Apple iPod touch 32 GB (3rd Generation) NEWEST MODEL Review.
"WARNNING for new 8GB 3G owners and ipod touch 3G Review" 2009-09-11
By Hassan B. Bn Hadhram
Before i start let me just tell you "what's New" with the iPod touch Third generation" :
-Faster Cpu/Double the ram/Better graphic (faster Boot time/faster loading is all what i did notice)
-Double the storage for the same old price
-Voice control (I'll explain it in a second)
-Latest firmware for free
-New Earbuds with built in remote+Microphone (So you can use voice control)
And that is everything~ depends on your needs upgrading from 2G to 3G might be not worth it.
*Important Note* : only the New iPod touch 32GB/64GB are third generation ~ (8GB is repacked 2G) Details below.
About the new Voice control function, if you love to take your iPod with you to the Gym the new feature "Voice control" is pretty cool, it does allow you to control your music via your voice, no need to get the iPod out of your pocket you can simply say "Next" to move to next song, say "shuffle" for shuffle , say "Pause" and music playback will stop etc, that is why i recommend the iPod touch over iPod classic for gym users, my friend bought an iPod classic and now he complains that the iPod classic is too heavy for him when he goes to the gym and he will have to buy another iPod "properly Nano" for his Gym, for me i use my iPod touch for the gym, it's so light that sometimes i forgot that it's even in my pocket.
After playing with my iPod touch 3g for a while i honestly did not notice any difference from the outside or the inside compared to my old iPod touch Second generation (It's supposed to be faster but i did not notice anything during music and video playback or the menus, however browsing with safari and loading facebook was faster, same thing with boot time), you properly can only notice it being faster with heavy applications since video/music playback is already fast enough with 2G.
I got the 64GB iPod 3G for [...]$, if you think of upgrading your 2G iPod touch honestly do yourself a favor and save yourself the money unless you really need that much of a storage (I do that is why i bought one), also remember that the 3G battery lasts less than 2G,(3G battery = 30 Hours of music playback versus 2G 36 hours of music playback according to apple official specs)
*VERY IMPORTANT* for the people who wants the new 8GB version, the new third generation 8GB iPod touch is NOT 3G it's a second generation iPod touch but apple did repack it/renamed it to 3rd generation, which seems to be misleading by APPLE and it's not cool at all, it is IPod Touch 2G+Updated firmware and that is it.
The iPod touch 3rd generation 32GB/64GB versions comes with a free mic+remote with the earbuds while the 8GB do not (it comes with normal earbuds), the 32GB/64GB have the New CPU+Graphic (According to apple the new cpu is twice as fast just like the iPhone 3GS) while the new 8GB use the same old CPU/Chip from the old iPod touch second generation.
Here is APPLE description on the iPod touches page about the 32/64GB versions : """Enjoy all the great features of the 8GB model along with better performance, richer graphics and voice control"""
The iPod touch 3rd generation is the same awesome iPod touch second generation was.
You can play your music/watch your videos/play games, even read your kindle books/etc "you can read amazon big description of what it's capable of if you do not know yet, it's better than what would i say because it has pictures and everything.
The iPod touch got the best browser i have ever seen in a portable device, i do not even need to carry my netbook with me anymore thanks to my iPod touch, if you hated browsing with lame browsers that crash a lot or slow (many mobile phones) trust me on this one, the iPod touch browser is not a toy or a gimmick it is a browser you can depends on, it's super fast and smooth and after using it for like a full year it has only crashed on me once!
Short list of pros and cons about the iPod touch
Pros:
-Slick,small and light device
-Great touch screen
-The BEST web browser on a portable device
-Amazing video/music playback
-App Store (Too many cool applications for Free)
-Display screen is clear and bright
-No bugs and annoying stuff a very reliable hardware
-64GB Flash based mp3 player
Cons:
-Not much of an upgrade over 2G (people were disappointed because they did not get upgrades like camera/OLED/etc)
-Weaker battery, only lasts 30 hours for music playback versus 2G iPod touch 36 Hours music playback
-Expensive for the 64GB version
-Still no FM radio without the use of online applications
-Bluetooth is still half locked
Update : one more reason to avoid the 8GB ipod touch, Apple announced today "April 09 2010" that iPhone 4.0 OS will be released this summer and it will bring many new features to the iphone and ipod touch, however some features like Multitasking will only be available for iphone 3GS and higher or Ipod touch third generation and higher (As i said before the 8GB is second Generation only, a third generation 8gb ipod touch do not exist! so you wont be getting multitasking if you buy the 8GB ipod touch),
I hope my review was helpful :)
"So Much **MORE** Than Just An MP3 Player!" 2009-09-30
By Alex Honda (Los Angeles, CA USA)
This is my first iPod and MP3 player. So far I've had the iPOD TOUCH (32-GIG/3RD GEN) for two-weeks and I'm loving it.
It's does so much more than just play music, which is why I wanted one. I'm not a Mac person at all but the iPod Touch...I love it.
Out of the box it found my Wi-Fi connection and had me surfing the net (the real Internet and not the cell phone web pages like the one on my Verizon phone). It was intuitive to use and I'm finally getting accustomed to using the touch screen to scroll and type away.
This review is mostly for other iPod newbies like myself. Here's what it comes with:
***The iPod Touch- slick and smooth and very thin
***A USB Cable- this hooks your iPod to your computer to recharge the battery and to sync it with iTunes.
***Plastic Docking Thing- this is a small plastic part that allows you to dock the iPod to an external device (I'm not sure what).
***Head Phones with Microphone and external volume control.
***Teeny-tiny insert- with bare-bones info. You have to access the full manual, which is available for free download in PDF format, at the apple website.
My advice is to buy an external cover for the iPod--the 2nd Generation iPod Touch skins/cover fit the new 3rd Generation ones because the body is the same--and buy a screen protector so you keep the screen free from scratches and such. I already scratched the shiny back of my iPod just by placing it down on the table so be careful when you first get it if you don't have a cover for it.
As long as you have Wi-Fi (wireless Internet connection) in your house/apt you can get full use out of the iPod Touch. You can also access free Wi-Fi hotspots in stores, restaurants, and other areas, so you can get on the Internet and download applications (apps) etc., check your email, go on facebook, youtube, even Amazon has an app, that can be downloaded onto the iPod.
The iPod Touch is configured to automatically search for Wi-Fi networks, it looks for both either locked (need a password) or unlocked (no password) networks, and displays them in the settings for "Wi-Fi." You really don't have to know anything about Wi-Fi to get it started. You just pick one of them and it connects to it.
I've tried my iPod at some hotspots like a shopping center with a Starbucks and it found the Wi-Fi and connected but since a lot of people were using it, it took a while to connect.
You need the program iTunes, which is a free down-loadable program for Windows or Mac, and an iTunes account to purchase and download the apps (most are free but you still need an account to download them). If you've used iTunes before for buying song downloads or just to register then you already have a login account...if you haven't used iTunes before it's free to download and easy to install. Then you sign up for an account which is also free, unless you plan on purchasing songs or videos.
The pluses on the iPod Touch:
===== Applications (Apps) =====
The apps are a plenty on the iPod Touch and there's an app for everything (practically). They're arranged by category like games, news, productivity, etc., and are furthered displayed by best selling, top-free, and release date. You can also search by keyword or check out the most popular and featured apps.
Some apps are free and some cost a one time fee of between $.99-$4.99 and up. If you're a news junkie like me, you'll really love it. I've downloaded Time Magazine, NPR (radio and print stories), BBC READER, New York Times, USA Today, AP (Associated Press) and ABC News...all for free!
I really like that the BBC Reader will download their stories into the cache memory, once you connect via Wi-Fi so you can read the articles offline (when Wi-Fi is not available). NYT and AP will allow you to save articles that you can read offline as well. And the AP will deliver breaking news as long as you're connected... ALL FREE!!!
I've downloaded a dictionary, spell checker, facebook, Grimm's Fairytales and Alice In Wonderland books to read...all for FREE! I also got this free app called "Pandora" which is a radio station that will only play songs by artists that you want to hear. Too cool!
I know that I sound like a broken record with the "free" stuff but being a Verizon Wireless user, I'm sure other VZW customers feel me, I'm amazed that one can download and install quality, portable applications onto a device for no charge or subscription plan.
===== Other Fun Stuff =====
Calendar for appointments etc., contact phone book, clock, weather, calculator (you can download a free tip-calculator), notes and maps. These all come with the iPod Touch.
iTunes will keep the stuff (music, apps, videos) on your iPod, backed-up on your computer so you'll always have a copy of those things. And you can tell it which play-lists to sync so that you don't have to carry around your entire music/video library from your computer on the portable.
Anyway, I'm loving my iPod Touch and it was the perfect birthday gift to myself. It really is like having a mini-computer with you at all times. The only thing that's missing is a camera, but that's not a big deal at all. It's great for people who want an iPhone, but don't want AT&T's lousy service. I also love not having to pay a monthly subscription charge to Verizon for apps on my cell phone, now that I have the iPod Touch!
The only thing I would advise getting--in addition to the iPod--is the cover protector skin and screen protector mentioned earlier, and the Apple USB Power Adapter which will allow you to plug the USB cord into an electrical outlet (though it isn't necessary, it charges a lot faster than when it's charging from your computer).
Since this is my first iPod, I don't know how it stacks up against the previous versions. But this one is great and really addicting! So if you've been wondering if you should get one and you don't have an iPhone, have access to Wi-Fi, then I'd say...yes! The iPod Touch has so much to offer the user that you can find something to do with it even if you don't plan on using it as an MP3 player all that much.
*** A Note About iTunes ***
Even if you don't buy MP3s--I've only purchased about three from iTunes; the rest was from Amazon through credits from special purchases and iPod can play them--iTunes is really handy because it makes taking songs from CDs so easy by capturing them and turning them into MP3s. The program will even retrieve song and artist information for you so you don't have to label the file once you import it. From there you can make your own playlists and burn your own CDs from those playlists, not to mention carrying them on your iPod, so it's definitely worth it and really easy to use.
"Just Shy Of Perfection" 2009-09-15
By C. Franz (Zurich, ZH Switzerland)
This review could be summerd up in a short sentence: You are looking at the current killer appliance for personal entertainment. But I never, ever, do short reviews... So here's the long story. Grab a cup of coffee, as this review answers questions you never knew existed.
I have to admit that there have been few items that have captured and kept my enthusiasm for as long as the iPod Touch. Two years ago, I purchased the original Touch, last year I upgraded to the 32 GB, and now I have the 64GB version. Was the upgrade worth it? And what are the things yet to be imroved? Because even though the Touch is close to perfection, there are still many small things that can be improved.
Hardware
Physically, the new (64GB) Touch is identical to it's 2nd generation brethren. It's polished crome backplate is slightly curved, making it fit your palm perfectly. As before, the fact that it's made from polished chrome will guarantee that it attracts fingerprints and scratches almost magically. I'm no friend of any kind of protective covers, and my last (32GB) Touch had to live in my pocket with my keys, coins, and other stuff I threw in with it. After a year, the backplate did pick up a lot of scratches, and I expect that the 64GB to fare no better. Personally, I would have preferred a brushed finish for the backplate. This may have caused problems with the readability of the customized engraving that Apple applies to the Touch on the backplate for no additional charge (a nice 'touch' that becomes increasingly important as the Touch becomes more ubiquitious). This custom engraving you can only get if you order the Touch through Apple (it's also not available in the Apple Stores).
The front plate is made from one of the most impressive glass enhancements I've ever seen. After a year of heavy abuse, my old Touch's glass front has not a single scratch - not one. I don't know how Apple does it, but this is really impressive. Remember, I don't use any protective covers or films. The screen itself is brilliant, bright, and can easily be read outside, wich is a feat in itself. The Touch has an ambient light sensor, so it can dim the screen when the surroundings are darker.
This time around, the screen's color temperature has remained unchanged (the 2G shifted all colors from a blueish to a more golden tinge). Movie playback is simply astonishing. The image is crisp, and the on-screen controls natural. Again, there are niceties such as double-tapping the screen to change aspect ratio, or placing bookmarks etc. You still can't set a movie's contrast, but beyond that small issue, movie playback is perfect. Viewing movies on the Touch simply works great, but personally I think that the screen is too small to watch a full movie. Last week, I tried watching a TV episode while on a plane enroute to Hamburg (a 75 minute flight), but quickly decided against it, opting instead to play a game of 'Luxor'. Somehow I prefer a larger screen for consuming video, while I have no problems doing something interactive on it. Still, video plays great on the Touch.
Button and interface lay-out has remained the same from the last generation: volume controls on the left side, top holds the 'exit/on' button, buttom has dock and phones connectors, and the front holds the single home button. There is one thing that can be improved here: I would have preferred the audio connector to be on top (or either side), as the current configuration precludes the use of many applications (e.g. News- and eBook readers) when you want to place it upright -- for example in the Gym. Some apps do use the accelerometers and can be used positioning the Touch upside down, though.
The built-in speaker is unchanged from the last version. It's weak, tinny, mono, produces horrible sound, has no volume to speak of -- and yet it's one of the best additions to the Touch (the original didn't have it, the 2nd gen did). It simply makes casual gaming so much more fun. I don't care about the bad sound quality, I just love the fact that it's there.
The signatory white earphones that Apple sells with the Touch may look good, but I don't like them. In my ears they are too uncomfortable. Since I'm no audiophile, I can't comment on their audio quality other than that it's good enough for me. Anyway, I replaced them with my favorite non-Apple version. The hitch here is that Apple now delivers the 64 GB (and 32 GB) with earphones that sport a built-in mic and remote. And my head phones don't have that. While the remote is nothing much to write home about (the way it works is just too complex), the mic works well, and has just the right fidelity to pick out voice over the background noise. So, for now, I keep the white buds with me in case I want to use the IP-telephony capabilities.
Battery life appears to have been reduced somewhat from the 2nd gen - at least on paper. During the past few days the new 3rd gen Touch certainly performed as well as or even better than my 2nd gen - but then again, that one's battery is already one year old. One fact that I've become very fond of is the quick-charge ability, which works really well.
The built-in wireless connectivity is really nice, with astonishingly well executed integration. The touch does all it's wireless networking over WiFi and Bluetooth. WiFi works really well (especially here in Switzerland where Hotspots are particularely dense), and Bluetooth integration (which I tried on the 3rd gen for the first time) is flawless. WiFi reception (range) lags somewhat behind that of a Wintel laptop (no doubt due to the metal backplate) and is pretty much on par with that of a 15" Macbook Pro (which is also somewhat lacking in WiFi reception range). WiFi is still the 'g' variant though [interestingly enough, the built-in hardware does support 11n, but so far Apple has chosen not to activate it, presumably to conserve battery. This is interesting also from the fact that in the 2G Touch, Apple initially included Bluetooth capabilities, but only activated it with a later OS release. Perhaps the same can be expected for 11n]. Bluetooth now also works with headphones and BT-based car integration kits (works well in mine). I would have loved to try out BT-based printing from the Calender or Addressbook app, but hit a snag: it appears no Touch app supports printing...
Missing Hardware
There is some hardware that I expected, or whished that it was included in the Touch - especially as (some) of them are now present on other iPods:
No camera. I was somewhat ambivalent about this. No camera means no pictures and/or movies. But it also means that I can keep handling it rough, as I do not have to worry abou the lens. Also, I don't have to worry about taking it to the Gym (my Gym has very strict rules towards camera-equipped items). All things being equal, the addition of a camera (still and/or video) would have been nice, but I don't miss it much (truth be told, I yet have to use the camera on my mobile phone).
Unfortunately, there is also no built-in mic. This is much a more significant omission than having no camera. The Touch is a first class audio voice recorder and (more importantly for me) a first class Skype client. There are third party solutions for this (a mini-micro that directly plugs into the headphone connector), but if the touch had a built-in mike, it would make using world-class applications like Shazam (and Skype) so much easier
Likewise, there is no compass, nor a GPS receiver present in the touch. I understand that these are left out to better differentiate the Touch from the iPhone, but I would have welcomed them in the top-of-the-line (64GB) version of the iPod.
And, finally, there is no radio receiver. I'm definitely not a radio man, as I next to never listen to it. Still, some people do (as the ton of nicely selling IP radio applications shows), and anyway, the Nano has it now - even with a nice Tivoesque pause feature! Why not the Touch? Strange design choice.
iPod & iTunes
The original iPod's strength was the sheer brilliant ease of use - and the touch-based interface represented a mile-stone in improving on that. To date there simply is no better multimedia interface than that of the Touch/iPhone. It's natural after just a few seconds. It's drop-dead beautiful, with muted highlights, and cleverly accentuated by small (if flashy) animations that convey the different metaphors of the interface (e.g. the rubber-banded bouncing when you reach the end of a playlist). Like no interface before you can instantly use it to accomplish even complex tasks with just the flick of a finger. Using it is sheer, unadulterated fun. The 'Coverflow' album browsing may be one of the least useful, but it's definitely the most natural (and fun) way to flip though you music. And it is jaw-droppingly well executed (note: when you use coverflow you should make sure that you have installed the all cover art from any music you did not purchase from the iTunes Store).
At the base of all iPod music playing is the Playlist, and using playlist on the Touch is a joy. The interface whileplaying is also mature, offering niceties such as displaying a song's lyrics on a single tap, along with singularily simple controls for repeat and shuffle play. Unfortunately, this playlist feature also still has one of the most glaring shortcomings: the Touch is unable to play playlist groups. I usually group a small bunch of songs into very short playlist (e.g. '10 best Springsteen'), and then mix these playlist into larger ones by simply dropping a playlist into a group. Although iTunes supports this, all versions of the Touch have stubbornly refused to do that.
Also somewhat strangely missing on the Touch is the ability to search for an Artist or music title. Considering the fact that more than 10'000 songs fit onto the device the need for an ability to search for something would seem obvious (note: the Touch *does* have a global search function, which will also turn up songs - along with contacts and mails that match your search phrase. Having to leave the iPod app simply to look for a song is against everything Apple's ease of use is about, and it's not what I would expect). And while we are at it, I'd love the ability to also search the lyrics, but that would be the icing on the cake.
What is present, and what continues to amaze me is a function that I initially dismissed as some way to sell song: Genius Playlists. What it does is that given a song it finds other songs you already possess that would play nicely together. Since I have lots of songs (else I wouldn't be purchasing the 64GB), this feature has helped me to get an incredible amount of additional joy out of my music. There are lots of gems hidden that mass of music I never knew I owned. Of course, if you want to, Genius will also recommend songs you don't have but can buy right now on iTunes. That, of course, is the 'sell song' angle. But at least it's incredibly well executed (and yes, I've used it)
The 64GB now also supports voice recognition - and I'm sure it's a marvel of technology. But (much like the auto-correction system for text) it mostly only works in English. If you have set your system to German, you must pronounce english band names as they would be read aloud by a german-only speaker. Do it once, and everyone in the room stares at you. You'll never do it again. Plus, due to the greater complexity of the german language (I am german speaking), the commands only work half the time. A nice idea, and a boon while driving or typing. But *only* when set to english.
Rounding out the audiovisual feature set is the Touch's photo presentation ability, really showcasing the touch-based gesture interface. It was the pinch and flick gesture that originally sold me on the Touch, and it still does today. On the Mac, iTunes ties into iPhoto's image management, greatly facilitating the task of sorting out which images to synch to your iPod (on windows, this task is slightly more pedestrian, as you'll have to manually manage the 'My Pictures' folder). A strange quirk, though, is that during synch iTunes seems to downsample your images to a (to me unknown, but definitely) smaller size. Since I'm a photo nut (shooting with DSLR) this 'feature' annoys me somewhat, as iTunes currently does not provide any means to control the downsampling of photos.
The success of the original iPod has left some competitors scratching their heads, while it is blindingly obvious to most users: the tight, seamless integration with iTunes. Now in version 9, iTunes has become somewhat complex and not always that intuitive to use. It now also tries to manage Photos and Movies as well as Music and Applications. But iTunes is still very easy to use, and synchronizing the iPod Touch with iTunes is quick and simple. A small disappointment is the fact that you still can't synchronize your Touch wirelessly, and that it still refuses to mount as an external disk. Another disappointment is that although iTunes now allows you to share your music over the net with multiple Macs, it can't stream your Music to the Touch (A small, brilliant app from the AppStore can do this for you, though).
And while we are speaking of iTunes - there is one feature that I'd love to have on the Touch: the visualizer. iTunes' visualizer is really beautiful, and I would have loved the same functionality on my Touch.
Internet
While by itself the iPod Touch is an impressive and fun device, it comes into real swing when connected to the internet. The always-on nature and graceful handling of connection drops make the Touch one of the best internet devices I've used to day. The included Safari internet browser performs great - unless you try to load Flash-based content, which is not supported. The email client works great for receiving and viewing mail. Writing anything but the shortest of email is annoying, as the Touch is simply too small for comfortably entering any significant amount of text. Calendar and Address Book are well executed (even if entering a new date and merging multiple calenders is slightly more convoluted than necessary). Mail, Calendar and Addressbook can (if you have that service available) synch live to either mobile me (which Apple loves to sell you) or Exchange (which your employer loves to force on you) through a feature that is very similar to 'push' notification. In the past, using Exchange has been somewhat spotty, and mobile Me has had it's own share of problems. All in all, though both work nice, and exceedingly quick. You do need to be in range of a hotspot for this to function, though. Somewhat disappointing is the fact that notes are not synched. Another nice addition is 'Voice Memos' which is an audio recorder. Had the Touch an internal mic, this app would have been even better...
Applications
Next to the 'productivity' or 'PDA' suite (Mail, Calendar, Contacts) the touch comes with some other nice (but somewhat dull) apps (e.g. Maps, Stocks, YouTube) and two killer Apps: iTunes and App Store. While the former gives you instant access to all songs and movies that are currently available on iTunes (Warning: that, plus the incredible 'Shazam' can lead to unintented gross music spending), the latter (App Store) gives you equal instant access to an incredible number of applications that you can instantly download and use. The quality of applications on the App Store is quite uneven, and tends to cluster around some rather puerile topics (as a veritable, uh, heap, of Fart applications proves). That being said, there are a number of jaw-droppingly good applications that are able to utilize the touch interface (and other capabilities such as accelerometer) in new and surprising ways. Just to name a few are the aforementioned 'Shazam' that can identify a song being played and instantly link to iTunes (you have to see it in action to believe it), Flight Control, where you manage an airport by drawing the flight path for each plane, Bloomberg that provides stock information in an exhaustive way, and Wemlin that shows an up-to-date timetable for when the next tram arrives at my station. No matter what, there probably is an application that supports you with it.
And then there are games. Apple had quickly recognized that the Touch represents an immensely attractive and powerful game platform. Performance, screen, connectivity and control capabilities make it the ideal casual gaming platform. Accordingly, games represent by far the largest category in the App store. While inevitably there are some truly awfully executed, or simply dull games, the majority of the available games are at least somewhat entertaining, while some rival and exceed those that can be had for thrice the price on dedicated gaming platforms.
In the past, my Touch quickly filled up with app after app that I simply couldn't live without any more, and an unforseen limitation of the Touch's design surfaced: app management. Applications are arranged as icons on a 4x4 grid per page, with multiple pages that you can flick left and right to navigate. Unfortunately, re-arranging apps, although possible (and quite ingeniously implemented) is still a chore. Apple has done the right thing, and integrated a much nicer app manager into the (PC/Mac) iTunes application.
Speed Improvement
The iPod Touch, although seen by some as the 'iPhone's smaller sibling' was always either as nible as the phone, or even faster. The new, 3rd gen Touch is said to be 'up to 50% faster' than the previous generation. To be honest, I'm not sure that I see that speed improvent translate to much performance increase. That may be due to the fact that my Touch seldom maxes out on processor throughput or (for example when browsing) that WiFi bandwidth is the limiting factor. Some apps appear to be 'snappier' during start-up (smaller apps) or execution (games, mostly), but all in all, the Touch pretty much seems to be as fast as the last generation. This leads me to believe that the real bottleneck is it's internal execution memory (i.e. not the 64 GB storage, but processor memory), and ony applications that are specifically written to take advantage of new technology (e.g. OpenGL ES). Or in other words: the overall speed has not been improved that much.
SDK
So you want to be a geek? Already are? You can write your own applications for the Touch if you like. I've taken the plunge and downloaded the SDK. Note that you can download the SDK and develop for the Touch/iPhone without actually owning one. The development system comes with a iPhone simulator that you can use to test your applications without downloading them unto an actual device (it does have some limitations: for example, the accelerometers are not simulated, and you have no indication of the true execution speed). Well, you do need a Mac for this (although it can be a few years old). The SDK is impressive - overwhelming even if you are not used to Mac programming (and almost prohibitively complex if you are not used to frameworks like Cocoa and object-oriented programming). Still, crunching out your first (very basic) appliction is surprisingly easy, and if you roll that way, you'll get addicted quickly.
Summary:
It's the killer personal entertainment device. Buy it. You know you want it -- especially if you have read this far. If you have the 2nd gen iPod, you may need to ask yourself if the slight speed bump and the additional storage is worth the hefty price tag. To me it was, but your mileage may vary.
pros
+ world class touch/gesture interface
+ best iPod audiovisual experience around (music, video, photos)
+ killer feature: app store and application availability
+ killer feature: internet integration (browsing and push technology)
+ great movie playback
+ really good casual gaming device
+ slightly improved speed (allegedly, only for some games)
+ great integration with mobile me (calender, mail sync) or Exchange
+ really good SDK if you are geeky enough to roll your own apps
cons
- no built-in mic (headphones do have them)
- polished chrome backplate (I would have preferred a brushed finish)
- no gps, camera, compass
- no radio (nano has it?)
- no sync of notes, no wireless sync of music/movies
- spotty voice recognition in languages other than english
- no control over downsampling of photos
- no search function for music inside the iPod app
- no visualizer
"64GB: even more Touch to love!" 2009-09-20
By Alan E. Moore (Sanford, FL)
I bought a 64GB Touch direct from apple on the day it came out -- I find it often takes longer to get newly released stuff from Amazon. I replaced my 32GB 2nd generation -- and to tell the truth, the extra 32GB is the main difference I notice. Now I can fit all of my music and video/tv shows and apps besides with room to spare, I love it!
A little about me, I'm a diehard mp3 player fan so I have owned a broad variety of iPods and iPod alternatives: Archos 604/605/5, iRiver Clix2, Sony Walkman X, iPod Classic/Nano/Touch 1,2,3,4,5, Creative Zen/X-Fi, Cowan U2, Samsung P2 etc. I will be comparing the iPod Touch 3rd Generation to all of these other players.
Let me just say that I'm not rating the quality of the update, but rather the unit as a whole. Admittedly, this is a pretty weak update especially if you were hoping for GPS or a camera. I am a little envious that the Nano gets a camera and the Touch doesn't, what's that all about? But ultimately, this is not a video camera for me (I have a Flip for that!) so I really don't care. I am rating the whole package as an MP3 and video player. I am considering how the Touch compares to competing products.
One other comment -- as to sound quality, I can't say that is either pro or con. If you want really good sound go get yourself a Sony Walkman! However, I find the sound (through my UE11 Pros) to be respectable, especially if you tweak the sound settings to your tastes. Neither remarkably good nor remarkably bad so I don't list SQ on either pro or con list.
Lets get to it then, what I loved about my Touch:
1) Beauty -- just raw esthetic pleasure, the Touch is without doubt the sexiest looking MP3 player I have ever owned! And it feels darn good in my hand too.
2) Software/iTunes -- what's the point of even mentioning an iPod without discussing iTunes? iTunes is for sure the best media player/store interface that I have ever seen. Definitely gives every iPod a leg up over the competition -- although Media Monkey is pretty good in many ways and that's what I use for my other players.
3) Apps -- nobody can compare with apple's App Store and the amazing assortment of Apps now available for the Touch.
4) Firmware/updates -- the apple firmware is probably the best out there. Sony Walkman is pretty good too, but I think apple gets top honors. The update process through iTunes is the smoothest software update process of any MP3 player I've ever seen -- although Archos comes close.
5) Play screen -- the Touch play screen really sets the standard that everybody else is aspiring to. I love how they fill the entire screen with the album art. The only other one that even comes close is the Walkman.
6) Accessories -- in the apple happy place there are accessories galore and readily available at your local store. Most of my other players require online shopping to find cases and whatnot.
7) Dedicated volume, home button, power button -- much as I love touch screens, its really nice to have a few dedicated buttons that you can hit without being able to see the screen.
8) Browser -- The Safari is one of the better browsers for an MP3 player, especially the pinch multi-touch interface for zooming is really nice. Keyboard is a little hard to use but can be done with practice.
9) Apple support -- these guys are fantastic about fixing/replacing faulty units. I should know because I've had to send a few items back over the years.
10. Speed -- they say its faster and I do notice the difference when playing with my apps which seem a bit snappier now. At this rate, the Touch is going to replace my laptop...
10 solid marks gives the iPod Touch 5 stars for being top of its class in so many categories! However, being an engineer, I always see room for improvement (I sure hope apple is listening!)
Things I don't like so much:
1) Play button? No dedicated play button means this is almost impossible to pause/play by touch. My first Sony Walkman had the best play button ever, the Archos 605 had a nice dedicated play button even though it was a touch screen. I just don't think touch screen should have to mean everything has to be done with the touch screen!
2) Battery -- its not pretty if the battery goes bad on this thing. Unfortunately, removable or even accessible batteries are becoming a thing of the past with MP3 players! Luckily they keep putting out new ones every year so I never use the battery up :)
3) Dock -- seems to me that the apple dock options are pretty weak compared to the Archos DVR dock.
4) Video cable -- if you want to watch those tv shows/movies you buy on iTunes on your TV you're going to have to buy a special video cable -- mine cost like $50!! Just keep that in mind...
5) Stylus won't work -- since this is a capacitance touch screen you can't use a stylus as much as you (or I) might like to. Looks shinier, but hard to use -- I like Archos better here.
6) Onscreen keyboard -- not great, Archos is definitely better for me partly because you can use a stylus if you have to.
Well there you have it -- 9 big pluses, 6 small minuses makes for about 4.7 stars by my calculations! If you don't need huge storage space or HD video resolution this is a great MP3/video player, not necessarily the best in every category but I would say it is the best overall unit available today.
My recommendations depending on your personal preferences:
- iPod touch if you just want an all around great music player, browser, video player, game playing, or if you are an App head (I'm rapidly becoming one myself!). It does everything!
- Sony Walkman if you want really good sound (the best I think) and/or you like Rhapsody
- Archos 5 if you want a big HD screen, great DVR capabilities, stylus friendly touch screen, and/or a big hard drive (500GB coming soon!)
- iPod Nano if you want a really small sleek player in fun colors and a @$*()^)# video camera!
"The revised ipod touch despite new competition is still the best in the market" 2009-10-18
By Ben HT (New York, NY)
the ipod touch 3rd generation is definitely the best multi-functional music player in the market. I got the first gen. 16GB ipod touch when it first came out 2 years ago but I ran out of space but I decided to skip the 2nd gen. because ipods are expensive so I got the 32GB 3rd gen. when it came out. But if you already have the 2nd gen. ipod touch you should save yourself the money and wait for the 4th. when hopefully a camera and a built-in mic would be standard features because this is not such a major update besides a faster processor, new stock headphones, and lower prices.
However, this ONLY applies to the 32GB and 64GB versions as others have noted. The 3rd gen. 8GB version is exactly the same as the 2nd gen. except it is repackaged so even with the reduced price, the 8GB is an inferior deal.
The first thing I noticed was how much the price of the ipod touch has dropped since its debut. The 16GB was $399 when it first came out and now this 32GB is only $299 ($279 on amazon). This does makes sense because that is how the market works but this is a very good deal.
Obviously $300 is not money to be thrown around, but the ipod touch is well-rounded and offers many features other than just being a decent music player. I personally could not tell any difference in sound quality from my 1st gen. and my 3rd gen. touch, which is a major disappointment because the basic function of an ipod is a music player and improvements are always welcome if not necessary.
The 3rd gen. offers really shoddy and quiet internal speakers, which is better than nothing on the 1st gen. and the stock Apple headphones are just terrible. Note that the 32GB and 64GB versions come with headphones that have a built-in mic and music player controls, but they are basically the same. So you should factor in the cost of buying new headphones.
Some respectable brands for headphones or earbuds are Klipsch, Shure and Bose. I personally use Bose overear headphones because the noise that they block off really makes a difference on the crowded subway. While looking for headphones keep in mind that like all things out there, price and quality (and warrenties) have a direct correlation. But really, the ipod touch sound quality is not bad at all as much as I bash it.
What makes me give 5 stars to this 3rd gen. ipod touch is the fact that its overall package is unmatched in the market today, even with the new Zune HD (the Zune has a much inferior internet browser and limited apps). I am not going to make a comparison between them because both music players attract different audiences, where ipod touch users prefer the apps and the interface while zune users find the Zune Marketplace to be much better than itunes (Marketplace prices for music are cheaper and are a better value especially for heavy downloaders). But for the casual music listener, both are the very similar in form, function, and price.
The 3rd gen. ipod touch has a terrific internet browser that is superior to the Blackberry, but its limitations are that it requires a wifi connection and it does not support adobe flash. I use it to jot down notes quickly, to view my documents on my subway to study, check my mail, look up something quickly on the internet, and obviously to listen to music. There is a plethora of apps that can be downloaded and many are free and quite useful like AIM and SportsTap, and Remote. Apple advertises the ipod touch for the games that it can play and you will not be disappointed if you want to play something on the go.
Th 3.5 inch screen is crisp and watching videos is a pleasure. And the ipod touch does look great with clean lines but if you don't want to get the backplate scratched, you must by a case. The screen itself on the other hand is very scratch-resistant.
I highly recommend the new 3rd generation ipod touch for those who are looking for something in this price range and want a balanced music player that can also play vidoes, surf the web, and play quick games. In a way, people are also paying for the Apple brand, which is not a bad thing considering you can bring your ipod to the apple store to get it fixed, you can purchase many different accessories, and you can have special compatibility features with other apple products such as with macbooks if you already own one or your school/business uses them.
By Hassan B. Bn Hadhram
Before i start let me just tell you "what's New" with the iPod touch Third generation" :
-Faster Cpu/Double the ram/Better graphic (faster Boot time/faster loading is all what i did notice)
-Double the storage for the same old price
-Voice control (I'll explain it in a second)
-Latest firmware for free
-New Earbuds with built in remote+Microphone (So you can use voice control)
And that is everything~ depends on your needs upgrading from 2G to 3G might be not worth it.
*Important Note* : only the New iPod touch 32GB/64GB are third generation ~ (8GB is repacked 2G) Details below.
About the new Voice control function, if you love to take your iPod with you to the Gym the new feature "Voice control" is pretty cool, it does allow you to control your music via your voice, no need to get the iPod out of your pocket you can simply say "Next" to move to next song, say "shuffle" for shuffle , say "Pause" and music playback will stop etc, that is why i recommend the iPod touch over iPod classic for gym users, my friend bought an iPod classic and now he complains that the iPod classic is too heavy for him when he goes to the gym and he will have to buy another iPod "properly Nano" for his Gym, for me i use my iPod touch for the gym, it's so light that sometimes i forgot that it's even in my pocket.
After playing with my iPod touch 3g for a while i honestly did not notice any difference from the outside or the inside compared to my old iPod touch Second generation (It's supposed to be faster but i did not notice anything during music and video playback or the menus, however browsing with safari and loading facebook was faster, same thing with boot time), you properly can only notice it being faster with heavy applications since video/music playback is already fast enough with 2G.
I got the 64GB iPod 3G for [...]$, if you think of upgrading your 2G iPod touch honestly do yourself a favor and save yourself the money unless you really need that much of a storage (I do that is why i bought one), also remember that the 3G battery lasts less than 2G,(3G battery = 30 Hours of music playback versus 2G 36 hours of music playback according to apple official specs)
*VERY IMPORTANT* for the people who wants the new 8GB version, the new third generation 8GB iPod touch is NOT 3G it's a second generation iPod touch but apple did repack it/renamed it to 3rd generation, which seems to be misleading by APPLE and it's not cool at all, it is IPod Touch 2G+Updated firmware and that is it.
The iPod touch 3rd generation 32GB/64GB versions comes with a free mic+remote with the earbuds while the 8GB do not (it comes with normal earbuds), the 32GB/64GB have the New CPU+Graphic (According to apple the new cpu is twice as fast just like the iPhone 3GS) while the new 8GB use the same old CPU/Chip from the old iPod touch second generation.
Here is APPLE description on the iPod touches page about the 32/64GB versions : """Enjoy all the great features of the 8GB model along with better performance, richer graphics and voice control"""
The iPod touch 3rd generation is the same awesome iPod touch second generation was.
You can play your music/watch your videos/play games, even read your kindle books/etc "you can read amazon big description of what it's capable of if you do not know yet, it's better than what would i say because it has pictures and everything.
The iPod touch got the best browser i have ever seen in a portable device, i do not even need to carry my netbook with me anymore thanks to my iPod touch, if you hated browsing with lame browsers that crash a lot or slow (many mobile phones) trust me on this one, the iPod touch browser is not a toy or a gimmick it is a browser you can depends on, it's super fast and smooth and after using it for like a full year it has only crashed on me once!
Short list of pros and cons about the iPod touch
Pros:
-Slick,small and light device
-Great touch screen
-The BEST web browser on a portable device
-Amazing video/music playback
-App Store (Too many cool applications for Free)
-Display screen is clear and bright
-No bugs and annoying stuff a very reliable hardware
-64GB Flash based mp3 player
Cons:
-Not much of an upgrade over 2G (people were disappointed because they did not get upgrades like camera/OLED/etc)
-Weaker battery, only lasts 30 hours for music playback versus 2G iPod touch 36 Hours music playback
-Expensive for the 64GB version
-Still no FM radio without the use of online applications
-Bluetooth is still half locked
Update : one more reason to avoid the 8GB ipod touch, Apple announced today "April 09 2010" that iPhone 4.0 OS will be released this summer and it will bring many new features to the iphone and ipod touch, however some features like Multitasking will only be available for iphone 3GS and higher or Ipod touch third generation and higher (As i said before the 8GB is second Generation only, a third generation 8gb ipod touch do not exist! so you wont be getting multitasking if you buy the 8GB ipod touch),
I hope my review was helpful :)
By Alex Honda (Los Angeles, CA USA)
This is my first iPod and MP3 player. So far I've had the iPOD TOUCH (32-GIG/3RD GEN) for two-weeks and I'm loving it.
It's does so much more than just play music, which is why I wanted one. I'm not a Mac person at all but the iPod Touch...I love it.
Out of the box it found my Wi-Fi connection and had me surfing the net (the real Internet and not the cell phone web pages like the one on my Verizon phone). It was intuitive to use and I'm finally getting accustomed to using the touch screen to scroll and type away.
This review is mostly for other iPod newbies like myself. Here's what it comes with:
***The iPod Touch- slick and smooth and very thin
***A USB Cable- this hooks your iPod to your computer to recharge the battery and to sync it with iTunes.
***Plastic Docking Thing- this is a small plastic part that allows you to dock the iPod to an external device (I'm not sure what).
***Head Phones with Microphone and external volume control.
***Teeny-tiny insert- with bare-bones info. You have to access the full manual, which is available for free download in PDF format, at the apple website.
My advice is to buy an external cover for the iPod--the 2nd Generation iPod Touch skins/cover fit the new 3rd Generation ones because the body is the same--and buy a screen protector so you keep the screen free from scratches and such. I already scratched the shiny back of my iPod just by placing it down on the table so be careful when you first get it if you don't have a cover for it.
As long as you have Wi-Fi (wireless Internet connection) in your house/apt you can get full use out of the iPod Touch. You can also access free Wi-Fi hotspots in stores, restaurants, and other areas, so you can get on the Internet and download applications (apps) etc., check your email, go on facebook, youtube, even Amazon has an app, that can be downloaded onto the iPod.
The iPod Touch is configured to automatically search for Wi-Fi networks, it looks for both either locked (need a password) or unlocked (no password) networks, and displays them in the settings for "Wi-Fi." You really don't have to know anything about Wi-Fi to get it started. You just pick one of them and it connects to it.
I've tried my iPod at some hotspots like a shopping center with a Starbucks and it found the Wi-Fi and connected but since a lot of people were using it, it took a while to connect.
You need the program iTunes, which is a free down-loadable program for Windows or Mac, and an iTunes account to purchase and download the apps (most are free but you still need an account to download them). If you've used iTunes before for buying song downloads or just to register then you already have a login account...if you haven't used iTunes before it's free to download and easy to install. Then you sign up for an account which is also free, unless you plan on purchasing songs or videos.
The pluses on the iPod Touch:
===== Applications (Apps) =====
The apps are a plenty on the iPod Touch and there's an app for everything (practically). They're arranged by category like games, news, productivity, etc., and are furthered displayed by best selling, top-free, and release date. You can also search by keyword or check out the most popular and featured apps.
Some apps are free and some cost a one time fee of between $.99-$4.99 and up. If you're a news junkie like me, you'll really love it. I've downloaded Time Magazine, NPR (radio and print stories), BBC READER, New York Times, USA Today, AP (Associated Press) and ABC News...all for free!
I really like that the BBC Reader will download their stories into the cache memory, once you connect via Wi-Fi so you can read the articles offline (when Wi-Fi is not available). NYT and AP will allow you to save articles that you can read offline as well. And the AP will deliver breaking news as long as you're connected... ALL FREE!!!
I've downloaded a dictionary, spell checker, facebook, Grimm's Fairytales and Alice In Wonderland books to read...all for FREE! I also got this free app called "Pandora" which is a radio station that will only play songs by artists that you want to hear. Too cool!
I know that I sound like a broken record with the "free" stuff but being a Verizon Wireless user, I'm sure other VZW customers feel me, I'm amazed that one can download and install quality, portable applications onto a device for no charge or subscription plan.
===== Other Fun Stuff =====
Calendar for appointments etc., contact phone book, clock, weather, calculator (you can download a free tip-calculator), notes and maps. These all come with the iPod Touch.
iTunes will keep the stuff (music, apps, videos) on your iPod, backed-up on your computer so you'll always have a copy of those things. And you can tell it which play-lists to sync so that you don't have to carry around your entire music/video library from your computer on the portable.
Anyway, I'm loving my iPod Touch and it was the perfect birthday gift to myself. It really is like having a mini-computer with you at all times. The only thing that's missing is a camera, but that's not a big deal at all. It's great for people who want an iPhone, but don't want AT&T's lousy service. I also love not having to pay a monthly subscription charge to Verizon for apps on my cell phone, now that I have the iPod Touch!
The only thing I would advise getting--in addition to the iPod--is the cover protector skin and screen protector mentioned earlier, and the Apple USB Power Adapter which will allow you to plug the USB cord into an electrical outlet (though it isn't necessary, it charges a lot faster than when it's charging from your computer).
Since this is my first iPod, I don't know how it stacks up against the previous versions. But this one is great and really addicting! So if you've been wondering if you should get one and you don't have an iPhone, have access to Wi-Fi, then I'd say...yes! The iPod Touch has so much to offer the user that you can find something to do with it even if you don't plan on using it as an MP3 player all that much.
*** A Note About iTunes ***
Even if you don't buy MP3s--I've only purchased about three from iTunes; the rest was from Amazon through credits from special purchases and iPod can play them--iTunes is really handy because it makes taking songs from CDs so easy by capturing them and turning them into MP3s. The program will even retrieve song and artist information for you so you don't have to label the file once you import it. From there you can make your own playlists and burn your own CDs from those playlists, not to mention carrying them on your iPod, so it's definitely worth it and really easy to use.
By C. Franz (Zurich, ZH Switzerland)
This review could be summerd up in a short sentence: You are looking at the current killer appliance for personal entertainment. But I never, ever, do short reviews... So here's the long story. Grab a cup of coffee, as this review answers questions you never knew existed.
I have to admit that there have been few items that have captured and kept my enthusiasm for as long as the iPod Touch. Two years ago, I purchased the original Touch, last year I upgraded to the 32 GB, and now I have the 64GB version. Was the upgrade worth it? And what are the things yet to be imroved? Because even though the Touch is close to perfection, there are still many small things that can be improved.
Hardware
Physically, the new (64GB) Touch is identical to it's 2nd generation brethren. It's polished crome backplate is slightly curved, making it fit your palm perfectly. As before, the fact that it's made from polished chrome will guarantee that it attracts fingerprints and scratches almost magically. I'm no friend of any kind of protective covers, and my last (32GB) Touch had to live in my pocket with my keys, coins, and other stuff I threw in with it. After a year, the backplate did pick up a lot of scratches, and I expect that the 64GB to fare no better. Personally, I would have preferred a brushed finish for the backplate. This may have caused problems with the readability of the customized engraving that Apple applies to the Touch on the backplate for no additional charge (a nice 'touch' that becomes increasingly important as the Touch becomes more ubiquitious). This custom engraving you can only get if you order the Touch through Apple (it's also not available in the Apple Stores).
The front plate is made from one of the most impressive glass enhancements I've ever seen. After a year of heavy abuse, my old Touch's glass front has not a single scratch - not one. I don't know how Apple does it, but this is really impressive. Remember, I don't use any protective covers or films. The screen itself is brilliant, bright, and can easily be read outside, wich is a feat in itself. The Touch has an ambient light sensor, so it can dim the screen when the surroundings are darker.
This time around, the screen's color temperature has remained unchanged (the 2G shifted all colors from a blueish to a more golden tinge). Movie playback is simply astonishing. The image is crisp, and the on-screen controls natural. Again, there are niceties such as double-tapping the screen to change aspect ratio, or placing bookmarks etc. You still can't set a movie's contrast, but beyond that small issue, movie playback is perfect. Viewing movies on the Touch simply works great, but personally I think that the screen is too small to watch a full movie. Last week, I tried watching a TV episode while on a plane enroute to Hamburg (a 75 minute flight), but quickly decided against it, opting instead to play a game of 'Luxor'. Somehow I prefer a larger screen for consuming video, while I have no problems doing something interactive on it. Still, video plays great on the Touch.
Button and interface lay-out has remained the same from the last generation: volume controls on the left side, top holds the 'exit/on' button, buttom has dock and phones connectors, and the front holds the single home button. There is one thing that can be improved here: I would have preferred the audio connector to be on top (or either side), as the current configuration precludes the use of many applications (e.g. News- and eBook readers) when you want to place it upright -- for example in the Gym. Some apps do use the accelerometers and can be used positioning the Touch upside down, though.
The built-in speaker is unchanged from the last version. It's weak, tinny, mono, produces horrible sound, has no volume to speak of -- and yet it's one of the best additions to the Touch (the original didn't have it, the 2nd gen did). It simply makes casual gaming so much more fun. I don't care about the bad sound quality, I just love the fact that it's there.
The signatory white earphones that Apple sells with the Touch may look good, but I don't like them. In my ears they are too uncomfortable. Since I'm no audiophile, I can't comment on their audio quality other than that it's good enough for me. Anyway, I replaced them with my favorite non-Apple version. The hitch here is that Apple now delivers the 64 GB (and 32 GB) with earphones that sport a built-in mic and remote. And my head phones don't have that. While the remote is nothing much to write home about (the way it works is just too complex), the mic works well, and has just the right fidelity to pick out voice over the background noise. So, for now, I keep the white buds with me in case I want to use the IP-telephony capabilities.
Battery life appears to have been reduced somewhat from the 2nd gen - at least on paper. During the past few days the new 3rd gen Touch certainly performed as well as or even better than my 2nd gen - but then again, that one's battery is already one year old. One fact that I've become very fond of is the quick-charge ability, which works really well.
The built-in wireless connectivity is really nice, with astonishingly well executed integration. The touch does all it's wireless networking over WiFi and Bluetooth. WiFi works really well (especially here in Switzerland where Hotspots are particularely dense), and Bluetooth integration (which I tried on the 3rd gen for the first time) is flawless. WiFi reception (range) lags somewhat behind that of a Wintel laptop (no doubt due to the metal backplate) and is pretty much on par with that of a 15" Macbook Pro (which is also somewhat lacking in WiFi reception range). WiFi is still the 'g' variant though [interestingly enough, the built-in hardware does support 11n, but so far Apple has chosen not to activate it, presumably to conserve battery. This is interesting also from the fact that in the 2G Touch, Apple initially included Bluetooth capabilities, but only activated it with a later OS release. Perhaps the same can be expected for 11n]. Bluetooth now also works with headphones and BT-based car integration kits (works well in mine). I would have loved to try out BT-based printing from the Calender or Addressbook app, but hit a snag: it appears no Touch app supports printing...
Missing Hardware
There is some hardware that I expected, or whished that it was included in the Touch - especially as (some) of them are now present on other iPods:
No camera. I was somewhat ambivalent about this. No camera means no pictures and/or movies. But it also means that I can keep handling it rough, as I do not have to worry abou the lens. Also, I don't have to worry about taking it to the Gym (my Gym has very strict rules towards camera-equipped items). All things being equal, the addition of a camera (still and/or video) would have been nice, but I don't miss it much (truth be told, I yet have to use the camera on my mobile phone).
Unfortunately, there is also no built-in mic. This is much a more significant omission than having no camera. The Touch is a first class audio voice recorder and (more importantly for me) a first class Skype client. There are third party solutions for this (a mini-micro that directly plugs into the headphone connector), but if the touch had a built-in mike, it would make using world-class applications like Shazam (and Skype) so much easier
Likewise, there is no compass, nor a GPS receiver present in the touch. I understand that these are left out to better differentiate the Touch from the iPhone, but I would have welcomed them in the top-of-the-line (64GB) version of the iPod.
And, finally, there is no radio receiver. I'm definitely not a radio man, as I next to never listen to it. Still, some people do (as the ton of nicely selling IP radio applications shows), and anyway, the Nano has it now - even with a nice Tivoesque pause feature! Why not the Touch? Strange design choice.
iPod & iTunes
The original iPod's strength was the sheer brilliant ease of use - and the touch-based interface represented a mile-stone in improving on that. To date there simply is no better multimedia interface than that of the Touch/iPhone. It's natural after just a few seconds. It's drop-dead beautiful, with muted highlights, and cleverly accentuated by small (if flashy) animations that convey the different metaphors of the interface (e.g. the rubber-banded bouncing when you reach the end of a playlist). Like no interface before you can instantly use it to accomplish even complex tasks with just the flick of a finger. Using it is sheer, unadulterated fun. The 'Coverflow' album browsing may be one of the least useful, but it's definitely the most natural (and fun) way to flip though you music. And it is jaw-droppingly well executed (note: when you use coverflow you should make sure that you have installed the all cover art from any music you did not purchase from the iTunes Store).
At the base of all iPod music playing is the Playlist, and using playlist on the Touch is a joy. The interface whileplaying is also mature, offering niceties such as displaying a song's lyrics on a single tap, along with singularily simple controls for repeat and shuffle play. Unfortunately, this playlist feature also still has one of the most glaring shortcomings: the Touch is unable to play playlist groups. I usually group a small bunch of songs into very short playlist (e.g. '10 best Springsteen'), and then mix these playlist into larger ones by simply dropping a playlist into a group. Although iTunes supports this, all versions of the Touch have stubbornly refused to do that.
Also somewhat strangely missing on the Touch is the ability to search for an Artist or music title. Considering the fact that more than 10'000 songs fit onto the device the need for an ability to search for something would seem obvious (note: the Touch *does* have a global search function, which will also turn up songs - along with contacts and mails that match your search phrase. Having to leave the iPod app simply to look for a song is against everything Apple's ease of use is about, and it's not what I would expect). And while we are at it, I'd love the ability to also search the lyrics, but that would be the icing on the cake.
What is present, and what continues to amaze me is a function that I initially dismissed as some way to sell song: Genius Playlists. What it does is that given a song it finds other songs you already possess that would play nicely together. Since I have lots of songs (else I wouldn't be purchasing the 64GB), this feature has helped me to get an incredible amount of additional joy out of my music. There are lots of gems hidden that mass of music I never knew I owned. Of course, if you want to, Genius will also recommend songs you don't have but can buy right now on iTunes. That, of course, is the 'sell song' angle. But at least it's incredibly well executed (and yes, I've used it)
The 64GB now also supports voice recognition - and I'm sure it's a marvel of technology. But (much like the auto-correction system for text) it mostly only works in English. If you have set your system to German, you must pronounce english band names as they would be read aloud by a german-only speaker. Do it once, and everyone in the room stares at you. You'll never do it again. Plus, due to the greater complexity of the german language (I am german speaking), the commands only work half the time. A nice idea, and a boon while driving or typing. But *only* when set to english.
Rounding out the audiovisual feature set is the Touch's photo presentation ability, really showcasing the touch-based gesture interface. It was the pinch and flick gesture that originally sold me on the Touch, and it still does today. On the Mac, iTunes ties into iPhoto's image management, greatly facilitating the task of sorting out which images to synch to your iPod (on windows, this task is slightly more pedestrian, as you'll have to manually manage the 'My Pictures' folder). A strange quirk, though, is that during synch iTunes seems to downsample your images to a (to me unknown, but definitely) smaller size. Since I'm a photo nut (shooting with DSLR) this 'feature' annoys me somewhat, as iTunes currently does not provide any means to control the downsampling of photos.
The success of the original iPod has left some competitors scratching their heads, while it is blindingly obvious to most users: the tight, seamless integration with iTunes. Now in version 9, iTunes has become somewhat complex and not always that intuitive to use. It now also tries to manage Photos and Movies as well as Music and Applications. But iTunes is still very easy to use, and synchronizing the iPod Touch with iTunes is quick and simple. A small disappointment is the fact that you still can't synchronize your Touch wirelessly, and that it still refuses to mount as an external disk. Another disappointment is that although iTunes now allows you to share your music over the net with multiple Macs, it can't stream your Music to the Touch (A small, brilliant app from the AppStore can do this for you, though).
And while we are speaking of iTunes - there is one feature that I'd love to have on the Touch: the visualizer. iTunes' visualizer is really beautiful, and I would have loved the same functionality on my Touch.
Internet
While by itself the iPod Touch is an impressive and fun device, it comes into real swing when connected to the internet. The always-on nature and graceful handling of connection drops make the Touch one of the best internet devices I've used to day. The included Safari internet browser performs great - unless you try to load Flash-based content, which is not supported. The email client works great for receiving and viewing mail. Writing anything but the shortest of email is annoying, as the Touch is simply too small for comfortably entering any significant amount of text. Calendar and Address Book are well executed (even if entering a new date and merging multiple calenders is slightly more convoluted than necessary). Mail, Calendar and Addressbook can (if you have that service available) synch live to either mobile me (which Apple loves to sell you) or Exchange (which your employer loves to force on you) through a feature that is very similar to 'push' notification. In the past, using Exchange has been somewhat spotty, and mobile Me has had it's own share of problems. All in all, though both work nice, and exceedingly quick. You do need to be in range of a hotspot for this to function, though. Somewhat disappointing is the fact that notes are not synched. Another nice addition is 'Voice Memos' which is an audio recorder. Had the Touch an internal mic, this app would have been even better...
Applications
Next to the 'productivity' or 'PDA' suite (Mail, Calendar, Contacts) the touch comes with some other nice (but somewhat dull) apps (e.g. Maps, Stocks, YouTube) and two killer Apps: iTunes and App Store. While the former gives you instant access to all songs and movies that are currently available on iTunes (Warning: that, plus the incredible 'Shazam' can lead to unintented gross music spending), the latter (App Store) gives you equal instant access to an incredible number of applications that you can instantly download and use. The quality of applications on the App Store is quite uneven, and tends to cluster around some rather puerile topics (as a veritable, uh, heap, of Fart applications proves). That being said, there are a number of jaw-droppingly good applications that are able to utilize the touch interface (and other capabilities such as accelerometer) in new and surprising ways. Just to name a few are the aforementioned 'Shazam' that can identify a song being played and instantly link to iTunes (you have to see it in action to believe it), Flight Control, where you manage an airport by drawing the flight path for each plane, Bloomberg that provides stock information in an exhaustive way, and Wemlin that shows an up-to-date timetable for when the next tram arrives at my station. No matter what, there probably is an application that supports you with it.
And then there are games. Apple had quickly recognized that the Touch represents an immensely attractive and powerful game platform. Performance, screen, connectivity and control capabilities make it the ideal casual gaming platform. Accordingly, games represent by far the largest category in the App store. While inevitably there are some truly awfully executed, or simply dull games, the majority of the available games are at least somewhat entertaining, while some rival and exceed those that can be had for thrice the price on dedicated gaming platforms.
In the past, my Touch quickly filled up with app after app that I simply couldn't live without any more, and an unforseen limitation of the Touch's design surfaced: app management. Applications are arranged as icons on a 4x4 grid per page, with multiple pages that you can flick left and right to navigate. Unfortunately, re-arranging apps, although possible (and quite ingeniously implemented) is still a chore. Apple has done the right thing, and integrated a much nicer app manager into the (PC/Mac) iTunes application.
Speed Improvement
The iPod Touch, although seen by some as the 'iPhone's smaller sibling' was always either as nible as the phone, or even faster. The new, 3rd gen Touch is said to be 'up to 50% faster' than the previous generation. To be honest, I'm not sure that I see that speed improvent translate to much performance increase. That may be due to the fact that my Touch seldom maxes out on processor throughput or (for example when browsing) that WiFi bandwidth is the limiting factor. Some apps appear to be 'snappier' during start-up (smaller apps) or execution (games, mostly), but all in all, the Touch pretty much seems to be as fast as the last generation. This leads me to believe that the real bottleneck is it's internal execution memory (i.e. not the 64 GB storage, but processor memory), and ony applications that are specifically written to take advantage of new technology (e.g. OpenGL ES). Or in other words: the overall speed has not been improved that much.
SDK
So you want to be a geek? Already are? You can write your own applications for the Touch if you like. I've taken the plunge and downloaded the SDK. Note that you can download the SDK and develop for the Touch/iPhone without actually owning one. The development system comes with a iPhone simulator that you can use to test your applications without downloading them unto an actual device (it does have some limitations: for example, the accelerometers are not simulated, and you have no indication of the true execution speed). Well, you do need a Mac for this (although it can be a few years old). The SDK is impressive - overwhelming even if you are not used to Mac programming (and almost prohibitively complex if you are not used to frameworks like Cocoa and object-oriented programming). Still, crunching out your first (very basic) appliction is surprisingly easy, and if you roll that way, you'll get addicted quickly.
Summary:
It's the killer personal entertainment device. Buy it. You know you want it -- especially if you have read this far. If you have the 2nd gen iPod, you may need to ask yourself if the slight speed bump and the additional storage is worth the hefty price tag. To me it was, but your mileage may vary.
pros
+ world class touch/gesture interface
+ best iPod audiovisual experience around (music, video, photos)
+ killer feature: app store and application availability
+ killer feature: internet integration (browsing and push technology)
+ great movie playback
+ really good casual gaming device
+ slightly improved speed (allegedly, only for some games)
+ great integration with mobile me (calender, mail sync) or Exchange
+ really good SDK if you are geeky enough to roll your own apps
cons
- no built-in mic (headphones do have them)
- polished chrome backplate (I would have preferred a brushed finish)
- no gps, camera, compass
- no radio (nano has it?)
- no sync of notes, no wireless sync of music/movies
- spotty voice recognition in languages other than english
- no control over downsampling of photos
- no search function for music inside the iPod app
- no visualizer
By Alan E. Moore (Sanford, FL)
I bought a 64GB Touch direct from apple on the day it came out -- I find it often takes longer to get newly released stuff from Amazon. I replaced my 32GB 2nd generation -- and to tell the truth, the extra 32GB is the main difference I notice. Now I can fit all of my music and video/tv shows and apps besides with room to spare, I love it!
A little about me, I'm a diehard mp3 player fan so I have owned a broad variety of iPods and iPod alternatives: Archos 604/605/5, iRiver Clix2, Sony Walkman X, iPod Classic/Nano/Touch 1,2,3,4,5, Creative Zen/X-Fi, Cowan U2, Samsung P2 etc. I will be comparing the iPod Touch 3rd Generation to all of these other players.
Let me just say that I'm not rating the quality of the update, but rather the unit as a whole. Admittedly, this is a pretty weak update especially if you were hoping for GPS or a camera. I am a little envious that the Nano gets a camera and the Touch doesn't, what's that all about? But ultimately, this is not a video camera for me (I have a Flip for that!) so I really don't care. I am rating the whole package as an MP3 and video player. I am considering how the Touch compares to competing products.
One other comment -- as to sound quality, I can't say that is either pro or con. If you want really good sound go get yourself a Sony Walkman! However, I find the sound (through my UE11 Pros) to be respectable, especially if you tweak the sound settings to your tastes. Neither remarkably good nor remarkably bad so I don't list SQ on either pro or con list.
Lets get to it then, what I loved about my Touch:
1) Beauty -- just raw esthetic pleasure, the Touch is without doubt the sexiest looking MP3 player I have ever owned! And it feels darn good in my hand too.
2) Software/iTunes -- what's the point of even mentioning an iPod without discussing iTunes? iTunes is for sure the best media player/store interface that I have ever seen. Definitely gives every iPod a leg up over the competition -- although Media Monkey is pretty good in many ways and that's what I use for my other players.
3) Apps -- nobody can compare with apple's App Store and the amazing assortment of Apps now available for the Touch.
4) Firmware/updates -- the apple firmware is probably the best out there. Sony Walkman is pretty good too, but I think apple gets top honors. The update process through iTunes is the smoothest software update process of any MP3 player I've ever seen -- although Archos comes close.
5) Play screen -- the Touch play screen really sets the standard that everybody else is aspiring to. I love how they fill the entire screen with the album art. The only other one that even comes close is the Walkman.
6) Accessories -- in the apple happy place there are accessories galore and readily available at your local store. Most of my other players require online shopping to find cases and whatnot.
7) Dedicated volume, home button, power button -- much as I love touch screens, its really nice to have a few dedicated buttons that you can hit without being able to see the screen.
8) Browser -- The Safari is one of the better browsers for an MP3 player, especially the pinch multi-touch interface for zooming is really nice. Keyboard is a little hard to use but can be done with practice.
9) Apple support -- these guys are fantastic about fixing/replacing faulty units. I should know because I've had to send a few items back over the years.
10. Speed -- they say its faster and I do notice the difference when playing with my apps which seem a bit snappier now. At this rate, the Touch is going to replace my laptop...
10 solid marks gives the iPod Touch 5 stars for being top of its class in so many categories! However, being an engineer, I always see room for improvement (I sure hope apple is listening!)
Things I don't like so much:
1) Play button? No dedicated play button means this is almost impossible to pause/play by touch. My first Sony Walkman had the best play button ever, the Archos 605 had a nice dedicated play button even though it was a touch screen. I just don't think touch screen should have to mean everything has to be done with the touch screen!
2) Battery -- its not pretty if the battery goes bad on this thing. Unfortunately, removable or even accessible batteries are becoming a thing of the past with MP3 players! Luckily they keep putting out new ones every year so I never use the battery up :)
3) Dock -- seems to me that the apple dock options are pretty weak compared to the Archos DVR dock.
4) Video cable -- if you want to watch those tv shows/movies you buy on iTunes on your TV you're going to have to buy a special video cable -- mine cost like $50!! Just keep that in mind...
5) Stylus won't work -- since this is a capacitance touch screen you can't use a stylus as much as you (or I) might like to. Looks shinier, but hard to use -- I like Archos better here.
6) Onscreen keyboard -- not great, Archos is definitely better for me partly because you can use a stylus if you have to.
Well there you have it -- 9 big pluses, 6 small minuses makes for about 4.7 stars by my calculations! If you don't need huge storage space or HD video resolution this is a great MP3/video player, not necessarily the best in every category but I would say it is the best overall unit available today.
My recommendations depending on your personal preferences:
- iPod touch if you just want an all around great music player, browser, video player, game playing, or if you are an App head (I'm rapidly becoming one myself!). It does everything!
- Sony Walkman if you want really good sound (the best I think) and/or you like Rhapsody
- Archos 5 if you want a big HD screen, great DVR capabilities, stylus friendly touch screen, and/or a big hard drive (500GB coming soon!)
- iPod Nano if you want a really small sleek player in fun colors and a @$*()^)# video camera!
By Ben HT (New York, NY)
the ipod touch 3rd generation is definitely the best multi-functional music player in the market. I got the first gen. 16GB ipod touch when it first came out 2 years ago but I ran out of space but I decided to skip the 2nd gen. because ipods are expensive so I got the 32GB 3rd gen. when it came out. But if you already have the 2nd gen. ipod touch you should save yourself the money and wait for the 4th. when hopefully a camera and a built-in mic would be standard features because this is not such a major update besides a faster processor, new stock headphones, and lower prices.
However, this ONLY applies to the 32GB and 64GB versions as others have noted. The 3rd gen. 8GB version is exactly the same as the 2nd gen. except it is repackaged so even with the reduced price, the 8GB is an inferior deal.
The first thing I noticed was how much the price of the ipod touch has dropped since its debut. The 16GB was $399 when it first came out and now this 32GB is only $299 ($279 on amazon). This does makes sense because that is how the market works but this is a very good deal.
Obviously $300 is not money to be thrown around, but the ipod touch is well-rounded and offers many features other than just being a decent music player. I personally could not tell any difference in sound quality from my 1st gen. and my 3rd gen. touch, which is a major disappointment because the basic function of an ipod is a music player and improvements are always welcome if not necessary.
The 3rd gen. offers really shoddy and quiet internal speakers, which is better than nothing on the 1st gen. and the stock Apple headphones are just terrible. Note that the 32GB and 64GB versions come with headphones that have a built-in mic and music player controls, but they are basically the same. So you should factor in the cost of buying new headphones.
Some respectable brands for headphones or earbuds are Klipsch, Shure and Bose. I personally use Bose overear headphones because the noise that they block off really makes a difference on the crowded subway. While looking for headphones keep in mind that like all things out there, price and quality (and warrenties) have a direct correlation. But really, the ipod touch sound quality is not bad at all as much as I bash it.
What makes me give 5 stars to this 3rd gen. ipod touch is the fact that its overall package is unmatched in the market today, even with the new Zune HD (the Zune has a much inferior internet browser and limited apps). I am not going to make a comparison between them because both music players attract different audiences, where ipod touch users prefer the apps and the interface while zune users find the Zune Marketplace to be much better than itunes (Marketplace prices for music are cheaper and are a better value especially for heavy downloaders). But for the casual music listener, both are the very similar in form, function, and price.
The 3rd gen. ipod touch has a terrific internet browser that is superior to the Blackberry, but its limitations are that it requires a wifi connection and it does not support adobe flash. I use it to jot down notes quickly, to view my documents on my subway to study, check my mail, look up something quickly on the internet, and obviously to listen to music. There is a plethora of apps that can be downloaded and many are free and quite useful like AIM and SportsTap, and Remote. Apple advertises the ipod touch for the games that it can play and you will not be disappointed if you want to play something on the go.
Th 3.5 inch screen is crisp and watching videos is a pleasure. And the ipod touch does look great with clean lines but if you don't want to get the backplate scratched, you must by a case. The screen itself on the other hand is very scratch-resistant.
I highly recommend the new 3rd generation ipod touch for those who are looking for something in this price range and want a balanced music player that can also play vidoes, surf the web, and play quick games. In a way, people are also paying for the Apple brand, which is not a bad thing considering you can bring your ipod to the apple store to get it fixed, you can purchase many different accessories, and you can have special compatibility features with other apple products such as with macbooks if you already own one or your school/business uses them.
