Updated iPod Touch to Carry 1136x640 Display, 32-Nanometer A5 Chip?

[PJMAN2952]

Originally Posted by JAQ

If this thing has LTE (or even 3G) data, I'll be all over it.

Just get the iPhone 5 then. ROFL

[Dorje Sylas]

Originally Posted by mr.steevo

My 2Gen iPod Touch plays YouTube videos cleanly whereas my 1Ghz iBook G4 can't even stutter through 30 seconds of streaming.

You can say a lot about optimization, see video game consoles.

That's because it's trying to read the Flash file instead of just underlying h.264. Find a version of Firefox that works on PowerPC, like TenFourFox and opt into the HTML5 version of YouTube. Also try to get your QuickTime player updated to the max it can go for the codec.

Just raw numbers wise the A5s are about where the G4 laptops where 8 or 9 years ago, and that includes graphics processors.

[Skika]

Originally Posted by chrmjenkins

So you want to pay 650+ for an iPhone to use as an iPod touch? Or you're going to be on cell service and be paying near that 2000 anyway?

No. I pay the 650 and then choose the mobile package i desire, which is not the one it comes with the iPhone. I pay 25 euros a month for 1gb data, unlimited text and plenty of everything else included. Im not from usa though.

[nick_elt]

Originally Posted by Dorje Sylas

^ That. What people who are additected to data plans don't seem to get is they are really expensive over the long run. It also tends to be duplicate functionality as most places of work and residence( ie already paying for none Interent) have WiFi and unlimited data rates with better bandwidth Up/down.

If I could get away with having an iPhone without a Data plan and just Voice (maybe text) I'd jump on it for the unlocked price. Until then it's cheaper for me to keep my dumb feature phone for calls and an iPod Touch for PDA functionality.

I dont get it, if you buy it outright why cant you chuck it on whatever plan you want? Are you in the states? Can you not do this at all?

[Geckotek]

Originally Posted by nick_elt

I dont get it, if you buy it outright why cant you chuck it on whatever plan you want? Are you in the states? Can you not do this at all?

Options in the States for data are limited and expensive. They are cash cows for the carriers.

[mr.steevo]

Originally Posted by Dorje Sylas

You can say a lot about optimization, see video game consoles.

That's because it's trying to read the Flash file instead of just underlying h.264. Find a version of Firefox that works on PowerPC, like TenFourFox and opt into the HTML5 version of YouTube. Also try to get your QuickTime player updated to the max it can go for the codec.

Just raw numbers wise the A5s are about where the G4 laptops where 8 or 9 years ago, and that includes graphics processors.

Good point. Tried TenFourFox and HTML5 for YouTube earlier this year but the iBook can't do YouTube anymore. I'm not entirely clear as to why this is the case and yet I can watch a DVD on it with no issues. Still, my bet is my iBook was surpassed by the 4th gen iPod Touch which was released two years ago. 20 years ago that was super computer speed and now it is packed into a $200 music player. Crazy.

[Dorje Sylas]

Originally Posted by nick_elt

I dont get it, if you buy it outright why cant you chuck it on whatever plan you want? Are you in the states? Can you not do this at all?

The US cell market is totally crap and stacked against the consumer. If your in Europe or another region with a more divers market, keep in mind where you have many national carriers we have at best three national carriers.

Worse, your "national" carriers are covering areas no bigger then some of our smaller territories (states). Try to think of it this way. What if Europe only had three carries for the whole of the continent, and the only consumer laws they had to follow we're those of the EU alone and that your individual nation had no say.

Next time you look at map of the US make sure it the state boundaries clearly defend. Then pretended like each state was its own nation. That should help give you an idea of the scale and problem were having with our cell companies.

In sort we have two major Mega-Corps that cross "national" boundaries and engage in price fixing with their subsidiaries in each "nation". And this is 100% legal and even accepted practice. Substitute nation for state, and you have the US cell market in a nutshell.

[Casiotone]

Originally Posted by mr.steevo

Good point. Tried TenFourFox and HTML5 for YouTube earlier this year but the iBook can't do YouTube anymore. I'm not entirely clear as to why this is the case and yet I can watch a DVD on it with no issues. Still, my bet is my iBook was surpassed by the 4th gen iPod Touch which was released two years ago. 20 years ago that was super computer speed and now it is packed into a $200 music player. Crazy.

My dad has my old PPC Mac mini and he has the same problems with Youtube (and flash video in general). Youtube used to play without a hitch a few years ago when I had this same machine (I'm talking about 360P videos here).

One solution I found is to use some version of ClickToFlash that enables playing Youtube videos in the Quicktime Player, which does work well. That feature has been a little buggy though.

[Not Bill Gates]

[QUOTE=dgreene196;15629961]Just out of curiosity, what's the actual advantage of having a 720p 16:9 screen on the small, sub-5" screen vs. the rumored iPhone 5 resolution of 1136x640? In either case, the individual pixels are too small to see at a typical viewing distance. And whatever the chip used to power this particular device, it should be strong enough toto resize HD video on the fly to show videos without lag.

Obviously, the advantage of a 640 pixel wide screen is to ease the transition to developers (important for Apple as a perceived advantage to developing on the iOS platform vs. the various resolutions available for Android).

But I really do want to hear from people why the 720p resolution would be an advantage.[COLOR="#808080"]

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I can see your point, when you mention the added difficulty for app developers and the fragmentation it would cause. I just figured that with a 720p screen, you could watch HD content in its native resolution without down converting (making the chip work unnecessarily harder, using more power) or loss in detail of the video.

[twoodcc]

i'm really looking forward to the new iPod Touch. hope it's good

[extensor]

Originally Posted by wlossw

I really thought that if they brought out an iPad mini that the touch would serve no purpose and be discontinued. Seems like an awful lot of overlap. It will be interesting to see if they release a new iPad mini and/or iPod touch.

Yes, because the iPod Touch and the iPad mini share the same form factor.

[nick_elt]

Originally Posted by Dorje Sylas

The US cell market is totally crap and stacked against the consumer. If your in Europe or another region with a more divers market, keep in mind where you have many national carriers we have at best three national carriers.

Worse, your "national" carriers are covering areas no bigger then some of our smaller territories (states). Try to think of it this way. What if Europe only had three carries for the whole of the continent, and the only consumer laws they had to follow we're those of the EU alone and that your individual nation had no say.

Next time you look at map of the US make sure it the state boundaries clearly defend. Then pretended like each state was its own nation. That should help give you an idea of the scale and problem were having with our cell companies.

In sort we have two major Mega-Corps that cross "national" boundaries and engage in price fixing with their subsidiaries in each "nation". And this is 100% legal and even accepted practice. Substitute nation for state, and you have the US cell market in a nutshell.

Id call the cops, ur getting raped.

[macs4nw]

Originally Posted by jrswizzle

I have a feeling this is all being done to CONSOLIDATE the lineup.
There will be no iPad 2 after the mini comes out. Your iPad line is:
iPad mini (with fewer options)
iPad retina (with it's options)

There will be no regular MBPs after the release of the 13" retina. Your MB line is: MBA 11" and 13" MBP Retina 13" and 15"

There will continue to be 3 iPhones on the market at once. You iPhone lineup is:
iPhone 4 (free)
iPhone 4S ($99)
iPhone 5 ($199) *all beginning pricing*

The iPods are the tricky part. I'd say they go nano and touch. The shuffle will probably be phased out or (my hope/wish) they replace it with the iWatch. Just my thoughts.

You're probably not too far off. Anything more is just waay too convoluted for a company that prides itself on simplicity. We'll know soon!

[Apple...]

Originally Posted by KazKam

Oh, I don't know. Maybe the $2000 2-year contract? Maybe?

Yup! I use my iPod Touch as my phone, and my current 4th-gen 8GB is a tad small, so I'll definitely be buying the new one when it's announced.

[BornAgainApple]

[strausd]

Originally Posted by adildacoolset

They could have quad cortex A9 and powerVR 5 series and it's still an A6

You really think the iPhone would get a quad-core CPU before the iPad? In my mind, it would make much more sense for the larger device to get more power first.

Originally Posted by Geckotek

Because 4 GPU cores is overkill.

Much of current technology is overkill. The reason we add certain hardware is so that later on, the software will be able to use its full potential. I can think of so many examples where something might be considered "overkill," but if we never pushed the boundaries, where would technology be?

[faroZ06]

Yessss

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Originally Posted by wlossw

I really thought that if they brought out an iPad mini that the touch would serve no purpose and be discontinued. Seems like an awful lot of overlap. It will be interesting to see if they release a new iPad mini and/or iPod touch.

If anything, the iPhone overlaps with the iPod touch. I can't fit an iPad in my pocket.

[Geckotek]

Originally Posted by strausd

Much of current technology is overkill. The reason we add certain hardware is so that later on, the software will be able to use its full potential. I can think of so many examples where something might be considered "overkill," but if we never pushed the boundaries, where would technology be?

Ok then, I guess I have to get more specific. The A5x is too large and too hot. It was hacked together for the specific purpose of running the new retina screen on the new iPad. Nothing more. It is not the right SOC for an iPhone. We will not be seeing an A5x in the iPhone 5.

[damienotis]

Wait... 32 nanometers? Does that refer to the width of the chip its self or am I missing something?

[Geckotek]

Originally Posted by damienotis

Wait... 32 nanometers? Does that refer to the width of the chip its self or am I missing something?

Nope, the actual etchings in the chip.

Edit: I'm sure I said that wrong so here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32_nanometer

[strausd]

Originally Posted by Geckotek

Ok then, I guess I have to get more specific. The A5x is too large and too hot. It was hacked together for the specific purpose of running the new retina screen on the new iPad. Nothing more. It is not the right SOC for an iPhone. We will not be seeing an A5x in the iPhone 5.

You say the A5X is too large and generates too much heat. I agree with that, but only with the A5X in its current state.

If the A5 was never touched, then it too would probably not work well in an iPod touch. And this whole post comes from that changing with a die shrink of the A5. So why are you writing off the idea of a die shrink on the A5X so quickly when there are already so many rumors of a die shrink on the A5? I hope I am not coming across as rude, I am just curious as to what your personal opinion is on this topic.

Also, since you don't think the new iPhone will get the A5X, what do you think it will get? A6?

If so, that would go against the CPU update history Apple has had for the last few years. They implement a new CPU in the iPad, then bring a modified version of it to the iPhone for increased battery life and less heat. What evidence has popped up indicating that Apple is about to change that? Again, I am genuinely just trying to get multiple perspectives on this.

And if you do think the new iPhone will get an "A6" or whatever you want to call it, why do you think Apple will be implementing a new CPU in a phone before a tablet? Aren't tablets the devices that are supposed to have more CPU power? Why give it to a smaller device before the iPad?

Also, do you think that if we do see an A6 it will be quad-core CPU and dual-core GPU (you said quad-core GPU would be overkill)? I have read stuff about how the A15 (that may be wrong) has not really been released in high enough quantity, same thing with the updated GPU. So why would a cell phone get quad-core before a tablet? And considering people are more likely to play games on a phone than render videos, wouldn't an update to the GPU make more sense than an update to the CPU?

EDIT: To be more specific, I had to look it up and I was referring to the ARM Cortex A15 CPUs and the PowerVR Series 6 GPU.

[Geckotek]

Do you realize that you are the only person here that thinks it will be an A5x?

It may very will be an A5 variant, but it will be die shrunk and it will not have 4 GPUs.

If you shrink the die and remove any of the GPU cores, it will not be called an A5x anymore.

All the A5 naming is mostly meaningless anyway...just Apple jargon.

Going to sleep. We'll see what it is tomorrow.

[briandb]

Hi, i am not sure if i should buy the ipod touch or if i wait as per dource until the ipad mini will be released ! If it takes just a few weeks until the ipad mini will be released i think i will wait. The price is the same i think!

[adildacoolset]

Originally Posted by strausd

You really think the iPhone would get a quad-core CPU before the iPad? In my mind, it would make much more sense for the larger device to get more power first.



Much of current technology is overkill. The reason we add certain hardware is so that later on, the software will be able to use its full potential. I can think of so many examples where something might be considered "overkill," but if we never pushed the boundaries, where would technology be?

Well, there is no reason it shouldn't, maybe there were some supply issues which didn't allow it to be used in the iPad. Either way, a quad-core CPU is unnecessary for a phone

[strausd]

Originally Posted by adildacoolset

Well, there is no reason it shouldn't, maybe there were some supply issues which didn't allow it to be used in the iPad. Either way, a quad-core CPU is unnecessary for a phone

Again, the whole idea of something being unnecessary and thus being the reason something isn't included is absolutely ridiculous. When has our society ever followed that when it comes to technology?