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Naked iPod touch dangles its FM radio

And some 802.11n

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Apple's new iPod touch includes a wireless chip capable of handling 5GHz WiFi networks and FM radio signals.

In tearing open a third generation touch - a device unveiled just this week by a "vertical" Steve Jobs - our friends at Ifixit discovered a Broadcom BCM4329 chip, which supports the 802.11n WiFi standard as well as an FM transmitter and receiver. The touch's more illustrious cousin, the iPhone 3GS, uses an older Broadcom chip that lacks such support, offering only 802.11a, b, and g and Bluetooth.

You can see the new chip here:

iPod touch teardown

Nude iPod touch and its wireless chip

Previously, eagle-eyed fanbois had noticed references to the Broadcom BCM4329 in the boot script for beta versions of Apple's new iPhone 3.1 software, which runs both the iPhone and the touch. And now we know why.

But Apple has not built 802.11n or FM support into the software, and it has yet to add the antenna needed for FM radio. As Ifixit points out, the second-generation iPod touch debuts with Bluetooth hardware, but it wasn't enabled until months later, when Apple rolled out its iPhone 3.0 software.

Ifixit also says that the iTouch includes room for a still camera, after it noticed a 6- by 6- by 6-mm space between the Broadcom chip and the device's wireless antenna. But it did not find board headers for camera cables:

iPod touch teardown

A space where a camera isn't

Why does any of this matter? It doesn't. Unless you're a cult member. ®

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Latest Comments

iPod Nano 5th Gen

Just bought one of these. To be honest, it seems like the mutt's nuts. The VGA video camera is more than adequate; the radio is good; iTunes is probably the best software for getting content onto such a device(I have a Sony mobile phone and their software sucks). This is my first iPod and I'm well impressed. There's a good chance I will upgrade to an iPhone at some point soon, when they do one with an OLED screen that is, because the software is so good and there are one helluva lot of software devs writing stuff for it.

N.B. I'm not an Apple fanboi, just a consumer who knows a good deal when he sees it.

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@shaunm

You forgot step six: Charge to download the firmware update to enable the new feature, citing some bogus legal case which supposedly prevents them from giving away the new feature for free.

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@Eddy Ito: Woo hoo... #

"I've heard stories that Apple didn't include a radio in earlier iPods because (for example) Americans don't like the radio much- probably true"

Many of my friends turned off FM radio years ago - most Americans I know prefer to listen to AM radio now over FM.

Content is more for the mind on AM than what is being fed by the hippies on FM - Americans are increasing involved in the participation age with AM talk radio!

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