The iPhone 5 was certainly the big star of Apple's September 12 event (sorry, Dave Grohl...), but the recently neglected iPod touch got a major makeover as well, and the iPod nano got its video-playing mojo back.
The 4th-gen iPod touch was introduced in September 2010, more than 2 years ago, with the iPhone 4's A4 processor and Retina display. But when the iPhone 4S came along, the iPod touch languished without an upgrade. Now the new fifth-gen iPod touch brings the feature set back in line with the iPhone. Both have the 4-inch, 1136x640 screen. Both got dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz). Both got the super-cool panorama feature for the rear camera, plus a better front camera with 1.2-megapixel stills and 720p video, and both have the new Lightning connector.
The iPod touch still lags in a few specs (its rear camera is 5 megapixels, while iPhone 5's is 8, and the iPod touch gets the A5 chip while the iPhone 5 boasts an A6). But in a few ways we like it better than iPhone 5. It's incredibly thin and light, down to just 3.10 ounces and 0.24 inch thick—it feels like it could float right out of your hand. But don't worry about dropping it during a intense gaming session--Apple brilliantly included a small pop-out button on the back where you can connect a rubber wrist strap called the iPod touch loop.
Thanks to its improved hardware, the new iPod touch can handle iPhoto, iMovie, and AirPlay Mirroring for the first time ever. It even has Siri. All this with no data contract, at the same prices ($299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB), and in color: It comes in silver, black, pink, yellow, blue, and (PRODUCT) RED.
The iPod nano has changed dramatically over its seven generations, and this latest one feels like Apple put all the previous nanos' features into a hat and pulled out a bunch. The screen is tall, for widescreen video viewing--but no camera, so no recording, as you could on the 5th-gen nano. No clip like the 6th-gen. No clickwheel like the 5th gen. Confused yet?
The 7th-gen nano ($149 for 16GB) has a 2.5-inch, 240x432-pixel Multi-Touch display, and a Home button so you don't have to keep swiping back through menus to get to the start screen. An accelerometer flips the orientation while you're looking through photos. The last video-playing iPod nano (5th-gen) had a tiny speaker, but this one is headphones-only. (It comes with the new EarPods, which so far we're finding quite comfortable--a full review is on www.maclife.com.) It also has Bluetooth, a first for a nano, and the new Lightning connector. At 0.21 inch thick, and 1.1 ounces, the iPod nano feels as light and thin as an Apple Remote--we have thumb drives heftier than this thing.
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chodaboy
September 14, 2012 at 7:12pm
I had such high hopes for the nano. I was hoping to have a medium capacity ipod in a small case. I was hoping that the nano would sport at least 32gb, praying for about 80. They did not increase the hard drive from the shuffle-sized nano. Why increase the size but not the hard drive? Makes no sense to me.
Too bad. I just lost my 80 ipod. Guess I'll have to replace it with my iphone 4 when I get the 5.
