Apple - Lets Rock 4G Nano and iTouch 2 launch

The G4 TV guys asked me to help them cover the launch of Apple's latest Nano and the iTouch take two during their fall 2008 "back to shopping event." It was a cool event where Sir Jobs spoke, and I posted a bunch of photos on Flickr of what I saw in the press room.

I think that the Nano is back to the right "form factor" that it should stay in. I hated the stubby one, it was just too hard to use the wheel to navigate with it. I like that they included an accelerometer in it as well. The "shake to shuffle" feature is gimmicky, but clever. I expect more applications with it in the future. The new headphones with a mic (for voice recording) and wired remote control will work with the Nano out of the box.

As a user of the first generation iTouch, I really like the price drop on the current line. The cosmetic changes mimic that of the iPhone 3G, with a rounded back. The built-in Nike+iPod receiver is cool, but the real news is the built in speaker for casual games and personal listening along with its ability to use a mic on the Apple $29 and $79 headphones, which both include an inline remote control for tracks and volume. There is no voice recorder on the iTouch, but third parties have created this software.

Why does this excite me? Well, I cannot wait to play with some TRUE VoIP applications or even Skype with the new iTouch. This could really become something if muni-wifi comes into play and could turn the iTouch into a great free communication device, like when I used it in Europe instead of an iPhone which would cost much more due to data roaming rates.

Take a look at the loop segment I did with the guys from G4 TV via a fiber link from San Francisco, back to their studios in LA.