After all the speculation and rumor, Apple officially announced its new iPhone 5 at a media event in San Francisco Wednesday Sept. 12. And while all the attention was understandably focused on the iPhone 5, Apple still clearly had a few cards up its sleeve when it introduced its seventh generation line of iPods. New versions of its Nano, Shuffle, and Touch are available for pre-order now. But, are they worth your time, or money? Read along below to see if the new iPods are really an upgrade at all.
iPod Touch
Design
The thinnest, lightest Touch they've ever created. Comes in seven different colors.
For the first time, iPod touch is made from the same kind of anodized aluminum used in the MacBook line. And it's made the same way too: By machining the enclosure from a single piece of aluminum, has the same highly polished beveled edges. The Touch is made from one of the strongest grades of aluminum there is. Apple says the Touch's colors are so incredibly rich and vibrant because they're bonded right to the aluminum. The new design for Touch will also include a "Loop" to aid in not dropping the device in your toilet so much. The iPod touch loop comes color-matched to your iPod touch, or you can buy other colors separately.
Display
The touch screen allows people to pinch and zoom photos. Same 4-inch retina display as the iPhone is in the new iPod touch. Retina display got taller but not wider, which Apple claims allows you to do everything on iPod touch one-handed, and gives your thumb more room. The display is also more advanced, with finger-friendly Multi-Touch technology built into the glass instead of beneath it.
Price/capacity
32GB for $299, 64GB $399
Battery
More battery life. "Longest battery life we've ever had" with up to 30 hours of battery life. Touch packs up to 40 hours of music playback, or eight hours of video.
Audio/visual
The Touch has an A5 chip, and a dual core processor that doubles the performance of tis greater low frequency sound. Touch also has an FM tunner.
The camera is getting a significant upgrade with a 5-megapixel iSight camera that gives auto focus and flash. The Touch has the same f/2.4 aperture as iPhone 5. You can download iPhoto and iMovie to edit on the device. Has advanced optics, tap to focus, an LED flash, and face detection. The iSight camera shoots 1080p HD video, and the front camera gets a boost for better FaceTime calls.
Extras
iPhone's Siri has been added Touch. AirPlay mirroring is brought to the iPod touch for the first time, allowing gaming and movie connectivity. AirPlay lets you wirelessly stream whatever's on your iPod touch to your HDTV via Apple TV. You can also stream music to any AirPlay-enabled speakers or AirPort Express-connected speakers. Bluetooth is built into iPod touch, so Touch pairs easily with Bluetooth-enabled headphones and speakers. And if your car has a Bluetooth-enabled sound system, you can play your tunes to it right from iPod Touch. Works on the new Lightning dock connector that Apple calls smaller and smarter.
