Apple's iPod touch gets official

Well, what do you know. Turns out the iPod touch is a reality after all. While we initially assumed that Mr. Jobs wouldn't be so kind as to bless us all with two new full-fledged iPods in a single day, we're elated that he had other ideas. The new flagship iPod has "the same size screen as the iPhone, but it's even thinner" (eight-millimeters, for those taking notes), and it also touts the "same multi-touch interface" found on the firm's handset. Additionally, it boasts a 3.5-inch widescreen display, the ability to "flick through your photos," and you even get the "slide to unlock" feature, too. And yes, this thing actually has WiFi. Of note, the built-in wireless antenna isn't exactly attractive, but if it means that we can surf the web (YouTube included) and buy tunes on our iPod, we suppose it may be an acceptable flaw. As for battery life, the touch is said to last 22-hours when playing back audio and 5-hours when watching video, but only time will tell how draining web surfing will be. The iPod touch will be arriving in 8GB and 16GB flavors and will be priced at $299 and $399, respectively, when they ship "worldwide in a few weeks."

Gallery: Apple's iPod Touch gets official

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[Matt @ Sep 5th 2007 1:34PM]

Finally!

[someToast @ Sep 5th 2007 1:52PM]

Meh. I've got an iPhone already.

A 160 gig iPod in the existing form factor, though? I've been waiting six years. *That* I'll get.

[Cash @ Sep 5th 2007 1:54PM]

8gig and 16gig?! WTF?! You build a gorgeous iPod with video, wifi, etc and you only give me 16gigs?! I've got 40+ of music, and god knows how much more in video!

And what about bluetooth? Where the F* is bluetooth?! My 40 bucks with activation SE phone comes with stereo bluetooth for god's sake, so what's your excuse?

Bleh I'm going to be sick. This is like getting the car of your dreams, but they only offer it in hot pink with zebra print seat covers.

[prateeko @ Sep 5th 2007 1:57PM]

NoooOOooooOooo!!!

Flash limited to 16GB?! What's the point of such a nice screen if I can't load this thing up with video.

Why you gotta be like that, Steve?

[randy @ Sep 5th 2007 2:04PM]

16GB holds about 26 movies. Watch those for two days (with AC power), then plug it in to your mac and swap those out for more.

[nd4speed @ Sep 5th 2007 2:09PM]

$399 for a 16gb music player? Someone's on crack this morning.

[cawpin @ Sep 5th 2007 2:49PM]

26 movies in 16GB? I don't think so. A DVD movie Handbraked to the iPod's full resolution is about 1GB+. I have 20-25 GB of music on my video iPod now. 16GB isn't enough space especially at $399.

[darkstar @ Sep 5th 2007 2:41PM]

bye bye nokia n800?? in terms of web surfing, that is.
maybe v2 of ipod touch will have skype functionality

[Nick @ Sep 5th 2007 2:46PM]

@Cash

Packaging Bluetooth would be too tempting for people to hack ther iPod Touch and use the Wifi with VoIP and the Bluetooth with a bluetooth earpiece. Here at Apple we decided that if you want to make calls or any other type of data communication (because we dont want you instant messaging either) you should buy our iPhone.

[greatslack @ Sep 5th 2007 3:23PM]

Instead of making it slightly thinner than the iphone, why didn't they make it slightly thicker and put in a damn hard drive?!!

[mikey @ Sep 5th 2007 3:51PM]

i'm the biggest apple fanboy i know, but this is jsut taking the piss.

first the new iMac. It's jsut ugly.

New nanos. Because everybody wants to watch tv shows/movies on a 2 INCH SCREEN.

Now, at last a true video iPod is released. Only problem it is that it only goes up to 16gb. Which kinda ruins the point of the video bit.

I remember last week everybody predicting 8 and 16gb nanos. But a 16gb VIDEO iPod. That Touch shoudl be 160gb, and mr. Ive should get his finger out of his ass and try using something more than a mental copy/paste for the iPod Touch design.

Come on Apple.

[Penguin Warlord @ Sep 5th 2007 4:24PM]

Apple you have just lost many customers by not adding in a hardrive. Hell why have the ipod classic at all just offer a 16gb flash version for people who for some reason prefer flash and a 60gb version for the same price for people who actually listen to music.

I've been waiting for this but you guys have screwed up big and have lost one customer.

[Dr. Reverend Shmoove, PhD @ Sep 5th 2007 4:30PM]

16 gigs? is that a typo? did they leave a zero off the end of that?

i think i'll take the 160 gig archos 605 wifi for $399 with the 4.3 inch touchscreen. get the dvr dock and such.

i know i know...it's not pretty and it's not skinny but neither is ya'lls mamas ohhhhhhhhhh

[randy @ Sep 5th 2007 5:58PM]

I don't think the mainstream of iPod owners anticipates using their 16GB for long term backup storage. Alas, folks like you are probably a minor enigma to some of Apple's engineers, but ultimately you get tossed by the wayside. I guess they figure the rest of us don't need to be be stuck with a 2-inch-thick, $500 clunker just so a few fruitbags can store their entire 33GB collection of Phish live bootlegs and another 1000 hours of DIvX porn simultaneously.

Essentially, most folks watch a movie, then delete it. 10 movies is probably the maximum most need to store on their mobile device at any given time, in between chargins (movies transfer on every charge). NOBODY needs the same 26 movies to REMAIN on their device IN PERPETUITY UNTIL THE VERY DAY THEY PERISH FROM THIS EARTH.

[Brad @ Sep 5th 2007 7:49PM]

At last WiFi (and maybe sharing?) iPod users can get excited about squirting each other files, instead of ripping on Zune owners for what is in fact a very nice feature.

Well, at least you can have Starbucks squirt you...

It'll be like Intel all over again. "We hate intel" "New Intel based macs are four times faster by using the exact same chip as we told you to hate only weeks before" "We love Intel!"

[Penguin Warlord @ Sep 5th 2007 7:50PM]

@ Randy

Just because you have a very specific taste in music doesn't mean that other people do. The average ipod user has a much larger library. Personally I have a 15gb library filled entirely with music that I like and I have a small one compared to some friends. Sure it's thin but what difference does a couple mm of thiness make?

Plus 10 movies is about all this can hold without music. Let's say that I can whittle my library down to my top 1000 songs, that's still 4gb leaving us with 12gb left (assuming I pay 450 for the 16gb) now do you know how fast 12gb will fill up if you try and put tv shows on there? Now assume you add a cm of thickness to it so that it's 18mm thick and now it has 160gb of storage. Now you don't have to delete and readd movies. You can have your entire music and video library on it. That is what I want to be able to watch whatever I want wherever. If you can only hold a couple show on it then it becomes pointless and eliminated choice.

[maveric101 @ Sep 5th 2007 9:31PM]

gay. 16 gigs is so pathetic. i was looking forward to being able to load this thing up with video.

and why couldn't they have made the screen bigger to take up the whole face? or made the device less tall (since it is bigger than an ipod classic). seriously, Apple was so lazy in designing this thing. they almost literally took the iphone, doubled the memory, and took out the phone. and with the iphone price drop, they now cost the same.

[E71 @ Sep 6th 2007 7:59AM]

First a phone lacking UMTS/HSDPA/3G/etc and now an mp3 player lacking capacity. Apple's on a roll. Seems they're trying to push a low spec is the new high spec trend.

[randy @ Sep 6th 2007 9:11AM]

>> "why couldn't they have made the screen bigger to take up the whole face? or made the device less tall"?

Because in landscape mode, your thumbs would BLOCK the screen. Simple as that.

[Alasdair Wilson @ Sep 15th 2007 1:02PM]

CAN YOU DOWNLOAD MSN MESSENGER ON THE NEW IPOD TOUCH???? :)

[vangogh71 @ Sep 5th 2007 5:23PM]

1st

[Dah Cheet @ Sep 5th 2007 1:34PM]

Sweet baby jesus!

[dchaosdx @ Sep 5th 2007 7:25PM]

very happy. i hope it will run some apps, maybe since up with outlook or have wifi and let you use an organizer or intarweb.

[Andy @ Sep 5th 2007 6:51PM]

That is the most sexy piece of machine ive ever seen. I want one!

[JJ @ Sep 5th 2007 1:38PM]

o hell yeah!

[shamrock593 @ Sep 5th 2007 1:38PM]

Holy shit!

[dylan @ Sep 5th 2007 1:41PM]

awesome! i'm so excited for this. but now do i get the iPhone or the iPod touch?

[Homeboy @ Sep 5th 2007 1:40PM]

Does it have a hard drive or sissy 8GB of flash memory. I want a hard drive in that thing.

[shamrock593 @ Sep 5th 2007 1:49PM]

Flash. 8GB is $299... the price for the 16GB is $399.

[Mike D @ Sep 5th 2007 2:47PM]

yeah it comes with an 8 and 16 gb hard drive.. ???

[Derbeste @ Sep 5th 2007 1:41PM]

I'm not an apple fan........

I want one.

Steve...you FINALLY have my attention.

[Phour ZwanZig @ Sep 5th 2007 5:56PM]

Me too.. Basicly just an Apple PDA.. iPhone minus the phone.. Maybe I can replace my Axim with this.. Hmm.. Does it play reg MP3's thou.. or are we still stuck to iTunes..

[ChrisFromJersey @ Sep 26th 2007 9:14AM]

Word man, I've always hated Apple products because my school system uses them and they always get the newest models but everything on them is always failing (espiecally HDDs and MoBos). Also anytime i've found an iPod on the ground and snatched it or used a friends (usually just the generation 5 videos and up) the OS always seems to lag in things like scrolling threw many files or skipping while listening to music or freezing while watching a video, either because it's on a HDD, the scroll wheel is poorly designed for large hands like mine, or the OS is bloated. Now with the iPod touch, the scroll wheel was ditched, and flash memory is being used so there will be no faulty scrolling and no failing hard drives. To answer peoples questions about the flash memory being small, well think of it this way, Solid State Drives go up to about 64 gb now, and they cost more than the touch itself, and a 16GB flash drive costs inbetween 130$ to 270$. So if you think about it, a 16GB ipod with a touch screen, wireless internet, a flash drive, that can play videos, play music, and display pictures in a fashionable way, is pretty damn nice.
And just so you know i'm neither a Microsoft and certainly not an Apple fanboy.

[Desolatax @ Sep 5th 2007 1:43PM]

Hot DAMN!

[Ari @ Sep 5th 2007 1:41PM]

i love you ipod touch

[Grizz @ Sep 5th 2007 1:41PM]

I can spend half as much as the iPhone, hold it up to my head and talk on the subway and be just as hip. Sweet!

[Derbeste @ Sep 5th 2007 1:46PM]

The answer is yes anyway. He just announced WiFi and safari are built in. This is the iPhone without a phone. I want one badly.

[Grizz @ Sep 5th 2007 1:49PM]

I smell Skype!

[Nick @ Sep 5th 2007 1:55PM]

but no iChat for instant messaging?

[randy @ Sep 5th 2007 1:58PM]

No, the rectangle in the upper corner gives you away.

[Nick @ Sep 5th 2007 1:59PM]

Skype? no built in mic or speaker... no bluetooth so you cant use a blue tooth ear piece... maybe only thing you can use is an old school wired earbud+mic hands free piece. unless i am totally missing something.. not very likely to be using your iPod Touch for makin calls.

[Grizz @ Sep 5th 2007 2:05PM]

You got a point there nick. Oh well.

[saul @ Sep 5th 2007 2:09PM]

Nick, you made my day. I was begining to feel buyers remorse.

[Jay @ Sep 5th 2007 2:13PM]

You think people with iPhones look cool? I think they look like tools. I'm not trying to add fodder to the flame wars, but I really can't stand such trendy products. Especially since there are obviously people who want one just so they can show it off, otherwise people like you who want to look cool wouldn't exist. I'm ending this now before I rant.

[Nick @ Sep 5th 2007 2:23PM]

So I guess you are still waiting on getting HD cuz HD TVs/Movies/Service are all the trend right now

[Nick @ Sep 5th 2007 2:40PM]

@Derbeste

Not really... from the looks of the pictures they have been showing.. its an iPhone missing Phone,Mail,Notes,iChat (WiFi instant messaging), Camera, and finally Maps.

My only guess about no camera is they didnt have space for it. Mail would be able to work as long as you had a WiFi connection (just like Safari and their beloved You Tube); so why not still have those bundled? Okay fine I'll use safari to go to google maps, making the user make 2 extra "taps" isn't good UI design Apple. They are bragging about WiFi but not allowing instant messaging. Its got the iPhone keyboard yet no Notes program... the logic in this does not compute for me.

[Scott @ Sep 5th 2007 3:14PM]

@Jay

Right, absolutely NO ONE wants one because of the stellar UI on a phone that for once doesn't appear to be from the Windows 3.1 era. Everyone wants one to be tools. Hooray for sweeping generalization!

[Jay @ Sep 5th 2007 3:58PM]

@Scott

Sweeping generalizations? He said he wants to pretend he has an iPhone so he can look cool. I never said it isn't a nice phone, I've never used one so I have no idea. All I know is that some of the people who buy them are idiots, like you.

[Andrew Webster @ Sep 11th 2007 10:49PM]

I just purchased an iPod touch. Nice!
iPod touch is the iPhone without phone calling function.
iPod touch's native resolution is 480x320 like iPhone.
iPhone Nano's native resolution is 320x240.
Any freeware can put DVD on my iPod touch? I googled much, but only found http://www.dvdtoipodtouch.info/ I know handbrake is free, but I am a Windows user.

[Kunikos @ Sep 5th 2007 1:41PM]

Yes, but is there a web browser or iTunes built into the phone? Otherwise, what's the point of Wi-Fi except for maybe transferring your music to your phone from your Mac or PC?