Apple revamps iPod line-up
Shakes Nano particularly
Yes, it's iPod update time, with new Nanos and Touches, and tweaked Shuffles and Classics all announced by Apple this evening.
Touch first. The iPhone-alike player finally gets physical volume controls on its side - now a mere 8.5mm thick. Like the iPhone 3G, the new Touch is not only slimmer but sports a curvier, shiny metal back and a speaker.
Apple's 2G iPod Touch: steely
Apple claimed the new model offers a day-and-a-half's music playback - 36 hours - and six hours showing videos.
But as before, the capacities on offer are 8GB, 16GB and 32GB.
Apple's iPod Shuffle: new colours
Ditto the Shuffle, which is still offered in 1GB and 2GB versions, this time with a change of colours - Apple is favouring bolder, brighter hues this year.
Apple's 4G Nano: new old design
The same goes for the revamped Nano, now back in an upright, less squat form, as the various leaks and case-shots of the last week or so showed.
The 90.7 x 38.7 x 6.2mm, 36.8g unit features a 2in, 240 x 320, 204ppi screen and a choice of 8GB or 16GB storage capacity.
Apple said the new Nano offers 24 hours' music playback or four hours of video.
Genius on-board DJ
One neat touch: the Nano will read out menus, song titles and so on, allowing you to navigate the player's options and contents without having to peer at the screen. The screenless Shuffe could do with that too.
Shake the Nano and it'll go into shuffle mode, rather like Sony Ericsson's latest Walkman phones do. Tilt it sideways, and the screen automatically rotates into landscape mode, just like the Touch does.
It'll even choose songs for you, matching songs by type, tempo and the like, and dropping them automatically into a special playlist. The Touch has this iTunes 8-based "Genius" feature too.
The Classic remains a black-and-white offering, but it now comes with a 120GB hard drive.
The 8GB Nanos will retail for $149/£109 and the 16GB versions for $199/£149 . Each model is offered in the same selection of nine rainbow colours. The 1GB and 2GB Shuffles are only available in five colours and cost $49/£32 and $69/£45, respectively.
The Classic costs $249/£179 while the three capacities of Touch are priced at $229/£169, $299/£219 and $399/£289
COMMENTS
My tuppence, and @ W. Phreaky
They've withdrawn the 160GB version? I'm surprised, I love mine, never go round Asia without it. Still got about 18GB free as well!
@ Webster - I'm no Apple fanboi but please, fuck off and do your tiresome trolling elsewhere. It wasn't ever funny, or clever and no-one's interested.
Not funny
"Funnest" ????
Mind you, "Think Different" is grammatically incorrect as well....
Re: Geography
Chris says: "What? London is roughly 5,000 miles from Beijing, in the East of China. San Francisco is nearly 6,000 miles from Beijing."
iPods are not delivered by crows:
- Taiwan to San Francisco: 5844 miles
- Taiwan to London: 9839 miles
- Taiwan to London, avoiding Suez Canal: 13153 miles
http://www.portworld.com/map/
Open source formats
Would really like a new iPod, but until Apple release an one that supports ogg natively and Linux I'm sticking with my 2nd had 4th gen iPod running Rockbox.
@AC re: Form over function
"Form over function" eh? Typical stupid comment by someone with no understanding of a product.
Ask yourself how an iPod Touch would download maps to use with a GPS when it's not connected to a wi-fi network. And do you even know how the iPhone GPS works? Via the MOBILE PHONE MASTS. (Look up A-GPS) No phone antenna, no GPS location.
