Touch Screen iPod Nanos?

Fake..... and as for the device... (if what Ed says is true) might probably be the iPhone nano!

But I refuse to believe that Apple's replacing the click wheel with a touchscreen any time soon!
Also, this supposedly will destroy the essence of the word "nano" for iPod!

Very speculatative article with pretty much not a single fact (I'm still trying to find one).

Yes we know that touch screen is the new big thing and it won't only be limited to iPhone/iPod Touch. We also know that iPod Nano tends to get everything the best iPod does one generation later, so that would indicate that touch will be coming.

Other than that, who knows? And music subscription? Please... when are people going to stick that one to rest.... :rolleyes:

I can believe it.

I fully expect there to never be another iPod Classic. Makes more sense just to add thicker, HD-based Touch models. And I can see SOME chance of touch-based nanos coming too--and the clickwheel vanishing forever. It's iconic, but something better has come along (and thanks to the iPhone, pretty iconic in its own right).

My guess about a touch-based Nano:

* Just SLIGHTLY smaller screen (maybe 5% smaller, same res) so that typing etc. is still possible. (I'd expect the touch nanos to run the SAME software as Apple's other touch devices.)

* But almost no margin around the screen.

* No giant empty space at top and bottom of screen. Home button could even be a long thin bar built into the margin instead of a large circle.

* Face dimensions would then be a lot smaller than an iPod Touch--and somewhat bigger than the current nano, but not THAT much. And with good reason to accept the increase.

* Could still be thin like the current nano, or a bit thicker for battery life, but still thinner than a full Touch.

* The tiniest end of the lineup would not be lost: that's the Shuffle anyway.

* This sounds likely to be the REAL truth behind the iPhone Nano rumors. Not a phone at all.

Alternative possibility: same screen as the Touch but with less surrounding margin. The nano, touch and classic merge into ONE new product (probably called touch). Super-thin flash models and thicker HD models.

Must've been a samsung instinct.

I'm not sure why people have such a hard time imagining a small touch sceen iPod in a Nano form factor. Given the right aspect ratio it would allow Apple to deliver a larger screen on a physically smaller device. Think the old Nano dimensions.

Apple already has patents in place to cover the interface. That interface could still have a click wheel just in a virtual sense. Or something else altogether it just won't have all of the current Touches features simply due to size. I can easily see a device with one third the area of the current iPhone's screen.

Dave

Does the iPhone have a click wheel to do it's iPod function?

Exactly.

Image from
http://applecia.com/wp-content/uploads/ipod-evolution.jpg

does anybody remember a few months ago apple had a paitent that had the touch surface on the back of the device !!!!

I think the nano will go one of two ways

Just a storage boost and maybe Bluetooth this time round

Or

Same size but all screen with a touch surface on the back

hahahah - those iPhone Nano and iPhone Shuffle mock-ups are cool

but why would the shuffle have the email icon on it? how would you be able to make any use of it?

And I can see SOME chance of touch-based nanos coming too--and the clickwheel vanishing forever. It's iconic, but something better has come along (and thanks to the iPhone, pretty iconic in its own right).

What's funny is that the click wheel was invented to solve the problem of having to keep moving your thumb again and again (like using a mouse to scroll a very large area so that it always moves to the edge of the desk and has to be replaced). It was an elegant solution, since moving your thumb around in a circle is infinite.

Now touch has come along, which has better potential, but with the iPhone we're back to the bloody linear scrolling model and so large lists - particularly non-alphabetised ones - become very laborious to navigate... :(

Besides needing the obvious iPod search on iPhone (I know I've said that 1000 times), why can't they add a virtual scrollwheel option?

Does the iPhone have a click wheel to do it's iPod function?

Exactly.

Which is exactly why iPod song navigation has stepped backwards with iPhone.

think it is quite viable! why stick to the click wheel for its own sake? with touch - you get more screen value...

I am aware of the advantages of click wheel though...