Along with a new iPhone 5, Apple unveiled facelifts to their entire iPod range including a new iPod Touch, iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano at yesterday’s iPhone 5 launch in San Francisco.
The fifth generation iPod Touch is just 6.1mm thick, and is substantially lighter, weighing in at just 88 grams. There's a high quality anodized aluminum on the back which should be better at preventing scratches compared to the previous model.
The powerplant running the Touch is a newer, faster A5 processor – so should be a perfect device for those of you who like to game on the go.
One of the biggest changes on this version is the screen; the new iPod Touch mirrors the iPhone 5 and comes with the same 4-inch Retina Display, sporting a resolution of 1136 by 640 with a pixel density of 326PPI.
Its battery has been given a bump and should see you through 40 hours of music in a single charge - which is a dramatic improvement on the last model.
On the back of the new iPod Touch you'll find a greatly improved camera. It's still a 5-megapixel iSight sensor, but with improved backside illumination, f/2.4 aperture, 5 element lens, autofocus, LED flash and the same IR filter found on the new iPhone 5. The front-facing camera is now capable of 720p and sports improved facial recognition, for better Skype & Facetime calling.
Leaked case designs showed off a little hole in the bottom right corner, and until yesterday we had know idea what it was for. It turns out it's for a pop out loop to go around your wrist, so to prevent you from dropping your iPod while you’re out and about.
The wireless capabilities of the Touch have been vastly improved; you'll find Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11n capable of running both 2.4GHz and 5GHz for even faster web browsing and downloads.
Thanks to the new processor the iPod Touch can now do the same AirPlay Mirroring as the iPhone and iPad, meaning that you can wirelessly beam videos and games from your iPod to a TV via Apple TV.
For the first time ever the iPod Touch will be available in different colours; black, white, blue, red and yellow to be precise, each with their matching coloured loop.
The new iPod Touch will be available in October. Prices are: 8GB - £169, 32GB - £199, 64GB - £329.
Not only did the iPod touch get a facelift, Apple unveiled its new iPod Nano and it harps back to the fifth generation elongated thin design. On the front there’s a touchscreen with the classic home button just below and it looks like a tiny iPhone – which is never a bad thing.
The iPod Nano doesn’t actually run iOS 6, but a stripped down version of the software which includes applications for music, video, radio and even Nike Fitness for those of you who use the Nano as a workout partner. There are volume buttons on the left edge of the device and it measures a waver-thin 5.4mm thick.
They’ve added a FM tuner and pedometer – the radio is just your average radio, though, it includes live pause in case you want to listen back to something again.
Bluetooth has been included so you can stream music to compatible device including car stereos, headphones and speaker docks.
Seven different colour variations will be available in true iPod Nano style, ranging from black to pink to yellow. The new Nano will be available in October, in a 16GB size only, for £129.
Elsewhere the smallest member of the iDevice family, the iPod Shuffle, got a makeover and now comes in a variety of funky colours, and improved functionality including Voiceover which tells you what song you’re listening to and how much battery you’ve got left. It can even speak 29 different languages, which is 28 more than we can.
It costs £40 and is on sale in October.
