Today, Apple revealed the final form of its latest iPod touch. At 7.2mm deep, the new iPod touch is thinner than before, yet it packs in several key features that were recently introduced with the iPhone 4.
Those features include a 24-bit colour Retina Display, which packs a resolution of 960 by 640 pixels into a 3.5-inch display to give it a fine pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. The new model is powered by the Apple-designed A4 processor, which is also at the heart of the iPhone 4 and iPad.
Also widely anticipated, the new iPod touch packs in front and rear cameras, which can be used to hold video chats over wifi with other iPod touch and iPhone 4 users around the world. It can record 720p video, just like the iPhone 4, but its still photographs are much lower resolution than the five-megapixel images that Apple’s current phone puts out. They’re just 960 wide by 720 pixels tall. The optional iMovie app (£2.99 from the App Store) lets you edit videos and, when a wifi connection is available, you can put them online.
The iPod touch will ship with iOS 4.1, which includes some new features. Most prominently highlighted during the event were Game Center, Apple’s social network for playing games with friends over the Internet, and for match-making with players who you don’t know. That update will be available for various older models of iPod touch, iPhone and for the iPad as a free update through iTunes starting next week.
Another iPhone 4 feature that has made the leap to the touch is its three-axis gyro, which is already employed by various games, including the first-person N.O.V.A., in which turning your body changes the direction of view within the game.
As well as detailing the improved hardware specification, Steve Jobs was deliberate in emphasising the iPod touch’s surging popularity. In the last year, it has surpassed the iPod nano as the most popular iPod. He also said that the iPod touch outsells portable game systems from Nintendo and Sony combined, although both companies are expected to introduce their next-generation portable game systems soon.
Jobs said the iPod touch’s success has given Apple more than a 50 percent market share in portable gaming, both within the US and worldwide. He also stressed that there have been 1.5 million game and entertainment downloads made to iPod touch devices alone.
Apple says the iPod touch will last for 40 hours of music playback. It will be available from next week, and it comes in three capacities. The 8GB model costs £189, and unlike the 2009 models, it is not based on an older specification than its more capacious siblings. It has the same hardware features as them, including the Retina Display and cameras. A 32GB iPod touch will cost you £249. The biggest capacity remains 64GB and it sells for £329.
Apple also unveiled a strikingly different iPod nano and a new version of the low-cost iPod shuffle.
