So this is the video iPod, eh?

Ok everyone, what do you think the odds are that Apple so nonchalantly let loose some images of the full-screen iPod video the very day after ThinkSecret's supposed confirmation on the video iPod hit the wires? Did we mention the Photoshop metadata in the images' EXIF tags? No, we're not at all prepared to call this a "leak," but we'll definitely attest to this being a very nice rendering of what we hope could be the 6G iPod.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Zak @ Feb 10th 2006 2:41PM]

Yeah, thanks to everyone for sending this crap in.

[ejdmoo @ Feb 10th 2006 2:42PM]

Of all the mockups I've seen, seems plausable...

[G-ZUS @ Feb 10th 2006 2:42PM]

I'm a big spammer, please hit the following addresses: [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] gzus4stenar.net [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail]

[Akky @ Feb 10th 2006 2:43PM]

Ah fiddlesticks. And right after I bought an Istation PMP another decent touch screen comes along. typical :P

[Andrey @ Feb 10th 2006 2:44PM]

Looks predictable.
Hope the UI looks a little better then that.

[Joel @ Feb 10th 2006 2:45PM]

Boy, im not sure how I feel about this thing yet... seems its gonna be VERY prone to scratching... and videos that arent widescreen, are they gonna play just with black on the sides? Or will you be able to play them right side up also if need be... lotta unanswered q's!

[Aaron M @ Feb 10th 2006 2:47PM]

There's nothing I love more than watching a video on a screen with a million fingerprints! It's a cool concept, but I doubt I'd buy it.

[TechBoard @ Feb 10th 2006 2:48PM]

Looks good. Well, at least it looks better than the dinosaur.

[Brian Short @ Feb 10th 2006 2:49PM]

what EXIF are you talking about?

[DJ MoRice @ Feb 10th 2006 2:49PM]

Jobs isn't ready to test a full video ipod. Especially so close after the 5G ipod with video was released. There will have to be a lot more video content available on the Itunes store.

Also, I can't get past the smudge factor on the screen. I feel the same way about the Gigabeat S. Did you see the video of it with the glare of fingerprints all over the screen? I'm guessing the announcement will be about more Intel Macs.

[papa joey @ Feb 10th 2006 2:53PM]

Everybody thinks that a touchscreen is impossible because of fingerprints. Does anybody here own a PDA? I have never had a problem with the screen on my palm yet I touch it all the time. then again, I do wash my hands from time to time.

[Hamson @ Feb 10th 2006 2:55PM]

Why is everyone all set already about having a "touchpad with a wheel in it"? It's very unpractical. Plus, did anyone think about how you would click in each of the 4 sides of the wheel if it was on the touchscreen? If the whole thing was a touch screen, it would be stupid of them to still use the wheel. Why do they need a touchscreen anyways? It would be more cost efficient, and ergonomic to just put the controls on the back in natural positions. or on the sides.

[ScottE @ Feb 10th 2006 3:00PM]

Looks alot like my Cowon A2 only with a Touch Scroll Wheel.

[evo @ Feb 10th 2006 3:02PM]

Yeah, Apple never uses Photoshop to produce its marketing materials...

[PEZ @ Feb 10th 2006 3:03PM]

Of course there will be a video ipon (proper) and hopefilly it will be the proper ratio for viewing movies in the proper fashion. We can only hope. There was a rumor of it having a 3.5" screen.. that would be a waste in the minds of most.

p.s.
Hey G-zus, stop spamming the comments, you jackass. your sig is enough to point people to your pointless blog.

Either that or buy some ad space on Engadget.

[Anthony Gross @ Feb 10th 2006 3:06PM]

The idea might no be so far fetched. Look at claim 12 of this published application:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=25&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=apple&s2=virtual&OS=apple+AND+virtual&RS=apple+AND+virtual

[Brian Spence @ Feb 10th 2006 3:12PM]

Looks like this fits the description of what they're going to go with, but it's pretty obviously a fake.

If you look at the picture with the dinosaur, the click wheel is positioned one way. When you're in the menus, it goes another way (it looks like it does on current gen iPods).

It's possible that they'll make the click wheel graphic reposition itself, but I expect the click wheel thing to have a little redesign.

[Mike Street @ Feb 10th 2006 3:14PM]

I'm already sold on it send it to me now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kevin @ Feb 10th 2006 3:15PM]

I'm inclined to say i wouldn't want a touch screen at all ; smudges, scratches, basically the more i touch the screen the more i'm likely to hurt the quality fo the ipod picture in the long run.

[JKrahn @ Feb 10th 2006 3:16PM]

[0017] The invention relates, in one embodiment, to a user interface method. The method includes displaying a group of media items. The method also includes detecting a touch over the group of media items that are displayed. From Apple's Patent: The method further includes activating a virtual scroll wheel when a touch is detected over the displayed media items. The activation of the virtual scroll wheel includes displaying and enabling the functionality of the virtual scroll wheel, the virtual scroll wheel providing a touch region where a user swirls their finger in order to traverse through the group of media items. The method additionally includes determining if a touch event is performed relative to the touch region of the virtual scroll wheel. Moreover, the method includes scrolling through the group of media items when a scrolling touch event is performed.

[JKrahn @ Feb 10th 2006 3:19PM]

Sorry I put "From Apple's Patent" midway through the post rather than at the top. My bad. I think we can all see these descriptions apply to both a new iPod and/or a TabletMac.

[Mr Kev @ Feb 10th 2006 3:21PM]

The currently playing song details seem wrong.

The album art and album name are from the single 'I bet you look good on the dancefloor' by the Artic Monkeys.

The track playing however is 'A Certain Romance'. This track does NOT appear on the single, be it as a B side or anything, only on the album.

I suspect that Apple would get this right if it had anything to do with them.

[CB @ Feb 10th 2006 3:24PM]

When I made my own mockups for my site I figured it would be a waste for the iPod to detect/change orientation from landscape to portrait, either using detectors or depending on context. So I made it all landscape.

But now I've got second thoughts -- they may want to keep the usual browsing interface as similar to the original iPod's as possible.

[narco @ Feb 10th 2006 3:26PM]

Totally fake.

Just go to Apple.com, and visit the iPod gallery. You can see the image they took right there.

Also, I have a Palm device too and never see any smudges. I'm not totally against a touch device, my only concern would be the battery life.

Fishes,
narco.

[typenerd @ Feb 10th 2006 3:33PM]

Don't color iPods use Myriad as their typeface? Check out the double-storey "g." That is some Franklin Gothic going on, not Myriad.

Plus the p-shop work isn't that good either.

[Bo Kristensen @ Feb 10th 2006 3:34PM]

Maybe I'm biased, but I would still prefer to see my mockup become the reality:

http://www.bolicious.com/studio/Design/5thgen.jpg

[Rawnchie14 @ Feb 10th 2006 3:38PM]

Damn. This would be a nifty product... if I weren't mortally afraid of Apple and their MP3 products. I really don't trust them with MP3 players enough, that is, if this thing is for real even.

[Myles @ Feb 10th 2006 3:40PM]

Umm. Stylus anyone? Although, I don't really see that happpening. Actually. If you check out my blog, I predicted this awhile ago.

One thing that leads me to believe this is real. Does anyone see a hold switch? It -would- make sense for it to be moved.

[Tom Mark @ Feb 10th 2006 3:41PM]

I had something like this too, up earlier this year:

http://tommark.entopia2002.com/ipod/

[Mark @ Feb 10th 2006 3:45PM]

the canon powershot has a little sensor in it to detect if you're holding the camera vertically or horizontally so as to rotate the picture so it's "right side up" when viewing onthe back LCD.. it can't be that much of a stretch to use that same tech on this.

[soundboy64 @ Feb 10th 2006 3:46PM]

The interface will definietly be customizable so you can tell the wheel to be on the right for righties and the left for lefties. I almost think it will be a transparent black or possibly a shade of grey when playing movies so it won't get lost, similar to how the pop up editing tools are in iPhoto...

[Jon @ Feb 10th 2006 3:47PM]

It's not really that soon after the introduction of the 5G iPod. If you look at the average product cycle of the iPod models, I think you'll find that April will be the usual time interval that they normally make major product updates.

[Zorg @ Feb 10th 2006 3:49PM]

Who cares if it's fake!? I want it, ASAP!

[JinKazama @ Feb 10th 2006 3:52PM]

I know apple's gonna release this thing eventually but I agree with Job's early assertion that nobody really wants portable video.

I travel a fair amount and I could see myself downloading a TV show that I miss here or there but not much. I have a PSP and a video ipod and I can count on one hand how many videos I've dowloaded on both.

[Michael @ Feb 10th 2006 3:55PM]

If this thing acts like a PDA, I'd buy it. And a touch screen wheel makes a lot of sense to me. I hate the small areas to touch on my PDA. I hate having to get the stylus out. Makes driving and looking up something with one hand difficult. But if this thing is just a iPod with a larger screen, I'll acknowledge that it's the best looking hand held video player and continue my life happily without an iPod.

[jet_star @ Feb 10th 2006 3:57PM]

That implementation of the touchscreen scrollwheel wouldn't be so practical. Unlike the physical version where you depress the areas marked MENU, PLAY/PAUSE, FFW, and RWD to differentiate between touching the wheel and scrolling for volume control, this version you would have to touch outside those areas to start scrolling or else you might accidentally activate one of those actions.

Unless the screen will be pressure-sensitive.

[Joe @ Feb 10th 2006 4:00PM]

both fake. If Apple were to make a WS video iPod it would use a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, to coincide with its TV shows offered on iTunes. The black one is 1.81:1 and the white one is 1.84:1.

[Hunter @ Feb 10th 2006 4:03PM]

This mock up took me about 30 minutes.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a32/LifeInPrism/KingKongiPod.jpg

All the images, with the exception of the screen grab of King Kong, I stole from apple.com. I can only imagine that someone with more Photoshop knowledge time than I have could mock up all those pictures with ease.

[Desert @ Feb 10th 2006 4:06PM]

There is no way Apple is coming out with a widescreen ipod anytime soon. First ipods are meant to be portable (of which the PSP is NOT). Second, they have all kinds of content already formated for the video ipods screen. Are they going to have 2 different formats now on iTMS? I think not.

[Glancing Aft @ Feb 10th 2006 4:10PM]

If the production model is anything like this, I hope they ship it with the ipod radio remote, like the early generations of the ipod with the then ipod controller. I would just be nice if there was some way to control the devise without taking it out of it's pouch and risking scratching that beautiful screen.

[Aaron Scott @ Feb 10th 2006 4:10PM]

Well, if you want to get wacky, how about my own photoshop fake - the ultimate merging for nerds:

http://dev.sfolweb.com/ipodLCARS.jpg

;Well, if you want to get wacky, how about my own photoshop fake - the ultimate merging for nerds:

http://dev.sfolweb.com/ipodLCARS.jpg

;)

[Jake @ Feb 10th 2006 4:19PM]

Everyone is complaining about fingerprints, isn't that what the iWand is for?

[Jason @ Feb 10th 2006 4:27PM]

Wow, people just crack me up. Reminds me of when people claimed the iPod would never go over 20GB of capacity (OMG who could possibly EVER need that much space??)

1. It's not the size of a PSP you idiots, it's going to have a 3.5" screen when in LANDSCAPE mode which means it will be the same size as the current treasured iPod.

2. It makes perfect sense to have it detect the orientation and re-format the screen and controls on the fly to make it as friendly for owners of previous iPods as possible.

3. Screen smudges are easily wiped away by those with intelligence above the chimp level.

4. On the fly touchscreens that are re-configured while being used are without a doubt the future UI mechanism of small devices like this, get over it.

5. Apple definitely WILL release something like this, just maybe not for another year or so. Steve Jobs said that noone would want to watch video on a TINY screen, the 5G and obviously this device take care of that problem.

[Dr J @ Feb 10th 2006 4:28PM]

Wow... This look very like a knock-off of U10 from iRiver!!! Man... ppl complained that other companies make similar products of iPod, and now apple is doing the same thing... hahahaha very funny!!!

[Ender @ Feb 10th 2006 4:29PM]

I don't think people get it. This is not a replacement of the 5G iPod. This is a product at an eschelon above the 5G iPod. The current iPod is the heart of the iPod line, it carries the iPod name in its original form. Notice how Apple markets it as the iPod, NOT the iPod video. This concept (full faced screen with integrated click wheel) is something I too predicted a while ago, it's the inevitable evolution of the product. It won't replace the "iPod" for quite a while. Expect this puppy to clock in at $500 and $600, much like the iPod Photos of November 2004, which we released just a few months after the 4G iPods came out. It won't be a phone, it won't be a PDA, it will be a multimedia device and a precursor to the iPod line morphing into this product as battery, display, and storage technologies improve.

[Adam @ Feb 10th 2006 4:37PM]

I HATE Steve Jobs, and god damn Apple. I bought my nano and the video was announced, and I just sold my nano and bought a 60g 5g which is sweet for jacking the projectors at work and slacking off. But now this, if they actually announce a new ipod again RIGHT after I spent a sick amount of money on my video ipod I'll have to go postal in the apple offices.

Can't you just milk a product for a few extra months for once apple?

[g00gander @ Feb 10th 2006 4:38PM]

Um, a touch screen on a device that you will be watching videos on? I don't know about anyone else but smudgey fingerprints on a screen I'm watching a viddy on would drive me crazy. SMUUUUUUDDDGGGE! It's dumb and doubtful.

[Keirmeister @ Feb 10th 2006 4:43PM]

If it looks anything like this likely mock-up, I still want it. Especially if it keeps the 5G form factor.

But here's a question I haven't seen anyone mention: What video formats will it play? I might think twice if it doesn't do divx or xvid.

[Vlad @ Feb 10th 2006 4:44PM]

What's with the volume bar? It's ugly. Hella-ugly. What I like about the iPod now (I have a 30 Gig Photo) is the simplicity. If I want to see the volume, I move the click wheel.

However, I think a widescreen iPod like this is inevitable. Just not so damn ugly. That picture is so damn ugly.

[Careycamel @ Feb 10th 2006 4:46PM]

uummm what is the point of a virtual scroll wheel on a touch screen when you could, say select items in menus by touching them?