K’s Weblog

On September 5th, Apple announced a new fleet of portable devices to go along with the iPhone. These devices included revised versions of the iPod (now the iPod Classic), iPod Nano and iPod shuffle.  In addition to the revised devices, Apple has released two new devices.  The first is the one we’ve all heard so much about, and that of course is the much-hyped and highly anticipated iPhone.  The second is the brand new iPod touch.

I’m going to quickly touch on a few of the “revised” models first before getting into the new devices.  The new shuffle is essentially unchanged, aside from capacity.  There’s now only a single size, a 1GB model.  The shuffle is a simple interface, with no screen and provides a bare-bones set of features.

Next up, the newly revised iPod Nano.  This is a fairly major revision for the third generation of the Nano, finally incorporating the ability to do video.  The only major concern I can see with the Nano’s new capability is that trying to watch video on a 2-inch screen is akin to watching Lord of the Rings on the back-panel of my DSLR.  Not exactly an inviting experience.  That said the new rounded aesthetic is nice, reminiscent of the MacBook, and at just over half a cm in thickness it maintains the Nano’s slim profile.

Third on the block is the “new old iPod”: the iPod has become the iPod Classic.  This new edition of the full-size iPod also sports the new rounded MacBook-like styling, just as with the Nano.  Apple has also upped the hard drive size on the new iPod Classic to 160GB.  That’s right, 160GB.  That’s twice the size of the hard drive in the base model MacBook!  I could load my entire iTunes Library on this iPod 4 times and still have a bit of space left over… *sigh*.  Still, it will allow you to store about 200 hours of video, so if you wanted to have an iPod will all 7 seasons of Star Trek TNG and all 10 movies then this is the one for you.

Now for the new kid on the block, the iPod Touch.  This is basically the iPhone without the Phone bit… (call it an “i”?)  It’s main features are the full-size touch screen, built-in wifi and solid-state storage.  These come in 8 and 16GB versions and are basically a the missing link between the PDA and the MP3 player.  It’ll be interesting to see how the iPod touch will interfere with sales of Apple’s other new flagship device: the iPhone.

Apple’s iPhone is the flagship device.  With 8GB of storage, wifi, web browsers, full-featured iPod and other features it’s definitely a slick device.  Unfortunately, unless you live in the US, and sign up for a contract with AT&T, it’s nothing more than an iPod Touch.

Overall the new line looks pretty impressive at first glance.  Though most of the new models have something that makes you say “hmm…”.  Below is my one line synopsis of all five devices.

• Shuffle: no major drawbacks, basic simple device.
• Nano: good device, but who want’s to watch video on a 2″ screen?
• Classic: nice new look & features but who needs 160GB?!
• Touch: Great new device, ideal for video… but only supports 16GB
• iPhone: Slick new device… if you live and work in the US.

In short, I’m not running out the door to pick up any of these devices (though I did enter a draw for an iPod Touch in support of the Terry Fox foundation).

Related Posts