Yesterday Apple made a bunch of announcements. Some relevant, other not so much. New iPods, AppleTV, iTunes 10 and iOS 4 updates. Let’s start with iTunes 10.
iTunes 10 is newest version of Apple’s music software. The first thing users will notice is the new blue icon, which is funkier than the old one, but IMHO it looks like it came straight out from a KDE3 icon set. Then, there’s the new interface. The 3 colored window-control buttons are arranged vertically on the upper left side, resembling a semaphore. The ‘iTunes’ window name is also gone, making the usable window space a bit larger. The icons on the sidebar are now in grayscale, which makes me think the window is always in background and it’s kinda dull, to be honest. On the bright side, there’s a new view mode called ‘album list’, which is nice, showing the album covers and song lists, just like in the iPod app interface (iOS).
Then, there’s Ping. Ping is the new Apple’s social network dedicated only to music, where users can follow artists and their friends (like in Twitter) and can check out what people around them are listening to (like last.fm). I personally cannot see the point of this (from an user’s standpoint – for artists and Apple, it’s obvious it’s to drive people to buy more music). For now, it looks like my Twitter timeline (see it below).
That’s the new iTunes 10. Personally, I do not see much improvement over 9.2. The new window design is kinda cute and the new album list view is very welcome, but the new icon sucks and the sidebar design could be a lot better (come on, color TVs exist since the 1950’s… there’s no need to use greyscale icons in an active window). Ping also doesn’t seem to make much sense, at least for now. Well, enough iTunes… let’s move to iOS updates.
The new 4.1 version of iOS for iPhone and iPod Touch will be released next week, fixing a lot of bugs (including that nasty proximity sensor bug in iPhone 4). The iOS 4.1 GM seed actually was made available for developers today (though I did not have time to take a peek at it), so I do not expect any delays on this release. As for new features, there’s Game Center – Apple’s online gaming platform (which was already available in iOS 4.0 betas for developers), Ping available inside the iTunes app, HD video uploads to YouTube and MobileMe (iPhone 4) and HDR Photography option for the camera (iPhone 4). Looks like the HDR is the big one and no, it is not about those funky images you see on Flickr, but use of HDR for proper exposure blending.
Next is the long-awaited 4.2 update for iPad. Well, it’s gonna continue to be long-awaited, since the release is scheduled to November. It will bring to the iPad all the features we have seen in 4.0, all the features that will be introduced in 4.1 next week and also two extra great features: wireless printing and AirPlay. Wireless printing will let users print pages using a printer shared in the same wireless network they are connected to and AirPlay will let them stream video to Apple TV or music to AirPlay speakers and receivers.
And that’s it for iOS. Now, let’s check out the new iPods. Apple renewed the iPod line by introducing new models for the iPod Shuffle, Nano and Touch. The new Shuffle addresses the issues found in the previous model and brings back a design very similar to the 2nd generation model, with buttons and all (thankfully!). Looks like a merge between the 2nd and 3rd generation model, and for $49, it looks like a good idea for someone who’s looking for a very simple player.
The new Nano is something very cool. That’s my favorite by far. It’s now very small, with a touch-screen interface and FM radio. It is not much bigger than the Shuffle and has the same clip-on design, making it wearable as well. There’s no video playback anymore, but there’s a way of showing photos on it, which I find particularly stupid in a screen of that size.
And, finally, the new iPod Touch. It’s even thinner than the previous model and its front looks very similar to iPhone 4’s. It inherits some of iPhone 4 best features, like the Retina Display, two cameras (though the back camera can only do 960×720 photos), gyroscope and FaceTime. Not bad at all.
That’s it for now. Summarizing: new iPod lineup, iOS updates in the horizon and new iTunes. Of course, as an iOS-guy, I am more interested in the iOS updates, but I am sure a lot of people found that new iPods are really great. As for iTunes, well, I’m seeing mixed reactions, so I am not sure if it was a good update.