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iPod touch Why the new iPod Touch will have GPS and 3G

I still dont get why this is going on for as long as it is...... 3G is a mobile service and you would have to have a mobile operator to use the bloody service ergo iPhone.

gps would be handy for maps and finding your way around whilst on the road so in that sense I could see gps being handy in a touch with the addition of a loud speaker it would be easy enough to incorporate a voice and offline maps like with tomtom and the like.

but the reality of "Why the new iPod Touch will have GPS and 3G" is it will never feature these as apple do not want their iPhone to be out sold by an ipod with similar features. So you saying the touch will have them will never be a reality and thats the truth really
 
Stuart in Oz said:
...then not building in a mic or speaker would be the crucial point - without those it's almost impossible to hack a 3G touch into a cheapo iPhone. If the hardware ain't there, it ain't there.
Click to expand...

The hardware capability is already there:
  • speaker = headphones
  • mic = dock accessory

Given that we've already seen VOIP solutions for (jail-broken) Touches, then an iPod Touch with a 3G chipset is simply one dock accessory away from being a phone. :D
 
cky923 said:
it would have to have a mobile data connection to load maps
Click to expand...

I can understand what you mean by that so we have access to the maps on the fly as its a on-demand app, but all apple need to do is have maps as a offline app with the maps pre-installed but as u can imagine that would take up ALOT of space
 
ra noodle said:
i may get dumped on after i say this.....but GPS has everything to do with surveillance...
Click to expand...
Real GPS is a receive-only medium - you have an antenna listening for broadcast signals from a cloud of satellites. The satellites themselves have no means of identifying, much less tracking, which devices on the ground are listening in on their signals.

The only way for a real GPS receiver to be turned into a remote tracking appliance, would be if the GPS receiver used some other communication medium to regularly "phone home" and report its coordinates.

Of course, if the iPod Touch were to obtain some form of GPS, it likely wouldn't be using real GPS, but rather some form of AGPS (there are several mechanisms, one of which was described earlier in this thread). Depending on the nature of the assistance provided by the AGPS implementation, it may or may not involve disclosing enough data to an outside intermediary as a necessary step in performing the computations, that the outside intermediary might be able to track the device's location.

it would have to have a mobile data connection to load maps
Click to expand...
Remember that GPS by itself is just a mechanism for determining your latitude and longitude. No maps required to satisfy the requirements of a GPS computation.

Separately, one can take the latitude and longitude that is obtained from GPS, and plot it on a map. You might receive that map data via a live stream (eg. Google Maps) or you might download the whole map at once and use it offline (eg. TomTom). For reference, a TomTom navigational map of all of North America weighs in at a 847.6 MB download. If you only cared about, for example, the USA Mid West, it'd be a 279.3 MB download.
 
Am i the only one thinking that the iPod touch is an iPod... A Cool iPod but all the same, ITS JUST AN IPOD DAMMIT, GET OVER IT, WHY WOULD ANYONE NEED A GPS IN A PORTABLE MP3 PLAYER??????? Its for MUSIC hence the iPod component in its name.

Read my sig, im happy to be proved wrong.
 
iCantwait said:
Am i the only one thinking that the iPod touch is an iPod... A Cool iPod but all the same, ITS JUST AN IPOD DAMMIT, GET OVER IT, WHY WOULD ANYONE NEED A GPS IN A PORTABLE MP3 PLAYER??????? Its for MUSIC hence the iPod component in its name.

Read my sig, im happy to be proved wrong.
Click to expand...

i agree with you, thus why i want 10% of your takings if you win!!! :p :rolleyes:
 
DoFoT9 said:
i agree with you, thus why i want 10% of your takings if you win!!! :p :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

can I get in on that too?

even though I posted a link sayin ipod touch 2 will have gps I still don't think it will till I see something official ipod touch will DEFFINATELY not have 3G nor will it have gps
 
Jelite said:
If it did have GPS what use would you get from it without an internet connection?
Click to expand...
Offline maps are everywhere.

Especially if you only needed a map to a certain destination.

It would be really helpful.


With that said, Come on people. it's not gonna happen.
 
I can't believe that this thread has gone on for as long as it has. I haven't read the whole thing, but WOW. An iPod Touch 3G just doesn't make any sense for a business standpoint. Other than the person that started this thread, I can't think of anyone that would be willing to pay a monthly fee on a device when they could get an iPhone. I mean, talk about a niche product. You might be appealing to less than 1% of the population. Not to mention the development costs that would be incurred in making such a device. Even though the technology is there (iPhone) it's not that simple to design something new.

I can see a GPS chip in it (thought I would like to see a mic and speaker first - there are a lot of apps that support this) because you could download all of the maps onto your Touch (maybe a great source of income on iTunes? Buy maps for your area.) and then have a nice GPS device. But 3G? It just doesn't make sense.

P-Worm
 
I would like to see a coffee maker machine included in it. Also a baking oven to make some pizzas, and a laser gun. lol
 
orpheusmyth said:
I would like to see a coffee maker machine included in it. Also a baking oven to make some pizzas, and a laser gun. lol
Click to expand...

Apple will not do that because they want to differentiate the iPod touch from the iPhone. Apple will not add something to the touch that the iPhone doesn't have. So the iPhone will get the coffee maker first.
 
andybno1 said:
can I get in on that too?

even though I posted a link sayin ipod touch 2 will have gps I still don't think it will till I see something official ipod touch will DEFFINATELY not have 3G nor will it have gps
Click to expand...

no i dont think you can get in on it because youve already voted for the opposition :p cant change back and forth tsktsk
 
andybno1 said:
can I get in on that too?

even though I posted a link sayin ipod touch 2 will have gps I still don't think it will till I see something official ipod touch will DEFFINATELY not have 3G nor will it have gps
Click to expand...

no i dont think you can get in on it because youve already voted for the opposition :p cant change back and forth tsktsk
 
I love you guys!

My beloved iPod Touch was stolen in the SeaTac Airport while on my way to surf with my college buddies in Santa Cruz CA.

It was the perfect companion. It had surf movies that I purchased and ripped, books that I wanted to listen to, games that I loved playing, my music, my Pod Casts; even my Bible was on it. But now it's gone and I really miss it!

But I'm gonna buy a new one and It's so fun to read the posts of people from all over the world guessing about the features of my new iPod to be. This is an amazing thing to me, how many people from all over the planet are so into this thing! What a great invention it is! But it can't be a phone; no subscription services at all!! (One time costs only, buy music - own it, buy apps - own them, etc.)

So here's my vote on what my next Ipod should have:

1. More memory for a lower price ($499 for 32gb is half the cost of a computer!!)

2. A decent camera/video; it will add to the fun factor, especially with photo type apps.

3. GPS would be awesome. I would be willing to store maps for where I was going to be. And turn-by-turn apps can't be far away. This way a phone and an iPod Touch and you're covered no matter what comes up.

And be nice to Stuart, he's from OZ the land of magical waves (and a beast called Shipstearns); after all he got this thread going and that's why I joined.
 
My dream iPod touch would have GPS, some sort of high-speed internet connection, a camera, and speakers. I already have a phone that I'm pretty happy with!

Of course, this will never happen because it would probably cannibalize the iPhone sales.

-Tuck
 
The Tuck said:
My dream iPod touch would have GPS, some sort of high-speed internet connection, a camera, and speakers. I already have a phone that I'm pretty happy with!

Of course, this will never happen because it would probably cannibalize the iPhone sales.

-Tuck
Click to expand...

Thank you! Finally someone with some sense. You say your dream touch and admit it won't happen instead of expecting Apple to make it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
 
Considering that the ipod touch is not mainly for music and video, but for mroe of an experience. DOn't underestimate it as a product that could utilize something such as a data plan. Yes you could do some thigns tha apple may not want you to do, but given that you'd have to jailbreak it to take advatange with the kind of apps you would need, I don't think they worry about that. As jailbreaking is nothing they can stop besides with updates.

Now do I expect any form of data plan possibilities, or that being free? no, I don.t. But apple could allow for things that could do that without adding it to the device. 3rd part hardware would be something that could make things like that work. I mean those wo can't buy an iphone due to where they live(such as me, somebody who lives in Wyoming), or somebody who is already in a contract. A third party would be something seen as an inconvenience if you can get an iphone, but if you can't, what choice do you have if you want to use it for the internet without wifi?
 
tonyshucraft said:
Yes you could do some thigns tha apple may not want you to do, but given that you'd have to jailbreak it to take advatange with the kind of apps you would need, I don't think they worry about that. As jailbreaking is nothing they can stop besides with updates.
Click to expand...

This argument makes no sense. If they can only stop it with updates and people can just avoid updates until another exploit is found then Apple won't want a data plan with the iPod touch. :confused:
 
tonyshucraft said:
but given that you'd have to jailbreak it to take advatange with the kind of apps you would need, I don't think they worry about that. As jailbreaking is nothing they can stop besides with updates.
Click to expand...

but the iphone dev team have proven time and again updates don't stop jailbreaking they have said themselves the only way apple could stop the current jailbreak method is if they changed the hardware
 
tuffluffjimmy said:
Thank you! Finally someone with some sense. You say your dream touch and admit it won't happen instead of expecting Apple to make it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Click to expand...

I would have thought that it went without saying, that most people here realize this is a purely speculative discussion, and that the small minority of the overall market represented here probably doesn't have any significant bearing on Apple's design decisions.
 
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