“Within the next two weeks Apple will announce an updated iPod mini with a color screen and higher capacity hard drive, Think Secret has learned. Highly reliable sources have confirmed that the next iPod mini will gain a full-color active-matrix TFT screen while the form factor will remain largely unchanged. The color screen will be able to display colors clearly and brightly regardless of ambient lighting, even outdoors in direct sunlight. The new screen will be about the same size as the current iPod mini display and will sport a 176×132 resolution,” Ryan Katz reports for ThinkSecret.
“The next iPod mini will also pack a higher capacity Seagate drive. Sources hinted at a 6GB drive, but Seagate currently only offers its 1-inch hard drive the iPod mini would use in a 5GB capacity. The possibility always remains that for a customer as large as Apple, Seagate may quietly roll-out a 6GB version of its ST1 Series hard drive alongside the new iPod mini,” Katz reports. “Pricing on the new iPod mini will remain the same at $249. Expect the new iPod mini to be announced early next week, if not the following week at the latest.”
Full article with more details here.
MacDailyNews Take: If true, this will be another strong winner from Apple.
I think more important thant the increased har drive is a battery life increase, its the only major downside of the iPod mini.
Apart from that, BRING IT ON!
No wonder Pepsi’s giving all the current ones away. Apple pulled off one of the best inventory reduction deals ever!
What about new colors?
I’m waiting for Thurrott to point out that another company has already done this, therefore, Apple is a total rip-off…
Battery life on the mini-photo?
(as you can tell.. i’m not climaxing over this rumor)
OLED OLED OLED!
That would be way cool…
I like the iPod mini a lot but I think there should be a market for iPod Monsta!! Imagine a honking iPod the size of shoebox for the honking SUV drivers. The iPod Monsta will have a 13in screen display, chrome click wheel with a lot of bling bling!! Yeah, also a SUV cell phone for the stupid, low IQ and EQ SUV drivers with ” the bigger the better (including their super sized butts)” mentality. The SUV phone should have 3 ft antenna, 8in color display, two external speakers, chrome bush buttons ( can’t live out that bling bling factor) and minimum size of the SUV phone should be no smaller than a size 12 shoes!!! America is about choices, right? Not necessary intelligent choice, but just pure choice right?
sucks a little
I just hope they will have enough inventory to go around. My daughter is bugging me, she wants my iPod mini. So I’m ready to buy.
The rumor mill is churning.
Hmmm… Color screen?
No thanks.
I’d rather Apple introduce a truly innovative and unique feature: a Sepia screen
Boo-yah.
“I’d rather Apple introduce a truly innovative and unique feature: a Sepia screen.”
Leave your iPod out in direct sun for 18-24 hours and that should turn the display a good shade of brown. Voila…Sepia.
I think the new mini should have a vibration feature.
And be easy to clean.
Wait a minute. The mini gets a color screen but regular iPods stay monotone? Doesn’t make sense.
do you seriously believe these rumors? Think about how unpractical it would be to upgrade the mini to a color screen. No one wants to look at photos on that tiny screen and it would just be a waste of battery life. think about how much thicker the ipod photo is than the regular ipod. making a photo mini would be a waste of an engineer’s time. there is no market for such a device. only improvements to the mini would be capacity and battery life increase. anything else is just a waste.
All them players in landfills and dusty drawers brought color screen prices down, eh? Cool!
The screen on a color ipod is very clear and bright.
This is definitely a good idea for Apple. The iPod Photos haven’t taken very well, probably due to cost so integrating the color screen in all the models makes a lot of sense.
It could be something to make me buy a new ipod this year. My 3G 15 GB is out of space, so a 40 gigger sounds appealing. Throw in a color screen and AV capabilities for 300-400 bucks and I would be interesting in upgrading. The current models are not worth it at this moment.
interestingly, here in New Zealand resellers are now selling the iPod mini with a $50 reduction (about $30US). Deal runs out on the 27th of Feb..
?inventory reduction anyone…
kiwimac, I’ve heard they’re doing the same in Australia (AU$50 reduction)
They usually do this when new products are imminent.
Display colors clearly and brightly even outdoors in direct sunlight?
Can you put that in a laptop?
First off, long time reader, but this is my first post.
I think the color addition to the mini line IS logical.
Look at the click wheel. It debuted with the mini before the iPod.
If the 5G has a radio (along w/ better batt life, color screen, and maybe a better amp) I would be happy!
-PwrMac
I mean really. Just because the rumor mentions a color mini, doesn’t mean there couldn’t also be a color screen in a full-sized. Step 1: Remove head from ass. Step 2: There is no step 2.
AppleInsider has a more complete take on this one:
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=893
I for one, love my iPod Photo’s screen and am ready to plunk down $ for a color mini as a gift – especially at the same price. I was showing the same photos on its 2 inch screen and my phones 4 inch screen, Apple’s smaller screen looked better! As for am/fm, Think Secret would have “seen” features this big so I don’t expect it here. I just hope the mini iTrip fits the new design.
As for the iPod product line, they should kill the Photo edition, make all screen models color, and bring in featured editions when they can really do justice to the name.
My take on this would be yes on the color screen. But since its just a mini, they’ll remove the photo viewing feature. So you get to see the text and game in color, that’s all. You won’t even get to see the album art for the song being played. This ought to save on processing power and battery life.
The regular ipod will get the color upgrade for their next revision, and that hopefully will be inclusive of bluetooth.
How about transparent/translucent ipod mini?
There’s no way anyone here can ‘predict’ what’s gonna be on the new mini.. a color screen makes no sense.. because they’re already pitching the iPod photo.. which isn’t really selling like hotcakes (duh..its about 600 bucks)..
Don’t expect Apple to blindly follow others to colour, without an iPhoto port..
Unless I’m wrong and viewing Photos on a 2 inch screen is a life-altering convenience..
mike,
The iPod Photo has AV out. The screen is just to preview the photos. Duh. Same will go for the mini.