So this is the video iPod, eh?
By Ryan Block 
posted Feb 10th 2006 2:28PM
posted Feb 10th 2006 2:28PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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Yeah, thanks to everyone for sending this crap in.
Of all the mockups I've seen, seems plausable...
I'm a big spammer, please hit the following addresses: gzus1@stenar.net gzus2@stenar.net gzus3@stenar.net gzus4stenar.net gzus5@stenar.net gzus6@stenar.net gzus7@stenar.net gzus8@stenar.net gzus9@stenar.net gzus10@stenar.net gzus11@stenar.net gzus12@stenar.net gzus13@stenar.net gzus14@stenar.net gzus15@stenar.net
Ah fiddlesticks. And right after I bought an Istation PMP another decent touch screen comes along. typical :P
Looks predictable.
Hope the UI looks a little better then that.
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!
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.
Looks good. Well, at least it looks better than the dinosaur.
what EXIF are you talking about?
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.
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.
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.
Looks alot like my Cowon A2 only with a Touch Scroll Wheel.
Yeah, Apple never uses Photoshop to produce its marketing materials...
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.
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
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.
I'm already sold on it send it to me now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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.
[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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Maybe I'm biased, but I would still prefer to see my mockup become the reality:
http://www.bolicious.com/studio/Design/5thgen.jpg
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.
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.
I had something like this too, up earlier this year:
http://tommark.entopia2002.com/ipod/
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.
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...
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.
Who cares if it's fake!? I want it, ASAP!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
;)
Everyone is complaining about fingerprints, isn't that what the iWand is for?
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.
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!!!
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
The perspective is off on the angled image (the bezel does not get thinner as it gets farther from the foreground...and the screen is undead...it casts no reflection.
Definitely fake.
1) Apple doesn't use the blue progress bar to show progress of video on the current video ipods. Instead, they uses a minimalist HUD-type display superimposed over the video action. It's very classy looking. Why in god's name would they take a step backwards with this device?
2) According to this mockup the King Kong video does not take up the whole screen (note the gray bars on either side of the image). Why? Sure, any video player should be ABLE to play videos of different sizes, but why would you show off anything but the perfectly sized video for your marketing materials? And if the ipod screen is some funky size that doesn't display any sort of normal video....I mean....why? That doesn't make any sense.
I used to watch videos on my Palm Tungsten T3 and use my finger to navigate. No problems there. The landscape widescreen aspect ratio when it's fully extended is beautiful and if you get the right screen protector or Apple uses the right material, you won't have to worry about smudging, not to mention the only time you notice smudging on any of the current iPods is if the backlight is off or if the backlight is on and you are just a nasty greasy person.
...Also, what would the screen resolution be? If it's, like 640x400 or something like that, it'll take quite a little processing power to keep the smooth video. And with such a large color screen...how long would the battery last?
Interesting....
Check out the pic of the IPod Video on my website:
http://nizzy1115.tripod.com/blog/
I think it is the best possibility out there.
You can have all the coolest portable video players you want. They won't become a hit till you deliver a great service to download video.
I wonder what will happen with the ui. Now that ipod has video, and when it gets a large screen, it becomes very similar to front row. So are we going to see a unified frontrow 2.0 / iPod interface ? If so, what would it look like?
[URL=http://img15.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc167&image=6c1c5_video_ipod_fake.jpg][IMG]http://img15.imagevenue.com/loc167/th_6c1c5_video_ipod_fake.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Obviously a HORRIBLE Photoshop job... here are some of the EASIEST short comings on this supposed "leaked image" as you can see by the 1. i have labeled there you can obviously see a bad cut job and if you look you can see some sort of large grey box that is there once you zoom in on the photo, and the #2 i have labeled in the pic you can see more evidence of a poorly done cut job. Not only to mention the really crappy low res internet image that was snaked to make this crappy mock up. Sorry Engadget I know you really didn't belive this for once min. exp. with all these SUPPOSED Feb. 22nd invited popping up everywhere. Take a look at my sceen shot on the image i pulled into photoshop to take a peak at and you'll agree too. Horrible Photoshop job. FAKE thanks. T.K.
definitely fake. battery life on the current video is likef 4 hours max when watching a movie. double screen size and same overall size makes battery life not even long enough to get thru a single movie. looks cool though.
Apple is impressive with how they've gotten everybody fooled into having to have the newest before the new has gotten old yet. I'm content with my 30gig video iPod that is covered in scratches and hasn't been updated since upgrading to the newest version of iTunes.
it would kill the battery
I'm sure if Apple did really make a iPod exactly like this.
The top and bottom parts of that King Kong piece would disappear just like the touch wheel on it. It would go into a full screen mode or something. Only showing the volume and progression of TV show, music video, movie and whatever you have on it as well.
As long as they make it with rounded edges like the 4G one. Make as thick, because the 30GB 5G is too thin. Use a better screen protection to keep the screen beautiful.
And those of you that say it won't be released for a long time. Apple could easily pull something like this off. They should put a DECENT battery in it for once though. Something like 5 hours of video watching. Like I said thick enough, which means a bigger better battery.
They always release new iPods all the time, it is how the stay competitive. Or should I say, stay ahead in the market. Think about it, if they kept with the same iPods longer, some other company would come out with something comparable. This way they push the bar and don't have to worry about catching up to someone else.
As long as it has a matte finish, it'll sell.
For those of you complaining about the scope of the movie on the screen, assuming they went with a "standard" 16:9 screen (1.77:1), there are many films shot in 2.35:1, as I imagine King Kong was, so you are going to see some top and bottom bar action on the film, just as you would on a Hi-Def TV. As far as the progress display, I assume it will probably look like it would when you present a movie in QT Pro, with an appearing/disappearing progress bar. Hell, they could even incorporate controls into that in addition to, or instead of, the click wheel, for video playing.
Knowing apple, this won't support divx or xvid. I'm sure it won't do in-line video recording either. Why not just buy a Cowon A2 or an Archos AV500? They are available now, and aside from the touchscreen, are already better than this mockup.
"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."
If you weren't all greasy fingered fucks it wouldn't be a problem. Try taking a shower now and again.
does anyone have the original 3 images (high res) from the blog it seems imageshack is now craping out and saying the user needs to replace the images with clickable thumb's altho he has :(
Wow, I don't understand how people can come up with so many stupid comments.
1. Clearly if you were designing a device like this you would make it so that when you listen to music the ipod controls are setup for portrait mode so that they can easily be used with one hand. When the iPod plays videos though the controls switche to landscape mode because that is how you will be looking at the screen. You don't need any stupid sensors, this is just common sense! Wow, how is this not OBVIOUS guys!?
2. Most of you have clearly never used a touchscreen device. Touchscreens know when you just tap them or when you apply constant pressure. How else can a laptop trackpad know when you are double clicking on something or when you are dragging it. If you keep your finger down the input will not be registered as a tap no matter what. Again, common sense!
3. Again, many of you have clearly never used a touchscreen device. I mainly use my PocketPC without the stylus and I always watch movies on it. I have never had any problems with fingerprints.
I don't see anything unrealistic about this device. These things you are complaining about are very simple to overcome if you take say five minutes to think about it. I guess this shows why you guys don't work for Apple.
Hmmm, lets see the 5G with a smaller screen barely has 2hrs of play time... and this one will have... like 30min?
Touch screen concept is pretty good though. Keeping the screen at a maximum, but still maintaining a small form factor. Maybe not so practical with finger prints, but maybe Jobs can invent a some type of screen that doens't scratch or leaves finger prints like the Nano?
I'll take the Gigabeat S Series with 5hrs of video any day.
I think the ipod looks pretty awesome but they pretty much just realesed the 5th gen video and i doubt they would release this in the near future. And on think secret the guy who posted this said he did it in photoshop although i wouldn't mind it looking like that as long as its smudge free and has good battery life.
i work for apple! they ain't going to make one like this, the batt won't last as long because of the screen and it will have to be thicker because of the battery for it... This is crap...
Thats not a good pic
http://fd05.de/gagahaDAV/iPodvideoweb.jpg
Thats a much better one (not my pic btw i just found it)
I like it.
it looks sweet
It would make sense to me if the screen was on one side and then a physical scroll wheel was on the back of the iPod, so you could use your middle or index finger to scroll. That would probably cut down on cost, since there would be no need for a touch screen and it's not like you have to actually see the scroll wheel to use it.
Lord, can someone at Engadget please get their head out of their gadget-encrusted ass and finally fix the comment link problem?
looks like there is already a YTMND about it . . .
http://ipodvideo.ytmnd.com/
about the touch-screen buttons, wouldn't you get fingerprints or smudges on it after a while?
theres no way you can keep it clean forever, especially when you are watching and eating the same time
I like how the one I made to demonstrate how easy it is to fake made it into the YTMND site.
My (un-)Educated Predictions:
1. Apple will make a product very similar to the one shown. In time for the holidays, or next spring (2007)
2. Apples new ipod will support more commonly used video files like avi, divx, etc. This will be good for people that would buy something else because of video support. I know 10 people with a 5G ipod and none of them were smart enough to get videos on their ipod (mine is full of them, full).
3. Apple wants to keep the scroll whell not because of functionality, but because of it being kind of an icon with ipods (*cough* white earbuds *cough*). Im confused as how it will be practical to have the wheel upright during music and sideways during videos. theyll probably leave it in one position or the other.
4. My 5g ipod is full of videos that my computer spent well over a week converting with videora ipod converter. I keep getting more but my ipod is full. I have about 1.5GB songs and the rest is videos, so they will definitely have to make the hard drive HUGER.
5. how are they going to make a case with a screen protector? a la psp? thats annoying, especially with a touch screen
6. goddamnit im gonna have to spend another $400 to get this pocket mirror that plays videos on the back aka 6g ipod
My (un-)Educated Predictions:
1. Apple will make a product very similar to the one shown. In time for the holidays, or next spring (2007)
2. Apples new ipod will support more commonly used video files like avi, divx, etc. This will be good for people that would buy something else because of video support. I know 10 people with a 5G ipod and none of them were smart enough to get videos on their ipod (mine is full of them, full).
3. Apple wants to keep the scroll whell not because of functionality, but because of it being kind of an icon with ipods (*cough* white earbuds *cough*). Im confused as how it will be practical to have the wheel upright during music and sideways during videos. theyll probably leave it in one position or the other.
4. My 5g ipod is full of videos that my computer spent well over a week converting with videora ipod converter. I keep getting more but my ipod is full. I have about 1.5GB songs and the rest is videos, so they will definitely have to make the hard drive HUGER.
5. how are they going to make a case with a screen protector? a la psp? thats annoying, especially with a touch screen
6. goddamnit im gonna have to spend another $400 to get this pocket mirror that plays videos on the back aka 6g ipod
Smudges are fine on a Palm since the screen has a white background, but when watching videos? I think not, unless they come up with a way to prevent smudges. I hate my PSP for that and smudges are mostly on the controls (since I have no reason to touch the screen while playing). Can't wait to have the white PSP available in the States.
iTMS does not format videos specifically for the current video iPod, as said above. I routinely download TV shows on iTMS that I watch on my Sony HDTV Bravia 40-inch, which is I think a bit bigger that this fake video iPod prototype. And they look really good (except that you can see poor color gradation in darker scenes and stuff, but that is due to compression quality, not resolution).
Anyway, that video iPod proto is sooo fake.
i want
I have a feeling that they are going to go with Tiger/QuickTime 7's on screen visual language.
The real screen would be exactly 16:9 without that messy unused space at theleft and right sides. You don't think Apple would be that sloppy, do you? And dual progress bars? No way. And the screen layout sucks. But a big touch screen is a nice idea...
#49 You must have very small fingers
55. "You can have all the coolest portable video players you want. They won't become a hit till you deliver a great service to download video."
------------------------------
When 35% of all Internet traffic are BitTorrent downloads, I don't think video download services are a problem. Yes, it's illegal, but it's not like people don't know where to get videos.
i got a question ........ if apple does release somthing like this ... wnt it be exretmly wied to hold it in you hand ( horizontaly ) and watch video without touching the screen ....
Of course it's a fake, the proof is right there in the picture.
Has anyone ever had their battery icon stay 100% full long enough to snap a picture of it?
I hope they (1) put a scratch/smudge resistant coating on it, (2) they make it able to display horizontal and vertical (like in the pictures), and (3) they have a regular headphone jack as well as bluetooth for wireless headphones. And also for adding songs/videos/pictures/whatever to it.
I'd just like to point out that I totally called this ... even made my own mockups. And I did it in OCTOBER of LAST YEAR ... when the new iPods were released.
These mockups look STARTLINGLY similar to my own.
http://superrob.blogspot.com/2005/10/new-ipod-with-video.html
http://superrob.blogspot.com/2005/10/criticizing-new-ipod.html
Every time someone points out an obvious fake, god kills a kitten.
Obviously these are fake. Otherwise they'd have been taken down already. Use some common sense people. Anything that doens't generate an immediate C&D isn't real.
if I were an apple fun-boy I would be mad to see every 6 month a new ipod with new cool feature.
They update their stuff TOO F* fast.
That's it! There's no screen (image) in the reflection on the bottom... i don't know. it'd be sweet...
this isn't new idea, the olympus mrobe was released over a year ago and it is extremly similar, so in my mind this isn't too for of a stretch for apple.
http://www.epinions.com/pr-Olympus_m_robe_MR_500i_20_GB_MP3_Player/display_~full_specs
So faked. I did this in my blog a few weeks ago, same concept, same imagery: http://interminatus.com/blog/index.php?/archives/42-iPod-Video,-Entry-One.html
wow. shiny.
doubtless that this will come with a billion other gadgets.
Hi Guys,
I totally agree with Jason (post 42).
If this thing comes out, Apple has done it again!
With this gadget, they will re-define industry. What iPod+iTunes did to music, this will do to Video. Sheer Brillinace :-)
However, one thing which troubles me is a similar device 'Palm-LifeDrive'.
Its virtually a same gadget, but could not do well.
Maybe this is where the Power of iTune Online Store will come. It will help Apple to drive Video iPod.
What ever it is, if this baby comes out, Apple is back with PDA!
I like how everyone one and their teeny bopper playpals now claim that they "blogged about this last year, here's my lame-ass mock-up, yadda yadaa."
Get over it. Like it was really an original idea to tilt the damn thing on it's side.
"Ooooh, Apple stole my idea!" *sheesh*
Here's a dollar - go buy yourselves a clue. No, wait, give me that dollar back and go get a real job.
Fingerprint winers know where to stick their grubby digits.
If the screen is gonna be 3,5 inch as the rumors are saying, a widescreen appear quite small, if you do the math. And also if there is widescreen there MUST be widescreen material sold on iTunes. Many TV shows are recorded in widescreen, but I guess far from all are. I don't think Apple's ready for feature film download just yet. A 3,5 inch display will most likely be a 3:4 or 3:2 screen, not a 16:9 screen, it will be a little too small to be a stunning change. And also if the form factor of the iPod is gonna be the same, a 3,5 inch widescreen will leave too thick borders to fit the design tradition. It have to shrink significantly to fit a 3,5 inch widescreen.. and perhaps thicken to give space for a battery that coops with the task of playing video. I say a widescreen will be more like 4 inch. If the design mockup that we've seen here shares the same dimensions as today's iPod, it is a 4 inch screen.
And hey, all of you that think touchscreens leave smudgy screens. That doesn't have to be the case if you're using the most appropriate plastic to protect the screen. I am an owner of a Wacom Cintiq pen display. I'm smudging my hands all over it while drawing on it, and it never appears traditionally finger smudgy as normal LCD, CRT, phone screens do. It's got another type of plastic on it that doesn't give reflections or catch up smudgie from your fingers.