Of course, the fourth gen touch still handles handles music, photo, videos, etc., with aplomb (as most iPods do) but is also a fine handheld gaming machine. And a plethora of fun, reasonably priced games that take advantage of the iPod touch (and iPhone) features such as the acelerometer -- which lets you turn, twist, shake and tilt the device for gameplay -- are available at the Apple App Store. In fact, with well over 1,000 game titles available, the iPod touch continues to pose a serious competitor to the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS.
The range of titles is solid considering the Apple App Store only launched July 11. Most of the games are under US$10 -- and many are free. What's more, the 3G iPod touch's 3.5-inch, 480-by-320 pixel widescreen is large, bright and crisp. As before, iPod touch sports features a thin contoured metal design, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi wireless networking, integrated volume control buttons, advanced sensors, and Apple’s Multi-Touch user interface.
According to Apple, the fourth gen iPod touch offers up to 30 hours of music playback or six hours of video playback on a single charge. My tests have proven the claim to be true, perhaps even a bit modest. And the iPod touch now offers more bang for the buck. The 8GB iPod touch is now available for just US$199, along with new models which deliver twice the capacity for the same price, with the iPod touch 32GB model for $299 and 64GB model for $399.
I bought the latter, and it's the one I strongly recommend. Videos, photos and games eat up space very quickly. That said, the 64GB model holds up to 14,000 songs, 90,000 photos or 80 hours of video. The 32GB and 64GB models also include up to 50 percent faster performance and support for even better graphics with OpenGL ES 2.0. And the new iPod touch line-up comes with the latest iPhone 3.1 software including: Cut, Copy and Paste; Spotlight Search to search across iPod touch or within Mail, Contacts, Calendar and iPod; landscape keyboard for Mail, Notes and Safari; remote lock for MobileMe and anti-phishing features.
There's a lot to love about the iPod touch. But, if you fork out 200 to 400 smackers, you may suffer from iPod nano envy. The nanos have much less storage capacity (and storage capacity is a big must for folks like me), but I do wish my new touch had the built-in FM radio with live pause and iTunes Tagging and video recording.
Live pause lets iPod nano users pause and resume playing their favorite FM radio shows. iTunes Tagging is great when users hear a song they like, they can simply tag it, and then preview and purchase that song when they sync to iTunes. iPod nano also features Genius Mixes, which automatically creates up to 12 "endless mixes" of songs from your iTunes library that go together.
The nano also lets you shoot video wherever you are, in either portrait or landscape mode. iPod nano customers can share videos instantly with friends using its display and speaker, or sync with a Mac or PC and share them on YouTube, MobileMe, Facebook or via email. iPod nano can even shoot videos with fun real-time effects such as Thermal, Film Grain, Kaleido and X-Ray. And the video quality isn't bad – 640 by 480 at 30 frames per second. I want to be able to do this with my touch. And take still photos, as well.
But I can't, so there it is. I love my new iPod touch for what is can do. I just wish it could do more, and be even "funner>"
The new iPod touch is available immediately through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. It requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later and iTunes 9; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 3) or later and iTunes 9.
Macsimum rating: 8 out of 10
