If anyone checked out ESPN.com late last night they would have been smacked right in the eye with quite possibly the biggest iPod Touch Banner Ad Ever. After releasing the new iPhone “game changer” commercial during the baseball playoffs, it looks like Apple is focusing on expanding the iPhone/iPod Touch product line by reaching sports fans. Good idea? I don’t know maybe Apple is thinking they can turn sports fans into Apple fanboys..
Either way, that thing was BIG. Dare I say life-size. There was no way anyone going on to ESPN.com could miss it (unless you have ad blockers). Effective? Yes. Annoying to scroll down to read the news? You betcha. Newsworthy? Hey it’s the weekend..
One of the big missing features on the iPhone is support for wireless bluetooth stereo, also known as A2DP. Naturally, the iPod Touch lacks the same, since it lacks a Bluetooth chip altogether. …Or does it? Yes, it does. See, as MacRumors notes, the legendary disassemblers at iFixit took on the iPod Touch 2G and found a little chip called the Broadcom BCM4325 — a chip typically used to provide WiFi or Bluetooth. There’s already a separate WiFi chip, so Bluetooth is the natural assumption.
ZOMG, right? Well, no — Engadget put the hammer down on the rumor and our childlike sense of wonder by pointing out that 1) the chip’s presence doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s actual Bluetooth support in there and 2) that what the chip probably really does is interact with Nike+ (it’s built-in, see), since Nike+ uses a “proprietary 802.11 protocol” that this Broadcom chip is almost surely able to work with.
In other words, move jog along, nothing to see here.
Okay, so we pretty much all now know what the iPod Nano 4G will look like, but what about the iPod Touch 2G? If iLounge’s sources are right — surprise, surprise — the upcoming refresh will see it slightly thicker but more tapered, just like what happened to the iPhone back in June. What else?
What appears to be an antenna enclosure is shown on its rear top left, with the same headphone port and Dock Connector port arrangement at its bottom. Notably, the drawings show what appear to be volume controls on the left side, addressing a key concern of iPod touch users; the added thickness might be attributable to changes in the battery.
Or how about that rumored GPS? No? Not so much?
Guess we’ll all find out for sure on Sept. 9th!
