back to article New iPod nano and touch: Lightning strikes again

It must be tough to be an iPod engineer and have to wait though an hour of iPhone love before your creations are even mentioned at an Apple product-rollout event. But maybe you can console yourself with the old adage of "saving the best for last" – and the two new iPods, if not the best kit that Apple has to offer, are …

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  1. anaru
    Boffin

    It's obviously coral

    Not so sure about the dark yellow though.

    1. Khaptain Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: It's obviously coral

      Agree with Coral and I'll make an attempt at Aluminium Yellow or Golden Aluminum.

      ( Dear Pedants : The two spellings for AL is intentional, one for each side of the pond)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: It's obviously coral

        But salmon is just so much more... tasty.

        /off to the sushi bar

    2. mIRCat
      Paris Hilton

      Re: It's obviously coral

      I would have ventured it's rose.

      Paris, because she knows her colours.

      1. Anonymous Custard

        Re: It's obviously coral

        Personally I'd call it sunburn red

    3. JOKM
      Paris Hilton

      Re: It's obviously coral

      From left to right,

      Goth, Paris Hilton, Windows Azure, Fanboi, Avacado Bathroom, Dehydrated Urine, Lady bits

  2. the-it-slayer
    Happy

    The nano very reminiscent of the iPod mini!

    Absolutely love the new designs, especially the nano. Very alike the iPod nano, but having been on a diet. Wish the click wheel was back though :(.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The nano very reminiscent of the iPod mini!

      "Absolutely love the new designs, especially the nano."

      Aside from that huge physical hardware button, it looks very much like a Lumia 900:

      http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/nokia-lumia-900.jpg

      1. andreas koch
        Meh

        ' AC 2109h - Re: The nano very reminiscent of the iPod mini!

        First Samsung, now Nokia also copies Apples design. It's a disgrace that no one can come up with their own shape.

        </sarcasm>

        On a side note: Apple keynote 2012, much hype, little excitement . . .

      2. the-it-slayer
        Thumb Up

        Re: The nano very reminiscent of the iPod mini!

        Oh come on. Tit for tat. If Nokia ever dares to press a lawsuit, they'd sink and disappear. There's some influences there but the curved screen isn't there, the screen doesn't bulge out and there's a nice circular button at the bottom. Still looks more like an iPod mini that's gone on a diet.

      3. toadwarrior

        Re: The nano very reminiscent of the iPod mini!

        It looks like two of the previous Nanos combined. Which is also why people had said the Lumia looks like a Nano in the past.

        1. cocknee
          Holmes

          Re: The nano very reminiscent of the iPod mini!

          @toadwarrior. What people? If they squint and have a leap of faith and contriteness only a fanboi can have? Utter bollocks!

          Given the Lumia has been out some time now? Nokia should sue crApple. Given the shite they spouted about the Samsung tablet Nokia have a case. What's good for the goose...

          Evil, evil, evil

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The nano very reminiscent of the iPod mini!

        Great! Is this Apple imitating Nokia? :D

  3. Fihart

    iWot ?

    They're still making these things, then ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: iWot ?

      Nah, designing. Foxconn, Samsung et al. make them

  4. simmondp
    Happy

    Nano with bluetooth

    One of the biggest addition to the 7th Gen Nano seems to be Bluetooth which should mean linking to BT Car enabled systems and BT headphones.

  5. stucs201
    Thumb Up

    Hmmm, new buttons.

    Not very often Apple give us those.

    1. badger31
      Joke

      Re: Hmmm, new buttons.

      ... for which they are soon to be granted a patent.

      Bugger! I tried so hard to resist.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hmmm, new buttons.

      Thank goodness; using the 6G Nano (I had to get when I lost my trusty 2G Nano) is a real pain.

      Why only a 16GB though? I'd have thought that there'd be demand for a 32GB from thos who want all their music portable; I have about 6000 songs on iTunes using Apple Lossless, but even using the feature to compress down to 128kbps AAC still takes over 20GB.

  6. CCCP
    FAIL

    I've said it elsewhere - accessories/docks FFS

    Shirley not many on here have an iTouch as a primary device. No? I thought so.

    So it's a secondary/kids/music thingy then.

    Soooo, you then likely have a bunch of docks/cars/stuff that mate (oooh) with the old iStuff. But now - no truck. No mating without a prophylactic, sorry, adaptor. And as any fule know, it spoils the experience.

    I get that they need to move on to a smaller connector. However, the revenue implications, for apple, are wide.

    1) less rev share on docks

    2) hello spotify, godbye iTunes (though spotify was already cross-platform)

    3) old kit people (like me), now pissed off and moving on

    It's ironic that Apple, who stuck to a standard, are now contributing to the "free for all". Branch/Sawing/Sitting/On.

    1. jai

      Re: I've said it elsewhere - accessories/docks FFS

      less rev share? what about all the adapters that they are going to sell? what about all the new usb cables that everyone is going to buy because adapters will be annoying.

      actually, i dunno that the adapter will be that much of a problem. The old 30-pin connector generally has quite a good connection to the iDevice. I suspect it'll prove to be a tougher connection than the new Lightening connector provides, and so the adapter will remain connected to your lead or peripheral device and so you're experience of just plugging in the device will remain the same.

      and lastly - you may or may not be right about how few El Reg readers have an iTouch/iPod/iPhone as a primary device, but also, El Reg readers (and techy types) are not the core demographic of Apple's customers by a very long way. If we all /ragequit over this, i doubt Apple will even not the fluctuation in their monthly sales charts

      1. johnnymotel
        Happy

        me minority?

        I've had every Touch except the 1st Gen. Use them all the time.

        In car entertainment...nothing quite like have a song bank of 4000 on those long trans european journeys. Very useful for Skype chats around the house. Sorta OK for email and browsing, but still prefer the laptop. Plays some of my favourite games just fine.

        So I think it's off to Ebay to list my old models and order the new one.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    C'mon

    It's obviously dogs-dick pink

    1. CmdrX3

      Re: C'mon

      Well that gave me giggle and cheered me up. Thanks for that.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wow, a lanyard ring!

    They should patent that before any other mp3-player/camera/phone maker copies them!

    I'll stick with my obsolete, iOS3 only, V1 Touch, Thanks.

  9. Daveedmo

    Storage?

    Only 16Gb? Again? That's three generations at the same level - no reason for me to update my spin wheel nano. Why not 32Gb to tempt for repeat purchases?

    1. pPPPP

      Re: Storage?

      Or some sort of memory card slot......

    2. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Storage?

      16Gb for a nano seems fine.

      I don't think Apple view Nano as something punters will upgrade every time like iPhone, merely they keep updating it for people on old versions, or new customers.

  10. JDX Gold badge

    Nano touch

    I haven't tried one but I can't get my head around the idea... I have a 3rd-gen and it's lovely. Also isn't $149 pretty damn expensive for a nano, I thought they used to be more like 1/2 that?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No! Are they changing the size shape of the nano? I'll have to grab an old one quick for my watch mod... um, I know it's not cool, but I want one anyway! :D

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iPod Nano looks like it has taken some design cues from the Nokia Lumia series.

  13. Jay 2
    Unhappy

    I'll wait for another year, again.

    Once again I was hoping for a 128GB iPod Touch to replace my 'Classic' (though technically it's a 5th gen iPod 160GB from before they named them Classic). 64GB isn't quite enough to hold all my music and apps, which I would like to have with me at all times in case I have a burning need to listen to obscure remixes of Pacific State, 3am Eternal or A Huge And Ever Growing...

    I'm surprised that the Classic is still on sale, as it doesn't quite fit in with all things fondle. I'd like like to think that if they drop it , then they'd beef up the Touch to compensate.

    Though I'm sure there are some deep in Apple who live in some utopian futurist fantasy world where there's always wfif/4G/etc and everyone loves to use iCloud, iTunes match and the like and so therefore no-one will ever need more than 64GB storage.

    1. Annihilator
      Meh

      Re: I'll wait for another year, again.

      And God forbid they just update the "Classic" to a size where I can carry my entire music collection. Surely they can source a bigger disk in the last five years??

      1. JDX Gold badge
        Unhappy

        Re: I'll wait for another year, again.

        I imagine they simply figure the % of people who not only have that much music but care enough to buy a classic over a smaller model, is too small to justify frequent updates. Coupled with the whole iCloud thing it seems sadly for you that you're too niche

  14. CmdrX3
    Thumb Down

    Is it just me..

    Or does it look like they have designed the extra colours with only females and flamboyant or extroverted males in mind. Baby Blue and red/salmon/dog's dick pink..... whatever the fuck colour it is, I mean FFS. At least give us Ferrari red, Navy blue or Xbox green to choose from.

  15. Sky

    Do the new connectors still have analog line out?

    If the new connector does not have an analog line output, then I'll stick with my old iPod (I don't want to carry around a DAC for the times I plug it into an amplifier).

    1. JeeBee
      Unhappy

      There's a frickin' 3.5mm stereo jack for analogue audio out - albeit not line level output.

      The lightning connector is all digital, but nothing is really known beyond that.

      My guess is two pins for digital SPDIF, two pins for configuration (i2c or similar) and 4 pins for high speeds dual-channel serial data communications (could be USB, could be custom). You require a lightning chip in your peripheral or cable to translate to your desired protocol.

  16. Sky

    If there is no analog line out, then that is a shame :-(

    I'm not so sure Apple would use a traditional S/PDIF (hence some additional importance of the analog line out).

    With the current iPods, there is a serial interface that needs to perform certificate-based authentication with third party hardware, before the digital output can be used. That authentication usually occurs with a small chip which for some peripherals is embedded in the connector (the video cables also have this chip in the connector, to prevent third party cables from functioning unless they pay Apple a fee for the chip and certificate).

    For most of the music encodings I have, I'm not so sure that an external DAC cost will really improve my listening experience (I think it would just be diminishing returns), however the analog line out is a good compromise, especially in a car. The headphone out isn't good for connecting to an amplifier, it normally has higher noise and distortion than the analog line out.

  17. Gio Ciampa

    "backside illumination"

    Cue "Sun shining out of ...'s arse" comments...

  18. Richard Boyce

    Storage size

    Instead of waiting for ever bigger flash storage to hold the entirety of your ever bigger collection of music, consider buying a small capacity phone/iPod and stream music to it from home, especially if you usually have access to Wifi. Your own private Spotify. It also means that you can avoid lossy compression formats for best sound quality.

    .

  19. Stevie

    Bah!

    The iPod Nano, a prime case of form over function - a device so small it is all but useless.

    Note the strong after market for the older design with the wheel control (which even then is over-converged, controls-wise).

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Bah!

      The old-school Nano is a triumph of form providing function... I can't see why anyone wants to play video on it but a wheel + 1 button is lovely. It's far nicer than these touch-screen thingies.

  20. Timo

    Its - Watermelon, or Ruby?

    Or Sandia...

  21. Timo

    Oh wait - how about "Jaundice"?

    Or that green/yellow color that hard-boiled eggs get around the yolk when they're overcooked.

    And the one next to it looks minty

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