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Apple iPod Touch Review
(16 GB)
The iPod Touch is a marvel to behold. People who passed on the iPhone in the hope that Apple would soon integrate the same cool features into its industry-leading iPod line-up now have the MP3 player they've been pining for.
But to simply call the iPod Touch an MP3 player would be selling it short. This is a full-fledged media player with features you might initially dismiss as superfluous but once you get your hands on the Touch, you'll be wowed.
Case in point: YouTube functionality. Our initial impression was, "Big deal. The Touch already has Safari with the ability to surf the Web via a Wi-fi connection, so why is having a separate button for YouTube worth it?" Then we tried it and were immediately impressed by how seemlessly YouTube has been integrated into the Touch. Search and other YouTube functions have been custom-designed to fit the iPod Touch form factor, and movies play in full screen with none of the screen noise you'd have surrounding the movie window on a computer.
But YouTube is just one example of the nice surprises the iPod Touch has in store for you. The photo viewing functionality is fluid, intuitive and a joy to play with. You'll flip through photos with a flick of the finger, rotating the iPod Touch from landscape to portrait and back to best orientate viewing of your photos. And it's easy to set your favorite shot as your iPod's wallpaper, cropping and zooming as you see fit.
Wallpaper on an iPod? That's right... for the first time, iPod presents a true multimedia experience, not unlike sitting at a souped-up iMac and choosing from many applications to hunt down exactly what you want. In fact, the iPod Touch is powered by what's essentially a lite version of OS X.
The negatives? OK, there's a few. Apple could have included Bluetooth compatibility it did with the iPhone, but stripped it out. And the inability to enter contacts through the iPod Touch is annoying. Then there's the storage capacity. If you're an audiophile, you'll likely have to pick just the cream of the crop from your vast song library, even if you opt for the 16 GB model.
Plus, we're disappointed by how poor the color black and other dark tones display on the otherwise gorgeous screen. They blend together and make it difficult to see detail in dark scenes.
Our rating: the Apple iPod Touch is unlike any MP3 player we've reviewed. This is the one we've been waiting for, and it did not disappoint. We'll score it an A- (which will improve to an A when a higher capacity model is released).
But don't just take our word for it... check out how buyers of the Apple iPod Touch review it at Amazon.com.
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Features:
* Multi-Touch screen interface
* 3.5 inch, 320x480 widescreen display
* Download music right from iTunes
* Wi-Fi connectivity
* YouTube integrated functionality
* Safari Web browser
Technical Details:
* Model: MA627LL/A
* Supported Standards: WAV, AAC, Other Audio Formats, Audible, MP3
* Hardware Platform: PC, Mac
* Battery Average Life: 22 Hours
* Width: 2.4 inches
* Depth: 0.3 inches
* Height: 0.31 inches
* Weight: 0.26 pounds
* Item Package Quantity: 1
* Headphones Form Factor: Ear-bud
* Memory 16 GB
* Graphic equalizer: Digital
* Warranty: 1 year warranty
* Digital Storage Capacity: 16 GB
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