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Teardown of 'New' iPod Touch Reveals Few Changes, If Any
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Disappointing
I was hoping for an upgraded iPod Touch. It seems like Apple wasted an opportunity to increase their share of the devices with gaming capabilities, even though an upgrade to the A5 might have only been half the performance of the Sony Playstation Vita. I imagine IF the next iPhone includes a larger screen, then maybe that upgrade (along with an upgraded CPU/GPU) will come down to the next iPod Touch. I just have my doubts that Apple would upgrade the screen, camera, and CPU/GPU to the most recent (instead of using 'last years', i.e. A5) technology. Even with a modest price increase, though a more substantial price is more likely for such a component upgrade.
Of course, with seemingly little competition in this market space, maybe Apple just wants people to upgrade to the iPhone 4S instead.
I hope an A15/PowerVR SGX 600s combo are a strong possibility in any iPod Touch next year, though I'm probably dreaming. At best, it probably would be a quad-core A9/SGX543MP4 like the Playstation Vita, but probably will end up being the A5.
I just wish I had an idea of the price difference between an A4 and an A5 that Apple could have used in the current iPod Touch -- (Only $15 for an A5, if the cost analysis of iSuppli is correct) -- though it probably comes down to 'perceived value' of the performance of the A5 vs the A4, which is likely why it may not have been included, so Apple could keep the same price point.
I fail to see how not upgrading the iPod Touch benefits Apple's bottom line.
I was hoping for an upgraded iPod Touch. It seems like Apple wasted an opportunity to increase their share of the devices with gaming capabilities, even though an upgrade to the A5 might have only been half the performance of the Sony Playstation Vita. I imagine IF the next iPhone includes a larger screen, then maybe that upgrade (along with an upgraded CPU/GPU) will come down to the next iPod Touch. I just have my doubts that Apple would upgrade the screen, camera, and CPU/GPU to the most recent (instead of using 'last years', i.e. A5) technology. Even with a modest price increase, though a more substantial price is more likely for such a component upgrade.
Of course, with seemingly little competition in this market space, maybe Apple just wants people to upgrade to the iPhone 4S instead.
I hope an A15/PowerVR SGX 600s combo are a strong possibility in any iPod Touch next year, though I'm probably dreaming. At best, it probably would be a quad-core A9/SGX543MP4 like the Playstation Vita, but probably will end up being the A5.
I just wish I had an idea of the price difference between an A4 and an A5 that Apple could have used in the current iPod Touch -- (Only $15 for an A5, if the cost analysis of iSuppli is correct) -- though it probably comes down to 'perceived value' of the performance of the A5 vs the A4, which is likely why it may not have been included, so Apple could keep the same price point.
I fail to see how not upgrading the iPod Touch benefits Apple's bottom line.
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Despite no real changes from 2010, it's still more capable than my ol' 2008 1g model, which barely holds a charge, and easier to use than my antique iPod Classic from I-don't-know-when, whose 80gb drive is almost completely toast.
I got one in white and it's quite nice. (Nicer if it was upgraded, of course ...) Hopefully it will last 3 years like my previous one.
I got one in white and it's quite nice. (Nicer if it was upgraded, of course ...) Hopefully it will last 3 years like my previous one.
If I'm honest, part of me loves the fact that the iPod Touch wasn't updated since I bought the 4G right after launch in 2010.
...makes me feel like it was an awesome, perfectly-timed buy.
Why did people vote this guy down? I'd feel exactly the same!
why are people even asking these questions about the difference in price between the iPod Touch and the iPhone?? The reason there is such a price gap is simply because Apple CAN... The iPhone is targeted at wealthy adults who want the best phone regardless of price; fundamentally the iPod Touch is targeted at kids and people who like watching their portable movies on a big screen. iPhone competes with other $500+ phones; iPod Touch competes with the 3DS and PSP, as well as other more conventional portable music players to some extent.
If you can shift 4 million phones in your opening weekend and your demand exceeds your supply pretty much all year round why wouldn't you make a killing with a huge profit margin???
If you can shift 4 million phones in your opening weekend and your demand exceeds your supply pretty much all year round why wouldn't you make a killing with a huge profit margin???
My iPod 4th gen has a microphone. I can't see the camera, antenna or gps causing that big of a difference either. Phone components possibly. I agree with another poster. A larger battery is required to run the extra components. My iPhone 4 runs a lot longer than my iPod running apps, music, etc.
Yeah...i won't lie...i was slightly bummed that this update was purely cosmetic. I had been waiting for it in order to update my camera-less 2nd gen ipod touch. Was hoping for a better camera than last years 4th gen model....but alas, that was not to be.
Still....i gladly purchased a new white 64 gig 5th gen ipod touch with iOS 5. I use it for facetime, imessage and as a voip device to replace my virgin pay as you go phone since i travel alot and dont like contracts. So far it works great.
I would imagine next september the ipod touch will get the better camera, faster chip and perhaps redesign. Until then...i am content.
Still....i gladly purchased a new white 64 gig 5th gen ipod touch with iOS 5. I use it for facetime, imessage and as a voip device to replace my virgin pay as you go phone since i travel alot and dont like contracts. So far it works great.
I would imagine next september the ipod touch will get the better camera, faster chip and perhaps redesign. Until then...i am content.
It's the bigger battery and antenna that require it to be thicker than the iPod Touch.
I think Apple is not upgrading them because the price would be the same anyway and there is no competition for them anyway. It sucks. Companies get lazy when there is no one to compete with. Look at MS and Windows. Vista and windows 7 are the same with the User annoying messages turned off.
My first gen ipod touch still holds over a days charge and i use it everywhere
I think Apple is not upgrading them because the price would be the same anyway and there is no competition for them anyway. It sucks. Companies get lazy when there is no one to compete with. Look at MS and Windows. Vista and windows 7 are the same with the User annoying messages turned off.
I don't like change for change's sake. Vista and 7 are both the same basic OS, but IMO that's good, as there's no reason to change it, and anyway 7 does have tons of nice interface changes.
The iPod on the other hand DESPERATELY needs faster hardware, and iOS is soooo primitive next to real Windows or OS X. For now, at least bumping it to iPad 2 specs would be a HUGE improvement (and PLEASE give us a 4x larger battery...) though long run I really want a full OS in a Palm esque device...always wanted that from the beginning
If nothing else, even just bumping the RAM to 512MB on the iPod would probably make it feel a lot faster? It was slow on 4.x, and is just dirt slow now...takes seconds just to unlock when I'm playing a podcast.
I'd argue now there's MAJOR competition for the iPad touch, it's the Kindle Fire. Sounds like it sold very well over the holidays, and if Apple had updated the touch and really pushed it to that audience I think they could have made many of those sales instead of Amazon getting them.
The fire is competition for both, it also does music, video, apps/games, and web content. The main difference between that and the touch is just screen size. I'd also say that the cheaper android phones are competition (even though touch doesn't include a phone), but the fire is a bigger and more sudden entry to the market.
I guess it sort of is, but still you can slip an iPod in your pocket.
Samsung technically makes an Android iPod touch like device.
They SEEM Pretty nice, and I was tempted to buy one, but I don't know what hardware they're running...might still be an A8, and more importantly, like all Android stuff I don't actually trust that they'll be kept updated.
Plus, I don't know how great it is for podcasts anyway, and the iPod does that pretty darned well.
EDIT: Actually, Microsoft SHOULD have a "Windows Phone 7 without the phone" Zune replacement, but they don't for some reason...and in that case I'm almost certain the podcast handling doesn't work for me. The Zune desktop just doesn't have enough options, and it was kind of like just all automated for podcasts, instead of letting me see a playcount and manually deleting stuff, as I do in iTunes.
Samsung technically makes an Android iPod touch like device.
They SEEM Pretty nice, and I was tempted to buy one, but I don't know what hardware they're running...might still be an A8, and more importantly, like all Android stuff I don't actually trust that they'll be kept updated.
Plus, I don't know how great it is for podcasts anyway, and the iPod does that pretty darned well.
EDIT: Actually, Microsoft SHOULD have a "Windows Phone 7 without the phone" Zune replacement, but they don't for some reason...and in that case I'm almost certain the podcast handling doesn't work for me. The Zune desktop just doesn't have enough options, and it was kind of like just all automated for podcasts, instead of letting me see a playcount and manually deleting stuff, as I do in iTunes.