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Reviews of: New Apple iPod touch 8GBby Apple
Product Description Apple?s new iPod touch packs more features into a sleeker design and feels even better in your hand! The iPod touch has a revolutionary touch interface and has been designed to let you control everything using your fingertips. The iPod touch responds to motion using a built-in accelerometer, so you can immediately see the entire width of a web page, view a photo in full, or control a game using only your movements. You can browse over and download loads of games and applications in almost every category at the Apple Store on iTunes or right on your iPod, and rock while you run with the built-in Nike iPod support. The iPod touch no longer plays just music; it also keeps a record of your workout performances, tracking your time, distance and calories burnt thanks to the sensor that you slip into your shoe. The new iPod touch?s body is stunningly thin and made of polished stainless steel for a more comfortable grip, and volume controls have been built into the left side to give you easy access to the most frequently used settings. Plus, the iPod touch is equipped with a built-in speaker that lets you hear music, dialogues and action without headphones, ideal for casual listening, and an astonishing battery life for up to 36 hours of non-stop music and 6 hours of video playback. A new Genius feature has also been integrated into the iPod touch, allowing you to create your very own multimedia library and music mixes. Music and videos on the iPod touch not only sound amazing; they look amazing, too. Reviews An OBJECTIVE plus (+) and minus (-) review. Please read this if you're making up your mind. This is an impartial review based on my experience of the iPod Touch 2nd Generation, and other Personal Media Players. Strengths: + WiFi and Safari Browser. Superb mobile browsing experience. For example, you can stream BBC iPlayer to the Touch perfectly. A real joy. + Youtube widget for playback of youtube videos. + Integrated Nike + Support, so that you can use the device as a training tool for exercise. + App Store. You can download from thousands of Apps on iTunes, including games, and stream internet radio, for instance. + Superb capacitive glass touch screen. Older touch screens use `resistive' technology. These work on a different principle, and are less responsive. (The Archos 5 uses a resistive screen. The Cowon S9, however, uses a capacitive one like the iPod Touch). + Incredible User Interface. Beautifully conceived and implemented. Music and Videos are organised with an astonishing attention to the user's goals, and you regularly feel that Apple designers have read your mind when you go about tasks. Here's an example: you wish to download a podcast. You go to an internet address in Safari. Safari automatically grabs the address, boots you into iTunes (on the device itself), and takes you to the podcast listing within the iTunes store. Two more clicks and you're downloading your content. That's the way things should be done. + Advantages over the previous generation include a dedicated volume rocker, slightly more curvaceous design, slightly improved battery life, integrated Nike + support and mini speaker. Weaknesses: - Very, very average sound quality. Now it is a mystery to me why so many users and reviewers overlook this issue. Having owned the Touch, I have come to the conclusion that it is stylish Swiss Army Knife whose MAIN BLADE is blunt. It is true that many people will have no issue with the sound quality probably because their only reference point to the world of personal media players is the iPod brand. This is useful ignorance, because I would challenge anyone not to be thoroughly crestfallen with the sound of this device compared to something as cheap yet beautiful sounding as the Sansa Clip. - Video playback. If you are happy to be locked into the iTunes universe, then you will love this device. You will endlessly pay for movies and will enjoy them on this device. If like me, however, you like to play your own physical DVDs in DivX format,in addition to a range of movie files in various formats and codecs, then the Touch is simply not your friend. It only supports a few video codecs, which means as a device for video playback, it is somewhat paralysed. - Terrible battery life. Three hours of mixed use, and the Touch is wheezing for a recharge. It's great being a Jack of all trades, but Jack gets tired rather too quickly sometimes! - Being `locked in' to iTunes. There are some Apple hating brand lunatics who simply disparage anything Apple for the sake of it. For me, I feel that iTunes is an excellent software (especially on a Mac) but it is also limiting. With iTunes organising my device, I can't just drag and drop files onto the Touch, and this is a bit of a pain. But you may feel different, so this one is up in the air... Conclusion and buying advice: Having owned it, the Touch is either superb or mediocre depending on whether you wish to buy it as 1) your mini WiFi web browser with an App Store, or as 2) your multimedia player. 1) As a mini browser, it is excellent. Browse the web, download podcasts, stream iPlayer, etc. (But remember, when you're not near a WiFi signal, none of these capabilities count for anything). 2) But as a genuine media playback device, it just does not cut the mustard. Think of it as a second rank device in a field of stellar performers. The sound quality for music playback is just average, and in some cases, embarrassing when listened to devices made by Cowon, Sansa, iRiver and Sony. And its Video playback is equally crippled by its lack of codec support. So what is the bottom line? Well, I owned this device but decided to sell it when I bought a £20 Sansa Clip and stopped listening to music on it because the sound quality was so much superior on the Sansa. This is not hyperbole, and I do not hate Apple. In fact, I love Apple, so do take this as objective advice. I simply realised that my priority was sound and video quality, and that I would get all of the extra features of the Touch most important to me (namely WiFi and a stunning User Interface) when I buy a Macbook in the future. I have since purchased a Cowon O2, which is a stellar sounding device (admittedly without the Touch's `extra' features) but in a league of its own in terms of sound quality for music playback, and movie playback. (It supports a cornucopia of music and video files and in this regard is a much more accomplished device). So then, what are you after? A mini WiFi enabled device with music/video as an extra? Well then buy the Touch! Go for it. You'll love it and enjoy its brilliance. But if the answer is an audiophile experience of sound and video, do not buy this device. Start investigating a Cowon O2 or S9, or an iRiver Spinn. Hope this helps. - Written by a non-partisan audiophile. 2009-01-05 very good I got this ipod to use as a stereo in a docking system for the kitchen.I think its brilliant.Its very stylish looking and alot of fun to use.I found it very easy to get up and running which i was slightly worried about but it was made easy by apple.Ive given this ipod 5 stars because for what i want it for its brilliant. 2009-01-01 Almost perfect Now, I don't like Macs, I don't like Apple and their totalitarian service, or the design of their usual iPods. They are like relics of the 60s! But, when i saw the iPod Touch I thought i would bite the bullet and give them a go - it looked like technology that had been properly thought out and implemented. So, I bought the new v2. Firstly , I must say how pleased i am with the build quality, the ease of use, the text entry, the display and the sound. Absolutely outstanding. The ability to sync the mail account, contacts and calendar contacts with Outlook on my PC is fantastic. The motion sensor is neat, though hardly essential, but allows for more creative apps. Also, it has wi-fi that works very well, automatically logging into free services, picking up the webpages of those that need sign ins and being easy to configure for my secured home network. this is how easy wi-fi access should be. The fact that you get apps for it and that they are both dirt cheap and simple to install is a bonus. There's a lot of rubbish in the app store, but these are early days and there are some great apps in there already. Okay, now the things that haven't been thought out so well. The Weather and maps have been designed to work with the iPhone where the service is always available. On wi-fi, it isn't. The Map is so useful, but it is totally crippled on the Touch because it only contains the local area - new areas are downloaded as you access them, but when on the road, you aren't going to be in Wi-fi zone so it doesn't work. The UK map should been a complete download so that you can use it without access to the server. The Weather predictor is another great idea that downloads data everytime you access it. But, being wi-fi, that will be intermittently, and here's the flaw. In a wi-fi zone it gives you the week ahead, but as soon as you are out of it, it tries to download the weather again, fails and clears all the data with a "update failed" message. Why couldn't it just leave in the data it had? Finally, although it says 8Gb, you only get 7Gb (Not a problem if you have 15Gb of 16Gb). So, the built-in apps are using your memory. That being the case you should be able to remove the ones you don't want to free up space, like Stocks. I have no interest in this, but have found no way to remove it. If there is, let me know! Battery life isn't great when you're using video and apps - requiring a recharge halfway through the day if you're using it a lot. But, it's decent considering the size and what you are actually doing. Overall, despite the couple of flaws, this is highly polished technology. It's really useful, really entertaining, and offers great flexibility and a variety of functions of one little device. Easily the most impressive bit of technology since the xbox 360. 2009-01-01 Excellent Ipod...Great Price I brought the Ipod Touch 2G just after christmas and found Amazon.co.uk to be the cheapest place by far online and in the shops, also all of the shops i went too had sold out before Christmas! Great value for money! 2008-12-30 Amazing Device Got my ipod yesterday and within an hour had it loaded on my wi-fi network. Really easy to do and very usable. Already had itunes which speeded the process up. Created an ipod playlist which made selecting and syncing much easier. Synced with outlook and internet (at home) fast enough. Had a glitch with the screen which hopefully was a one off and temporary and still too early to give it the full five stars - already feels like an essential piece of kit though after just a day.Loads of free apps for download too. Hmm...all is not well. After a few hours the touch screen became uncommunicative and is now not responding. Just asked amazon for a replacement but very unhappy that product has failed so quickly. Hope this is a one off. Absolutely no reason for the failure that i can see. Have read some reports on internet about iphones have partial failures but usually after a period of time. 2008-12-30 Accessories:
Philips SHE9500/00 - In-Ear Headphones Philips DLA81001H/10 - Video Shell for iPod Touch -8 GB- Clear Sony ZS-S4IPB iPOD Boom Box Belkin Leather Folio Case for iPod touch (2nd Generation) - Black Philips DLA23440/10 - Hybrid Shell for iPod Touch -8 GB- |
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