The Next iPod
The fifth generation iPod will be an entirely new beast. Besides improving battery life, storage space, and size, Apple will probably make a number of other changes:
- New touchscreen technology that replaces the scrollwheel and most of the buttons. The touchscreen technology will display some sort of Apple OS X-like menu bar that will navigate its major modes of operation.
- Following in the footsteps of the Photo iPod, Apple will introduce a 3-4 MP digital camera into the ipod housing and include photography software that will allow for basic image capture and manipulation. The battery life will suck at first.
- Additional features more commonly found on PDA’s, like movies, games, and other multimedia delivery layers. GPS, map software to come later.
Here are some (crude) visualizations of what I think the next iPod could look like. The design will mesh part old iPod photo, part PSP, part PDA, and part digital camera. The operating system will move to a more OSX-like look:
| This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2005 at 10:59 pm and is tagged with apple os x, major modes, touchscreen technology, multimedia delivery, fifth generation, visualizations, storage space, photography software, image capture, battery life, menu bar, footsteps, manipulation, beast, ipod, os x, digital camera, operating system, mp, psp. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
i have foreseen this happen back when the first i pod was released.
from the first time i seen it, i know that the whole thing is going to be a big touch screen, and that the scroller is going to be digital.
i know all along the way that apple will go in this direction, so they can max the screen size.
the only problems are going to be the battery, lasting enough time and making the screen, scratch proof because the last thing you want, is looking at a big screen for a long time when it got a big *** scratch in the middle.
now its just up to apple to supply the goods.
i love the design.. touch screen is a big thing right now, like on digital cameras, phones, car audio/video systems and all.. but i think it needs to be improved.. too much to take care of.. i think if they made it so we could change the screen easily when we scratched it would be nice.. like one of thoes ipod protecters that are made out of rubbers or plastics.. i mean they will have thoes covers for this model but what if we scretched it i don’t feel like going to the shop and get it replace, i want to do it by my self fast. what do you guys think?
It looks amazing to me .The only thing that I would worry about it would be not to scratch the screen. I hope they’ve made it “meproof”.
THanks,
Jan
I have heard that the whell will only become visual when it senses that somebody touches the screen. Then when you are not touching the screen, the wheel will go away. That way when you are trying to watch a movie or just plain look at the screen, the wheel will not be there. Has anyone else heard of this design?
i really don’t see the point, your fingures will go all over the screen. Its going to get scratched easily. It looses the iPods main selling point, its sleek design. I think they should just take the video iPod and make the screen longer for when you movies you have a decent side screen you can turn the iPod 90 degrees. It will also allow larger album art, it can be called iPod Movie.
Your model is very nice, but might fit better I think in the 2010 buyers market. As much as the price of electronics are going down, 3-4 MP digital cameras themselves still cost about as much as a 20G iPod right now. Plus touchscreen technology is very expensive and it would completely drain the battery (we’re talking about a battery life of maybe 2 hours without playing music). Overall I would excpect to pay around 1200 to 1500 dollars for what you have in the picture. But it does look really neat and I woul totally buy that if iPod made something like that.
Think about on plane rides, trips and so on. Finding a way to play movies, cartoons, or even television shows on a small screen would be great for those events. I know I would want to see maybe, Six Feet Under or Friends while I am traveling to New York from Texas or so.
I think Apple just needs to make a PDA and kick some serious butt in the handheld area.
Reminds me of a Simpsons episode where Homer finds a long lost brother and ruins his business by designing an $80,000 consumer level vehicle with a bunch of silly features he wanted as an individual but nobody would want to pay for.
That picture is a nice picture, well done and all, but I’d like to point out something: it looks complex.
You’ve got bright colors all over, detailed images, seemingly crowded display, crowded primarily by a big fat scroll wheel. Then there is discussion of touch screen, movie playback, and such and such function, so on, so forth.
All that would make for is a complex, bogged down piece of fancy shmancy gadgetry that costs too much and only has an initial “ooh neat” factor. Sure, movies being portable has a “neat” effect to it, but not only is it expensive and complicated (copyrights, distribution, etc.), few people enjoy watching movies on itty bitty screens. Photos are borderline – sharing albums with people makes sense, but viewing them for your own pleasure seems a bit stretched. But movies? Technically, that isn’t even legal to share, and how many times are you going to watch that outdated movie or recorded tv show?
Generally speaking, there are a lot of features that would be “neat”, at least, in the sense that we think “wouldn’t it be neat if…”. But, we should be thinking, “would it really be worth it if…” as well. The iPod is still primarily a music player. As a music player, how might it improve? Do you really want to see it bogged down by featuritis?
hmmm…. they should keep the same dimensions same basic color white and stainless steel back they should use a big screen like the picture and if you are worried about scratches im sure they’ll make screen protectors that virtual clickwheel is good “sudden motion sensor” for 90 degree views is good as for new features:
AM/FM Radio
Video Playback
Better EQ Settings
Settings like wallpaper,ability to change color of layout
And maybe even a good web browser for email, news,etc.
screw the phone idea it gets too complicated and gps too
That thing looks like it’s gonna cost around $1G+. Unlikely that it will be coming out anytime soon. Another big problem is the huge screen will get scratched up like crazy. Right now the biggest problem with ipods is their screens get scratched too easily. And touchscreen LCD’s are even more sensitive. Unless maybe they come out with some kind of new material or technology. It really does look like a hot MP3 player in the picture. I hope the 5th gen ipod really does look like that or close to it.
Here’s the features I want to see:
- FM/AM RADIO
- VOICE ACTIVATED MUSIC SEARCH (to find songs faster or when driving)
- VIDEO PLAYBACK (MPEG,MPG,AVI, …. etc.)
Disagree with what? The screen will still be there and it will be “landscape oriented” for movies, widescreen. Or both, the gizmo feels when you flip it. No screen, ok, superduper cool glasses then, or a micro projector…
I disagree, I think that Apple will move into an entire new direction. They will either release a completely new product like a portable dvd player and allow you to buy movies from iTunes or they will hook up with a wireless company and let you download from itunes anywhere and make a phone out of it too. Apple is always 10 steps ahead of the game and I don’t see this being anything different. Why would the CEO of Sony be on stage at the keynote address and why stress HD so much and only release two or three HD editing programs, Apple is going to plant itself in every living room with movie downloads soon, has anyone else noticed that all movie trailors are found in iTunes now instead of on the Apple website? You think its a coincidence?
Yes, photos are rectangular, and most of the time 4:3, where 4 is the width. Check for yourself, how much difference it makes to flip the screen and let the images grow a bit! Or, how do screens look in general, well in Apple’s case we talk widescreen.
I have a feeling that Apple is going to try and keep it mostly vertical for now. Photos are rectangular, so they can stay vertical just as easily as not. The only thing that needs a horizontal surface are wide-screen movies, which Apple may or may not support. There are a lot of copyright concerns with movies which may make Apple hesitant.
Not that great with an embossed screen for the wheel. How does it look when the screen is showing other things, images and movies for example? Eh, well….imagine a big embossed circle on your TV or computerscreen!
Touchscreens do not need to be perfectly flat: Apple could emboss the wheel for example. The only thing missing would be the phone/wireless web/mail (WiFi or phone) acessibility. Does nobody else think a phone with multi-GB storage outcools an iPod? You can get GPS, music, email and PIM functions today in a phone. Some even sync with a Mac…
If this future incarnation of the pod is true, I guess the best thing is to flip the device 90 degreees to watch photos and stuff (movies). With Apples “Sudden Motion Sensor” it is possible for the device to feel its position and use the screen in best possible way for images and movies, depending how the device is held!
Links to fun things using Sudden motion sensor:
http://kernelthread.com/software/ams2hid/
http://idisk.mac.com/ams2hid/Public/AMS2HID_neverball.mov
The biggest drawback with such a solution is lack of physical (tactile) feedback when using “buttons” on screen. The pod is almost impossible to use not watching the screen. Maybe a solution is different sounds on “fingerOver”.
Best,
Fredrik