back to article Apple iPod Touch 4G

The rumour mill was flying thick and fast last year with speculation that the new third-generation version of the iPod Touch would include a camera for the first time. However, the model unveiled featured a faster processor but no camera, leaving the Apple faithful feeling somewhat underwhelmed. Apple iPod Touch 4G Apple's …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If you're going to get an Apple product...

    ...then clearly the UI and additional apps/functionality beyond a regular MP3 is what appeals.

    Which is what the i-phone offers (and then some)

    Does the touch have apps not available for the 'phone or something?

    Which begs the question... other than kids barred from possession of a phone, who isn't just going to get an i-phone instead?

    1. Si 1
      Jobs Horns

      iPhone vs Touch

      Personally I wouldn't buy a Touch if I could have an iPhone. I had a 1st gen Touch and I never used it, purely because it only worked on Wi-Fi and if I'm in range of Wi-Fi it usually means I'm at home or in the office. If I'm in either of those places then I might as well use my main computer rather than a device with a small screen.

      The iPhone comes into its own by allowing me to use the web/email wherever I go. I'm not reliant on finding a Wi-Fi connection (or paying for one). I certainly couldn't use my iPod Touch while out hiking to find out how far I am from my destination like I did with my iPhone last week.

      The iPod Touch has improved loads from the first gen system, which Apple deliberately crippled with no speaker, mic, camera, GPS and loads of apps missing. These days it's mostly an iPhone without the phone, but surprisingly, for me that's the most important part...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Stop

      Well, I'd say it's pretty obvious....

      ....that most parents will buy them an iPod touch which is a couple of hundred quid, but not an iPhone which is many hundreds of pounds per year and has the ability to run up additional bills on voice calls and texts whereas the iPod is controllable by restricting what they can do via the iTunes and App stores.

      I told mine that they can have an iPhone when they're paying for it.....

    3. RegisterThis

      ... or how many are you going to buy?

      Yeah, I too am a little confused by Apple's positioning of the IPhone, ITouch and IPad.

      I remember analysts writing prior to the iPad release that the Apple Cult was such that a new Apple device was pretty much expected to have a minimum 6 million 'fans' who would buy it regardless of reviews or alternatives etc. So financially, it makes sense for Apple to have these (at least what I see as) overlapping devices?

      Assuming sense and a limited tech budget, what gets bought?

      If you have an iPhone, then this makes no sense? If you have an iPad, then this makes no sense? About the only combination that does make sense would be the iPhone and iPad?

      Personally as a non-iPhone owner (lovelly to look at, but does not meet my needs which go beyond the info-tainment it excels at), the touch makes sense as a PMP. But then there are Androids and Nokias (Desire Z and E7) released which meet my phone productivity needs and probably make the iTouch redundant albeit with a few sacrifices maybe from the PMP angle ... so an iPad? (Except that I want a tablet that has full 'netbook' type functionality i.e. with removable storage etc. and definitely a camera!)

      I think is almost exclusively aimed by Apple as an executive toy (hence higher price) i.e. for the blackberry/Nokia and laptop toting crowd who see no need for the iPhone and iPad. They want the rest to buy the iPhone otherwise they lose out on the future which seems to be increasingly LBS (location based services) based which their iTouch will be limited in.

      1. Ihre Papiere Bitte!!

        As a member of the Blackberry-toting crowd

        "i.e. for the blackberry/Nokia and laptop toting crowd who see no need for the iPhone and iPad"

        (RegisterThis, 21/09 12:15)

        Nope, sorry. Perfectly happy with my Zen, which does everything I need and more,, at a fraction of the price.

        One of the main selling points of the Apple range is the App Store. If you're not interested in these, they don't compare as favourably with other devices.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re:If you're going to get an Apple product...

      Why go for the iPod touch over the iPhone? One word - price. 16 GB iPhone 4 £499; 32 GB iPod touch £249

      The touch does virtually everything the iPhone can do except make cellular calls (Skype calls are still possible using the touch), and now it has the iPhone's nice screen as well. Makes the iPhone seem just a tad overpriced to be honest! Yes, I know you can get the iPhone on contract, but none of them could be called cheap, especially if you're not a heavy phone user.

      Personally, I don't want a large clunky iPad so the touch is perfect as a discreet, always-on device to check email or surf about the house or anywhere there's an available wifi connection. I hope they don't stop making them. Of course that's unlikely to happen now that the touch has become the most popular handheld gaming device, outselling the PSP and DS combined:

      http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30218/Apple_Reveals_Revised_iPod_Touch_The_Most_Popular_Portable_Game_Player.php

  2. Sean Donnellan
    FAIL

    And the sound quality is.........

    Is this now a lifestyle device, like the iPad?

    I thought this was primarily an MP3/4 player, no?

    Shame the review never discusses sound quality, Video functionality, codecs (Audio/Video) supported, or anything about what it's primarily designed to be.

    En_Croute

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Megaphone

      You must have missed it....

      ...where he mentions the iPod's "the par-for-the course iPod audio quality."

      But again, it's down to your hearing as much as anything. Some people are bothered by the inherent sound quality and some by the lossy compression, but most of us find it hard to tell the difference between FLAC via hi-fi and 64kbps AAC+ via small headphones.

      Loudhailer, because I need it.....

    2. Giles Jones Gold badge

      Stock headphones

      Many people judge audio quality using the stock headphones which are pretty rubbish.

      If you're bothered about sound quality then you'd not listen to MP3. Lossless AAC or FLAC would be better.

      Advances in sound quality went out years ago anyway. People have generally decided they prefer convenience to quality. Being able to have gigs of audio on tap in a small device is much more desirable than lugging around a CD player and CDs.

      Not to mention being able to purchase music on the device and have it download (on smartphones anyway).

      Super audio CD and DVD Audio never took off, even though they would have offered 24-bit 96Khz playback (even 192Khz), which is on average what people record their music at.

      Seems pretty crazy that blu-ray films have better audio quality now than dedicated music players.

      Blu-ray can do 16, 20 or 24-bit range with 6 channels at 192KHz sample rate, 8 channel at 96KHz or 48KHz sample rate.

      So even the lowest quality Blu-ray audio specification (16-bit 48KHz) is in excess of CD which is 16-bit 44.1KHz.

  3. Jay 2
    Jobs Horns

    I was all set to buy one...

    ...but the top end model is only 64GB, which for me is not enough storage. So I guess I'll have to sticj with my Classic for another year.

  4. Rich 30
    Stop

    facetime?

    Are we still amazed by this? I'm fairly sure i'm still not.

    1. RegisterThis
      Thumb Up

      Agreed ...

      Its nothing new ... other devices 'tried/try' full mobile video calling (which has never really taken on due to crappy 3G currently) and this is beyond this ... this is Apple 'proprietary skype' ... and if the truth be told, most of its users probably have a Skype account for already and that does not limit them to Apple device owners only. My guess is added for marekting reasons. (after all, most of the technical press drank the coolaid and announced video calling as an Apple first too!) ...

      1. ThomH

        Funny kind of proprietary

        Ummm, that is if Apple do release the specifications as promised, obviously. I'd be curious to know why they rolled their own.

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Thumb Down

      Meh

      They might have been onto something if it worked with iChat as well. As it is it's unimpressive and more restrictive than video calling on the iPhone and looks like it's fiddly to set up on the iPod.

  5. Lottie

    But

    What's it like as a PMP? Saying the audio is par for the course doesn't help much. Okay, it's crap, but how does the whole thing come together with searching for albums, playing options etc?

  6. Rob Davis

    @Sean Donnellan VLC Player now on iPad (maybe iPod touch too?), 802.11b/g as well as n for Wi-Fi

    @Sean Donnellan

    VLC Player has been released for free on iPad to address precisely your concerns (that I share) on supported video on Apples mobile devices, so maybe we could expect the app for the iPod touch/iPhone soon. I will certainly be looking forward to that to be able to play FLAC Audio files.

    See here: http://applidium.com/en/news/vlc_media_player_available_for_the_ipad

    To the reviewer: the ipod touch also supports b and g wireless, see here:

    http://www.apple.com/uk/ipodtouch/specs.html

    1. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware

      Re. Wi-Fi

      If a gadget does 802.11n, it'll also do 802.11g and 802.11b.

      To save writing this out, we use 802.11n as shorthand for all the important Wi-Fi versions.

  7. NHS IT guy
    Pint

    FaceTime

    You'll have noticed that FaceTime has rapidly descended into CrotchTimeif you hang around on any chat room for long enough...

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who's it for?

    Who isn't going to get an iPhone instead?

    Anyone who can't have an iPhone for whatever reason.

    - you're employer won't supply you with an iPhone

    - you can't afford the £400+ an off contract iPhone costs (a nice simple bit of market segmentation by price)

    - you actually need a phone to make calls and can't live with the iPhone's battery life

    What's it like as a PMP?

    It's an iPod - it's the same as the iPhone and the interface is a subtle evolution of the earlier touch/iPhone. Personally, like most Apple software it's a delight to use (though of course you may hate it).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Jobs Horns

      RE: Who's it for?

      > - you're employer won't supply you with an iPhone

      How about countries that aren't getting the iPhone 4 just yet?

      We're only finally getting our's at the end of the week.

      Devil Jobs. Holding back something for 6 months while other countries gets it first is just plain evil.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    Battery life

    "Battery life has increased though, with Apple now claiming 40 hours for music playback and seven hours for video – up from 30 hours and six hours for the previous model."

    Was this tested? Or are we simply to assume that because Apple has said the battery life has been increased to those levels it actually has?

    1. BingBong

      Trustworthy

      Apple actual has a pretty good record on battery life estimations .. just look at other Apple product reviews that show real world testing.

  10. Typhoon Rising
    WTF?

    Camera resolution

    Hold on, so it records high quality video, but the camera is rubbish? How does that work then?

    1. Brian 6

      @Typhoon Rising

      "Hold on, so it records high quality video, but the camera is rubbish? How does that work then?" Simple, the stills are the same size a single frame of video.

  11. dylan 4
    Happy

    Prices increases in blighty not Apple's fault this time...

    ...it's more to do with the fact that your currency has gone through the floor.

    iTouch 4 prices in Australia have actually come DOWN significantly over the previous version, to the extent that close-out discount prices on iTouch3 a couple of weeks ago were higher than the full price of the new model.

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