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Third-Generation iPod Touch Teardown Reveals 802.11n-Capable Wi-Fi Chip

NT1440 said:
Draft N has been on the market for years now, and the board that does it stated that they will be fully supporting it in the official specs. My guess is either battery or some other limitation.
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i heard the first routers that shipped a few years ago aren't going to be compatible with the final spec, but the later ones will require a firmware upgrade
 
$9.99 update!

Next update version 3.2 for $9.99. Minor added features, some bug fixes and of course activate 802.11n. Another reason for being sucked by Apple. This is ridiculous!
 
Interesting about the camera. Maybe that video of the touch with a camera right there was real and it got scrapped because of technical difficulties. Honestly, I'm not that excited about taking video. Stills are much more useful to me, but not with a camera of that size. This might placate people that can't decide what to do right now. If it was only ever intended to hold the nano camera, that's not a big loss. Of course, apple really did drop the ball by doing nothing but providing a speed bump. They'll have to do something next time. For a higher end, multi-purpose device like the touch, the cheap nano camera just doesn't seem to be a good fit. Maybe apple is waiting to figure out how to do better.
 
Camera on iPod Nano weak compared to iPhone

With only 640x480 images on the iPod, it is no better than my Nokia 6260.
That resolution is lousy for still images. The iPhone has a much better camera. I hope the iPod Touch gets the same camera as the iPhone. That's when I'd consider getting one.
 
alent1234 said:
i heard the first routers that shipped a few years ago aren't going to be compatible with the final spec, but the later ones will require a firmware upgrade
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Where did you hear that? I've read all draft n devices will be supported, they may not get the few extra goodies or whatnot, but they will work.

^ Gopher: Thats exactly why the nano doesn't do still images.
 
NT1440 said:
Where did you hear that? I've read all draft n devices will be supported, they may not get the few extra goodies or whatnot, but they will work.

^ Gopher: Thats exactly why the nano doesn't do still images.
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one of the tech rags on the internet
 
Surely it would make sence for :apple: to enable 802.11n so the people's networks would run faster and they would be happier with the over all :apple: experience rather than letting the iTouch/iPhone slow down the network.

(We arn't all going to rush out and up grade our routers to dual band)
 
I love how people think N matters. I doubt most people have internet that is even near the max of wireless g, and even if you did you touch won't process web pages any faster. The device is a limitation, not the internet speed
 
iVoid said:
Interesting that there's room for a camera in there. Seems to indicate the production problems might have been true or Apple decided to leave the camera for the next rev of the Touch.


As for the Wireless-N, they might not use that functionality since they'd need more antennas than B/G. So even if the chip supports it, Apple might just have used it because it had all the other features they needed and not for the N capability.
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for the camera maybe there is just a spot? why must it be a spot for a camera and not just a regular spot?
 
So is the location of the "space" where the camera could have gone in the 3G Touch in the same place as all of the holes in the supposed 3G cases? I'm wondering if their was an initial leak of the camera, but the manufacturers never new it had been changed.
 
Vandam500 said:
Wow, that gets me pretty mad. Why? I have a 3GS and the Wifi chip doesn't support Wireless N. Why am I mad? An iPod Touch 3rd Gen owner pays $299 or $399 and that's it, no monthly fees. An iPhone 3GS owner pays $200 or $300 (I paid $430 btw) plus a steep monthly fee (2 years) which of course Apple gets a % of. Without a doubt 3GS owners are paying Apple minimum $500 dollars for the device and yet there are more advanced parts in a iPod Touch which they make less money off? Wow, just wow.
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I feel the same way. I know the 3GS is more of a refresh, but it seems like Apple was very shortsighted this time by not adding the wireless N chip on the 3GS.
 
There's no way they would charge for an update to activate the "N" functionality.

Then again, as a first gen iTouch owner that's paid for two OS upgrades I'm not sure why I'd think that...:)
 
This is JUST like Apple.

...give ya a nice new piece of hardware, and then totally not let you use it, or charge you more later on to use it.

LAME. If I could build a hackintosh phone, I would.
 
Well..make it thicker. This way they can stop producing two separate backs for the Touch and iPhone.
 
Vandam500 said:
Wow, that gets me pretty mad. Why? I have a 3GS and the Wifi chip doesn't support Wireless N. Why am I mad? An iPod Touch 3rd Gen owner pays $299 or $399 and that's it, no monthly fees. An iPhone 3GS owner pays $200 or $300 (I paid $430 btw) plus a steep monthly fee (2 years) which of course Apple gets a % of. Without a doubt 3GS owners are paying Apple minimum $500 dollars for the device and yet there are more advanced parts in a iPod Touch which they make less money off? Wow, just wow.
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Well, yeah, but you iPhone users get... a phone... and internet almost everywhere. Besides, it's not like Wireless N is activated on the Touch.

And Apple does get a premium from the iPhone, but it gets it in a 2-year lapse of time, whereas with a Touch it gets the full amount upfront, probably why the Touch is "cheaper" on the long run.
 
What the post doesn't mention is what flavor N that chip supports—the 802.11n standard supports both 2.4ghz and 5 ghz modes.

The real benefit of N that people are going to want to use is the magical 5 ghz mode and multiple antennas—some of the extra speed and range comes from not competing with the crowded 2.4 ghz band. But you need additional antennas to really make it worthwhile.

Even if the chip supports N completely, I'm going to play devil's advocate here and assume Apple's engineers did some testing and came to one of more of the following conclusions: 1) there simply wasn't enough room inside that case for the extra wiring to make it worth using for N and 2) the power drain of N mode wasn't worth the reduced battery life or their driver software wasn't ready.
 
fenderbass146 said:
I love how people think N matters. I doubt most people have internet that is even near the max of wireless g, and even if you did you touch won't process web pages any faster. The device is a limitation, not the internet speed
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Think Skype/VOIP. N will very substantially matter!!!!!

Granted the number of N enabled WiFi hotspots isn't extremely high, but the Touch as a more viable alternative to the iPhone.... damn skippy want to put N on it.

N will also matter in WiFi hotspots where have many folks pulling content at the same time since effectively sharing the same base tranmitter. Faster base lets it timeshare among more devices more easily.
 
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