Apple Updates iPhone and iPod Touch

u-bend writes "With little publicity Apple has released new, higher-capacity models of the iPhone and iPod Touch. The new iPhone boasts 16 GB of storage and is priced at $499 (the 8 GB model remains at $399), and the new iPod Touch has 32 GB, also priced at $499. Although the price is still pretty hefty, it indicates that the capacity/price ratio on these wireless flash-based players is starting to move in the right direction."

32 GB of flash?!

[mrchaotica]

You know, when you say "$499 for an iPod Touch" it sounds like a lot, but then you realize: manufacturers are charging twice that for 32GB flash hard drives. It's too bad it's not packaged usefully in the Touch; otherwise I'd cannibalize one for my laptop!

Flash memory prices

[lancejjj]

$100 premium for an additional 16 GB of flash on the Touch, but a $100 premium for an additional 8 GB on the iPhone. Ouch.

Although this is an unfair comparison - a decent-but-low-end 8 GB SD memory card retails for about $50; 16 GB for maybe $100. I'm not sure how the speed, power consumption, or reliability of the iPod memory compares with that of stock SD cards.

Re:Capacity Isn't The iPhone's Problem

[sl0ppy]

i drop my poor iphone all of the time. it has a ton of scratches and marks all over it. it still functions just as well, and has continually been a workhorse.

i've only had one problem, and that's lockup at a pub i visit often. unfortunately, every iphone user locks up there as well.

Re:32 GB of flash?!

[mrchaotica]

The $190 one turns out to be a piece of crap if you read the reviews, and the next cheapest is $420. Of course, neither has the right form factor to fit in my 2.5" SATA drive bay anyway -- the cheapest to do that is the RiDATA, at $700.

Re:I'm waiting

[Gat0r30y]

You might want to get a DAVE [seagate.com]. 60GiB and you can stream video/music to your iPod Touch or iPhone (or a litany of other bluetooth/wifi enabled devices). Should be out sometime this year i think (the press release isn't entirely clear).

Re:Dammit, now I need another excuse

[sokoban]

3) Is laden with DRM.

No, music bought from the iTunes store is DRM laden. The device isn't laden with DRM at all.

4) Doesn't support popular codecs like OGG.

Ogg is popular?

8) Non-removable storage.

I think that is considered a feature to most portable media player users. One of the main advantages of the players is that you don't have to carry around a bunch of media.

There's more, but you get the idea. It's over-priced Apple crap. You can get a cheaper device that works just as well.

If you find a device with identical features/quality/form factor please let me know. I would like an iPod touch, but the price is a little steep for the amount of capacity. Now, if they offered a slightly thicker iPod touch with the hard drive from the 160 GB iPod classic for $500, I'd probably bite.

Is it really that good?

[dave562]

Buy.com has 2GB Creative Zen's on sale for $80. It looks like the Zen can use SD cards and those are readily available in 32+GB sizes. Is the iPod really worth all of the hype? Is it really worth $400? Is it really twice as good as the $180 32GB version of the Zen?

Re:Capacity Isn't The iPhone's Problem

[Poltras]

You mean like this [macnn.com]? There have been tests for the glass used and the screen, and they all showed that the iPhone screen is scrath free and can be dropped 1-2 floors. Google it, I'll wait.

Re:whats odd...

[afidel]

I take it you've never had a cellphone with true Internet connectivity? Every one of my friends who has would never go back to being without it. Realtime directions and the ability to do a quick search anytime anywhere is almost priceless. For instance I was recently on vacation in NC and due to weather running late so the BBQ place I had planned on having dinner at would have been closed by the time I got there. I pulled up Google Maps Mobile and entered the zip of the city I was approaching and the keyword brewpub. I started calling and on the second call found a place with an open kitchen, so instead of eating some horrible fastfood I had a great shepherds pie made with elk and ostrich. That alone was worth several months of my data plan.

Re:Dammit, now I need another excuse

[dbc001]

I just picked up a Nokia n800 for $240... Runs Linux, plays mp3s, views pdfs, plays video, has a Mozilla-based browser (with flash) - the list goes on. iPhone/iPod can only play mp3s if you load them through iTunes. It doesn't do pdfs at all, doesn't have flash, doesn't do video very well, etc.

Re:Dammit, now I need another excuse

[AmberBlackCat]

I, and a couple of other people, would be unemployed without my car. And we'd spend a lot of time close to home, not seeing each other much. We're all doing fine without an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Re:Dammit, now I need another excuse

[cp.tar]

So then what your argument is saying is essentially "If you're so stupid that you would do X, then how can you not do Y, which is not nearly as stupid."

Actually, it says "if you're so stupid that you would do X, then how can you consider Y stupid, since it is not nearly as stupid?"

Anyway, I usually rant about a very similar phenomenon: people willing to spend $2000 on a computer, but then picking up the cheapest keyboard and mouse available.
I, on the other hand, don't have a beast of a computer, but I have a decent monitor, a Unicomp SpaceSaver keyboard (basically a slimmed down Model M) and an MX Revolution mouse. I love my arms and eyes dearly and I hope to keep them in working order for a while longer; not like my mother, who got RSI several weeks ago (and after spending half an hour at her desk, I am only surprised it took her that long).

People are often concerned with "big things", even to the point of neglecting "little things"...

Re:Dammit, now I need another excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

In today's US, a car purchase is *VERY* important.

The right car selection can determine if you get tickets or pulled over for searches.

HR departments actually factor in the type of vehicle you drive for hiring. (Yes, I've actually seen HR people use car choice over merit in a number of IT shops.) Even contractors are judged by how their good their vehicle looks in corporate parking lots.

The right car selection can help you find a relationship, or can ensure you don't have one. This is sad, but true in America.

The right car selection gets you promoted or ensures you remain in the lower echelons of a company.

I'd seriously look at putting $30,000 to $50,000 in a car choice if you can afford it, so you are not chosen for "random" searches or pull-overs in most of the US. Its pathetic, but if your vehicle has the 3 pointed circle logo or the angular "L", you get instant respect and most likely hired in a lot of companies. The tech people are not the ones who hire; its the HR people who don't know much about skills, but understand luxury cars over subcompacts, who control your fate.

Re:Dammit, now I need another excuse

[IndieKid]

I think the main reason Apple don't offer a HDD-based iPod Touch is one of responsiveness. I went into an Apple store and use an iPod Classic for a while and the UI was very sluggish; cover-flow is almost useless on that device as there is a lag in retrieving the album art from the HDD which isn't present on the touch.

I was worried about the storage thing after having a 20GB iPod for years that I kept pretty much full, but after having a 16GB Touch for 6 months I can safely say that storage isn't a problem. The transfer rates for putting music/video on the touch are very, very fast compared to those on the older HDD based iPods; it's really very easy to delete a bunch of stuff and put new content on every few days which I am happy to do. Granted there are some people who absolutely must have a giant music collection with them at all times (people who travel a lot, for one), but I'm not one of them.

I also have Orb set up at home which lets me stream music and video from my home PC over Wi-fi whilst I'm out and about; great if you're at a friend's house and want to show them some video that you don't currently have on the iPod.