Apple revolutionizes iPod line

MANILA, Philippines - Talk about a fleet makeover and this is it.

Fresh from the global debut of the iPad and the iPhone 4 with brand new iOS4 operating system, Apple gave its iPod line a new lease in life.

From a simple tweak here and there to new colors and shapes to completely new functionalities, the new generation iPods became eye-popping candy bar devices all over again for the connected and those who are still looking to be connected.

Revolution # 1 — Video calling via FaceTime in the iPod Touch

You’ve read it right: the new iPod Touch can now make calls — video calls at that — like your iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi. But this is only possible if the person you are calling is holding a new iPod Touch.

From one iPod Touch to another iPod Touch, you don’t dial a number, you dial an e-mail address.

In a demo to reporters, Malini Mitra, public relations manager of Apple South Asia, said the technology behind this is FaceTime, a video calling announced by Apple at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco last June. Mitra said an iPod Touch user can register up to 10 e-mail addresses in the device to make FaceTime video calls.

Mitra also disclosed that the iPod Touch is now its most popular music player and the most affordable gateway to the apps store.

“Apple now has up to 250,000 applications and now has six billion downloads, of which 1.5 billion are from the iPod Touch alone,” she said, adding that when Steve Jobs introduced the new iPod Touch last Sept. 5, he said that 200 apps were downloaded every second.

The first thing you notice in the remodeled device is that it is 15 percent thinner and weighs just 101 grams. It has front facing and back facing cameras that can take HD video and it is powered by the new A4 custom-built chip that allows users also to do HD video editing.

Once you’ve taken the HD video, you can upload it directly to YouTube or e-mail it over Wi-Fi or you can edit it through iMovie and add transitions, music or photos.

The entry-level, fourth-generation iPod Shuffle has reverted to its old form factor with clip button and click wheel.

“Right now, you can take the video on the go, edit it also on the go and e-mail or upload it,” Mitra said, adding that the new iPod Touch also got retina display like the iPhone 4.

“What it means is that if you launch a web page or even if you just look at the photos, you get a very crisp image. The colors are very clear and in fact even your eyes can see the difference in the image quality,” Mitra said.

Another addition is the built-in unidirectional microphone that was not available in the previous model. It also has a gyroscope, which gives users a 3D experience useful in gaming.

Revolution # 2 — An  entirely new way to Nano

You’ve read it right again, the new iPod Nano can function as a wristwatch. Thanks to innovative makers of accessories, they saw in the new Nano the potential to become a watch by providing a simple strap.

By reshaping the Nano to a square candy-bar type device from its former rec-tangular form factor, Apple was able to introduce new functionalities to the device, although it also necessitates taking away the video and the click wheel.

“What is exciting about the new iPod Nano is that it now has a clip button. You can clip the iPod Nano to your clothes or bag and the screen is multi-touch,” Mitra said.

The new 1.5-inch screen is very easy to navigate; you can flip the device, single tap or double tap the screen or swipe it away to find your photos, files or music, but there’s no pinch function to allow you to reduce or enlarge files. It also has no apps. The pinch function and the apps are probably too much to ask for such a small device.

“The video is no longer there, too, because we believe the video is now better in the iPod Touch that now has a camera,” said Mitra.

The multi-touch and the clip button, however, more than compensate for the losses as they provide a new way to use the Nano. 

You can view the photos slide show style or view them one by one by single tapping each photo. Double tap one photo and it will zoom, press it long enough, it goes back to the screen.

Aside from the clock, the Nano also has a timer and a countdown function, which make it a great timing device, and its radio now supports the live pause feature.

“When you are listening to a radio show and you are interrupted by a call, you can activate live pause and it will start recording from where you left off and once you’re done, you can catch up. So essentially, you are not missing out on anything,” Mitra said.

She added that the new square Nano is 46 percent smaller and 42 percent lighter than the previous model but Apple maintains the same price point for the device at P7,990 for the 8GB and P9,790 for the 16GB.

It is available in seven colors but the red model is only available in the online store. Proceeds of the red Nano, Mitra said, goes to a support fund for HIV cases in Africa.

Another thing about the Nano is that it has always been a fitness tool. With the change in the form factor, you can still sync it to your Nike+iPod and the pedometer is still there.

The Nano obviously has also a maximum number of changes like the iPod Touch and Apple revolutionized it in a great way.

Revolution # 3 — Shuffle  reverts to old form factor

The entry-level, fourth-generation iPod Shuffle has reverted to its old form factor with clip button and click wheel.

“The feedback we got from users is that they like the click wheel model; it is very wearable and has easier navigation controls,” said Mitra. With the model immediately preceding the latest Shuffle, the control is only in the headset.

Available in five colors, it sells for P2,490 and has a standard capacity of 2GB.

To date, Mitra said Apple has sold 250 million iPods since it launched the device in 2002. The new generation iPods could extend the shelf life of the product much longer as it is keeping in step with the times.

Obviously though, the company did not introduce any changes in the classic iPod Touch, which at 160GB can carry up to 40,000 songs, 200 hours of video or 25,000 photos.

“There are some people who want to carry their entire library with them and they can do that with the classic iPod Touch,” Mitra said.