iPhone

Apple iPod Touch or something else entirely?

Today Apple refreshed its iPod lineup, introducing four iPod options in the process. For roughly $400 you can buy a 16GB iPod Touch with Internet capability, a 160GB iPod Classic or a combo of iPod Shuffles and Nanos.

But you could also splurge on something else entirely.

Overheard here at CNET, ideas include:

• 100 dozen doughnuts.

• One-way plane ticket to Paris.

• Hire a dog walker.

• The Beatles albums on vinyl.

• Garmin eTrex Vista HCx GPS receiver, plus a high-capacity microSD card.

• A newly cheaper iPhone.

• An external hard drive with more space to … Read more

Does iPod Touch equal an open wallet?

When I saw Steve Jobs showing off the new mobile iTunes music store, my first thought was, wow, as if the device wasn't attractive enough to thieves, now they can steal the device and buy more songs off the owner's credit card.

Luckily, Apple thought of that too. I caught up with iPod executive Greg Joswiak after the keynote and he said that the device actually requires users to enter their password before buying anything unless they've entered their password in the last 15 minutes.

It would still suck to have your iPod and all your tunes … Read more

New iPod just a touch short of my nirvana

The new iPod Touch is like an iPhone for commitment-phobes.

You get nearly all the features of the iPhone, but no need to change cell carriers or fork over money to AT&T each month. The new iPod Touch had nearly everything I was hoping for (Wi-Fi, Web browsing and the touch screen).

To my immense embarrassment, I actually found myself cheering when the browser was announced. I was already planning on buying the thing, but was really hoping to augment my Treo's stellar e-mail with a device that can do real Web browsing.

Still, it's worth … Read more

A whole new iPod family

Today's Apple event in San Francisco offered plenty of iPod news to be excited about. In only the first few minutes, Steve Jobs announced that the whole iPod lineup--from the shuffle to the iPod--would get an upgrade. There had already been a ton of speculation about what Jobs would announce today, but as is usually the case, an Apple event almost always means a surprise.

First on the list of new hardware, the iPod Shuffle. Not much in the way of changes here, but the clip-on design comes in several new colors. It has 1GB of storage space and retails for $79.

There was a lot of speculation around the Mac rumor sites before this event about the new iPod Nano, with alleged leaked photos and feature lists. The real version is a bit different, having a 320?240 screen (204 ppi) and supports the same resolution as iPod videos. Coverflow is now offered for paging through your music and is controlled using the touch wheel on the bottom. A new graphical navigation system splits the screen down the middle with the familiar list navigation on the left side and a snippet of video, a picture, or song name and album art on the right side. It comes in both 4GB and 8GB models like the previous Nanos and sells for $149 and $199, respectively.… Read more

Apple cuts 8GB iPhone price, dumps 4GB model

In the midst of dropping all sorts of iPod news today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced a $200 price cut for the 8GB version of the iPhone. The formerly overpriced device will drop from $599 to a somewhat more reasonable $399. Oh, and that's not all: Because the $399 4GB iPhone has lagged behind the 8GB model in sales, Apple is dropping it from its lineup completely. And to clean out its house, the company offering the 4GB version for $299.

We've expected a price drop for the iPhone since the handset first went on sale back in … Read more

Capturing the excitement

It's all over but the shouting and it looks like Apple's hit another home run. No Beatles, but Apple did announce:

Roll-your-own ringtones for 99 cents. The "fat" nano, a squarish nano with coverflow and video. 4 GB for $149, 8 GB for $199. Higher capacity "classic" iPods. 80 GB for $249 and 160 GB for $349. The new iPod Touch, which is basically an iPhone without the phone. $299 for 8 GB and $399 for 16 GB. Coming in a couple of weeks. A version of the iTunes Store for both the iPod … Read more

And on day 67: $200 iPhone price drop and new services

Steve Jobs certainly knows how to surprise and saturate. Along with other Applephiles, I was following the live coverage of the latest Apple/iPod/iPhone news via Gizmodo, which couldn't refresh fast enough!

So much to digest, but the main points:

(1) iPhone price drop!? The 8GB iPhone's price fell markedly with this announcement to $399. (Say buh-bye to the 4GB model). Boy, I sure could have used that $200 for the past two months, but it's an inherent risk of being an early adopter. So there is a $100 premium for the phone part of the … Read more

iTunes adds ringtones

At a special event in San Francisco today, Apple's Steve Jobs announced that a new version of iTunes (download for Windows or Mac; CNET review) will allow users to create their own ringtones from more than 500,000 songs in the iTunes store. The ringtones will cost 99 cents, in addition to the price of the songs themselves. The custom ringtones can last up to 30 seconds and can be created from any section of a song.

The new version of iTunes, expected later tonight, will eventually add a bell icon next to songs in the iTunes store that … Read more

With this iRing, they do wed

No, this isn't from today's Main Event. But as the Apple hype machine churns at full throttle before the opening act, it's only natural for people to dream.

To wit: The "iRing" is an ingenious concept that combines fashion jewelry and iPod control with built-in Bluetooth technology to adjust volume and playback. Following the iPhone's touch-screen influence, it has touch-sensitive "function strip" too--though we wonder how practical it is for a piece of hand jewlery to have that feature, as it would seem to get bumped around a bit and might accidentally … Read more