Apple September Keynote wrap up.

• Mike Norris

• September 1, 2010 2:04 pm

Tweet

New iPod Touches were a given. Still, it’s nice that they’re finally here. But as awesome as they are, the new iPod Touch is hardly the only thing worth talking about.

Hop inside and get the quick rundown of everything Apple dished out today…


First up, iOS 4.1

iOS 4.1

• Bug Fixes: Proximity sensor, Bluetooth, iPhone 4G

• HDR Photos and HD vido uploads over WiFi

• TV Show rentals

• Game Center

The HDR photo taking ability is pretty sweet. It used to take an experienced photographer, some pricey equipment, and know-how with more pricey software to get the desired look. Now it’ll be as easy as pressing an onscreen button. Granted, a “real” HDR photo will still be ultimately better quality.

Also — Game Center is finally here! What Xbox Live did for console gaming, I believe Game Center will do for mobile gaming. With as many as 120 million users on iOS, the potential for multiplayer action is huge! The best part: Game Center will be free via iTunes next week for iPhone and iPod Touch running iOS 4.1.

iOS 4.2 Sneak Peak

iOS 4.1 may be mere minutes old, but that doesn’t mean Apple has slowed down in the development department. With that said, they took today’s keynote as an opportunity to show off some of the upcoming features that will drop in iOS 4.2

• Airplay — Printing: Printing is coming to iPad and iOS 4.2. In true Apple fashion, it’s but a few finger presses away — tap, tap, print.

• AirTunes — Wireless Streaming: As the bolded text hints at, AirTunes is all about streaming music, video, and photos over WiFi on iOS 4.2 devices.

• Availability: November 2010. Woah! Talk about fast! It’s definitely one of the quicker “large updates” for iOS devices in recent memory. And, yes. The update to iOS 4.2 will be free as well.

And finally, what everyone has been waiting for: New iPods! Not just one model line, but the entire iPod series is getting a shake up! Continue on…

iPods

iPod Shuffle

• Now has buttons…again! Apparently users missed buttons that much. Where’s that tiny screened device we saw leaked around the web countless times…(spoiler: keep reading…)?

• 15 hours of battery life

• 5 colors

• $49 for 2GB

There it is…

iPod Nano

• All touchscreen control. Think of it as a mini iPod Touch of sorts.

• 46& smaller & 42% lighter

• Clip (no more armbands) plus Nike+ support, FM Radio, and Pedometer

• 29 Languages

• 24 Hours of battery life

• 6 colors

• $149/8GB and $179/16GB

And the grandaddy of the bunch…

iPod Touch

• Retina Display: 24-bit color, 4k pixels, 326 ppi

• Apple’s A4 chip

• 3-axis gyro

• Game Center

• Facetime w/ front-facing camera — can FT iPod Touch and iPhone FT users.

• Rear camera w/ HD video capabilities and iMove suite on board

• 40 hours of battery life. (Awesome battery life!!)

• 8GB/$229 32GB/$299 64GB/$399 (Bummer, no 128GB option *sad face*)

• Available next week

And what would an iPod be without iTunes…

iTunes 10

• New logo: (not really a feature, but significant for dropping the now defunct CD)

• List View: Now album art is displayed instead of repetitive text.

• Ping: “Twitter meets Facebook for Music”

While we’re on Ping, we’ll mention that this is huge for iTunes! It does in fact blend the aspects of Twitter, Facebook, and I’d even say Last.fm and it’s sharing/friending abilities. Besides seeing basic info such as the recent track a friend listened to, if you follow bands and artists, you can see new tour photos and posts about the event. Awesome! For security-minded individuals — it looks like you can decide just how close and how much information you want followers to see. Perhaps Facebook should take notes…

• Ping is built right into iPod Touch and iPhone

• Availability:Today!

AppleTV

It was rumored quite a bit. And now, it’s here…

• 1/4 size of the original

• HDMI, USB, Optical Audio, Ethernet, WiFi

• All rentals — (that kind of sucks)

• All HD (When available)

• Streaming — no syncing

• HD TV Shows now $0.99. ABC and Fox are commercial free! (Come on other studios…)

• YouTube, Netflix, Flikr

***More coming. Stay tuned!

Gallery

Source:
Engadget