With Blazing Speeds And More Than Enough Storage, The ITouch 64GB Is Here

The Manner with which Apple calmly announced the new iTouch 64GB, was unusual to say the least. There was no "one more thing" fanfare for the iPhone's brother, just a quick mention of an upgrade. But although the new iTouch 64GB has nothing new to the design table, it's still a major update.

The iTouch 64GB uses a 2-piece design that marries a flat glass-covered front with one piece of chromed steel enveloping the back and edges. For such a thin and outwardly frail device, the iTouch 64GB feels incredibly strong and the steel offers a reassuring heft compared to the iPhone's plastic design.

That 64GB of capacity is a lot of space to play with (8 times what the least expensive ITouch), and the internal upgrade means it now rivals the iPhone 3GS for speed. If you had your eye on an iPod Classic before, the new iTouch 64GB is so spacious it should tempt all but the most hardcore of music obsessives now.

With a boosted performance, now you can browse, read quicker & play games in better speed. ITouch brings leading edge features with an improved 3.1 software. The built in Wi-Fi gives you an edge over friends. The Genius Mixes feature lets you view mixes. iTouch 64GB has the 600MHz Samsung S5PC100 mobile application along with a CPU based on ARM's CORTEX A8's design.

While real close in speed, the ARM Cortex A8 fully kills the Intel Atom in power efficiency; we 're talking Apples and Oranges more efficiency here: not double, but by an order of magnitude better for ARM. Some ARM chips customarily use 10-20 times less power than Intel for similar operations. Battery use with ARM chips used in this new iTouch 64GB, could be measured in days, not hours.

ARM and Intel are presently into a heated battle because they're encroaching on each other's turf in much the same way Verizon and Time Warner are in the Cable/Phone/Internet space. ARM is getting quick enough to build a netbook while Intel is getting miserly just enough in power to only be put into a telephone. 2009 will be a massive face-off between the two in this field.

For the iTouch 64GB that means checking your e-mail or scanning the web just got easier than ever now.

With the iTouch 64GB, ITunes 9, ups the ante

With 75,000 apps available on the App Store, it's been easy to download so many that your device becomes cluttered, with many icons scattered among numerous screens in a manner that optimal. There's a way to move apps around, or delete them right on the device, but it is clutzy at best, mainly because you can't peruse all of the screens combinayions at once, and mainly because it's difficult to move an icon from a location on one screen to another several miles...err, screens away.

Now, in the new iTunes 9, when you plug in your device, the application displays an exact visual repesentation of your iTouch 64GB screens directly on your PC's screen, thus allowing you to rearrange them with the click of a mouse; after a quick sync, the new arrangement is retained on the iTouch 64GB.

The long lost experience of the record album returns with iTunes LP. While you hear your favourite tracks, you can dive into animated lyrics and liner notes, watch music videos, view artist and band footage rather than a less than exciting static artwork (if it's even there), and enjoy other bonus materials.

Other major update in ITunes 9: Home Sharing. You can now view the iTunes libraries of at least 5 authorized computers in your place, import what you care for, and immediately add any new items from any of the computers to your own library.

You are able to save iTunes Store items you would like to get later in a new wish list. And if you are an eager social networker, it's easy to megaphone your fave songs, photographs, and Television shows on Facebook and/or Twitter accounts right from the iTunes Store.

Say you are listening to a track on your ITouch that's groovy and you're dying to hear other tracks that go great with it. Genius straight away serves up songs on your ITouch that go great with your mood and create a Genius playlist especially for that perfect moment. In Cover Flow, you can get your music spotted on. The 3.5-inch screen is more than acceptable for your flicks.

It seems Apple is reaching out for an even a larger market. At the rock'n'roll event, iPods were presented with some changes and a lower cost. Apple unveiled the new quicker and cheaper iPod Touch 32GB 3G about two weeks ago. Amazon is selling the ITouch 32GB for $20 less than the Apple store and ships it for free as usual. This sales price helped catapult the new ITouch to the number two spot on the Bestsellers in Electronics.

If you were delaying getting an iPod for reasons of cash, now with the iTouch 64GB and iTunes 9 you might just have gotten an invitation.