro of some description so i can fart about with the music/pics etc i keep on the iPod.
Ooooh, shiny multi-touch goodness....
Of course I recommend getting a Mac (what else would you expect from me? !!Just watched the guided tour again on the Apple website and i'm smitten. Espescially if i get a Macbook/Pro of some description so i can fart about with the music/pics etc i keep on the iPod.
Ooooh, shiny multi-touch goodness....
) but you sure as hell don't *need* a Mac to 'fart about' with an iPod. The iTunes software is maintained in parallel on both OS X and Windows, and is feature-complete in Windows.Apple should be commended for this, they haven't crippled Windows iTunes to 'persuade' you to get a Mac. I guess part of the success of the iPod is down to the fact that it's not tied to Mac hardware.
And, as pointed out in previous discussions, if for some reason you intensely dislike iTunes, there are third-party shareware applications to manage the music on iPods without needing iTunes.
Basically, if you like the hardware, the design, the price, and the sound quality is acceptable to your ears (iPod DACs have traditionally been pretty good and get good reviews in the audiophile mags) then buy one. iTunes works identically on Mac OS X and Windows, there are other options if you prefer, AND there are a wide range of apps available for Linux as well.
RobDickinson said:
Why 16gig?
Because they couldnt use a hdd (too much power drain witht hat screen) and flash is still expensive.
WAS expensive. A 32Gb flash drive is now just over £250. Enough to stick in an Origami device and run Vista on ! 16Gb must be pretty cheap at trade prices now.Because they couldnt use a hdd (too much power drain witht hat screen) and flash is still expensive.
iPod Touch looks nice. All I need now is for Apple to put that scren tech in something a bit larger and more powerfull (newton 2 ?) and I am going to be first in the queue !
Yep, bought a new & updated 2gb Nano the other day.
Nice anodised aluminium case, John Lewis are knocking them out at £69.99 at the moment with the option of a half price docking station (£45 instead of £90).
Use it mainly for podcasts.
Edited, mine is not the Nano video, bloke at Lewis's never told me about that, bugger.
Now I'm going to have to upgrade.
Nice anodised aluminium case, John Lewis are knocking them out at £69.99 at the moment with the option of a half price docking station (£45 instead of £90).
Use it mainly for podcasts.
Edited, mine is not the Nano video, bloke at Lewis's never told me about that, bugger.
Now I'm going to have to upgrade.
Edited by classiccooper on Thursday 6th September 09:13
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff