Seems like some lucky guys and gals are getting their iPod Touch's today, where they hit US stores, way ahead of when the online orders are due to start shipping. Let us hope we all get emails soon saying our orders are shipping. Anyway, in the meantime, first look reviews have started surfacing, and you could do yourself a favour and head on over to Playlistmag or MacWorld and check out some video footage and editorial.
iXoundwear announce Sport Cap for 3G Nano
iXoundwear have announced that their new Sport Cap for the new 3rd generation iPod Nano will be available soon. They are being manufactured for high quality brushed cotton twill in colours that compliment the new Nano. There is a pocket on the right side of the cap to accommodate the Nano along with a cable tidy/management system. Keep an eye on their website, or sign up on this page for an email notification when the new caps are available. Also, check back on Geekanoids, we hope to bring you a review of one of these neat little caps when they are available.
Belkin cases for the new iPod Nano, Classic & Touch
Belkin have announced their line up of new cases for the 3G iPod Nano, iPod Classic, and iPod Touch. They are due to be available early October in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Pictured is the Sport Armband Plus, which in my opinion looks very very sporty and one of the best designs I have seen so far. At the time of going to press we had no UK prices **NOW UPDATED** , but the links below are to the relevant pages on the Belkin UK website wherever possible.
- Breathable, water-wicking Coolmax material
- Slim and lightweight to minimize bulk on your arm during workouts
- Removable Cable Capsule helps manage and store earphones
- Hand-washable
- Included pocket for key or earbud storage
- Clear screen and navigation protector
- Adjustable hook-fastening system for universal fit
- Slim, lightweight, and stretchable neoprene material
- Included pocket for key or earbud storage
- Water-resistant and hand-washable
- Clear screen and navigation protector
- Adjustable VELCRO® closure for universal fit
- True-sense click wheel provides full protection and functionality
- Thin and compact
- Made of clear polycarbonate
- True-sense click wheel provides full protection and functionality
- Thin and compact
- Machine-etched with graphical pattern throughout durable, aluminum, protective face cabinet
- Available in silver, black, blue, and pink
- Unique one-seam design hugs your iPod, protecting it from everyday scratches and scuffs
- Soft, durable leather with soft-suede lining
- Secure VELCRO strap attachment
- Access to hold switch and dock connector
- Click-wheel and screen protector
- Available in 3 colors: black, chocolate, and cameo pink
- Sleek, portable design made of soft, durable leather with soft-suede lining
- Screen protector and magnetic closure
- Access to hold switch and dock connector
- Available in 3 colors: black/chocolate, pink/chocolate, persimmon/bone
- Form-fitting design that features a snug extra layer of rugged silicone
- Secures your iPod nano with durable silicone
- Available in 4 colors: black, pink, and blue
Geekanoids to review new iPods
Well, we have some great news for you all. The new iPod Classic in 160GB form should be with us by Tuesday of next week, so Wednesday/Thursday we will bring you a full gallery of photos, followed by our review of the new UI and if it lives up to expectations. Then we have the new 3G Nano winging its way to us from Apple, so you shouldn't have to wait too long to hear what we think of this. Then early October, hopefully the 1st or 2nd, we have a 16GB iPod Touch landing.
We hope you like our coverage of these new iPod's, giving you the chance to make informative buying decisions in the run up to Christmas.
Griffin Technology announce new iPod Cases
Griffin Technology Inc., creator of all things iPod, today continued its strong commitment to support Apple products with the announcement of a new line of cases designed specifically for the latest iPod models, just unveiled yesterday in San Francisco.
Bearing Griffin's trademark blend of protection, style and convenience, this new case collection for the new iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch will begin shipping next month:
iClear® for new iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch
iClear is all-over armor for your iPod, that hides none of your iPod's good looks. Snap the durable, crystal-clear polycarbonate shell around your iPod. You still have access to the iPod screen, ports and control surfaces, but dirt and scratches are locked out. New, custom-fit iClear will be available for the new iPod nano, iPod classic and iPod touch.
Reflect for iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch
It's like magic. Reflect presents a sleek, mirrored face to the world -- until you activate your iPod and its screen shines through the metallic finish. Reflect provides protection for your iPod as only a hard shell of polycarbonate can. Reflect's design for the iPod touch is slightly different than the other Reflect models. To leave the touch screen accessible, Reflect for iPod touch surrounds the front edges of the iPod touch in the same chromed, reflective polycarbonate used in other Reflect models. A matte black rubberized case back seals your iPod inside, and provides a sure grip. Reflect is protection for your iPod that reflects well on you; available in sizes to fit the new iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch.
Elan Convertible for new iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch
A new Convertible leather flip-top case will join Griffin's Elan family of stylish cases, in sizes to fit all three new iPod models. The top-grain leather removable flipcover protects your iPod screen, and reverses to create a stand for hands-free use. The clear screen protector and soft microfiber lining provide all-over protection against scratches. Convertible's removable clip lets you attach your iPod to your belt or shoulder strap, and its sleek profile lets you slip it into your pocket without adding bulk. Elan Convertible will be available in sizes to fit the new iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch.
Elan Form for new iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch
Another new addition to Griffin's Elan family of cases is an elegant hard-shell leather case, shaped to perfectly fit your iPod. The shell's form-fitting design bonds top-grain leather to durable, protective polycarbonate, to encase your iPod in two layers of protection. The top-grain leather outer shell is crafted from hand-matched hides, while the polycarbonate inner shell surrounds your iPod with armor. All this protection still affords easy access to click wheel or touch screen, dock connector, headphone port and hold switch. Elan Form will be available in sizes to fit the new iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch.
Streamline for new iPod nano, iPod classic/iPod touch
Griffin's already-popular Streamline is the ultimate sport armband, now updated for the new iPod models. At the gym, on the road, or hitting the trail, your iPod rides safely in the sport armband that lives up to its name. Streamline's screen cover protects your iPod's face from scratches and dust, but is sensitive enough to allow complete navigation of click wheel or touch screen interface. The one-piece, low-profile design keeps your iPod always handy, but never in the way. The washable, two-way adjustable band fits any arm with a breathable, comfortable fit that you can wear all day. Reflective trim is a safety feature that makes you more visible to traffic at dusk. Streamline will be available in two sizes: one for the new iPod nano, and one for iPod classic or iPod touch.
Courier for iPod classic and iPod touch
Griffin's updated Courier has been redesigned with a slimmer new look and abrasion-resistant durability, thanks to its compression-molded EVA outer casing. Designed to wrap onto a backpack or shoulderbag strap, Courier carries your iPod and accessories always at the ready, double-secured with heavy-duty hook-and-loop closure and carabiner clip. Courier features a hidden zippered pocket for money, keys, or ID, and a second flapped pocket for your sync cable, earphones, or other small accessories. Courier has been updated to fit both iPod classic and iPod touch.
Pricing & Availability
Griffin's new cases for the new iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch, priced between $19.99 and $34.99, will be available at major retailers nationwide in October 2007. For more information, please visit www.griffintechnology.com.
Link to Griffin iPod Touch Cases
Link to Griffin iPod Classic Cases
Link to Griffin iPod Nano 3G Cases
iPod Classic - the official details
I watched with great anticipation when Apple made their announcements for the new iPods yesterday. The fresh smell of Apple product always excites me (and I am not embarrassed to say that), so when the iPod Classic was shown, I ooooohed and ahhhhhhhed with delight. This new generation looks very sexy, with some sleek curves and choice of black or silver metal fronts. All this sexiness coupled with upto 160GB of storage, makes for a real winner.
Here are the full details from Apple's Official Press Release;
Apple today introduced the new iPod classic, featuring 80GB or 160GB of storage that holds your entire collection of music, photos, video, podcasts and games—up to 40,000 songs or 200 hours of video. Now in its sixth generation, the new iPod classic delivers all the features customers love about their iPods, plus an enhanced user interface featuring Cover Flow™ and a new all-metal enclosure. iPod classic is priced at just £159 (inc VAT) for the 80GB model and £229 (inc VAT) for the 160GB model.
“The first iPod put 1,000 songs in your pocket—this new iPod classic can put 40,000 songs in your pocket,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With a thinner, all-metal enclosure and an enhanced user interface, the iPod classic is ideal for people who want to hold everything on their iPod.”
The new iPod classic holds up to 160GB of storage in an all-metal anodised aluminium and polished stainless steel enclosure. iPod classic works seamlessly with iTunes so you can import, manage and then easily sync your favourite content. You can buy music, video and games for your iPod classic from the iTunes Store with more than six million songs available for preview and one-click purchase.
The new iPod classic features up to 40 hours of music playback and seven hours of video playback in the 160GB model, and up to 30 hours of music playback and five hours of video playback in the 80GB model on a single charge,* letting users enjoy their entire collections of music, audiobooks, audio and video podcasts, music videos, television shows and movies wherever they go.
The new iPod classic is perfect for playing iPod games and comes pre-loaded with iQuiz, the entertainment trivia game; Vortex, a fast-paced 360 degree brick-bashing game; and Klondike, the popular solitaire card game. Additional games will be available for purchase for the new iPod classic later this month from the iTunes Store, including Sudoku and Tetris from Electronic Arts and Ms. PAC-MAN from NAMCO.
The iPod is the world’s most popular family of digital music players with over 100 million sold. Today, Apple released its most exciting iPod lineup ever with the iPod shuffle in five new colours; iPod classic holding up to 40,000 songs; the incredible all new iPod nano with video playback; and the breakthrough iPod touch with a revolutionary multi-touch user interface. iPod owners can choose from a vast ecosystem of accessories with over 4,000 products made specifically for the iPod including cases, fitness accessories, speaker systems and iPod connectivity in over 70 percent of US cars.
Pricing & Availability:
Both iPod classic models are available immediately worldwide in silver and black. The 80GB iPod classic model is £159 (inc VAT) and the 160GB iPod classic is £229 (inc VAT).
iPod classic requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X v10.4.8 or later and iTunes 7.4; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) or later and iTunes 7.4. Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended, fees may apply. The iTunes Store is not available in all countries.
iPod Touch - the full details
We are very happy to bring you the full details from the Apple Press Release for the iPod Touch.
Apple today introduced the new iPod touch featuring Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch user interface that enables users to find and enjoy all of their music, videos and more on its gorgeous widescreen display with just the touch of a finger. First introduced on iPhone, the multi-touch interface uses pioneering new software to present the perfect user interface for each application. The iPod touch also includes Wi-Fi wireless networking, the first on any iPod, and three amazing applications that use it—Safari, the most advanced browser on any mobile device, lets users wirelessly view web pages just as they look on their computer, and features Google Search or Yahoo! oneSearch; Apple’s YouTube application lets users wirelessly watch over 10 million free videos from the Internet’s most popular video website; and the new iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store lets users wirelessly browse, preview and buy songs and albums from the most popular online music store in the world. The iPod touch is an unbelievable 8 mm thin, and is priced starting at just £199 (inc VAT).
“The iPod touch is a landmark iPod, ushering in a whole new generation of features based on its revolutionary multi-touch interface and built-in Wi-Fi wireless networking,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “People are going to be amazed at how thin it is and how much it does.” With its gorgeous 3.5-inch widescreen display, iPod touch is perfect for watching movies and TV shows, as well as viewing photos and album art. iPod touch has a built-in accelerometer that automatically senses when you rotate it into its landscape position. When you’re in music, it automatically switches to Cover Flow so you can browse your music collection by album cover artwork with just a flick of a finger. When in Photos, it automatically displays the photo in its landscape aspect ratio; and when in Safari it displays the web page horizontally. iPod touch also has a built-in ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the display’s brightness. iPod touch features up to 22 hours of audio playback and up to five hours of video playback.
Pricing & Availability
The new iPod touch is scheduled to be available later this month. The 8GB iPod touch model is £199 (inc VAT) and the 16GB iPod model is £269 (inc VAT). iPod touch requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later and iTunes 7.4; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) or later and iTunes 7.4. Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended, fees may apply. The iTunes Store is not available in all countries.
Which iPod are you?
Apple have published a rather nice page showing off all of the new iPod family. The table on this page shows you the capacity, prices, colours available, screen size and the battery life on offer. Check it out, it may well help you in your buying decision, or it may well just talk you into buying one of each.
Apple's New AV Component Cable for your iPod
Well, this is a turn up for the books, a new cable offering a component video connection.
From the Apple website; "The Component AV Cable connects to your iPod or Universal Dock via the 30-pin dock connector and to your TV, home theater receiver, or stereo receiver via the component (Y, Pb, and Pr) video and red/white analog audio ports. The cable also features a USB connector that you can plug into a power source, such as a computer or the included USB Power Adapter." Of note, it also drew my attention to the fact that the iPod nano (third generation) and iPod classic output 480p or 576p resolution, and by iPod touch only does 480i or 576i resolution. So it seems that the Touch is only going to output a slightly inferior interlaced picture.
New Apple iPod Universal Dock
New iPods mean new accessories, and one of those is a new Universal Dock.
Taken from the Apple website; "The Apple Universal Dock serves as a convenient and elegant home base for charging, syncing, and more. Through the use of interchangeable inserts called Dock Adapters, it works with iPhone and all iPod models that have a dock connector. So even if you own more than one iPod or iPhone, you can keep just one Dock connected to your computer, stereo, or TV." It seems like these new docks only come with adapters for the newly released iPods. It costs £35 and is available to ship in 3-4 weeks, oh and it includes a mini Apple Remote.
Apple iPod Nano - 3rd Gen Armband
Well, we all know that Apple launched a stack of new iPods yesterday, but they also launched some nice new accessories too. The new iPod Nano Armband compliments the new squat Nano perfectly and costs just £19.00. It is ready to ship now, so if you order it together with our new Nano they should both arrive together.
Apple Event - Wednesday 5th September
Well, the Apple Event is just about to kick off (6pm GMT) today and we will try and scour the various news sites covering the event and bring you all the best bits. Keep updating your browser…
UPDATE 1
17:50GMT all Apple Stores are down, so in true Apple form (as if we didn't already know) we will be getting some new products today, and most likely available to order today too. Let's hope they ship today as well.
Well, why we are waiting for things to kick off, just a quick chance to keep my fingers crossed for a new touch widescreen iPod. I use my iPod everyday and would like to have the chance of a much bigger screen.
UPDATE 2
Steve takes to the stage and updates everyone with some iTunes facts and figures. 600 million copies of iTunes out there and 3 billion songs sold in the iTunes Store.
UPDATE 3
New version of iTunes will be available tonight, to support some new features including 'Ringtones'. There will be 500,000 participating tracks, and for an additional 99 cents you can also have this as an iPhone Ringtone. So in iTunes a little bell icon appears next to the available tracks, you select it, use the Ringtone Builder to select up to a 30 second portion of the track, do a fade in and fade out, get it how you want it before you click-to-buy. Then when you sync your iPhone it takes the ringtone over to your device. This new feature will be switched on in iTunes next week.
UPDATE 4
The complete range of iPods will get a refresh today, starting with new colour Shuffles (yawn).
UPDATE 5
Next up is the Nano. It is a new size, sort of squat, all metal design, widescreen, plays video. Comes in black, silver, blue, green and (product) red. 2-inch screen with 320x240 resolution (same as the current 5th gen iPod). Click wheel is still there, but this baby is really thin. Three games bundled with the new Nano, including Vortex. ou have also got Coverflow for videos and music. This thing looks great, sorta like all the features of the 5th gen full size iPod into the new sexy Nano, oh and by the way, the black version looks very cool indeed. It also seems like the new UI has a split screen, where you scroll through video titles on the left and get a snippet view on the right, very nice.
The battery will give you 24 hours of music and 5 hours of video playback.
Available in stores this weekend, shipping now, 4GB just $149, 8GB $199, fantastic.
UPDATE 6
Now the full size iPod, with a new name, iPod Classic. Full metal design, thinner, starting at 80GB, but with a massive 160GB version, that is still thinner than the 5th gen 80GB.
Battery life for the 80GB is 25 hours music, 5 hours video. The 160GB gives you 40 hours music and 7 hours video. Prices are very apealing with the 80GB costing $249, and the 160GB for $349. All new iPods available now, shipping today.
UPDATE 7
Wow, this is a good 'un. We get another brand new iPod. As we already guessed, based on the iPhone but even thinner. Yes, the touch screen iPod is finally a reality. Same 3.5-inch screen, same design, UI allows you to view photos and pinch them to zoom in and out. Coverflow and nice large album art. Wow, how many times can I say wow in this update.
Same user interface including a home screen (as on the iPhone).
It also has wifi, so this is great news, we may get internet features... yes, we get Safari on the iPod Touch, wow! this is fantastic news. Google, Yahoo and YouTube all built into this baby.
Steve also did a demo of FaceBook on the iPod Touch, this website looks fantastic on the device, I cannot wait.
Downer, seems like we only get 8GB ($299) or 16GB ($399) models that both ship this month, kinda cripples an iPod only device, this is OK for a mobile phone, but not an iPod, I hope Steve gives us more.
UPDATE 8
One more thing... iTunes WiFi Music Store. Hmmmmm. Same price structure, if you see a track you like, you can preview it, then buy it, download over WiFi and then when you next sync back at home the tune is copied over into your iTunes library. You get New Releases, Whats Hot, and Genres buttons across the top of the iPod Touch screen, or you can search for any artist/album. The new iTunes Wi-Fi features will also be rolled out to the iPhone as a software update.
UPDATE 9
Starbucks partnership.. when you are in a Starbucks a fifth button appears on the screen. If you like the song playing at the time, you can buy it with one click... cool. You can also browse the last ten tracks played and buy them too. You also get free iTunes Wi-Fi Store access when you are in a Starbucks without the need to log in with any sort of password (which seems pretty obvious if they want to sell tunes).
iPhone UPDATE
8GB model being reduced by $200 to $399. 4GB iPhone is gone.
So that's it and wow what an event. New iPods all round, new WiFi downloadable tunes, and some coffee... now where is my credit card?