iPod touch Apple enabling 802.11n and FM tuner feature?

Existence of a chip that potentially supports a feature is no indication that the feature can be enabled via a firmware update. There can be still missing hardware to enable the functionality.

The only people who would know such as thing are Apple executives or design engineers and they would not speak.

Do not base your purchase of electronics on rumors that have not solid base. They only thing you can be sure of are press release announcements indicating that a feature will be added at a certain date. Anything else is just speculation.

If you like/need the features a device has right now, then buy it. Otherwise, don't buy it, or buy it knowing full well the limitations or missing functionality.

im pretty sure they will active the radio.

Dieder said:

im pretty sure they will active the radio.

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agreed

There is an FM radio chip inside the iPod touch 2G. They have not enabled it yet, so it does not seem likely that they will. That's also the part that may need extra hardware - namely an appropriate antenna.

The 802.11n is much more likely to be enabled at some point in the future.

broken-chaos said:

There is an FM radio chip inside the iPod touch 2G. They have not enabled it yet, so it does not seem likely that they will. That's also the part that may need extra hardware - namely an appropriate antenna.

The 802.11n is much more likely to be enabled at some point in the future.

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I agree. The last iPod had a bluetooth/FM chip in it. The bluetooth was enabled because the Nike+ antenna was also a bluetooth antenna. The FM was not enabled. Going on past records, the N-wireless might be enabled with iPhone OS 4.0.

I didn't see that the tearsown said the extra antanae required for N was present. That to me would be the clue that it might happen.

I would LOVE N to go back to my exclusive N net. The radio would be nice for not needing a transmitter in the car.... I'm having issue onthat front currently.

Anyway...

And what would they do for an antenna for the FM? Just because the chip can do something doesn't mean a firmware update will suddenly make it work perfectly.

old-wiz said:

And what would they do for an antenna for the FM? Just because the chip can do something doesn't mean a firmware update will suddenly make it work perfectly.

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Same as the nano and most other PMPs with FM radio the earphones are used as the antenna.

The 2.0 Touch had a bluetooth capable chip in it that Apple eventually anabled for bluetooth headphones and more. There was a macbook that was n-capable that Apple eventually enabled. So Apple has a history of releasing devices with more capabilities than they initially use, then activating those capabilities eventually with a firmware update.

I'm confident they've been working on a Touch with all the features they added to the Nano, but once they realized the camera wasn't going to be ready in time they simply rolled back to an earlier stable firmware point and released camera-less Touches. That stable firmware didn't yet have FM or N enabled, so we get to wait and pay another upgrade fee for those later. I expect FM and N in a mid-year firmware update, and the camera in a hardware update next year.

tadad1 said:

Same as the nano and most other PMPs with FM radio the earphones are used as the antenna.

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Wouldn't you need to run a conductor from the headphone jack directly to one of the input pins on the tuner chip, then?