Apple redesigns iPod touch, updates iPod nano

Apple on Wednesday gave an overhaul to its iPod portable music players.

At a media event in San Francisco, Apple debuted the new iPod touch featuring a larger 4-inch Retina display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, the same display used in the latest iPhone 5 smart phone, reported Xinhua.

The new iPod touch is 6.1 mm thick and weighs 88 grams. With Apple's dual-core A5 chip, the device can deliver up to twice the processing power and up to seven times faster graphics than the previous generation of Pod touch.

Apple's intelligent assistant Siri also comes to the new music player.

Like the new iPhone 5, the camera of the new iPod touch also supports panorama feature that enables users to capture panoramic images by simply moving the camera across a scene.

Its battery is up to 40 hours of music playback and up to eight hours of video playback.

Unlike the previous generation, the new iPod touch comes in five colours and a colour-matched wrist strap that makes it more convenient for users to take photos and play games.

Apple also introduced a new earphone called "EarPods" for its mobile products, which the company said it spent three years to design.

The new earphone features sound ports built into the stem and the sides.

According to the company, users can hear deep and richer bass tones through EarPods and they rival high-end headphones that cost hundreds of dollars.

EarPods will ship with iPod touch and iPhone 5, and is $29 in retail price.

The iPod nano, Apple's cheaper line of portable music players, also got a hardware update. It features a 2.5-inch multi-touch display, the largest display ever built into an iPod nano, and is the thinnest iPod ever at 5mm thick. Bluetooth for wireless listening is also brought to the new iPod nano.

Both iPod touch and iPod nano come with the new Lightning connector like iPhone 5.

Pre-orders for the new iPod touch start Friday with the price starting at $299 for the 32 GB model. It will be shipped in October. The iPod nano will be available in October at $169 for the 16 GB model.

Apple Wednesday also introduced a new version of iTunes software used for organising digital music and video content on computers, featuring a completely redesigned player, a new look for Apple's on-line music, apps and movie stores and seamless integration with Apple iCloud cloud storage service. The new iTunes will come next month.