Notes and Observations about Apple's iPod and Apple TV Announcements

[MacRumors]

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Apple hosted their media event today and announced a number of new products and updates. For a summary of those announcements, see our previous coverage:

- Apple Announces All New iPod Models: Shuffle, Nano, and Touch
- Apple Introduces Updated Apple TV
- Apple Releases iTunes 10 With 'Ping' Social Networking
- Apple Announces Pending Released of 4.1 and 4.2 Preview

Here are some notes and observations about today's announcements.

- The iPod Classic is still for sale but with no changes.
- According to the tech specs, the new iPod Touch's back camera takes stills at a disappointingly low 960x720 resolution.
- The new Apple TV is running an A4 processor. Previously it used a low end Intel chip. This means the Apple TV is certainly running an iOS variant that made to look like the previous interface.
- Apple's iTunes 10 Open/Minimize/Close buttons are vertically oriented (see screenshot above)
- The impressive game demo by Epic Games is now available on the App Store as a free download.
- The new iPod nano has no camera and apparently can't play video any longer.


Article Link: Notes and Observations about Apple's iPod and Apple TV Announcements

 

[Beric]

About the camera: the rear camera supposedly takes 720p video, which is 1280x720. Is the photo camera being crippled, or is the rear HD video camera not really HD, and only 960x720?

 

[blehpunk]

cool, Apple invented a...uh... Roku?!

 

[DARKJ3DI]

at least it can take still images. thats all i really need.

 

[BJB Productions]

About the camera: the rear camera supposedly takes 720p video, which is 1280x720. Is the photo camera being crippled, or is the rear HD video camera not really HD, and only 960x720?

Yeah.. I was wondering the same thing.

 

[mosx]

Disappointing resolution on the iPod touch rear camera.

Come on Apple. Not everyone wants anorexic electronics. Make the iPod touch thicker and give it the same camera sensor and LED flash as the iPhone 4.

And its time to kick the stainless steel backing to the curb too.

 

[D3nZ]

And no White iPhone news.

 

[Brinkman]

No info on iLife 11? Bah.

 

[7o7munoz7o7]

Everything seems pretty cool. Nice update to the iPod touch. Thats going to be one mean device. But the nano...that is a real big disappointment...Thats going to be good for nothing. Its going to be hard/awkward to hold. The 5th gen was pretty nice, adding the video camera boosted its points as well...Oh well I wasn't in the market for that anyway. The AppleTV is nice, and at $99 a no brainer. Cant wait for my package to drop at my door. Great Keynote

 

[wallaby]

iTunes 10 download still not showing up on the apple.com website. Guess it's taking them some time to get the download servers set up. I clicked "download" and ended up getting a .dmg for 9.2.1

 

[Chundles]

About the camera: the rear camera supposedly takes 720p video, which is 1280x720. Is the photo camera being crippled, or is the rear HD video camera not really HD, and only 960x720?

Nope, the camera is 1280x720, for stills it just crops to the centre to give a 4:3 aspect ratio image.

 

[Brinkman]

cool, Apple invented a...uh... Roku?!

What were you expecting? Cold fusion?

 

[Dekimasu]

I don't understand what it would have hurt to keep the old nano alongside this little thing. No video playback=different market. Not going to upsell me to a touch, sorry.

 

[gauspad216]

A4

Good point on apple tv running an A4. Probably a variant iOS operating system version. Wonder how much onboard space there is for future apps. Obv. w/ an operating system, there is flash memory in there.

 

[BJB Productions]

Nope, the camera is 1280x720, for stills it just crops to the centre to give a 4:3 aspect ratio image.

Well I guess that is good news, because that could always be updated in a iso update, and it's not a bad camera.

 

[FFArchitect]

Apple, correct this: Apple TV. Also, put apps in a TV. Also, rename iTunes - it's past music now. Also, I don't need another social network -- Facebook is all I can tolerate and even it's *barely* useful. That is all.

 

[Beric]

Nope, the camera is 1280x720, for stills it just crops to the centre to give a 4:3 aspect ratio image.

So it's crippled. Meh.

 

[thorbenh]

Steve said: "...and HDR will be available for all iOS devices, iPhone & iPad ..."
Something similar to that at least.

iPad and HDR? So we get a camera with the software update? neat.

 

[Mac21ND]

Vertical buttons?

Somewhat confused on the vertical orientation of the buttons in iTunes... ? I guess it's to save space at the top?

 

[rtdunham]

1) I was hoping for iOS4 with apps on the appleTV; it would be cool to pause a movie or tv show and check out a sports score, stock price, the weather or the other cool things some apps do.

2) how do we manage the media we've bought on our gen one appleTVs--i guess copy (sync?) that media back to our computers? It's gonna put a squeeze on hard disk space.

3) The Touch's camera spec--if it's true it's 1280x720, and cropped to 4:3 for stills--is embarrassing. A sub-one megapixel camera? I checked one website on resolution, it said a two MP camera could produce average quality 8x10 or best quality 3x5 prints. So what do you think the limits will be on a one MP?

 

[macfan881]

Apple, correct this: Apple TV. Also, put apps in a TV. Also, rename iTunes - it's past music now. Also, I don't need another social network -- Facebook is all I can tolerate and even it's *barely* useful. That is all.

Than Dont use it duh

 

[nemaslov]

So just stick a 320 GB HD in a classic shell for those of us who want 40,000 lossless songs!

 

[tzeshan]

iPodTouch is thinner than iPhone 4. There is no high resolution camera that can fit in it.

One more thing Apple announced today. iOS 4.1 will make the iPhone photo better.

 

[iRobertM]

Love the constant negative attitudes, Apple could release a cure for cancer and people would bitch.

 

[BJB Productions]

So it's crippled. Meh.

You still buying? I've also been waiting 3 years for this.. I've finally come to the sad reality that the iPod Touch will always be slightly behind the iPhone. (go figure lol)

So.. I could wait another two years, and maybe it will get a camera that the current iPhone 4 has, along with flash... But by then... That would already be behind the iPhone. It would be an endless cycle of waiting.. haha