Apple Boosts iPhone To 16GB, iPod Touch To 32GB

Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 by MegaZone

I was happy to see Apple announce today that they’re boosting the iPhone’s capacity from 8GB to 16GB, and the iPod Touch from 16GB to 32GB. I’m not really much of an Apple fanboy, in fact, the only Apple product I really use is my iPod and iTunes. I do think OS X is a great operating system, and if they’d sell it for use on generic hardware I’d probably use it, but I haven’t been willing to pay the Apple Tax on their laptops. (Yes, I know about Darwin.)

But I really do like the iPod, and, having tried a number of alternative portable digital music players, it is still the only one I really recommend. However, I’m still using a 60GB iPod with color, initially known as the iPod Photo. The first generation of video iPods just wasn’t enough to make me jump – the screen is too small. And I have almost no interest in the iPhone. I’ve played with them, I know people who own them – and I still prefer my Treo 680 to the iPhone for my needs. I really use my ‘phone’ more for email and such – text applications – and I just didn’t like typing on the iPhone. It is shiny and sexy, but that’s not enough for a serious relationship.

But I do love the screen and the interface for other things, including the browser. So when the iPhone was announced I was excited, not because of the iPhone, but because I knew it was only a matter of time until an iPod popped up with the same design. And it did, the iPod Touch. But when it was announced I was very disappointed. What I wanted was a high-capacity unit with the UI of the iPhone. I was thinking 80GB, or even 160GB, with the same screen and UI, not 8GB or 16GB! I’m getting close to filling my 60GB iPod, and I like having all my music on tap. I started with a 20GB iPod and quickly dumped it for the 60GB model because I couldn’t stand picking and choosing which songs to load, invariably not having the song I wanted to listen to on there, of course. So there was no way I was going back to even 16GB.

So I’m happy to see the 32GB model announced, not so much for what it is, but because the next logical step is 64GB. I just have to wait and the price/performance curve will bring Flash memory prices down far enough for Apple to kick up the capacity again. And when they finally launch the 64GB model, I expect to finally upgrade. I think it’ll happen in the second half of this year.

I can wait.

Apple Store - iPhone Apple Store - iPod Touch

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • http://mark_tv.livejournal.com/ MHA

    Apple tax? There’s certainly a price premium on the new MacBook Air, but I thought the MacBook was really affordable compared to other comparable laptops. Sure, you can get much cheaper if you don’t mind buying junk, but that’s always been true. Mac laptops against the comparable Sony and Toshiba models are similarly priced… or cheaper.

  • http://www.gizmolovers.com/ MegaZone

    For the same specs – CPU, RAM, disk, and screen size – there are less expensive options than the MacBook or MacBook Pro. The MacBook Air is just special – and unappealing as a primary machine. If I had the money, and need, for a secondary machine it might make more sense – but even then I’d be hard pressed to justify the cost compared to other options.

    But on a normal level there are usually options from Dell, HP, et al, which provide the same features for less – or for the same money you can bump the specs up. They may not be as pretty, and I give Apple credit for their industrial design, but, personally, I don’t care too much about the looks as long as it works well.

    I considered a MacBook a couple of years ago when I bought my current laptop but I ended up buying an HP for less money with better specs, and it is still working well. I’ve started looking at new laptops recently, since I’d like to play with virtualization at home and this laptop is a little too old (Athlon64 3200+ single-core, 60GB drive) to really handle it well. A newer model with a multi-core CPU would be a better choice, so I’ve looked around a bit and it looks like things haven’t really changed. For the same power the Apple laptops cost more. In the end I decided to hold off a bit and see what happens when AMD’s new laptop platform hits this year.

  • Glenn

    I’m waiting for a Hard Disk based Touch myself. Perhaps I’ll have to wait forever, but I need to be able to sync my entire music library, and thats around 80GB these days, plus some podcasts and video too. I could live with less than 160GB, but even 80GB wouldn’t really be enough anymore. I’ll live with my Classic (now fine after early fits & starts were fixed over time).