I just watched Steve Jobs' "keynote" speech, streamed live today (impressively). As usual, I enjoyed it very much.
Funny, though, Steve really loved that they had made the iPod Shuffle, the Nano, and the Apple TV much smaller yet. But I feel none of these products needed to become smaller. Have you ever seen anybody lift up the coin-sized iPod Shuffle and say: "man, I really wish this thing was smaller and lighter"... ?
And the Apple TV is for a shelf. Not bad it's much smaller, but not really something I ever wished for either.
(Update: Tonya Engst: "I predict for Apple September 2011 iPods so small that you wear them as contact lenses. Of course, they'll come in different colors!")
And he just got past saying about the Shuffle that "people missed the buttons" on the last model, and then he proudly announces that they have removed the buttons from the Nano!
All right, it makes more sense on that one, because it has a touch screen now. But on an iPod, I really like having buttons, because (like Mr. Jobs actually pointed out) you can operate it without looking at it (in a pocket or on my bedside table for ebook reading). I use an iPod classic instead of the Touch for this reason.
... Which makes me worried, because he did not mention the Classic at all! Are they going to stop making it? What about those with big collections, and those who like the buttons?
Seems they are still selling it at least. Still the same capacity though. Not that I need any more, but I know there are people who have like ten iPods just for the space they need.
Gotta admit though that technically the new Touch is very impressive, and even more so considering that price. From $229. Dang.
Similarly the prices of the new Shuffle and the Apple TV are just insanely cheap. Apple is going all out in the consumer market.
(Ugh, I see now that the price for Apple TV is the same in Pounds Sterling as in dollars, however...) (See here. Yes, why do we never have deals like the free NetFlix streaming they get in the US? Seriously.)
Yeah, I know we can't be the only ones that would love to see Apple stop making the damn things smaller (IMO, the iPod nano reached an optimal size in the last couple generations), and maybe rather use that tech advancement to squeeze a higher capacity battery into the same size case.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and more storage.
ReplyDeleteThe camera in the iPod touch takes still photos of less than one megapixel! Speculation is that the touch is too thin fo fit the 5 MP camera in the thicker iPhone 4g. Apple's specs say 7.2 vs. 9.3 mm for touch and iPhone 4 thickness.
ReplyDeleteApple has had many opportunities to put a decent still camera in an iPod. They don't seem very anxious to do so. To me a good 3MP or 5MP camera in an iPod would be a great addition.
1MP? Really? Then I guess it's meant pretty much only for video.
ReplyDeleteFrom Apple's website:
ReplyDelete"Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio; still photos (960 x 720) with back camera
VGA-quality photos and video up to 30 frames per second with the front camera"
By my calculations...
Back camera: 960 x 720 pixels = 0.6912 x 1,000,000 pixels, .7 megapixels
Front camera VGA: 640 x 480 pixels = 0.3072 x 1,000,000 pixels, .3 megapixels
I think they must have considered a better still camera for the iPod touch, and said, "no, we don't want that." I wonder why.
I noticed that the Nano has lost the ability to play video, and the camera from the previous generation is gone. ARSE!
ReplyDeleteYes, I don't think this Nano was a step up in any way.
ReplyDelete