The iPod Touch (trademarked and marketed as iPod touch) is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, and Wi-Fi mobile platform designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The product was launched on September 5, 2007 at an event called The Beat Goes On. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line and is available with 8, 16, or 32 GB of flash memory. It includes Apple’s Safari web browser and is the first iPod with wireless access to the iTunes Store. It also has access to Apple’s App Store. The second generation iPod Touch, featuring external volume controls, a built-in speaker, a contoured back, built-in Nike+, and Bluetooth support, was unveiled on September 9, 2008 at the Let’s Rock keynote presentation.
Description
The iPod Touch has a slim form factor, with a glass touchscreen display covering most of the top surface and a physical home button off the touchscreen. The display functions similarly to the multi-touch trackpad as implemented in Apple’s current line of laptop computers. The touch and gesture features of the iPod Touch are based on technology originally developed by Fingerworks.
The home screen has a list of icons for the available applications. All iPod Touch models include such applications as Music, Videos, and Photos (collectively duplicating the standard functions of the iPod Classic), iTunes (providing access to the Wi-Fi Music Store), Safari, YouTube, Calendar, Contacts, Clock, Calculator, and Settings. Later models added Mail (accessing POP/IMAP/SMTP e-mail), Maps, Stocks, Notes, and Weather, which could also be added to the earlier models with the purchase of a software upgrade. The user can add direct links to Web sites, called “Web Clips”, to the home screen. All iPod Touch models are equipped with Wi-Fi 802.11b/g.
On July 15, 2008 the iPhone 2.0 Software Update was released for purchase for the iPod Touch. The update allowed first generation iPod Touch devices access to the App Store to download third-party applications, in addition to a host of minor bug fixes.
Comparisons to the iPhone and model comparisons
The iPod Touch and the iPhone, a smartphone by Apple, share the same hardware platform and are controlled by the same iPhone OS operating system. The iPod Touch lacks some of the iPhone’s features such as access to a phone network and built-in camera and microphone; as a result, the iPod Touch is slimmer and lighter than the iPhone. Steve Jobs once referred to the iPod Touch as “training wheels for the iPhone”.
The second generation iPod Touch has an external volume switch and a built-in speaker like the iPhone. The second generation also comes with the chrome frame seen on the iPhone 3G, making the two almost identical when viewed from the front. However, there are some notable differences, as there is no speaker above the screen, no silent/ringer switch, the back is metal, and the sleep/wake button is on the other side. The second generation also supports audio input when a headphone or earphone with microphone capabilities is plugged into the audio output jack. The iPod Touch 2.0 Software Update supports WPA2 Enterprise with 802.1X authentication. Apple has announced that the iPhone OS 3.0 update will unlock Bluetooth capability on the second generation iPod Touch, as the included Wi-Fi chip (Broadcom BCM4325) has Bluetooth and FM Radio support.
Second generation iPod Touches are said to have a yellower cast/tint to the display, as compared to the iPhone or the original iPod Touch. Claims have also been made that the applications processor inside the second generation iPod Touch runs faster than the processor inside the iPhone 3G. The first generation iPod Touch works with all “Made for iPod” peripherals, but certain changes that Apple made to the second generation iPod Touch prevent some existing peripherals from recharging the updated player. The Google Street View feature added on iPhone firmware version 2.2 is absent from the same version of firmware released on the iPod Touch.
Apple has received criticism for its allegedly differential treatment of iPhone and iPod Touch owners. Such criticism is primarily targeted towards Apple charging iPod Touch owners for major software updates of the iPhone OS that iPhone owners can obtain at no charge as well as excluding certain features from the iPod Touch software that are included in the iPhone. Apple has been reported as saying that they can add features for free to the iPhone because the revenue from it is accounted for on a subscription basis under Sarbanes-Oxley Act rules, rather than as a one time payment.
Requirements
As supplied new, the iPod Touch needs a connection to a computer for initial configuration. Officially, Apple requires iTunes to be installed on either a Mac OS X or Windows operating system based computer for configuring the iPod Touch. On either operating system, the iPod Touch must be connected through a USB port. The first time the iPod Touch is turned on, a “connect cable to iTunes” graphic will be displayed continuously until the iPod Touch is connected to a computer running iTunes.
To use the iPod Touch for buying products at the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store via Wi-Fi, an iTunes Store account must be created in iTunes and the account details then entered into the iPod.
Apple states that the following is required for the iPod Touch:
- Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later
- Microsoft Windows XP with SP2 or later, or Microsoft Windows Vista (32 or 64-bit versions)
- iTunes 8.0 (with the 2.1 iPhone OS update) or 7.6 for iPhone OS 2.0.x or earlier
- Available USB 2.0 port
Third-party applications
The only official way to obtain third-party applications for the iPod Touch is Apple’s App Store, which is a branch of iTunes Store. The App Store application, available in all versions of the iPhone OS from iPhone OS 2.0 onwards, allows users to browse and download applications from a single online repository (hosted by Apple) with the iTunes Store. To develop such software, a software development kit (SDK) was officially announced on March 6, 2008, at an Apple Town Hall meeting.[23] The iPhone SDK allows developers to make applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch after paying a fee to join the development team. The developer can then set the price for the applications they develop and will receive 70% of money earned. The developer can also opt to release the application for free and will not pay any additional costs.
Shortly after the iPod Touch was released, hackers were able to “jailbreak” the device through a TIFF exploit. The resulting application enabled the user to download a selection of unofficial third-party programs. Some of these give the user more control over the iPod Touch than is officially available, and also make it possible to install Linux operating systems on the device. All officially released versions of the iPhone OS can be jailbroken.[24] Servicing an iPod Touch after jailbreaking or other modifications made by unofficial means is not covered by Apple’s warranty.
Around March 2009, the Chronic Dev Team and iPhone Dev Team released a method to fully jailbreak the 2nd Generation iPod touch via a fatal flaw in the device’s boot ROM.
The specifications as listed on Apple’s website for the second generation iPod Touch are:
- Screen material: glass (arsenic free)
- Screen size: 3.5 in
- Screen resolution: 480×320 px at 163 ppi, with 3:2 aspect ratio
- Input method: Multi-touch screen interface, Sleep/Wake button, Accelerometer, Home button, Volume Rocker buttons (2nd Gen only)
- Operating system: iPhone OS (current version 2.2.1)
- Storage: 8, 16, or 32 GB flash memory
- CPU: Initially ARM 400 MHz, but now 412 MHz for 1st generation, 533 MHz for 2nd Generation
- GPU: PowerVR MBX Lite
- RAM: 128 MB DRAM
- Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)
- Built-in rechargeable, non-removable lithium battery with up to 6 hours of video playback, and up to 36 hours of audio playback, times vary.
- Built-in audio speaker
- 3.5 mm audio output jack
- Size: 110×61.8×8 mm (4.3×2.4×0.33 in)
- Weight: 115 g (4.05 oz)
- Direct iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store access
- Widescreen video
- Included applications: Safari web browser, YouTube client, Mail email client, Google Maps
- Access to App Store (requires iPhone OS 2.0 or later)
- Widgets: Stocks, Weather, Notes
- Access to Starbucks music (available only in selected cities across the United
On June 1, 2009, Amazon updated the product page for the Kindle DX, noting that the device will be released to customers on June 10th, 2009. A new entry in Amazon’s Kindle lineup, the Kindle DX is an E Ink-based portable document reader featuring a larger 9.7-inch screen at 1200 x 824 resolution, about 2.5 times larger than the Kindle 2, and weighing in at 18.9 ounces (not quite double the weight of the Kindle 2 at 10.2 ounces). As was leaked and expected leading up to the Kindle DX announcement event, PDF document reading is a built-in feature. The screen will automatically switch to landscape mode when rotating the device, suggesting a built-in accelerometer. Amazon promises “no pan, no zoom, no scroll, just read.”
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