How Apple quietly unveiled the new iTouch 64GB, was almost as though it was an anti-climax. There was no "one more thing" fanfare for the iPhone's brother, just a fast mention of an upgrade. But although the new iTouch 64GB doesn't bring anything new to the design table, it's still a major announcement.
The iTouch 64GB uses a two-piece design that brings together a flat glass-covered front with a single piece of chromed steel snuggling the back and edges. For such a thin and outwardly frail device, the iTouch 64GB feels surprisingly solid and the steel offers a reassuring heft compared to the iPhone's plastic design.
That 64 gigabytes of storage is a heap of space to roam in (8 times that of the least expensive ITouch), and the internal upgrade means it now matches the iPhone 3GS's speed. If you had your eye on an iPod Classic before, the new iTouch 64GB is so roomy it should entice all but the most hardcore of music obsessives now.
With a boosted performance, now you can surf, read faster & play games in better speed. ITouch brings leading edge features with an improved 3.1 software. The built in Wi-Fi gives you an edge over friends. The Genius Mixes feature lets you view mixes. iTouch 64GB has the 600MHz Samsung S5PC100 mobile application along with a CPU based on ARM's CORTEX A8's design.
While real close in speed, the ARM Cortex A8 absolutely kills the Intel Atom in power potency; we 're talking by hips and bounds more efficiency here: not double, but by an order of magnitude better for ARM. Some ARM chips customarily use 10-20 times less power than Intel for similar operations. Battery use with ARM chips used in this new iTouch 64GB, could be measured in days, not hours.
ARM and Intel are currently doing battle because they're encroaching on each other's turf in the same way Verizon and Time Warner are in the Cable/Phone/Internet space. ARM is getting fast enough to be built inside a netbook while Intel is getting , tight fisted, just enough in power to only be put into a telephone. 2009 will be a big face-off between the two in this field.
For the iTouch 64GB that means checking your e-mail or scanning the web just got easier than ever now.
With the iTouch 64GB, ITunes 9, ups the ante
With 75,000 apps available on the App Store, it's been effortless to download so many that your device quickly becomes cluttered, with many icons scattered among numerous screens in a manner that isn't perfectisn't . Although there's a way around it to relocate apps around, or erase them right on the device, but it is clutzy at best, partly because you can't peruse all of the screens combinayions at once, and mainly because it's difficult to relocate an app from a location on one screen to another many miles...err, screens away.
New in iTunes 9, when you plug up your device, the application displays an exact visible repesentation of your iTouch 64GB screens directly on your personal computer's screen, thus enabling you to arrange them with a mouse; when you disconnect, the new screens is retained on the iTouch 64GB.
The good ol' experience of the record album returns with iTunes LP. As you hear your favourite tracks, you can dive into animated words and liner notes, watch music videos, view artist and band photographs rather than a less than exciting static artwork (if it's even there), and enjoy other bonus materials.
Other major update in ITunes 9: Home Sharing. You can now view the iTunes libraries of at least 5 allowed PCs in your house, import what you like, and immediately add any new purchases made on any of the PCs to your own library.
You're able to save iTunes Store items you would like to buy later in a new wish list. And if you are an eager social networker, it's effortless to tout your top music, pictures, and Television shows on your Facebook and/or Twitter right from the iTunes Store.
Let's say you are listening to a track on your ITouch that you like and you're dying to hear other tracks that sound like it. Genius immediately reveals songs on your ITouch that sound like your mood and create a Genius playlist for you. In Cover Flow, you can get your music spotted on. The 3.5-inch screen is more than sufficient for your flicks.
Apparently, Apple is ogling into reaching an even a bigger market. At the rock 'n roll event, iPods were presented with some changes and a lower cost. Apple unveiled the new faster and less expensive iPod Touch 32GB 3G about two weeks back.
Amazon is selling the ITouch 32GB for $20 less than the Apple store and ships it for free obviously. This sales price helped catapult the new ITouch to the number two spot on the Bestsellers in Electronics.
If you were procrastinating getting an iPod for reasons of cash,
now with the iTouch 64GB and iTunes 9 you might just seem to have gotten an invite.
