Cupertino limiting functionality for new iPod touch buyers

Oct 10, 2012 18:31 GMT  ·  By

A rather annoying decision on behalf of Apple Inc., the EarPods shipping with new-generation iPods are lacking hardware that would otherwise make the players more useful in certain circumstances.

In our own (admittedly unscientific) tests, the EarPods sound great – especially if you like deep, rich bass in favor of treble. Having dug them out of an iPhone 5 box, we also noticed improvements to the remote buttons on the cable.

Sadly, these buttons are nowhere to be found on the EarPods that ship with the iPod touch and the iPod nano, according to Macotakara.

The Japanese blog has been one of the first to get their mitts on Apple’s new iPod touch and iPod nano this year. As promised by Tim Cook and his troops, the players ship with Apple’s scientifically-engineered EarPods. But as a separate version designed for iPods.

While we understand this decision for the nano, it would have been appropriate on behalf of Apple to throw in the enhanced version of the EarPods with the iPod touch. And here’s why.

The fifth-generation iPod touch is everything that the iPhone 5 is, excepting the phone functionality. As a result of that, it doesn’t pack as much hardware, which allowed Apple to make it thin and sleek.

But it’s still capable of making calls, thanks to a flurry of VoIP applications downloadable from the App Store, including the all-too-familiar Skype.

To call someone from your iPod touch through Skype, you need a mic. Which is where the “complete” version of the EarPods would have conveniently come into play. No such luck, though.

The hardware could also be put to good use with Siri. The utility can be activated by a simple long press of the remote button on the EarPods' cable. As Apple fans should already know, iOS 6 puts the voice-powered assistant on several new iDevices this year, including the new iPod touch and the third-generation iPad.

These two features alone (and you can bet there are a lot more) should have been enough for Apple to include the full version of the EarPods with the new iTouch.

Luckily (for Apple), those who insist on leveraging this functionality with their iPod touches can buy the iPhone version of the EarPods from the company's stores for $29.99/€23.

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