iPod Touch Processor

The iPod touch's processor keeps track of where you put your fingers and where they move once you've placed them on the screen. You can slide your fingers from place to place, or you can make pinching or spreading motions to zoom in and out. The iPod touch matches what your fingers are doing with what's happening on the screen:

  • The iPod touch determines the shape, size and location of your finger -- or fingers -- on the screen.
  • The device uses gesture software in its memory to classify your touch. It takes into account whether your fingers move and what your iPod is doing at the time.
  • The processor sends instructions to the iPod touch's display, software and hardware based on the data your fingers create.

touch process
Figuring out your touch input requires the cooperation of the iPod touch's processor, operating system, hardware and software.
Here's an example. If you're using the Safari Web browser and you want to type in a URL, you touch the URL field in the browser. The capacitive layer detects your touch on the screen, and the processor and gesture software cross-reference the touch data with the application in use. The processor relays a message to the iPod touch's screen, telling it to display an image of a keyboard. The screen then detects the location of each virtual key you touch, and the screen displays the corresponding letter in the URL field. Each time you touch the screen, the process of determining what you're touching and why happens in the background, almost instantaneously.

System Requirements
You can synch an iPod touch with your computer using a USB cable. In addition to a USB 2.0 port and iTunes 7.4 or later, here's what you need to do this:
  • Mac: Mac OS X v. 10.4.10 or later
  • PC: Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later

[source: Apple]
The gestures themselves are fairly intuitive. To turn the iPod touch on, you press the home or sleep/wake button, then move your finger across slider that appears on screen. To press on-screen buttons, you simply touch them. You can scroll through lists of files by sweeping your finger up and down the screen. If you turn the iPod touch horizontally, you can browse music through CoverFlow, an animated display of your music's cover art. As with the iPhone, you can zoom in to pictures and Web pages by pinching your fingers together, and you can zoom out by spreading them apart.

The jury's still out on whether the iPod touch will be as popular as other iPod models. Critics point out that for a little more money people can buy an iPhone, which has more features and slightly longer battery life. Others contend that the iPod classic will continue to be a top seller, since it holds vastly more music and movies than an iPod touch can.

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