The Manner with which Apple silently unveiled the new iTouch 64GB, was very unusual. There wasn’t any “one more thing” fanfare for the iPhone’s bro, simply a fast mention of an upgrade. But although the new iTouch 64GB has nothing new to the design table, it’s still a major update.
The iTouch 64GB uses a two-piece design marrying a flat glass-covered front with one piece of chromed steel wrapping around the back and edges. For such a thin and seemingly frail device, the iTouch 64GB feels surprisingly sturdy and the steel offers a reassuring heft compared to its sibling’s plastic design.
That 64GB of capacity is a lot of space to play with (8 times what the cheapest ITouch), and the internal upgrade means it now matches the iPhone 3GS for speed. If you had your eye on an iPod Classic before, the new iTouch 64GB is so roomy it should lure all but the most hardcore of music obsessives now.
With a boosted performance, now you can surf, read faster & play games in better speed. ITouch brings leading edge features with an improved 3.1 software. The built in Wi-Fi gives you an edge over friends. The Genius Mixes feature displays mixes. iTouch 64GB has the 600MHz Samsung S5PC100 mobile application together with a CPU based on ARM’s CORTEX A8’s design.
While real close in speed, the ARM Cortex A8 absolutely kills the Intel Atom in power potency; we are talking by hips and bounds more efficiency here: not twice, but by an order of magnitude better for ARM. Some ARM chips routinely use 10-20 times less power than Intel for similar operations. Battery usage with ARM chips used in this new iTouch 64GB, could be measured in days, not hours.
ARM and Intel are currently into a heated battle because they are encroaching on one another’s turf in the same way Verizon and Time Warner are in the Cable/Phone/Internet space. ARM is getting fast enough to build a netbook while Intel is getting miserly just enough in power to be put into a phone. 2009 will be a massive face-off between the 2 in this field.
For the iTouch 64GB that means checking your e-mail or scanning the web just got faster now.
With the iTouch 64GB, ITunes nine, ups the ante
With 75,000 apps available on the App Store, it has been easy to download so many that your device quickly becomes cluttered, with numerous icons scattered among many screens in a manner that isn’t perfectisn’t . Although there’s a way around it to move apps around, or delete them right on the device, but it is awkward at best, mainly because you can’t see all the screens variations at once, and mainly because it’s hard to move an app from a place on one screen to another numerous miles…err, screens away.
Now, in the new iTunes 9, when you plug in your device, the application displays an exact visual illustration of your iTouch 64GB screens right on your computer’s screen, thus enabling you to reorganize them with the click of a mouse; when you disconnect, your new screens is retained on the iTouch 64GB.
The old fashioned experience of the record album returns with iTunes LP. While you listen to your favourite tracks, you can dive into animated lyrics and liner notes, watch performance videos, view artist and band pictures rather than a less than exciting static artwork (if it’s even there), and enjoy other bonus materials.
Other major update in ITunes Nine: Home Sharing. You can now view the iTunes libraries of at least five permitted PCs in your place, import what you care for, and automatically add any new purchases made on any of the PCs to your own collection.
You are able to save iTunes Store items you would like to purchase later in a new wish list. And if you are an eager social networker, it’s easy to megaphone your favorite songs, pictures, and Television shows on your Facebook and/or Twitter right from the iTunes Store.
Say you are listening to a track on your ITouch that rocks and you are dying to hear other tracks that go great with it. Genius immediately assembles songs on your ITouch that go great with your selected song and makes a Genius playlist for you. In Cover Flow, you can get your music spotted on. The 3.5-inch screen is more than adequate for your flicks.
Apparently, Apple is ogling into reaching an even a bigger market. At the rock ‘n roll event, iPods were presented with some changes and a dropped cost. Apple exposed the new faster and less expensive iPod Touch 32GB 3G about 2 weeks ago. Amazon is selling the ITouch 32GB for $20 less than the Apple store and ships it for free of course. This sales price helped catapult the new ITouch to the number 2 spot on the Bestsellers in Electronics.
If you were delaying getting an iPod for reasons of Mollah, now with the iTouch 64GB and iTunes Nine you might just seem to have gotten an invite.
Rickey is tech obsessed and writes about technology, social trends and good healthy food