Apple starts shipping new iPod touch, iPod nano

When Apple revealed the new fifth-generation iPod Touch and the seventh-generation iPod nano at the widely-covered event in San Francisco last month, it mentioned that the iPods would be available for sale sometime in October, but didn’t mention when. Well, it turns out that day was yesterday. International Business Times reports that users who had pre-ordered the iPod Touch and iPod nano have received email notifications from Apple that their orders have been shipped and deliveries are expected by October 15. It appears Apple has also started selling the new iPod touch and iPod nano at some of its retail stores. People have been tweeting pictures of the new iPods at Apple Stores.

The Apple US site’s iPod page, which previously showed the iPod touch and iPod nano as “Coming Soon”, now has changed to the “Buy Now” option. The site’s store section still shows the devices’ “Available to ship” as October, though. Unfortunately, the Apple India site still states that the new devices are “Coming Soon”.

Apple's new iPod Touch pre-orders start shipping.

The new iPod touch is the thinnest iPod touch ever and features a 4-inch Retina display, Apple’s A5 chip, and Siri. Housed in an anodised aluminium body, it’s even slimmer than the iPhone 5 at just 6 mm thick, and weighs just 88 gm. With Apple’s dual-core A5 chip inside, iPod touch is touted to deliver up to twice the processing power and up to seven times faster graphics than the fourth generation iPod touch. Apple states that the device has a battery life of up to 40 hours of music playback and up to eight hours of video playback.

While most components of the device have been upgraded, the new iPod touch’s 5-megapixel camera is a downgrade from its predecessor’s 8-megapixel camera. The camera has autofocus, support for 1080p video recording with video image stabilisation, face detection and an LED flash. It also has a new panorama feature that lets you capture panoramic photos by simply moving the camera across a scene. It also features Siri, Apple’s voice-based intelligent assistant. Siri arrives on the new iPod touch with support for more languages, easy access to sports scores, restaurant recommendations and movie listings. The new iPod touch also includes built-in Facebook integration with ability to post directly from Siri, Shared Photo Streams via iCloud and other key iOS features like iMessage, FaceTime, Mail and Game Center.

The reinvented iPod nano is quite slim at just 5 mm in depth, and features a large, 2.5-inch capacitive touchscreen display, a home button, and buttons to control volume and play, pause or change songs. The new iPod nano has built-in Bluetooth for wireless listening with Bluetooth-enabled headphones, speakers and cars. Apple claims the iPod nano will give you 30 hours of music playback. Other features include a pedometer and support for Nike+. The new iPod nano comes in seven colours.

The US website states that the iPod touch is available for $299 (approx. Rs 15,900) for the 32GB version and $399 (approx. Rs 21,200) for the 64GB version. The Apple India website shows the iPod touch 32GB version priced at Rs 23,900 and the 64GB version at Rs 30,900. Keeping in mind the fact that the iPod touch is a portable media player minus the connectivity offered by a phone, the price for India could have been a bit lower.