Touch Screen Video iPod Coming Soon?

[xUKHCx]

What would be limited about the music playback? People keep mentioning this, but it says nothing in the article about any music limitations.

Glad someone said that, people just read other people posts and it all goes downhill from there

With the bigger screen, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple goes with some kind of door or heavy duty case. It would also make sense to have a couple hardware buttons on another side for audio playback, but maybe not. And I doubt screen resolution will change for videos, a three or four inch screen doesn't need higher resolution.

This is a good idea, as the large screen could be turned off when not needed i.e listening to music, so saves battery life. The button could even be on the front, so same size as the old 4th gen but the white bit that sticks up from the metal case actually flips open to reveal a large screen below. One problem what to do with the bit that opened out, wouldnt want that breaking off, could maybe flip all the way around so it is on the bottom.

 

[JesterJJZ]

I just want the current iPod to reach 80 or 100 gigs. I'm still on my 1st gen 10gig. Just can't justify getting a new one while my old one works perfectly.

 

[hayesk]

Sounds reasonable based on the patents they just filed, but I still think paying two dollars for one episode of a low-res, compressed, DRM-ed tv show is insane.

I think paying five dollars for a cup of coffee is insane, but yet there is a Starbucks' on every street corner.

 

[skippy64]

tKermits design is just kickass cool !!!!!!

 

[powerbook911]

I think paying five dollars for a cup of coffee is insane, but yet there is a Starbucks' on every street corner.

A cup of coffee isn't $5 Its the yummy dessert drinks.

So I guess an iPod is an exceptional music player. Not just a music player.

 

[crees!]

The only concern I have, is everyone's videos (including those on iTMS) are made for the resolution that the 5G iPod uses... Presumably the native resolution on this new device will be very different, will it support the lower res videos, or will everyone need a whole new collection of videos?

I can tell you that I have downloaded one of the first episodes of Surface and the latest one off iTMS. The quality between the 2 is huge. I was able to watch the latest episode fullscreen on my 15" PB. I would say it was about 90% or so to TV quality. Not sure if all other TV shows have seen a bump?

EDIT: I wonder if this would come with a remote and possibly Front Row when connected to a TV? Yes, Front Row is slow for some but I'm talking about the idea of having it built-in.

 

[dicklacara]

In a sense, the iPod video player as described IS a tablet Mac, just a smaller one.

To see where all this is going, have a look at this:

http://www.kddi.com/english/corporate/kddi/ubiquitous/en_b_episode1.html

Dick

 

[0098386]

Only Apple will be able to make portable video a good thing. I've had my Pocket PC with a 1gb SD card for years. Ive had portable DVD players and that. none of it is worth it. bring on a Video iPod. I may be interested. Even just to get a cheaper current gen iPod going from a 15gb iPod 3G to a 6gb iPod mini hurt a little. I want 60gb dammit!

 

[iGary]

Why am I not excited about this?

 

[TheMasin9]

im thinkin iPDA

i am betting that this notion is in reference to the supposed upcoming iphone or pda. I think that it IS too soon for apple to release a new ipod, the nano was just added to and the ipod was just revised. We dont need to crowd the lineup, just add a new product altogether.

 

[wordmunger]

What if they made it slightly longer than the current iPod, kept the physical clickwheel, but with a much larger screen?

The crappy mockup below would be less than 1/2 inch longer than the current model.

edit: on second thought, it woudl probably be designed to be used horizontally:

 

[iMeowbot]

Another tidbit that recently came up was a PortalPlayer press release, in which "[t]he company announced that it had licensed Sun Microsystems' Java™ Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) technologies to be included in PortalPlayer's personal media player platforms that are expected to be released in the first half of 2006." It's not at all clear if this is something that Apple would use, or if it's aimed at the Vista Sideshow market.

 

[Lord Sandwich]

I quickly made up an image of what I'd like the iPod to look like.

...

Additionally by leaving the form factor alone you don't run into any compatibility issues and keep the trademark-look of the iPod.

Two major problems with retaining the existing form factor:

1. Battery life (obviously). You'll need the backlight for absolutely every function now, and the screen is huge.
2. Hard drive. If you've tried playing a 2500kbps CBR video on the 5G (which is the maximum bitrate it can handle), you'll notice the drive already thrashes quite a bit to keep up the data flow. I just don't see them pulling off mid-res widescreen video on the existing microdrives.

Maybe they'll pack enough flash memory to solve both issues, but boy that'd be expensive.

 

[macker]

Does anyone read books anymore?

 

[bpd115]

Does anyone read books anymore?

Not until Apple releases an eBook reader with ePaper!

 

[Oryan]

tKermits design is just kickass cool !!!!!!

I couldn't agree more.

Does anyone read books anymore?

Only ebooks.

 

[utah_boy2]

Does anyone read books anymore?

I listen to books on my iPod sometimes

 

[Thanatoast]

Okay, so there's our first assumption, that there is a new vPod on the way. Then there is a second assumption, more of a guess really, that its launch would coincide with an iTunes Movie Store.

My question concerns pricing for full-length movies. How much would Apple charge? How much would we be willing to pay? $4.99? $5.99? $6.99? At what point do the economics (on all sides) no longer make sense?

 

[Kingsly]

As to Chaszmyr note, If you want the resolution to be the same as the screen, then yes. But Ive watched 320x240 Lost episodes via the a/v cable on a 640x480 screen and it still looks perfect. No complaints here.

I watch Lost on my projector (800x600) from my iPod and it looks better than Lost from my cable box! I hope the "real" video iPod doesn't come out too soon, I don't think my grandma will get me a new one already!

 

[1984]

I don't know. Thinksecret has been saying this ever since Apple announced the iPod with Video and their predictions were proven wrong once again. Oh we weren't talking about this iPod. The real iPod Video just isn't ready yet. Yeah, that's the ticket. Uh-huh. First of all a 3.5" screen is way too small to be using an on-screen clickwheel. It makes sense on a tablet but with a small screen like that your thumb or finger will cover half the display. What is the resolution of the display? It would have to be widescreen otherwise the supposed on-screen clickwheel would be totally unnecessary. If it is widescreen what about the 320x240 videos Apple sells? Are they going to start offering them in two resolutions, one for the iPod with Video and another for the iPod Video? None of this makes any sense.

 

[mrkstu]

PSP/DS Killer

Remember the rumors about portable games developers being hired (actually I think it was an actually help wanted add). Its probably time to see the fruits of that effort now. It sounds like the vPod will have the form factor of a PSP and the touch screen of the DS. Makes for some interesting possibilities for gameplay.

Looking at what Sony is doing with their UMD discs - the much better option is a hard drive that holds the movie rather than a small little disk thats liable to be lost. Obviously it won't have the 3d prowess of the PSP, but considering all the 3d chipsets designed for mobile phone game playing, they should be able to find a reasonably powerful chip for gaming that isn't to draining on the batteries.

 

[1984]

I watch Lost on my projector (800x600) from my iPod and it looks better than Lost from my cable box! I hope the "real" video iPod doesn't come out too soon, I don't think my grandma will get me a new one already!

You must have awful cable service!

 

[one09jason]

My gut feeling is this will be a vPod... not meant to replace the 5G ipod, but truly a multimedia device.

Well, I think iPod was a great name because it could be/do anything. But you know, I was just thinking, why is the thing called an 'i' Pod? Internet is the one thing it doesn't do (and won't do, accorduing to Think Secret).

 

[1984]

It looks like this is all based on analyst speculation.

 

[AtHomeBoy_2000]

What if they made it slightly longer than the current iPod, kept the physical clickwheel, but with a much larger screen?
The crappy mockup below would be less than 1/2 inch longer than the current model.

I dont really see that happening. I think they would want to feep the current iPod form factor. If they are going to make it bigger, make it more like a portable DVD player. with a 7 inch screen, a laptop battery and a massive hard drive. But they wont do that.

It'll look more liek this in my opinion....