I am very lucky to own a 32gb iPod touch 4g, but until recently I had a 2g iPod. I had my 2g iPod for about a year and a half in which time it felt like it became almost obsolete - more and more games were coming out that I couldn't play. Makes me wonder whether my 4g iPod touch will be similarly obsolete given another year or two. I really feel Apple are moving too fast on this. A device that is only a year or two old shouldn't become obsolete so fast. Surely it would be better for the ios platform if ios devices had a longer life cycle, more like consoles, so that developers can really learn how to get the most out of them. And surely it would only be better for us as consumers not to feel pressured to buy new devices every year or so, something that most of us just cannot do.
I agree with u completely. I have an itouch 3rd gen and in a couple of years when the itouch 5 comes out, the 3rd gens will be left in the dust to rot like the 2nd gens r right now...
A couple of years??? That 5th generation comes out in a little over 5 months from today. Lol the retina display on the 4th generation already leaves the 3rd in the dust.
These upgrades and steps forward are the way that Apple holds the price point. Also if they didn't keep these upgrades coming they would seriously fall behind other hand held devices.
Ya but what he's trying to say is that not everyone can keep on buyin the latest idevices every year but I do realize that Apple does this to keep up with other companies and to gain more money.
Which should be the goal of every company. There's really nothing we can do about it. Spend the money and get the latest tech or save for another year and have a possibly outdated device.
I find that a new one every two generations or so works pretty good, although buying one every year would get really expensive.
iDevices hold their resale value pretty well though. If you sell your 'old' one when the new one comes out, or just before, you should get most of the money. Then the cost to upgrade to the new one is only $20-$30? With iPhones this is actually better, since you can sell them off contract, bumping the price up. I've upgraded to a new iPhone every year, and make money doing it. I sell my old one off contract for more than I buy a new one on contract. Works out well
When you buy an iPhone or iPod Touch you should be doing so with the understanding that it's only going to last 2 to 3 years. The second generation line of products are sort of a unique case since they contain the same hardware as the first but as a rule you should get about 2.5 years of support from Apple which isn't bad at all. If they didn't do this iOS would lose all credibility as a viable platform while the competitors specs continued to improve. I say if anything it's moving too slow, basic features aren't getting added fast enough to iOS and the lack of a larger screens combined with the lack of a storage bump in 4 years might be reasons they're starting to lose ground to Android.
I tend to buy new devices when they are majorly upgraded. For example I bought the original iPhone, skipped the 3G and 3GS because they were more or less the same phone with some extra power. Then I bought the iPhone 4 because it was quite a big upgrade from the 3GS, with the new design, 4X the amount of pixels, front facing camera etc. And I won't buy the iPhone 5 or 6, I'll buy the 7th or the 8th instead. I don't think Apple will change the screen again for a while, and my iPhone 4 feels plenty fast enough to run the majority (if not all) of the latest apps for another couple of years.
Technology is fast moving. Don't say you wish your ipod2 would last for more than 2, 3 years. That's against the rules.
Same story here. Was tempting to get the 3GS after my 1st gen iPhone started to have some problems (silent switch broke, power button not always working) but hung on until iPhone 4 was available and I got one of the first official batch in HK. Made it all the more enjoyable with the wide range of improvements. I feel like I got the most bang for my buck with this kind of purchase strategy. Zincous' suggestion of selling off your old hardware to subsidize your new purchases is another good method. Buying each and every new released model is an expensive hobby. Surely your gaming requirements aren't that bleeding-edge, are they?
Technology can never move too fast, it's your own desire to stay up to date that moves too fast. App developers are usually pretty good at accomodating older models for as long as possible so the 1-2 year life span can essentially turn into a 3-4 year life span bar a few gaming exceptions. All you need to do is chillax! Just let a few of them go and enjoy what you've got. You'll get the chance to experience it all later when you decide it's time to upgrade, then you ride the wave for a while, enjoy the cutting edge and eventually repeat the whole process over again.
Yes it is. The home PC went through the same phase 10 years ago. My 2 year old unibody Macbook Pro still feels new, but after hearing rumors about the iphone5, my iphone4 is starting to feel old. Got the iphone 3gs on release day, got the iphone4 on release day (luckily) because the 3gs felt outdated as soon as the 4 was announced. *****This is really not idevice tech moving too fast. The fault lies with the progression of mobile gaming. That is what makes your device feel old. Consoles last 5-6 years while "proper" PC gaming requires bi-yearly GPU upgrades. Same with the iphone/ipod touch. Developers will keep trying to exploit the maximum potential of the newest CPU/GPU in an iOS device for competitive reasons. Personally, the faster the better. At the rate it's currently progressing, we might have full-blown, 3d-pico projection, laser keyboard, desktop experiences from a watch within a few years.
Apple iOS technology is really great. Look at the iPad 2 which is best-selling right now. Apple is always trying to lead the trends. I like its products.
Apple has been holding on to it's tech for years. It would have been no problem for them to have cameras on the 2nd, or even 1st gen itouch, but apple held back to get the most bang for the buck. It's all marketing. Now though, with Android and other competitors, try have to make sure that try to stay on top of the mobile tech, since they don't want to lose customers. Apple, and other companies as well, also have to make sure that their products are affordable, since better specs and such don't come cheaply.
I agree that as a mobile gamiming platform it moves very fast. But I got my 1g iPod Touch for the fact it was an iPod, I had no idea it was going to have games on it. Afterall it is called an iPod as it is meant for playing music - so actually, since the 1g it's gone no further in terms of technology. (apart from a speaker!)
