New iPod Touch packs Wi-Fi 'n,' FM hardware

Updated at 4:05 p.m. PDT: adding discussion about lack of video camera in Touch.

Broadcom chip in Apple's iPod Touch supports 802.11n wireless--not supported in the iPhone 3GS

(Credit: iFixit)

Inside Apple's updated iPod Touch lurks "n" Wi-Fi hardware, the potential for FM transmission, and room for a camera, according to iFixit.

Gadget teardown specialist iFixit on Friday said that during its dissection of the new device, it found a few "unexpected discoveries."

One of the most notable findings was a Broadcom BCM4329 chip that supports 802.11n. "This is a big deal, as even the iPhone 3GS doesn't support 802.11n," said Kyle Wiens of iFixit. The Apple smartphone, which has a very similar look on the outside to the iPod Touch, has a Broadcom BCM4325 wireless chip, only supporting 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi connectivity, according to Wiens.

"We don't know yet if 802.11n will be supported in the iPod Touch software, but at least the hardware's there," he said.

The Broadcom chip also supports FM transmission and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (enhanced data rate), endowing the touch-screen iPod with the potential to stream music to the car stereo. "But that's a lot of ifs," Wiens said.

iFixit also said the internal layout of the iPod appears to leave room for a camera in the top of the device. "There is a 6x6x3-millimeter space between the Broadcom chip and the wireless antenna."

Added Wiens: "There isn't enough depth for an iPhone-style autofocus still camera, but just enough room for the camera that Apple used in the fifth-generation iPod Nano. We did not find any headers on the board for a camera cable."

The fact that the new iPod Nano integrates a video camera and the Touch does not has become a mini scandal, as some observers claim that Steve Jobs may not have revealed the whole story behind a camera-less Touch. Jobs claimed price made a camera prohibitive on the game-oriented Touch, while blogs maintain it was more of a hardware problem.

[hankthedwarf]

A built-in FM transmitter has been a gimme, you'd think, for a few years now. I think the only reason it's not been included is because Apple doesn't want to tick off Griffin, Belkin, et. al. who make a good chunk of change with their overpriced transmitters (plus cannibalizing the licensing fees Apple gets with every product sold that has the "Made for iPod" logo on it).

[SeizeCTRL]

BINGO!

That's been my thought for some time now. The only logical reason to disable the FM side of the wireless chipset would be the angry 3rd party manufacturers.

[eeemang]

Is there an app that changes me into a Borg drone with the tubes and the eye piece and no will of my own and no individual thought?
The metallic forehead stamp also please
I await such an existence....

After all; why be out in the good weather riding a bike, swimming laps at the pool, walking or hiking with friends, having conversations IN PERSON, or helping others?..when I could be obsessing Ad nauseam about apps and our blind subservience to a fruit named gigantic corporation filled with similar drones and mantra spouting corporate snitches?..

[ckh1272]

"by eeemang September 11, 2009 7:36 PM PDT
Is there an app that changes me into a Borg drone with the tubes and the eye piece and no will of my own and no individual thought?
The metallic forehead stamp also please
I await such an existence....

After all; why be out in the good weather riding a bike, swimming laps at the pool, walking or hiking with friends, having conversations IN PERSON, or helping others?..when I could be obsessing Ad nauseam about apps and our blind subservience to a fruit named gigantic corporation filled with similar drones and mantra spouting corporate snitches?.."

@eeemang--Is someone's tinfoil hat getting a little too tight??

[CTO_Dude]

If it were all about making 3rd party manufacturers happy, then why has Zune had these features for nearly 3 years now!?!?!??!?! They are just giving a nod to Microsoft.

[aka_tripleB]

You can't overlook Apple holding back obvious gimmicks so when they cannot think of anything else to con people into replace their perfectly functional PMP they can add it.

[Random_Walk]

"If it were all about making 3rd party manufacturers happy, then why has Zune had these features for nearly 3 years now!?"

...because the Zune has no third-party market to speak of, and no marketshare itself to speak of?

[CTO_Dude]

@ Random_Walk

Still a total nod to the innovation of the Zune. Beta was better than VHS and HD DVD was better than BluRay as well. Market share doesnt always mean better technology.

[viper396]

The Broadcom BCM4329 is a multiple purpose chip. Fm transmittion is just a supported possibility of the chip not it's primary purpose. Just because it can do many things doesn't mean it should.
Have you people ever used one of those 3rd party FM transmitters? As far as audio quality and signal strength is concerned practically all of them suck. The signal strength is so weak that you end up re-tuning as you drive. (and these are usually higher powered, dedicated FM transmitters!) Do you really think that the Broadcom BCM4329 could do any better a job of transmitting FM? Realistically, it would probable be worst. So bad in fact that CNET would probable run articles about how bad the built in FM transmitter was.

[bdoyle87]

Umm... what does have the ability to play FM radio have to do with FM transmitters?

[viper396]

@bdoyle87, try reading the article and paying attention. It has an embedded FM transmitter which was the point of this conversation.

[karpenterskids]

I just don't understand why Apple would include so many capabilities if they didn't plan to use them...


Or will they just release a new itouch OS, charge a few extra bucks for it, and BAM, give everyone 802.11n?

[ddhboy]

I suspect that they're going to release OS 4.0 once their next generation iPhone, which will catch up to the iPod Touch's unused features, and that buying 4.0 would unlock the features, much like how the iPod Touch 2G had bluetooth but apple only partially unlocked it after 3.0 was released.

[scrubbingbubbles]

Apple LOVES quality control and would rather make sure the software is spot on before letting a glitchy ipod out to the public. Lots of people dont like this but it helps Apple avoid Microsoft Vista sized blunders!

[Synthmeister]

The official 802.11n spec wasn't ratified till this week, I believe. As for the rest, Apple may just still be putting the OS pieces in place while trying to make sure that stereo Bluetooth, for example, doesn't drain the battery in 30 minutes.

This OS is barely over two years. It really isn't surprising that there are gaps like Bluetooth support, etc.

[Renegade Knight]

@scrubbingbubbles

Quality control isn't about removing features becasue they don't work. It's about everthing working to begin with.

Apple is developing a nasty habbit of having you pay for hardware you can't use then charging you later to use it.

[ddhboy]

So basically the rumors are probably true. The new iPod touch probably was supposed to have a camera, FM transmission and Wireless N, but apple dropped it a few months back either because adding the camera cut too much into apple's profit margins, or the battery was being drained and kicked out for quality control (though I'd believe the former to be true)

Regardless, we now know that the jailbreak community will restore wireless N and FM radio eventually, and apple will probably get around to unlocking wireless N on iphone OS 4.0, because we all know how apple likes to price gouge and keep the iPod Touch subservient to the iPhone.

[ddhboy]

or rather FM transmission

[ikramerica--2008]

It's nothing to do with "restoring" wireless-N. OS 3.1 likely doesn't even support it in the first place, and the driver would have to be rewritten. It's not as simple as "because the chip can handle it, the device can do it."

[Devhux]

Actually, the iFixit site also mentions it supports FM reception (CNet's article only focused on FM transmission).

[ikramerica--2008]

As this breakdown clearly shows, there is NOT room inside for the iPhone's camera, but if they were to have installed the Nano's video only, infinite focus VGA camera, it would have been the same sort of "outrage" as not having one.

People would expect the higher resolution, autofocus unit as in the iPhone, but that is far larger and MORE EXPENSIVE than the Nano's super cheep camera. The Nano's camera is similar to the low-res ones found in the cheapest netbooks, and I can assure people that this camera stinks for anything but video in well lit places.

Apple would have to rework the innards of the iPod touch to get the right camera in there, and it would have cost much more money. Seems Steve Jobs wasn't "lying" or "spinning" after all...

[rdunn]

Some of us don't need the iPhone cam, and the nano cam would suit just fine. But rant for rant, you've evened the field.

[Renegade Knight]

Wrong. I didn't expect anything more than a cheezy camera. That was enough for my purposes.

[cvaldes1831]

Apple would have known from the beginning that they couldn't fit the iPhone's camera module in the iPod touch. It's not like they discovered the incompatibility at the last moment.

Also, Apple is clearly aware of the nano's video camera module's capabilities and weaknesses, yet went ahead and included the video-only capabilities. It's not like Apple would have been surprised at the last moment that the smaller module wasn't as good as the iPhone's larger module. My guess is that Apple evaluated several camera modules from a variety of suppliers before deciding on one or two.

QC issues late in the game from the iPod touch camera module supplier killed off inclusion of the camera in the new model.

[Magpiesman]

Where is the GPS, every electronic toy from $20 and up has a GPS receiver but not the IPod Touch.

[SeizeCTRL]

Didn't you hear? The iPod Touch is a gaming machine :p

[scrubbingbubbles]

What MP3 player has GPS i wonder? I can only think of a few...the iRiver for one...how many people do you know that have an iRiver? None? Oh ok thats cool.
If you want GPS on your touch get the TomTom application and the cradle for it.

[falldownlaughter]

Are there any map programs that run on the Touch that do not require an active wifi connection? If not, GPS on the Touch has limited value.

[viper396]

@Magpiesman "every electronic toy from $20 and up has a GPS receiver "

Oh really?... name 3 of them. One can easily name dozens of $20 and up electronic toys that DO NOT. I challenge you to actually backup your bogus claim by finding more then one or two that do.

[Renegade Knight]

@ scrubbingbubbles

MP3 Players with GPS.
A lot of smartphones, Most GPS's now support mp3's. The new Archos has GPS.

[icebike]

Who says all of these features are actually in this chip.

The chip part number is not listed in broadcom''s catalog. Everybody assumes it has these characteristics because the chip family does, but broadcom can and will make a special chip run for any company ordering in the quantity apple orders in.

The tail end designator is BG. No "N". Fixit even mentioned that the FM transmitter pin was not wired to an antenna.

Everybody is jumping to conclusions.

[TJ Spyke]

Yeah, you might want to actually read the article again. The article links to Broadcom's website where it DOES say the chip supports all those features. Just because Apple chooses not to use them doesn't change the fact that the chip is still capable of them and Apple is choosing not to use them.

I have no doubt that the reasons Apple didn't make any actual changes to the iPod Touch is because of the technical problems they ran into recently.

[edtmark]

Still not enough new features to warrant me replacing my 1st generation iPod Touch. I'm just going to wake for it to die before getting another one...

[atomD21]

WHAT?!!??! How dare you not run out and buy every new gadget as it's released?! You swallow your common sense and hie thee to an Apple store now!

[faceless128]

I can't speak for the particular camera in the Nano, but the Nintendo DSi has some pretty small cameras, and the pictures it takes are good enough for my little sister's facebook/myspace. nobody expects a cellphone camera to take pictures comparable to a digital camera.

[Hike_Every_Day]

Other than not making 3rd party makers like Belkin and Griffin angry another reason not to have an FM is that there are apps available for almost any FM station worth listening to. I have a couple for local public radio station and AOL radio gives me WAY more choices of stations than are available on my local dial. If the touch had an FM tuner I'd probably never use it. There's really no need to.

[rdunn]

No need to, if you have unlimited data.

[atomD21]

Still, it's a nice feature to have if you don't live or work in an area where wifi is nearly ubiquitous.

[falldownlaughter]

Streaming music via wifi does not work when you are out for a hike, riding on the bus/train, or car pooling (where you are the passenger and someone else controls the radio). At my office, the network administrator keeps blocking streaming audio sites.

[Mcckoe]

lets look at this from apple's point of view, Why Add a Camera... The Nano has a camera, and they are planing to sell a lot of those; There isn't space, for the same camera as the iPhone, and the one on the Nano would look to grainy on the Touch, so again why add a Camera??? At this Generation it just doesn't make since to have a camera in the touch, if you want a camera get an iPhone/Nano... and with the Nano now at 16 gigs it competes with the touch for usability, maybe even more for the younger generation... apple will control the mp3 market regardless of a camera in there top model ipod... maybe they tired, maybe they didn't, but does it really make you want to buy the iPod touch any less???

[libertyforall1776]

The bigger question is why did Apple release the iPhone 3GS without Wi-Fi N?! What a stupid move that was!

[edmetric]

I handled the Nano at the store today. What a bad design. The camera is on the opposite side of the control pad. To hold the camera and work the controls, your fingers get in the way of the camera. Turn it upside down to film and you cover the screen. It's a two handed job. I'm going to pass of this one.

[edmetric]

I handled the Nano at the store today. What a bad design. The camera is on the opposite side of the control pad. To hold the camera and work the controls, your fingers get in the way of the camera. Turn it upside down to film and you cover the screen. It's a two handed job. I'm going to pass on this one.

[atomD21]

And the mandatory double post to correct a typo underscores the need for the ability to edit your own posts... I agree on the design. Why put the camera where your hand is going to normally be? "Hold on, I'll film this, but let me clean the lens..."

[relseh]

Seriously, what kind of putz puts 802.11n networking in a device with a processor that can't handle it? Its a pipe dream for iPod users to think they'll get anything better than 2-3 Mbps throughput on the thing - its a SALES GIMMICK.

[lazycat202]

they got the $$$. Who cares? Apple hardcore fans will take everything that Apple throw at them :P

[scrubbingbubbles]

A gimmick implies that they would advertise it as a selling point...which i could be wrong...but Apple did not do.

[cp256]

Putting N on it allows you run your access point in N only mode if you want. Some N routers run better in N only mode I think.

[EvanSei]

you know what is going to happen, I do. This will be like every year, about 6 moths from now the 4.0 update will come out which of course will be $9.99 for us touch owners and all of a sudden FM transmission, wireless n, and bluetooth 2.1+ EDR will be available, as for the camera opening, apple probably was trying to fit it in last minute, made room for it but scrapped the idea because they didn't want the touch to be late. here is the thing I want full functionality now, apple should just tack on the $10 to the initial cost (because we are no going to get it free) and give the stuff to us, as for the camera I would be willing to wait another few weeks or months for a touch release if it had a camera no complaints (if apple told us why it was late) and if it cost more money to put it on I would happily pay it ,within reason as in no more than $30 more. I say if they can stick a camera on a $15 phone they could stick one on an iPod touch for not to much at all.

[lazycat202]

the new iPods will be a headline for terrorists. Boooomm! Portable gernades!! Why on earth Apple is pushing its devices to the maximum limits? Give it some room to breath!

[JGowan]

What the h3LL does this post mean? There are 75000 apps on the store... these things can do it all anyway... an FM tuner won't "suffocate" the iPod.

[zapple101]

since the nintendo dsi has a camera(two btw) i dont understand why they dont just put the damn camera in, i mean if u want to be in the gaming market at least take a look at ur competitors!

[JGowan]

Why have the hardware and not use it now? How about so they can charge $9.99 for the next upgrade and make 10s of millions more when people update to get the "free" radio and N wi-fi. The nickel-diming and Alexander Hamilton-ing that Apple tends to do ticks me off... if you're going to put the hardware in, just turn it on when you sell it, Apple.

[happyslappy13]

ok i hope u all know u can upgrade ipod touches for free right... just find the firmware online after the release. duh lol

[soniclooking]

I like the FK U bg. Is it crypitc? Why would 802.11n be such a big deal? why would you need that much of a data rate? HD video maybe? Last i checked Iphone/Ipod doesn't play/stream HD video. If you have a 8mbs connection over wifi, it will still be the same data rate on b/g or n. The only reason to have 802.11n would be to push hd video to your Ipod/Iphone. G works for std video and music just fine. I think people get upset because the tech is there, and it's not being used. So it makes you upset that your ipod doesn't have the latest and greatest even though it wouldn't know what to do with it.

[soniclooking]

i left out that "The only reason to have 802.11n would be to push hd video to your Ipod/Iphone over your home network"

[zyxxy]

High speed playlist sync. Why settled for syncing your library at 54Mbps when you can sync at 300Mbps? Particularly when you have 32GB of space to fill?

Also, N is workable (at lower rates) for much longer distances than G. About double.