Apple overhauls its iPod nano, iPod touch and earbuds

[Matthew DeCarlo]

In addition to its new iPhone 5, Apple has unveiled several new iPod products during today's press event. First up, the revamped iPod nano deviates from its predecessor's square-like 1.47 x 1.61-inch design and looks more like a minature iPhone. It's said to be the thinnest nano to date, measuring only 5.4mm thick, 38% trimmer than the previous-generation device. It also packs the biggest touchscreen Apple has ever crammed into a nano, spanning 2.5 inches, making it more suitable for watching videos.

Other features include an iPhone-like home button, hardware controls on the side for play/pause and forward/back, Bluetooth connectivity (a long-requested feature), as well as a built-in pedometer and FM tuner with live pause. The new iPod nano will launch next month with one capacity (16GB) for $149, though Apple will provide seven color choices, including black, silver, red, blue, green, yellow and pink.

Apple has also updated its iPod touch, which is now made of anodized aluminum, carries the same 326PPI, 4-inch screen as the iPhone 5, and houses the dual-core A5 SoC, which has twice the processing power as the previous-gen iPod touch's chip. Apple says this boost in horsepower will be especially handy when it comes to playing games, a note that will surely pique the interest of many iPod users.

The new iPod touch also features a 5MP camera with an LED flash on the rear and a 720p "FaceTime camera" on the front, a battery life of 40 hours, Bluetooth 4.0 with LE, 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, AirPlay support, and it measures only 6.1mm thick while weighing 88 grams -- the thinnest and lightest version yet. Four color variants of the new iPod touch will be available next month for $299 (32GB) and $399 (64GB), while the fourth-generation iPod touch will be reduced to $199 (16GB) and $249 (32GB).

The iPod unveilings were accompanied by redesigned earbuds (dubbed "EarPods"), which are said to be the result of three years of development. In addition to being more accommodating of varying ear sizes, they tout richer bass and greater protection from moisture than Apple's previous offering, as well as an integrated a remote to adjust volume, control media playback and answer or end calls on the iPhone. The EarPods are available today for $29 and may be bundled with Apple's devices.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/50135-apple-overhauls-its-ipod-nano-ipod-touch-and-earbuds.html

 

[Zeromus]

300 bucks for that? It ain't easy being ignorant and rich, I suppose.

 

[Micro Watt]

Thinner than the current iPod touch? That's extreme!

 

[Zeromus]

Poor guest, he got his comments deleted. I will always remember him as the silenced rebel.

 

[ReederOnTheRun]

I'm not feeling the devices, but those earbuds have piqued my interest. If they are three years of work then I'd expect them to be amazing, and for $30 that sounds like it might just be a good deal. It is Apple though, selling good earbuds for only $30 doesn't seem like their style.

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Poor guest, he got his comments deleted. I will always remember him as the silenced rebel.

More like a delusional martyr.

@ReederOnTheRun I'm not sure what to make of the earbuds either. I've had horrible luck with Apple earbuds in the past.

 

[Zeromus]

More like a delusional martyr.

D:

 

[oldikes]

I dont know why apple didnt go the rubber tip route, always worked better in my experience.

 

[dennis777]

Is it me or the Nano looks like a rip-off of Nokia phones hahahaha

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

$300 and they don't bundle the nice ear buds? My $35 Sansa Clip can take a 32GB micro SD card and give me 36 GB for $65, and they want $150 for a 16GB nano? c'mon.

 

[oldikes]

Whats really urking me is the lack of the $200 ipod touch...

 

[supertech]

Great products from Apple. The iPod touch really need the extra processing power as that last gen was very sluggish. I can't wait for the iPad mini announcement which is hopefully soon.

 

[Guest]

Check out the Cowon i9 you guys. I only really listen to music and also used to listen to an ipod. When I made the switch, I noticed a tremendous difference in sound quality improvement. But the drawback is it's only really good for music. Fine by me though.

 

[ReederOnTheRun]

Is it me or the Nano looks like a rip-off of Nokia phones hahahaha

I'm just waiting for Apple to start tripping over that patent web they've been weaving. They have to know they're going to have to change their design soon or customers will continue getting bored of their products. I just hope the other tech companies have been learning from this. While nobody likes the abuse of patents, as long as it's against Apple, I don't think a lot of people will mind.

 

[Archean]

P/W

 

[Arris]

Is it me or the Nano looks like a rip-off of Nokia phones hahahaha

Exactly what I was thinking. Square device with rounded screen. Come on Nokia, take a bite out of Apple with the Lumia patents!

 

[TS-56336]

While reading this headline, I got my 4th gen iPod Shuffle on. My earbuds didn't even fell..

 

[Guest]

The new earbuds offer better bass? Only marginally, I'll bet. Sound requires you to move air. It's not possible for a 1/4inch-1/2inch speaker to move enough air to generate anything close to what I would call acceaptable bass. Also, earbuds are bad for your ears. You lose so much sound to the outside, and so much outside noise comes in, that you turn the earbuds up higher and higher. So, not only has Apple destroyed the demand for CD-quality audio (mp3s are not even close to CD quality, and iTunes barely offers any downloads in their proprietary Apple Lossless codec format, and none in FLAC), it's also making you deaf enough that you can't hear the difference (which is pretty obvious).