Article by Ben T Wilson
First impressions
You cannot help but experience a strong sense of anticipation when you first pick up an iPod touch. You know that this thin and light hand-held device can give you hour after hour of varied entertainment. What?s more, it can do this with Multi-Touch controls that look as though they?re going to be a pleasure to use.
Features
Apple has designed the iPod Touch as a mobile entertainment centre that incorporates as many up-to-the-minute features as it can possibly squeeze into a unit that?s just 110 mm (4.3 inches) high, 61.8 mm (2.4 inches) wide, and 8.5 mm (0.33 inch) deep. All that?s missing is a phone and a camera (for these extras, see the iPhone).
Consequently, you get a lot for your money with the iPod touch. To begin with, everything you expect from a modern iPod is here. There?s Genius, the feature that acts as your personal DJ by providing playlists based on your favourite songs; the accelerometer, which allows you to tilt and shake the iPod touch to control games; and support for Nike+ iPod, allowing you to monitor your running and workouts when you put a Nike+ iPod sensor in one of your trainers.
With the iPod touch, there are also plenty of bonuses. You have the best available iPod screen, in portrait and landscape format, for viewing menus, videos, films, TV shows, and photos; you have 3D graphics and 3D positional sound for games and applications; and you have the benefit of an extremely useful on-screen keyboard.
To top off these features, there?s Wi-Fi wireless capability and all that this can offer. You can surf the web with Apple?s Safari browser, for example, and send and receive email. Once you connect to a wireless network, you can even buy your latest iPod content from the App Store and the iTunes Music Store. You can also use the shortcut icons on your iPod touch to check the weather, or view the latest YouTube online videos.
Technology
The three iPod touch models have 8GB, 16GB or 32GB flash drives. These capacities allow each touch to contain up to 1,750, 3,500 or 7,000 songs respectively in 128Kbps AAC format. Such figures assume average song duration of four minutes.
Video storage comes in at around 10, 20 and 40 hours. This is an average based on H.264 1.5Mbps video at 640 x 480 pixel resolution combined with 128Kbps audio. Even on an 8GB touch, you can comfortably fit five standard length films.
As with the iPod nano and classic, one further use of the storage on the iPod touch is to hold digital photos. In fact, the touch is the best of the iPods for displaying your photos thanks to its three and a half inch screen with 480 x 320 resolution. Capacity is 10,000, 20,000 or 25,000 ?iPod viewable? pictures transferred from iTunes.
The built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) wireless connection of the iPod touch picks up available wireless networks at home, work, and hotspots around the globe. It works in the same way as a laptop?s wireless feature, and requires passwords where necessary. Supporting the iPod touch?s Wi-Fi is Apple?s upgraded 2.1 software. The technology includes a map location-based service that uses local Wi-Fi networks to establish your location.
Finally, to use your iPod touch with a computer, you need a Mac with a USB 2.0 port; Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later; and iTunes 8.0 or later. PC users require a USB 2.0 port; Windows Vista, or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later; and iTunes 8.0 or later.
Performance
It?s hard to fault the performance of the iPod touch. Certainly, the internal speaker doesn?t match the sound quality you experience over the earphones or an attached external audio system; but realistically, would you expect it to? Instead, if you think of the internal speaker as a handy feature for games, and for previews of music and podcasts, you can appreciate the purpose and benefit of it.
Also, tests show that getting six hours of video playback on a full battery charge, as claimed by Apple, may be optimistic. Nonetheless, you?re likely to achieve more than 40 hours of audio playback (rather than the official 36) without needing to boost the battery.
Internal speaker quality and video playback time are minor niggles, however. The overall performance of the iPod touch is superb, particularly as Apple has answered some of the problems raised by owners of the first generation model.
First generation software, for example, is often tortoise-like in syncing, and downloading applications using Wi-Fi. The updates Apple has introduced for the second generation software provide much faster response times and compare extremely well.
Other second generation iPod touch improvements further enhance performance and ease of use. The new controls on the left-hand edge allow you to adjust volume without pulling the iPod touch from your bag or pocket and using the Multi-Touch screen. There are additional features such as a choice of alarm sounds the same as the iPhone?s ringtones. You also have larger icons and text on the Podcast and Video screens, plus better details attached to each podcast episode. Finally, the Music screen provides more information about your songs.
Of course, anyone familiar with Apple?s development of iPods expects modifications with a new generation model. Of all these adjustments, what may cause surprise is the different tint Apple has given the Multi-Touch screen. It is definitely yellower than the first generation model. Frankly, though, the only people likely to notice this are those who update from the first to second generation. Even then, the change in screen tone doesn?t affect enjoyment of the games, films, TV shows, and videos you can broadcast (although do remember to clean your finger marks off the screen with the enclosed polishing cloth before settling down to watch something).
Conclusions
The touch has everything that makes an iPod desirable to own plus a fun-to-use screen and the advantages of Wi-Fi connectivity.
<u>Pros</u>
Multi-Touch, three and a half inch screenWeb browsing Ability to send/receive emailsInternal speakerUseful volume controlsGood battery life
<u>Cons</u>
Video playback may not reach six hoursInternal speaker will not suit audiophiles
Ben T Wilson writes about Apple products.
