Evidence mounts for iPods with cameras
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jul 6th 2009 7:17AM
posted Jul 6th 2009 7:17AM
[Via MacRumors, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted Jul 6th 2009 7:17AM
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Deal extreme? Where is it on there?
Apple has lost touch with the consumer. Thats what you get from a company that focus too much on gimmicks.
Think about an ipod shuffle with camera ;)
@paezbak
They may have lost their touch, but the customer still payed a minimum of $229 for it.
lol right next to the "muscle massager"....
Wouldn't suprise me, but then again i dont want it, add to the price for a feature i dont need and a probably shitty cam aswel:(
"The iPod with camera is pretty much a given at this point"
Yeh the matte iPhone was pretty much a given too when rumours were circulating.
Exactly. So was the iPhone nano too! Even case manufacturers had it on their websites!!
Why would you want a camera on your iPod? If you're carrying an iPod you're almost certainly carrying a phone with a camera in it so this seems like a really redundant feature in a media player. Customers would be forced to pay for something they'll never use.
Rather than waste time with gimmicks like this Apple should include useful features like a radio. Of course, that would undermine your argument because the Zune already has one of those.
Ahh Chapel, you always were good at starting a flame war.
Although i do agree with you that the next iteration of iPod Touch will outdo the Zune HD, it was never two steps behind. The current Zunes are EXCELLENT competitors to the iPod range. The Zune HD is an excellent competitor to the current iPod Touch. If only Microsoft spent some serious cash on marketing and released them internationally. Microsoft have only ever been half a step behind. iRiver, Creative, Archos and Sony are the ones that have really let themselves down lately, producing incredibly poor run of the mill stuff.
This would explain the free ipod with mac deal at the applestore. Trying to get rid of stock.
they do that every year around back to school time
I've got to agree with jakem, I can't see why anyone would want a camera on either the touch or the nano. It's seems like the laziest feature they could introduce and has me wondering if they're running out of ideas to drive future sales.
With this much evidence, you know it's got to be false
great idea apple!!
if you cant improve the sound quality on the ipod, lets distract people with lights, cameras, and all the junk you can stuff in there. people will never ever notice.
I forgot about your niece who is so representative of the wider PMP-buying market. Of course, most 10 year olds have phones these days so there's still no reason to waste money on another low-quality camera in an iPod.
Besides, the ZuneHD is looking like it will have great support for games. If she wants to play games then you would be silly to rule the Zune out.
why anyone would want a camera on an ipod beats me, it'd end up being a pretty redundant feature
It's a reasonable point. Assuming that cellular telephones with cameras are pretty much standard these days the question becomes, how many cameras do we need to be carrying at a time? Surely one is enough.
I don't know. Personally a camera on a Nano doesn't seem like that great an idea since the device realy doesn't have that great of an interface for it. But I think the touch should have had a camera since day one. In fact I'm waiting for it to get one before I buy. My hope is that it sports the same AF 3.2MP camera with video as the new iphone.
That said. I don't have a fancy phone. One of the reasons I'll be buying the touch is because I don't want the high priced data plan of a fancy internet phone like an iphone. But I would still love to have that kind of camera experience that an iphone would give with the multitouch and the large screen.
Yes there might be better cameras in other phones. So what! I don't have one of those phones. Chances are if you do, you probably aren't going to be buying a touch or a nano anyway because your phone does everything they do already.
I would have to agree with Michael. I have a pretty old, pretty crappy phone which takes terrible pictures and doesn't even have an option for videos. I don't want to pay for expensive phones or data plans. I'd love to have an iPod touch that could record a video or take a picture which could then (when I get to a wireless connection) be uploaded straight to Facebook or Youtube or MobileMe. And even though you may pay more for this feature, Apple usually drops the prices when offering updates to their products. So odds are you'll still pay less than you would for the current models.
Got a camera in my phone, computer and soon my ipod. The upskirt picture community rejoices.
@paul a. chapel
10 year olds shouldn't own cameras :|
Not feelin' cameras on PMP's. I'm pretty confident in saying they'll be the same crappy ones as the CMOS cams we have on cell phones these days. Good in a pinch, don't expect prints, and pretty much worthless unless in sunlight.
The first generation won't do HD video; that will take Apple another product cycle, both to fine tune the software and hardware mix, but also because people will still by it with standard def video for a year. Once the iPod Touch HD/Nano HD comes out in 2010 (with double the current flash capacity to boot) you'll be able to stick a fork in the Flip lineup.
Might coincide with 802.11n hitting the touch, allowing you to upload HD video directly to your Mac.
I'll probably cope without another camera that's unusable for anything other than spur-of-the-moment snaps.
Who didn't see this one coming really. It was only a matter of time. I mean with all the apps that are making use of the camera on the iPhone it would make perfect sense to have on the iPod too. That's exactly why I didn't buy the 2g iPod Touch. I mean a fast processor is nice a slimmer body is nice as well and the speaker really made me want it. However I've been holding out for all those features plus a camera. Way to go Apple!
I feel that better sound quality would be a better feature. With all of iTunes mp3s being 256 kbps, wouldn't having better sound quality be more important....
I guess it would be hard to advertise better sound quality without admitting that the sound quality of all the other models is not all that great.
To be honest... I think they are adding cameras only to keep the price tag up.... iPod components are getting cheapers every minute, so if they want to keep making loads of moneys with the iPod they have to keep manufacturing prices down. Adding a camera won't really have any impact on manufacturing price, but it will make iPod sales skyrocket.
I like the camera in the iPhone because of the touch controls and geo tagging. Plus, you can directly upload your photos and videos on-the-fly. But an iPod Nano would have neither of those features, so the only thing left would be a camera with mobile phone quality. Doesn't sound like a killer feature to me. Let's just wait and see; concerning the iPods, I have never been disappointed by Apple.
Thats exactly what me and my friend had conversations about discussing this rumor.
Camera+iPod =/= on the go uploading
Which is a main selling point of cameras on phones.
Using WiFi is not a good substitution because you're not always around WiFi.
I just don't see how this could have real world applications...
Not to say it wont sell, because people will buy anything...
But I just dont see it...
Meh, I hope there's more to the next generation of i-pods than a camera I will never use (I have one in my cellphone already).
Really, a slightly bigger form factor i-pod touch would be the first Apple item I would own. Just give it to me, please.
Where is my damn radio? :(
It's on the Zune.
People buy Zunes for a good reason.
Audio Quality.
The iPod not only comes with TERRIBLE earphones (which are surprisingly(!) overpriced) but even worse the actual audio output just plain sucks. Not to mention no custom EQ and crappy presets. Oh and the distortion they make.
Tbh its not much of a surprise after 8 years of minimum development the only way to push a new iPod each year seems to be a minor improvement with a camera. C´mon the only difference between the first gen and the last is the drivespace.
Now.. I wonder who wants to have a camera if this is the same camera of the iPhone. I´m not sure how Apple managed to do it but the iPhone sports atm the worst camera of all mobiles around. It´s almost emberassing to even take picture with it (yes numbers show different, though the quality still is horrible).
Nah... I would prefer an iPod with for example a radio tuner or some proper support without the iTunes, but then Jobs knows what´s good for me...
We will find out come September.
well, at least my 2nd gen ipod touch will still be "the newest ipod" for a little while longer.
haha ye i work for an apple retail store, and one of our case suppliers sent us a catalogue with the iPod nano 5th gen and iPod touch 3rd gen cases, as well as pics of the actual units. they both have cameras.
No worries Paul. I feel the same way about Apple after being burned by their poor quality software. Fortunately it's even easier to avoid Apple because everything they sell is so overpriced and poorly supported.
Anyway, if your niece really wants to play games she'd probably be better off with something like a DS that does handheld games properly.
"You guys do realize that the only people that care that much about sound quality are monocle wearing wanna be musicians sipping green tea in hype bistros in Los Angeles. The majority of people don't care. And by the majority of people I mean all those kids buying Jonas Brother albums."
No. I'm a commoner from England actually. The 'majority of people don't care' because that is the only audio quality they have experienced from a PMP.
(Gah I hate feeding trolls)
Wouldn't that be great if the next gen IPOD touch included features of a GARMIN nuvi 265WT ?
Well, we already know that Garmin isn't touching the iPhone due to their relationship with Asus and the nüvifone so it seems unlikely that they would software for the Touch (I'm not even sure if you can make software for the iPod Touch only).
I dunno, that opening in the case in the picture looks an awful lot more like the wifi antenna opening on the ipod touch than the camera opening on the iphone. From that picture I would guess they're putting wifi in the ipod nano.
I'm more interested to see if the iPod Touch will include GPS this time around. With Turn-by-Turn software now allowed and with the ability to store the maps on the device (rather than stream them from Google, which isn't very useful in a device without a cellular data connection) GPS on the Touch would be useful, although it may be that Apple keeps it on the iPhone only to maintain that extra degree of product separation.
I'm guessing the new ipods will come just AFTER the back to school promo ends...
WiFi on around a 2" low-res display? Really? -_-
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the 5th gen nano/3rd gen touch DO get a camera. Now everyone will start using them to upload low quality pics of themselves to social networking sites (i.e. Facebook, myspace...for those who still use it)....just like iPhone users do.
Honestly, I have a Sansa Fuze, and I'm very happy with it. The only way Sandisk could make me like it more is if:
1)They revamped the ~3 year old OS(OR someone could make a rockbox port)
2)Allow a firmware update(which Sandisk usually has) that allows gapless playback
3)Allow a folder browsing function.
If it had all these, it'd be PERFECT for me.
Oh yea, one thing the Fuze does that Apple would NEVER do....expandable storage. The Fuze does it via a micro-sd card slot. This would hypothetically work on an iPod, BUT they don't....because they can make something with another 8gb or 16gb every year, and capitalize off the people who have to have the newest thing(even if it's only a storage bump) year after year.
"I didn't say it was a great thing."
No, you just HEAVILY IMPLY IT whenever you can on engadget.
That's true Paul, I used to hate that sort of thing when I was a kid too.
Of course, in this case (DS vs. Touch for games) you'd be getting her something better, not cheaper so that makes a big difference. The latest version even includes a camera and a PMP so you'd have those areas covered whilst giving her a gadget that could play cool games really well. I'm sure she'd love it as do most kids her age.
Anyway, if she's really into games it seems a bit cruel to buy her an iPod Touch given the lack of good quality games and useful controls. Are you sure she understands what she wants?
The problem here is that we're comparing unicorns - neither the ZuneHD or new iPods actually exist yet on the market so comparing them now is just futile, particularly when we seem to be deciding on the specification of a new iPod based on a case design (sounds even more stupid when I write it).
Come back in September when there should be some concrete details to discuss...
I didn't expect to see so many things come up in discussion
- poor sound quality
- poor camera
- zunehd
- people really do want FM radio
I don't think the sound quality is that bad, I agree the headphones are not great
but the reason they are not top quality is that it would increase the price too much.
If you want AWESOME headphones buy them but don't expect them to bundle great cans into each ipod.
the old camera was not so great, the NEW camera that is being discussed in this tech article that was scooped on techcrunch is the awesome camera in the new 3GS. it is good and I'm not sure of commenters are confused or just being haters.
ZuneHD won't work on Mac so I'm out.... I think it's a great looking gadget but if it wont work with my macbook, then I'm out. it's simple.
and lastly the FM radio a few years ago I wanted an FM radio, but now Podcasts have really filled in and I can get lots of talk radio to help fill in when I don't want music. Have you heard commercial radio lately? it's terrible... they keep screwing over their best talent like Adam Carolla. So I'm sticking with Adam and I get his podcast and I haven't been missing FM radio at all.
I'd like to see the new ipods get the advanced camera in them
surprised to see soo much criticism. the craziest one for me is the wish for FM radio because I think FM radio sucks now. (I'm in NY btw)