Back from beyond - Apple releases the new iPod Touch with A8 processor and 8MP camera

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Back from beyond - Apple releases the new iPod Touch with A8 processor and 8MP camera
The rumors came true. Apple just revived the iPod!

If you are one who answered "Yes!" to the question of whether the iPod, or music players in general, are still relevant - good for you, but you are in a minority. You also belong to a part of Apple's clientelle that the Cupertino company had knowingly let go of for the past three years. Although we cannot speak with absolute authority, we'll still take the liberty to proclaim that the world had gotten completely accustomed to the idea that the fifth-gen iPod Touch, announced in 2012, was destined to be the last of its kind. What's the problem - the iPhone always did everything the iPod Touch does, and the fifth-gen device ended the iPod legacy on a high note. No harm done, right?

But we digress. The iPod is an iconic device, and arguably the best portable audio player ever invented. Not that it had the best audio chip or the edgiest looks around. But it nailed all the ingredients - it sounded fine, had an unmistakeable style, and most importantly, it let audiophiles carry their entire musical library with them. It also played Half-Life, but let's not dilute the news any further...

There really is a new iPod, boys and girls, and it's the best iPod Touch yet. It comes in space gray, silver, gold, pink, and blue. Apple blessed the revivalist one with a full-on anodized aluminum build, just like the iPhone 6's. Only there's no hint of plastic whatsoever. Even the pink one is all aluminum, and it's unapologetically fabulous!

Moreover, the new iPod Touch is set up with an 8-megapixel iSight camera, a FaceTime HD front cam "for better selfies", and the star of the show - Apple's 64-bit A8 chip and its M8 motion coprocessor. It's the same hardware and features as the iPhone 6, save for the antenna (of course!), the fingerprint sensor, and that the display is quite a bit smaller at 4 inches per diagonal. Still, it's got the same Retina resolution as the iPhone 5s - 1136 x 640 pixels, making for a decent pixel density of 326 ppi. The amount of RAM isn't specified, but we're keen on betting it's 1GB, as the hardware platform is very much the same as the iPhone 6's. And as for battery life, Apple promises up to 40 hours of audio playback, and up to 8 hours of video playback.

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That's great and all, but how is the new iPod Touch priced? Well, the answer is still "a bit more than what a music player should cost." Then again, the iPod Touch is basically a 4-inch iPad Extra Mini tablet, seeing that it packs most of Apple's up-to-date mobile hardware. So the prices of $199 for the 16GB version, $249 for the 32GB version, $299 for the 64GB version, and $399 for the top of the line 128GB model feel expected, not extortionate. All models are Wi-Fi only.

Oh, and let's not forget - the iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano got the new iPod Touch's colors too.

The new iPod Touch is available starting today through Apple's online and retail stores. Its mission isn't to bring back the cult of the iPod, though. It's a way for Apple to get its Music service into even more users' hands. It's also the nicest, classiest way Apple could possibly commemorate the launch of Apple Music - summoning its veteran hero device exactly when the time for it to return has dawned upon us.

Even if we don't need it in our lives quite as badly as we used to, it's darn good to have the iPod back!


source: Apple

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