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Comment by mythz | Hacker News Reader

Sweet glad to finally see iPod Touch getting some modern love, just wished they came with bigger screens.

Does Android have a comparable device? i.e. Internet/Music sans-phone in your pocket that's great at capturing quality vids/pics?

Edit:

The Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 looks close: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/samsung-galaxy-camera-2

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I'm sure the Android ecosystem has many equivalents, but they'll never be very high profile. The cellular hardware inside phones doesn't add too much to the cost, so customers are better off just buying a phone and not putting in a SIM card.

I'm pretty sure Apple sells the $200 model of the Touch at a bit of a loss, which they can do because people who buy and iPod Touch rather than an iPhone will probably buy a lot of music, and most of them will buy it through Apple (or subscribe to Apple Music).

The only other smartphone makers that have significant music services are Amazon and Google. A non-phone phone doesn't really make sense in the Nexus line, which is meant to be a demonstration of the core "Android experience". In Amazon's Fire lineup, it doesn't really make sense because it's too similar to their existing products. Actually you could argue that the Kindle Fire is the equivalent to the iPod Touch in Android world.

I very much doubt Apple sells anything at a loss. It's really not their style. Their margins are the envy of the entire industry, and Apple takes home 90% of cell phone profits[0]

The fact that they can create a phone/device with "inferior" tech and sell it at blockbuster margins proves to me that most people aren't interested in specs, but rather the whole experience and ecosystem. This is something Apple understands well and invests heavily in experience.

[0] http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/09/dominant-apple-takes-90-of-sm...

I'm not meaning to sound like a jerk, but comparable Android devices would be actual phones, with sd card slots. Pick one with a camera you like, turn off data/phone, and you can get whatever storage you want for a pittance.

Alright, then do you have examples? Because I don't believe there are many that would be decently powered (comparable to A8), with SD card slots at that price point.

I don't know where you are, but here LG G3, Motorola X2, Sony Xperia Z3 Compact all cost about the same as an iPod Touch, and I'd say all of those are fairly high-end.

I remember looking for a Touch-style Android device a few years ago, and they kind-of existed then. They don't exist now. I think the big reason is that there's nothing like iTunes in the Android universe where you can have a robust desktop app with your own audio files. The non-networked style still has a place for runners, which is why its so nice to have the M8 in the Touch.

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