San Francisco – Apple increased the screen sizes of its seventh-generation iPod Nano and fifth-generation iPod Touch and added new features.
The new model are thinned out, with and now include Siri on the iPod Touch and video playback on the Nano.
Both models will be available in October, with the 16GB Nano retailing for $149. Only one Nano will be available instead of two.
The fifth-gen Touch will be available in two versions rather than three and will be priced at $299 for the 32GB version and $399 for the 64GB version. The prices are the same as an equivalent fourth-generation Touch.
Two of three fourth-generation Touches will remain in the line with lower prices of $199 for the 16GB version and $249 for the 32G.
The 2GB iPod Shuffle will remain in the line at the same $49 price but feature new colors. The iPod Classic is not part of the new iPod lineup.
The new iPods ship with new EarPods ear buds that feature three ports, one of which points forward into the ear canal. The Earpods will also be sold separately at $29.
The new models also ship with Apple’s new nine-pin Lightning connector, which is 80 percent smaller than its 30-pin predecessor and is double-sided. Apple will offer 30-pin-to-nine-pin adapters for consumers with older accessories. Two adapters will be available at $29 and $39. Additional details weren’t available.
The new Nano is 38 percent thinner at 0.21 inches in depth but changes the multitouch color-screen size to 2.5-inch widescreen from 1.54 inches, making it look like a smaller Touch. The new model also adds video playback, stereo Bluetooth and DVR capability to play and pause its embedded FM tuner. It doesn’t add Wi-Fi, which the old and new Touches feature, nor does it download apps, like the Touch does.
The Nano’s aluminum chassis will be available in seven colors.
The iPod Touch gets a bigger higher resolution screen, using the same screen as the new iPhone 5, and a faster dual-core processor compared to its predecessor’s single-core processor.
The new Touch also adds Siri voice control, 720p video capture from the front camera compared with VGA, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11n compared with the single-band version for speeds up to 150Mbps, and availability in five colors.
The 5-megapixel 1080p rear camera adds such new features as face detection and panorama mode. It also features backside illumination and f/2.4 lens.
Depth shrinks to 0.24 inches from 0.41 inches, and weight drops to 3.1 ounces grams from 4.94 ounces.
The 4-inch widescreen display is close to 16:9 proportions, compared with its predecessor’s 3.5-inch widescreen display.
Screen resolution has been improved from 960 by 640 to 1,136 by 640. Pixels per inch remains the same at 326.
The new Touch’s dual-core A5 processor, used in the previous-generation iPhone 4S, is faster than the previous generation. The A5 processor has been clocked in independent tests at 800MHz. Graphics processing is said to be seven times faster.
Battery life has been slightly extended in the Touch.
