The third generation of Apple's iPod Touch is still the king.
The third generation of Apple's iPod Touch is still the king of the hill when it comes to portable, Wi-Fi-wielding media players. New additions such as Voice Control, graphics enhancements, improved accessibility, higher capacity, and a faster processor help to refine an already excellent product. iPod touch is a great iPod, a great pocket computer, and a great portable game player. Listen to a mix of songs automatically put together by the new Genius Mixes feature. Watch a movie. Surf the web. Download countless apps. to jump down the page and learn all about apps.) View rich HTML email. Find your location and get directions with Google Maps. Discover games and apps you're sure to love with new Genius recommendations for apps. And since iPod touch now comes with the latest 3.1 software already installed, you can start using fun, convenient features right out of the box.
Technical Details
Capacity: 32 GB
- IMPORTANT: To get started using your iPod, charge your player using the USB cable for at least 2 hours
- 32 GB capacity for 7,000 songs, 40,000 photos, or 40 hours of video
- Up to 30 hours of music playback or 6 hours of video playback when fully charged
- 3.5-inch widescreen Multi-Touch display with 480 x 320 pixel resolution
- Supports AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV audio formats; H.264 and MPEG-4 video formats; JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF
- NOTE: The iPod touch comes with the Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic; to activate Voice Control using the headphones, just press and hold the center area of the Apple headphone remote
- One-year limited warranty with single incident of complimentary telephone technical support
Cover Flow : What a song does for your ears, Cover Flow on iPod touch does for your eyes and fingers. It's a virtual party for the senses. Turn iPod touch on its side and glide through your music by album art with the flick of your finger. Tap an album cover to flip it over and display a track list. Tap again to start the music.
Genius Mixes : Now the Genius feature is even more powerful. Introducing Genius Mixes. All you do is sync iPod touch to iTunes, and Genius automatically searches your library to find songs that sound great together. Then it creates multiple mixes you'll love. These mixes are like channels programmed entirely with your music.
Genius Playlists : Say you're listening to a song you really like and want to hear other tracks that go great with it. The Genius feature finds other songs on your iPod touch that sound great with the one you were listening to and makes a Genius playlist for you. Listen to the playlist right away, save it for later, or even refresh it and give it another go. Count on Genius to create a mix you wouldn't have thought of yourself.
Shake to Shuffle : Shake things up a bit. Musically speaking, that is. The next time you're listening to your tunes, turn on Shake to Shuffle, then give iPod touch a shake to shuffle to a different song in your music library.
Bluetooth : Look, no cables. iPod touch includes the iPhone 3.1 software, so you can pair Bluetooth stereo headphones with it. Keep your iPod in your bag or charging on your desk across the room and still listen to your music.
Movies + TV shows : A feature film. A video podcast. Your favorite TV show. Now appearing on a subway train or a plane near you.
Widescreen Viewing : Carry hours of video with you and watch it on the crisp 3.5-inch color widescreen display. Shop the iTunes Store and choose from thousands of movies, TV shows, and video podcasts to load up your iPod touch. From Hollywood blockbusters to independent favorites, there's something for everyone. Download and watch movies with a few taps. Prefer TV shows? Get a single episode or an entire season's worth all at once.
Onscreen Controls : While watching your video, tap the display to bring up the onscreen controls. You can play or pause, view by chapter, and adjust the volume. You can also use the volume controls on the left side of iPod touch. Want to switch between widescreen and full screen? Simply tap the display twice.
Genius Recommendations, Download & Update for Apps : There are tens of thousands of apps in the App Store, with more added every day. A new feature of iPod touch makes finding cool new apps even easier. It's Genius for apps, and it works just like Genius for your music. Tap the Genius icon and get recommendations for apps that you might like based on apps you and others have downloaded.
When you find an app you want, buy and download it wirelessly to your iPod touch from anywhere over Wi-Fi, and start using it right away.iPod touch tells you whenever an app update is available, so you'll always have the latest versions of your favorite apps.
Shop Anytime, Anywhere : The built-in Wi-Fi capability in iPod touch gives you access to the iTunes Store, where you can choose from millions of high-quality iTunes Plus songs and thousands of movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and free podcasts and iTunes U lectures. Browse New Releases, Top Tens, and Genres. Or find exactly what you're looking for by typing in a quick search. Play a preview of any song or video, then tap once to buy it. Not sure if that movie is worth owning? Just rent it. Everything you buy on iPod touch is the same price you pay on the iTunes Store on your computer.
Sync with iTunes : When you connect iPod touch to your computer, the music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and podcasts you downloaded on the go sync to your iTunes library on your Mac or PC. If you've partially downloaded something on iPod touch, your computer completes the download automatically.
Voice Control : Voice Control on the new 32 GB and 64 GB iPod touch gives you the ability to control music playback with spoken commands. You say it. iPod touch plays it. And shuffles it, pauses it, or names it.
Say and Play : Voice Control knows the music in your iPod touch. Want to hear something specific? All you have to do is ask. For instance, say "Play artist Bob Dylan," and iPod touch does just that. Ask what song is playing and hear iPod touch answer. Tell it to play your favorite album, artist, or playlist. Speak simple commands such as "shuffle," "next song," and "pause." Even have iPod touch play more songs like the one you're listening to
Language Support : Voice Control features support for the following languages: Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (China), Chinese (Taiwan), Dutch, English (UK), English (US), Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), Swedish
Photos : With storage for up to 90,000 of your favorite photos, iPod touch lets you flick through and share all those remember-that-day moments.
Share Photos : Show thousands of photos from the palm of your hand. Flick to scroll through thumbnails. Tap to view full screen. Play slideshows, complete with music and transitions. Email a photo to a friend or share it in a MobileMe Gallery.
Save Photos : If you receive a great image in an email, save it to your photo library on iPod touch. Once there, it acts just like any other photo. You can set it as your wallpaper, share it on the web, or pass it on.
Home Screen : Maybe you want Maps as the first app in the second row. Or Mail down in the Dock. Whatever the arrangement, make iPod touch your own with customized Home screens.
Customize Your Home Screen : Arrange the icons on your Home screen any way you want right on iPod touch or from your computer using iTunes 9. Move an app one row up, two apps over, or even to another Home screen. Create up to 11 Home screens for quick access to the games and applications you download from the App Store and to your Safari web clips.
Home Button: No matter where you are on iPod touch, one press of the Home button at the bottom of iPod touch takes you to the main Home screen. You can also take a shortcut from any Home screen back to your main Home screen by pressing the Home button.
Spotlight Search: Looking for something? Search the entire contents of your iPod touch, all from one place. On your main Home screen, just swipe to the right to bring up Spotlight. Once you start typing, Spotlight begins searching all of your music, videos, contacts, email, calendars, notes, and even your audiobooks and podcasts.
Browse Anywhere : iPod touch is the only iPod with built-in wireless access to the web. Whenever you're connected via Wi-Fi, you can access your favorite websites to read news, check scores, pay bills, and go shopping. And if you're using the new 32 GB or 64 GB iPod touch, you'll notice that web pages load even faster than before.
Search the Web : iPod touch syncs your bookmarks from your PC or Mac, so you can access your favorite sites quickly. It has Google and Yahoo! search built in, so it's easy to find what you're looking for on the web.
Web Clips : If you check a website frequently--a favorite newspaper, blog, or sports site--why not create a Home screen icon, or web clip, for it? Make web clips with Safari, and your favorite sites are always just a tap away.
Zoom :Get a closer look at any web page by zooming in and out with a tap or a pinch of the Multi-Touch display. View websites in portrait or landscape. Rotate iPod touch 90 degrees a 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...
