Saturday, 20 October 2012

iPods Shipping

New iPods Shipping In 2 Weeks

While some reviewers have already gotten their hands on the new iPod Touch or iPod Nano, others haven't had such luck. Of course, they could also shop around. Other retailers, such as Target and Best Buy, are also selling the new iPods, and they may have them in stock in their stores as well.

If you order through the Apple store now, both the iPod Touch and iPod Nano will ship in two weeks. If you're looking to get your hands on the best portable media players on the market, that two week wait might be worth it, that, or you could spend a day driving to a variety of retailers looking for them.

The new iPod Touch has an upgraded camera, internals, a larger screen, and iOS6. It's available for $299 for the 32 gb version. The previous generation is also still available. The iPad Nano features a larger screen size, video playback, bluetooth, Nike+, and far more. It's running an iOS-like OS, exclusive to the iPod Nano. It's available for $149 in 16gb.

Both are available on Apple.com.

iPad Mini Could Cost $249

A possible leak in the form of a photo of an inventory page show that the iPad Mini may start at €249 for the 8GB model. If Apple's typical pricing is to be believed, this means that the US version would be $249, even though the dollar is weaker than the euro.

This would price the iPad Mini slightly above the iPod Touch, and even with Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire. Although, the Kindle Fire has 32GB of storage, and the Nexus 7 has 16GB. Still, the Nexus 7 is widely accepted to be a better tablet than the Kindle Fire, despite the reduced storage size. Seeing as Apple's iPad will have the most apps, accessories, and, if the current iPad is the basis for it, it'll have a better screen and it'll be much faster. Perhaps that will be enough to draw consumers to the iPad Mini, even if it does come with less storage space.

Apple has sent out invites for an event next Tuesday, October 23. The invites say they have a littlemore to show us. Seems like Apple could be hinting at the topic of the event, as they so often do. The iPad Mini is expected to have a 7.85 inch display, and a form factor that makes it even more portable than the iPad. Previous rumors state that pricing could start at $249.

Friday, 19 October 2012

iPod Touch Review (Fifth Generation)

It's a handheld gaming system. A portable media player. A point-and-shoot camera. A key to Apple's excellent App Store and eco-system. In fact, pretty much the only thing the iPod Touch can't do is make phone calls.

Of course, the iPod Touch is a much tougher sell for people with smartphones with ready access to apps. The new iPod Touch starts at $299 for 32GBs, or $399 for 64GB. You can still pick up a 4th-gen for $199 or $249 (16 and 32GB, respectively), but the new iPod Touch is so much better than its predecessor, we don't recommend it.

If you're looking for more space for your media or you're just ready to invest in a gadget that does everything, could the fifth generation iPod Touch be worth your money?

Design

The fifth-generation iPod Touch has gone through a serious redesign. It now has more rounded edges, ditches the scuff-prone stainless steel in favor of a handful of stylish aluminum colors, and went on a serious diet. The new iPod Touch is alarmingly thin, insanely light, and thanks to its new form factor - feels surprisingly sturdy as well.

The new Touch's camera isn't flush against the back of the device.

My first thought on holding the iPod Touch was "I can't wait for the iPhone to feel like this." That sentiment was echoed by just about everyone who held the device.

But all the cosmetic changes are secondary to the iPod Touch's most obvious new feature - the 16:9, 4" Retina Display. It's the same display found in Apple's iPhone 5, and the new aspect ratio and size is similarly improved for media viewing and gaming.

The iPod Touch speaker can pump out some impressively loud audio.

Like the iPhone 5, the iPod Touch ditched the 30-pin dock connector in favor of its smaller, reversible Lightning Cable. If you have tons of 30-pin docks or connectors, you may want to pick up Apple's $30 adapter so the new Touch can work without hitch.

Camera

In the past, the cameras on iPod Touches have been less than stellar, but this year things look different. Apple seems poised to position the iPod Touch against point-and-shoots - and possibly even the new crop of Android-based cameras. The new Touch has a 5MP iSight camera with an f2.4 aperture, which is capable of 1080p video as well as a 1.2MP front-facing camera.

The Touch's camera is about on par with the iPhone 4S's camera, and this means Touch owners will have no reluctance sharing their images across Instagram, Facebook, and the like. But is it really enough to replace a point-and-shoot? Possibly. The Touch still suffers from bad low-light scenes, digital zoom is a joke, and image color pops a lot less than similar photos taken with an iPhone 5.

However, this is still a huge improvement over last year's Touch, and in terms of image quality falls somewhere between iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Convenience could very well make this your primary point-and-shoot.

There are a few oddities about the Touch's overall favorable redesign, however, and these are both due to that new camera.

Apple has added a small push button on the back of the Touch which allows you to tether a wrist strap to the device. Doubtless, this was a move to facilitate the Touch's blossoming photography, but the button feels weirdly out of place on the Touch. The iPod Touch Loop feels and looks cheap, and the button on the back feels as if it could break or bend with extended use.

Our second major beef with the design is that the camera is not at all flush to the iPod's body. This allows the iPod to be as thin as it is, but it all feels weird and looks unseemly. Still, we'd rather have a good camera, even with the design issues, and some, especially clumsy photographers, will certainly appreciate the wrist loop.

Power

While the iPod Touch has become significantly more powerful this year, its A5 dual-core processor and 512MBs of RAM are still much less powerful than the iPhone 5 or the new iPad. The iPod Touch scored about 622 on Geekbench, which is about the same power as the iPhone 4S (the iPhone 5 consistently blows both out of the water, at around 1600.)

Then again, this is still the most powerful iPod of all time, and anyone but spec hounds are liable to care. The iPod Touch still chugs through loading screens and cutscenes without much stutter and can play even the most graphically intensive games in the App Store. That being said, we won't pretend we haven't become spoiled by more powerful phones

OS X Mountain Lion - Technical Specifications

General Requirements

OS X v10.6.8 or later
2GB of memory
8GB of available space
Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.

Supported Models

iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)

Feature-Specific Requirements

Time MachineRequires an additional hard drive or Time Capsule (sold separately).

Photo BoothRequires a FaceTime or iSight camera (built in or external), USB video class (UVC) camera, or FireWire DV camcorder. Backdrop effects when using a DV camcorder require fixed focus, exposure, and white balance.

FaceTimeVideo calls require a built-in FaceTime camera, an iSight camera (built in or external), a USB video class (UVC) camera, or a FireWire DV camcorder, and a 128-Kbps upstream and downstream Internet connection. Making HD video calls requires a built-in FaceTime HD camera and a 1-Mbps upstream and downstream Internet connection. Receiving HD video calls requires a supported Intel-based Mac.

AirDropSupports the following Mac models:

MacBook Pro (Late 2008 or newer)

MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer)

MacBook (Late 2008 or newer)

iMac (Early 2009 or newer)

Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer)

Mac Pro (Early 2009 with AirPort Extreme card, or Mid 2010)

Boot CampSupports existing Boot Camp installations with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. New Boot Camp installations require Windows 7 (sold separately).

Exchange SupportRequires Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Update Rollup 4 or Exchange Server 2010. Auto-setup requires enabling the Autodiscovery feature of Microsoft Exchange Server.

AirPlay MirroringRequires a second-generation Apple TV or later. Supports the following Mac models:

iMac (Mid 2011 or newer)

Mac mini (Mid 2011 or newer)

MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer)

MacBook Pro (Early 2011 or newer)

Power NapSupports MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer), MacBook Pro with Retina display.

GesturesRequires a Multi-Touch trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse.

VoiceOver GesturesRequires a Multi-Touch trackpad or Magic Trackpad.

Mac App StoreAvailable only to persons age 13 or older in the U.S. and many other countries. Requires compatible hardware and software and Internet access; broadband recommended (fees may apply). Terms apply.

DictationRequires a microphone (built in or external) and a broadband Internet connection.

What’s Included

Applications

Automator

Calculator

Calendar

Chess

Contacts

Dashboard

Dictionary

DVD Player

FaceTime

Font Book

Image Capture

iTunes

Launchpad

Mac App Store

Mail

Messages

Mission Control

Notes

Photo Booth

Preview

QuickTime Player

Reminders

Safari

Stickies

System Preferences

TextEdit

Time Machine

Utilities

Activity Monitor

AirPort Utility

AppleScript Editor

Audio MIDI Setup

Bluetooth File Exchange

Boot Camp Assistant

ColorSync Utility

Console

DigitalColor Meter

Disk Utility

Grab

Grapher

Keychain Access

Migration Assistant

Network Utility

RAID Utility

System Information

Terminal

VoiceOver Utility

Languages

English

Japanese

French

German

Spanish

Italian

Dutch

Swedish

Danish

Norwegian

Finnish

Traditional Chinese

Simplified Chinese

Korean

Brazilian Portuguese

Portuguese (Portugal)

Russian

Polish

Czech

Turkish

Hungarian

Arabic

Catalan

Croatian

Greek

Hebrew

Romanian

Slovak

Thai

Ukrainian

Learn more about applications and utilities

Documentation

iPod touch (5th generation) - Technical Specifications

Size and Weight

Height: 4.86 inches (123.4 mm)
Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)
Depth: 0.24 inch (6.1 mm)
Weight: 3.10 ounces (88 grams)¹

Capacity²

32GB
64GB

Wireless³

802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz)
Bluetooth 4.0
Maps: Location-based service⁴
Nike+ support built in⁵

Display

4-inch (diagonal) widescreen display with Multi-Touch IPS technology
Retina display
1136-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 pixels per inch
800:1 contrast ratio (typical)
500 cd/m2 max brightness (typical)
Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating

Camera, Photos, and Video

5-megapixel iSight camera
Autofocus
Tap to focus video or still images
Backside illumination
Hybrid IR filter
Five-element lens
LED flash
ƒ/2.4 aperture
Face detection
Panorama
HDR
HD video recording (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio
FaceTime HD camera with 1.2MP photos and HD video (720p) up to 30 frames per second
Video stabilization
Tap to control exposure for video or stills
Photo and video geotagging over Wi-Fi

Input and Output

Lightning connector
3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
Built-in speaker
Microphone

External Buttons and Connectors

External Buttons and Controls Connectors and Input/Output

Power and Battery⁶

Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Music playback time: Up to 40 hours when fully charged
Video playback time: Up to 8 hours when fully charged
Charging times: Fast charge in about 2 hours (80% capacity), full charge in about 4 hours

Audio Playback

Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
User-configurable maximum volume limit

TV and Video

H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format
AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV support at 720p
AirPlay video streaming to Apple TV (3rd generation) at up to 1080p and Apple TV (2nd generation) at up to 720p

Headphones

Apple EarPods

Sensors

Three-axis gyro
Accelerometer

System Requirements

Apple ID (required for some features)
Internet access
Syncing with iTunes on a Mac or PC requires:
- Mac: OS X v10.6.8 or later
- PC: Windows 7; Windows Vista; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3 or later
- iTunes 10.7 or later⁷ (free download from www.itunes.com/download)

Environmental Requirements

Operating ambient temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

Languages

Language Support
English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

Keyboard Support
English (U.S.), English (Australian), English (Canadian), English (UK), Chinese - Simplified (Handwriting, Pinyin, Stroke), Chinese - Traditional (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin, Cangjie, Stroke), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), German (Switzerland), Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Emoji, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic/Latin), Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

Dictionary Support
English (U.S.), English (Australian), English (Canadian), English (UK), Chinese - Simplified (Handwriting, Pinyin, Stroke), Chinese - Traditional (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin, Cangjie, Stroke), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), German (Switzerland), Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic/Latin), Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

Siri Languages
English (U.S., UK, Canada, Australia), Spanish (U.S., Mexico, Spain), French (France, Canada, Switzerland), German (Germany, Switzerland), Italian (Italy, Switzerland), Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (Mainland China, Taiwan), Cantonese (Hong Kong)

In the Box

iPod touch
iPod touch loop
Apple EarPods
Lightning to USB Cable
Quick Start guide

Accessories

Lightning to 30-pin Adapter
Connect your current accessories to iPod touch using this adapter. Buy now

Apple World Travel Adapter Kit

Plug your Apple power adapter into most electrical outlets around the world. Buy now

Other Accessories

Lightning to 30-pin Adapter (0.2 m)

Lightning to USB Cable

AppleCare Protection Plan

Apple USB Power Adapter

Apple EarPods

See more accessories in the Apple Online Store

iPod touch and the Environment

Apple takes a complete product life cycle approach to determining our environmental impact. Learn more

iPod touch embodies Apple’s continuing environmental progress. It is designed with the following features to reduce environmental impact:

Mercury-free LED-backlit display

Arsenic-free display glass

Brominated flame retardant-free

PVC-free

Recyclable aluminum enclosure

Apple and the Environment
Learn more about Apple’s dedication to reducing the environmental impact of our products and process. Apple Product Environmental Reports detail the environmental attributes of our products.

Recycling
Apple takes a holistic view of materials management and waste minimization. Learn more about how to recycle your iPod touch.

Weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.
1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less.
Internet access required; broadband recommended; fees may apply.
For iPod touch with Maps, the Maps application provides your approximate location using information based on your proximity to known Wi-Fi networks (when on and available). The more accurate the available information, the smaller the circle identifying your position on the map. The feature is not available in all areas. Known Wi-Fi networks are predominantly in urban areas. In order to provide your location, data is collected in a form that does not personally identify you. If you do not want such data collected, do not enable the feature. Not enabling the feature will not impact the functionality of your iPod touch.
Requires Nike + iPod Sensor, sold separately.
Testing conducted by Apple in August 2012 using preproduction iPod touch hardware and software. The playlist contained 358 unique audio tracks consisting of content imported from CDs using iTunes (128-Kbps AAC) and content purchased from the iTunes Store (256-Kbps AAC); video content was purchased from the iTunes Store. iPod units were associated to a Wi-Fi network; all other settings were default. Battery tests are conducted with specific iPod units; actual results may vary. Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced (www.apple.com/support/ipod/service/battery). Battery life and number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.
iPod and iTunes are for legal or rightholder-authorized copying only. Don’t steal music.