During its three years in the consumer market, Apple’s iPod Touch has changed a lot.
Now, some buy it to play music on, some to surf the internet and check emails on and others
to play the many unique video games on the iPod Touch that use the tilt function
In it’s 3rd generation now, the Touch is widely known as the most feature-packed portable media player
on the planet.
When put side-by-side with the 2nd generation iPod Touch, the third generation
is more or less exactly the same visually, apart from several etchings on the back.
Just as it is on it’s sister, the iPhone, the iPod Touch third generation sports
3.5 inch screen with a 480×320 pixel resolution. Apple also includes physical buttons
on the iPod Touch, found on the side of the player; a hold switch on the top, a small
volume control button on the left and a home button on the face of the iPod Touch.
The iPod Touch remains 4.3 inches tall, 2.3 inches wide and 0.33
inches thick. It still has the curved steel backplate that feels natural
to hold but makes the iPod slightly unstable when you put it down on a surface.
Features are something that the 3rd gen iPod doesn’t lack. It plays music, video, it will
check your email, browse the net, view photos and podcasts, and play allsorts of apps available.
It also features the iTunes store so that you can buy media from the iPod.
Performance is one of those things that Apple focuses on when they make improvements. Thanks to this, the third generation iPod Touch
has amazing, flowing graphics on its user interface and in it’s games, thanks to the new integration of the OpenGL graphics system. This
has been a major improvement for the Touch.
This is probably the only slight negative of the review; it looks like Apple have forgotten about audio quality improvements, something
which most competitors are working hard on. Not to say that the sound quality at the moment on the Touch is unsatisfactory, but an sound
upgrade is always welcome on what is predominantly a music player.
On the negative side of things, Apple has seemingly forgotten about improving the sound quality on the Touch,
as its competitors are. Even though the audio quality is well over satisfactory, maybe there should be an audio upgrade
on the next release.
The third generation iPod Touch must be one of the bests iPods ever produced.
The iPod Touch is in a league of its own with all of the features it offers.
If you have an iPod Touch or iPhone already, this may not be worth the upgrade,
but if you are after a new iPod Touch or are about to purchase your first Apple product,
let this be the first one!