Guide to the New Apple iPods – Touch, Touch, Click.

iPod Touch

iPhone 4 without the phone

New features include:
Two cameras: The first, a front facing VGA camera for Facetime video chat – over WiFi. The second a rear facing 5 Megapixel camera capable of HD Video recording as well as some pretty decent pictures camera capable of HD Video recording. Apple have not yet disclosed the rear facing camera’s specifications, although from the looks of things it is most likely going to be somewhere in the range of 0.6 to 1 megapixels. (Thanks @Shaun & @ping – see comments) This is rather poor compared to the iPhone 4′s 5 megapixel camera but I gather this it to keep the iPod Touch super slim.
The retina display, the same awesome screen as in the iPhone 4
A substantially faster processor, the same one as in the iPhone 4, and a video processor, which should allow for some mind blowing games in the future, as well as great multitasking and smoother operation of iOS 4.1.
Game Center: An application that allows iPod users to play multiplayer games over a WiFi network with friends or some random folks. This could either totally rule, or be an app that just sits there gathering dust – still I can’t wait to give it a go!
Design: The case is somewhat thinner than the previous gen iPod Touch, which in itself is phenomenal as the previous gen iPod Touch’ case was only around O.5cm thick.

Notable Features Carried Over:
Unified Mailbox: Messages from multiple email accounts all viewed in a single inbox. A prominently used feature on my iPhone, that said I hardly ever check my email on my iPod Touch but it is comforting that this feature is there if I ever did get the urge.
Voice control: Switching tracks, choosing artists, shuffling, pausing and playing music.
Nike+iPod: Fully integrated into the device.

iPod Nano

Completely redesigned.

New Features Include:
Everything: The new design ditches the classic clickable scroll wheel for a small square multi touch screen. From the looks of things the navigation on the Nano will be similar to that of the iPod Touch. Playlists, Podcasts, Artists, Genius etc being icons on the home screen. After you have selected a category, scroll through the lists of songs, albums or podcasts as you would on any other touch screen.
Pedometer: A sort of Nike+iPod lite. Set step goals and upload data to the Nike+iPod website. However, it would have been way cooler to see a full integration of Nike+iPod.
Genius Mixes: Using Apples Genius engine a selection of tracks in a certain genre are compiled to make a playlist taking into account your listening (and shopping for those countries lucky enough to have iTunes) habits.

Notable Features Carried Over:
Radio with Live Pause: By far the best radio on any portable media device. It allows you to pause live radio as well as detect what song is currently playing (and then for our American brethren buy it on iTunes, our developing nation is snubbed once again – still no iTunes for South Africa)

iPod Shuffle

Cable controls? What where they thinking…

New Features Include:
The click-wheel is Back: That’s it really; on the Shuffle – play, pause, next track, previous track, volume up and volume down. This is basically the exact configuration of the iPod Shuffle of two generations ago, when Apple ditched them for a three-buttoned controller on the ear bud cable, which was a rather epic fail. So let’s just forget about that shall we…
Switchable playlists: Switch playlists using VoiceOver – to determine what playlist you’re on – and the next, previous track keys. This was a sorely missed feature on the previous gen Shuffles.

Notable Features Carried Over:
VoiceOver: Click the VoiceOver button (located on the top of the device) and the music softens, a man (or woman) tells you the title and artist of the song you are currently listening to – a useful, rather smart feature.

iPod Touch Ad

iPod Nano Ad

Brendon Ambrose
Editor