Related Sections: Apple Camcorders Cameras
How the iPod Nano can beat the Flip (hint: a camera's not enough)
The star of Apple's dog-and-pony show today was undoubtedly the iPod Nano, adding so many features that our Twitter live-blogger was wondering if there would be a kitchen sink included. An FM radio on the Nano? The pigs were about to fly when they heard that one.
But the biggest addition was a video and still camera (update, it's video only), knocking on the door of all the other portable camera makers with a clatter so loud that when the Flipmakers peer through their peephole, they might see the Grim Reaper.
In the Pocket
It's common knowledge that the most useful camera is one that you have with you, and given that a large percentage of the population carries around a music player wherever they go, video and still camera possession will soon be almost a given.
Sure, our informal survey of teenyboppers told us they don't care much about having a camera on board their iPods — most told us that they already have cameras on their cellphones. But do they have a video camera in their cellphones? Most don't. New Nano users will soon realize how useful it is to have a camera with them all the time, even if it is only 640x480.
Jack of All Trades, Master of All
Perhaps the most ominous fallout from this announcement will be the fate of camcorders from such companies as Flip and Creative that have made such impressive inroads with tiny camcorders. In waltzes the iPod Nano, a music player that's already a highly desired product, with a camcorder thrown in. If Apple can make it super easy to send videos to YouTube, this'll be a sure winner.
Note to Apple: check out what FlipShare is doing, and then beat that. Or, just do the same thing you did with the YouTube implementation of the iPhone, which is as good as it gets.
No Cam for the Touch?
A camcorder in a music player is such a great idea, we're still scratching our heads and wondering why the iPod Touch didn't also include a camera. It would be a natural, loading up movies to YouTube just as easily as the iPhone does now. Already, iPod Touch users are speaking out. Said one disgruntled Touch user, "Once again Apple screws me over by putting all the cool new features in the iPod Nano, and NONE of them in the iPod Touch."
Was Apple protecting its iPhone franchise? Perhaps the fact that the iPod Touch can only connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi would have frustrated users who'd like to instantly upload their YouTube videos from anywhere. That said, expect the iPod Touch to also include video camera capability in its next generation, hopefully in HD resolution.
By Mihos at 5:25 PM ON 09/09/09
Can you merge all these into one or two postst? Do we really need a wall of post on the same "meh" product announcements?
By annoyed at 5:38 PM ON 09/09/09
since when did the teenypoopers become the norm for general public market survey
they might be a big chunk among the buyers of crap than their older counter part.
jack of all, master of none still applies for a camera that can do vga only, but in an era of 25 MP cameras, that just seems pathetic.
I scoff at your Master of all statement.
By upset at 7:40 PM ON 09/09/09
Uh... video and still camera? Last I checked, it's just video. Silly DVICE, not doing there homework. Seriously though, that's a big typo. The lack of still camera is rather obnoxious, poor quality or not, and I got my hopes up for one second, thinking I had missed something somewhere. Thanks DCIVE
By mrlndrvr at 7:50 PM ON 09/09/09
What's next. iPod nano phone? Sweeeet.
By ekhatch at 11:05 PM ON 09/09/09
I must have some sort of browser hijack, everytime I visit Dvice I get redirected to www.apple.com
By zion89 at 1:06 AM ON 09/10/09
WHAT!!?? it has video but cant do stills?? all my hopes are dead now. lame apple. all that stuff everywhere and they just go half way like usual. and correct me if im wrong. isnt that camera in the most intelligent position i could think of? (sarcastly speaking). guess ill stick to my classic a couple more gens till they get it right lol
By SnowyRiver at 3:32 AM ON 09/10/09
You know, I got really excited by the Flip when I first got my hands on one, but shortly there after, I picked up a Aptek HD2Go camcorder. Not only is this thing about the same size as a Flip, it can record in 720 HD. And, to boot, it has an impressive compression on that HD Video, such that it can record about an hour of video on a 2GB SD Card.
Okay, enough sounding like a commercial. With regards to the new Nano, I, briefly, thought that this could be a great product for my wife. But, the lack of a decent resolution still camera makes this a non-starter. If they had simply used a 2 or 3 MP camera, and only recorded video at VGA resolution, but allowed still images at full resolution, that would have been great. But, nope. So, no customer here. Not this time, anyway.
By Ogmosic at 4:15 AM ON 09/10/09
Apple is so behind the times. Archos came out with a portable AV player that also had a 1 MP Still and Video cam years ago. I had one and used the heck out of it. I was very disappointed when i was not able to find a replacement when i was ready for an upgrade. A camera just made sense.
By Vruko at 5:48 AM ON 09/10/09
LOL you all are funny. Personally i don't care what's on it. I am glad to see them still around. I fix Apple items on the side and it's what keeps my family afloat. The Nano takes me 10 minutes to fix and i charge $90 for it. So keep them coming Apple /thumbs up
By E at 5:49 AM ON 09/10/09
> Can you merge all these into one or two posts? Do we really need a wall of post on the same "meh" product announcements?
Agreed. Was this site bought by apple?
By MrDlCastle at 7:29 AM ON 09/10/09
Regardless of what else is out there. One has to agree that it is better to take along one device than two. Right now there are probably millions of people who have an iPod and a digital video camera. This new device allows those that have said in the past "Dang, I wish I had my video camera right now!" to have one.
I personally think this is a good move for Apple. I can see these selling like hotcakes this holiday season.
By HTC User at 9:54 AM ON 09/10/09
Yawn...I've been using my HTC Tilt for years, plays music, Blue-Tooth, tethers to my PC to be a modem, 3G enabled, etc, etc...oh, and it's a phone. I'm not sure what the big deal is with i-shtuff...I used in iPhone, the interface was impressive, but the lack of basic features, like Copy/Paste is a big deal to me. Apple has got some of the best UI and Ergonomic designers in the business, but they seem to go only 1/2 way, then 3/4, then release a new product that's 1/2 way so they can keep people buying every 8 to 12 months.
By Anaxamenes at 12:49 PM ON 09/10/09
Everyone is so funny whining about what apple didn't put in their new apple pocket size love-fest. They only put in a few features at a time because if they gave you everything right off the bat, you wouldn't need to buy another one...and another one after that. It's planned obsolescence and it's annoying but it keeps the crap cheap.
By surfercouple at 1:19 PM ON 09/10/09
According to the announcement on the Apple website, you CAN post directly to FaceBook and YouTube. I got an announcement from Apple today, with a link to a 58 second video. In the last 8 seconds of the video, it talked about sharing the videos "with friends by email, MobileMe, FaceBook and YouTube." - Diana
By apjr at 1:20 PM ON 09/10/09
Why all the complaining about Dvice spotlighting Apple products? Apple released all of this information yesterday, so naturally Dvice would share it with us today. Had MS released this much info yesterday we would be reading about it today, and I can't help but wonder how many of you would complain if it was MS info and not Apple.
By Auspicious at 3:56 PM ON 09/10/09
> It's planned obsolescence and it's annoying but it keeps the crap cheap.
The 'crap' may be cheap... but you're getting what you pay for and you have to pay for the old stuff over again when you buy the new product. How much money would you save if companies went all the way the first time and updated when there were new breakthroughs and innovations?
on your cellphone!
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Auspicious:
> It's planned obsolescence and it's annoying but it keeps the crap cheap. The 'crap' may be cheap... but you're ...More »