iPod touch updated -- same screen, new case, Nike+ integration

As expected, Apple just updated the iPod touch with a new thinner stainless steel case -- it's still got the same display. There's now hardware volume controls (hooray!) and a built-in speaker, and a Nike+ receiver is also built in, so you just need the shoe transmitter. On the software side, the UI has been tweaked and the new iTunes Genius features have been added, and the App Store is now included (obviously). Battery life is decent at 36 hours of music and 6 hours of video, and Apple's doing the same "environmentally sound" design thing it did with the new nano. Three price points: 8GB for $229, 16GB for $299, and 32GB for $399. So much for that rumored price drop below the iPhone's $199 price point, but we won't complain too much about a $100 price drop.

Gallery: iPod Touch 2.0

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[Shinigami @ Sep 9th 2008 1:35PM]

Wow, cool. But where's the picture? Or better, a gallery? Thanks in advance for fixing :)

[OneLove @ Sep 9th 2008 2:14PM]

same old, same old. scraps for you.

[d @ Sep 9th 2008 9:47PM]

The integrated Nike+ is a smart move. It makes people who'd normally get just an iTouch get the sensor and maybe even the shoe so they aren't wasting that feature.

yes, I did just hijack the 1st comment.

[iEye @ Sep 9th 2008 1:36PM]

No A2DP so that apple can sell those new spiffy clickey iHeadPhones for $79... eat it up fanboyz! Love it!, worship it... its what you do!

[Operation Northwood @ Sep 10th 2008 3:47AM]

Why in the world would someone hate Apple? Americans should be proud of a company making quality and good working products. It makes very decent products, German style. Even though they limit it so much, I have owned an iPod Touch after many many Windows mobile, and I'm very amazed at its performance the same performance in the morning you get in the evening without having to reboot. I'm not a fan of any company i'm just giving my honest opinion, I'm looking forward into getting a Mac next.

[From My Cube @ Sep 9th 2008 1:36PM]

Nice that it has an integrated speakers...I can finally ditch my boombox with the 6 D batteries when i want to walk down the street jamm'n

[CJ @ Sep 9th 2008 1:46PM]

Yes, so now instead of looking like a tool with a huge stereo on his shoulder, you'll look like a tool holding nothing on his shoulder.

If I ever see you 'walkin' down the street jammin' ', remind me to remind you that you look like a tool

[From My Cube @ Sep 9th 2008 2:02PM]

@CJ


Joke..




Your head...

Figure out this brain buster!

[CJ @ Sep 9th 2008 2:11PM]

From My Cube.

Joke also...





Still a tool...

Figure THAT out.

[Rogue_Genius @ Sep 9th 2008 2:32PM]

Hey CJ,

Jokes are supposed to be FUNNY. They elicit laughter.
Cube's post: funny. obvious humor.
Your post: not so much.

Thanks for playing, though.

[Tom @ Sep 9th 2008 1:36PM]

C'mon, Engadget. You have already covered all this apple stuff in your liveblogging post. Do we really need all this extra stuff cluttering the front page?

[Piers Rippey @ Sep 9th 2008 1:44PM]

Get over it. This is a website about gadgets, these are new gadgets. It's not going to kill you.

[jorvay @ Sep 9th 2008 1:37PM]

Fuck integrated speakers! I don't want to hear your terrible top-40 shit music.

[required @ Sep 9th 2008 1:44PM]

I feel the same way about mouths.

[barry99705 @ Sep 9th 2008 5:11PM]

Goodspeed : "You like music, you like Elton John, how about the song Rocket Man?"
Soldier/merc dude: "I don't listen to that soft shit!"

[happy_penguin @ Sep 9th 2008 5:22PM]

I doubt most people would use the speaker for listening to music. It has other applications.

[shimmy shimmy yah @ Sep 10th 2008 3:22AM]

sharin a movie.....

[Kory @ Sep 9th 2008 1:38PM]

Nike plus on the Touch?!?! What about the iPhone? Aw, crap...

[Homeboy @ Sep 9th 2008 1:39PM]

It's a shame they didn't integrate nike plus into the Nano since it's easier to clunk around.

[patriotsn1 @ Sep 9th 2008 1:41PM]

OoOoOOooOOOooo a stopwatch!!! Sign me up!

[xValentine @ Sep 9th 2008 1:43PM]

iPhonish.

[CJ @ Sep 9th 2008 1:44PM]

Hardware volume controls are the one major gripe I had with the iPod touch's first generations. Well, that and somewhat sub-parr audio quality.

Built in speaker though, that's going to hideous. Because you know that just after christmas, you won't be able to move for trendy kids, fighting the gangsta, emo, and miscelaneous kids for who has the loudest music on commuter transport. Bad move Apple, you're ruining the one thing that made portable MP3 players good; not having to listen to other people's crap.

[required @ Sep 9th 2008 1:46PM]

The PSP (2nd best selling media player) has had built in speakers from the get go.

[CJ @ Sep 9th 2008 1:57PM]

However much it pains me to say it, I'm with iErik with this one. Not for his scathing comments about the PSP, I have no problems with the device, but I catch a train to school almost everyday (soon it will be over, driving test today, eek!), and I see on average someone with a PSP about once a week. iPods, on the other hand, almost every second person has one.

And going back to what I was saying, on the way home, there are all the OTHER schookids with their iPod nanos and their iPod touches, hanging out with friends and playing their music at TOP VOLUME through crappy k-mart battery speakers, with driver that go distorted at a quarter of full volume. And yet they STILL PLAY THE DAMN THINGS AT TOP VOLUME, regardless of distortion or how good the song sounds. And I go to a public school in the middle of two major Brisbane private schools, so lots of rich kiddies having fun with their new most-expensive things that everybody has anyway. Also known as the iPod touch.

Now give everyone who buys the new Touch the ability to play loud, distorted beyond regonition, music directly from their device, and now get them to all hate each other's music, and attempt to drown out each other as much as possible. That'll be my new daily commute in hell.

[joe23521 @ Sep 9th 2008 1:48PM]

Built-in speaker is a good add. Comes in very hand for playing games. Not meant for music.

[Vandelay @ Sep 9th 2008 2:31PM]

Also, A built-in speaker will also make the built-in alarm clock ACTUALLY USABLE.

[drew @ Sep 9th 2008 1:51PM]

you know this links back to the same article, right?

[cmil1212 @ Sep 9th 2008 1:52PM]

yawn

[Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Sep 9th 2008 1:52PM]

Am I the only one who wouldn't have minded a slightly thicker Ipod Touch with HDD options like the latest Archos 5 and 7 generation players? Or at least a way to expand the storage in the future with an SD card slot, but Apple would never do that.

Its either Apple or Archos as my next mobile device probably.

[Stereobot @ Sep 9th 2008 2:10PM]

I hear you about the Archos 5.. Trying to figure out why I would want the new iPod Touch over the Archos.. Lets see..

Archos 5 = 120 GB HD for $400 or Ipod Touch = 32 GB for $400?
Archos 5 = 800 x 480 resolution or Ipod Touch = 480 x 320 resolution?
Archos 5 = Adobe Flash support or Ipod Touch = still no Flash support?? wtf??
Archos 5 = FM tuner or Ipod Touch = None, but has the Genius Playlist (Thanks, but I am capable of choosing my own music.)
Archos 5 = has GPS Ipod Touch = No GPS

OK - so the reviews say the Archos 5's software is a bit clunky, but a better screen and higher storage space, really what does the Ipod Touch have over the Archos 5 for the same price? I have iTunes on my home computer (Mac).

...I need some convincing..

[Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Sep 9th 2008 2:29PM]

I have never owned an Apple product, never a fan of them but the Touch may be my first. I'm leaning towards the Archos, but I like the Touch's App Store, those games in the presentation certainly look nice.

Though with the Archos, I can play the many flash games out there on the internet as well as try out the widgets offered by the Opera browser.

I really like how much storage you get for your money with the Archos, but it is HDD vs SSD so not a fair comparison.

[loosely_coupled @ Sep 9th 2008 4:59PM]

@stereobot
"really what does the Ipod Touch have over the Archos 5 for the same price?"

Are you kidding? If watching movies is the only thing you do, then no. But for anyone else, the iPod Touch easily wins. Safari Browser over WiFi, Google maps, games, application store, etc...

[tekdemon @ Sep 10th 2008 1:30AM]

Nah dude...you can hate on a lot of Apple stuff but the Touch is pretty impressive. Yes, it's hella expensive compared to other players (even flash based ones), but it's so insanely thin that it's still very impressive that they packed in wifi and plenty of processing power (and with hacks, you can run all sorts of crazy apps).

Now if only they didn't lock down the apps.

[required @ Sep 9th 2008 1:54PM]

I was hoping for a iPhone without the phone. I don't like that they're kicking it in the knees so that it stays technically beneath it.

[CJ @ Sep 9th 2008 2:05PM]

Eh, what you could do right, is buy a 199 iPhone from Apple, and, GET THIS, no activate it, just leave in a broken sim card, jailbreak the damn thing.

There you go, 200 dollar iPhone-without-phone.

[Squid7085 @ Sep 9th 2008 2:10PM]

Who is going to pay the two year contract you are required to sign when you purchase the phone at $199? Your only allowed to act like a dick if you know what you are talking about.

[Squid7085 @ Sep 9th 2008 2:12PM]

You're* Damn, It bugs me when other people do that.

[CJ @ Sep 9th 2008 2:15PM]

Ooh, yeah, try to pick up on a joke before you make dick comments. Perhaps try looking at someone's userpage to get a good idea of the kind of person they are before you go throwing names about. Just an idea.

[Dickwad @ Sep 9th 2008 2:28PM]

Yea, cause everyone has the time and no life to read each persons page to determine who they are and then decide how to reply. It's called a first impression dickwad.

[Rogue_Genius @ Sep 9th 2008 2:38PM]

Wait, D**kwad, why are you talking to yourself?

[Froggie @ Sep 9th 2008 1:55PM]

Three price points: 8GB for $229, 16GB for $299, and 32GB for $399. So much for that rumored price drop, but at least the 8GB model came down some, right?

The 16gb was $399 yesterday (occasionally $379), so that looks like a $100 price drop to me.

[rjrawlings @ Sep 9th 2008 2:07PM]

he's right

[matt @ Sep 9th 2008 5:56PM]

I know. it's a 100 price drop!!!! for the 16gb and 32 gb models...nice one engadget

[Stereobot @ Sep 9th 2008 1:58PM]

Yeah the price drop actually DID happen.... FAIL.

[Josh @ Sep 9th 2008 2:00PM]

piss on them for not updating the capacity. I'm not getting one until it's 64GB

[Callaway @ Sep 9th 2008 2:48PM]

Here's to hoping the 2.1 update for the phone introduces the Nike app!

[Seth @ Sep 9th 2008 5:14PM]

Nope. Not going to happen. It pisses me off to. WTF Apple and Nike!?!

[Bitman @ Sep 9th 2008 2:07PM]

Very disappointed. Surely thought A2DP and 64GB was coming this time!

[Strangely Brown @ Sep 9th 2008 2:06PM]

Can you at least plug in a microphone (like you can with the new nano), or is AT&T still scared of iPod-VOIP?

[James @ Sep 9th 2008 2:09PM]

Eat, Steve, eat. You're skin and bones.