iPod Touch 2G Review
11 December 2009
Apple at its “Lets Rock” event held in San Francisco on September saw the curtain being raised for a new lineup of iPods. A lot of rumors had been going around about the design and changes that these new beauties would have and unexpectedly quite a large number of them turned out to be true, a rarity when it comes to Apple products. Apart from the hardware and cosmetic changes, Apple also reduced the prices of iPods making them even more attractive. We review the new Apple iPod Touch which looks strikingly similar to the coveted iPhone.
Apple iPod Touch 2G specifications :
- Dimensions : 2.4″ x 0.3″ x 4.3″
- Color : Black
- Display : 3.5″ LCD
- Audio formats : Protected AAC, Audible 3, WAV,MP3 VBR,
Audible 2, AIFF, MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, Audible 4 - Video formats : H.264, MPEG-4
- Connectors : USB, 3.5mm headphone jack,Docking connector
- Photo playback : JPEG photo playback
- Battery : Rechargeable Lithium-ion
- Estimated battery life : 36 hours
- OS : Mac OS X, Windows XP, Vista
- Warranty : 1-year with 90-days phone support
- Approx. price : $229
The price drop on the iPod Touch comes as no surprise as it was long expected after Apple introduced iPhone 3G at a starting price of just $199. The iPod Touch and the iPhone share a lot in common and with this update, the difference has further reduced. Apple has made the back of the iPod curved like the iPhone 3G and also included a volume rocker. Also now the iPod Touch ships with inbuilt speakers which a lot of users were craving for.
The back of the iPod Touch is still metallic but has a black color instead of silver. The metallic back feels much better in hand as compared to the iPhone 3G. Another thing which took the beauty away from the older iPod Touch was the black plastic patch at the top which was a WiFi receptor. Apple has now made it square and now gels with the overall design.
The display has remained unchanged except for the color tone which has is now a lot warmer, similar to iPhone 3G. The connectors remain unchanged and you have only the USB cable for both syncing with iTunes as well as charging it. Charge time is really slow at 4 hours.
Talking about the software, it comes loaded with the latest firmware ie. v2.1 which was released alongside the new iPods for both the iPod Touch and the iPhone. This version has a new feature called Genius. It lets you create playlists based on songs similar to what you are currently listening. It uses preferences from other users of iTunes to enhance its capability over the time.
External speakers are now a part of the 2G iPod Touch. But the quality of sound is average at best, although its good enough to play games and run other applications. Nike+ functionality now comes inbuilt into the iPod Touch which would be a boon to those who use their MP3 players during workout.
The Safari browser remains unchanged with no Flash support or audio support. You already have YouTube app to view YouTube videos on your iPod. Now you can purchase music from iTunes Wi-Fi music store. The downloads are restricted only to music songs as of now. Hopefully Apple will add video, podcasts etc support in future. The downloads can be paused and resumed too.
Coming to the performance, it has undoubtedly the best interface that you will come across any music player. It supports multitouch and has excellent responsiveness. Accelerometer further enhances user experience and Apple has used it brilliantly in CoverFlow. The interface speaks lengths about the hard work that has been put in to bring out an excellent interface.
The music quality of the player seems to have improved a bit from the earlier version. The formats supported are stil the same, which means you still have to convert your WMA files to other compatible format to be able to play them on your iPod. The worst thing about the iPod Touch is probably that you can not set a custom equaliser. A music player of its capability should have that option without doubt. The preset equalisers are no good and hardly improve the sound quality.
Video playback on the device is one of the best features. Watching videos on a large 3.5″ screen is a pleasure and the videos play in landscape mode only. Youtube videos can also be watched using the app provided by connecting the iPod through Wi-Fi.The battery life on the iPod Touch is rated at 36 hours for music and 6 hours for video. This should be good enough to satisfy the needs of most of the users. The actual usage varies according to Wi-Fi usage and screen brightness etc.
iTunes 8 is a pre-requisite for syncing iPod Touch to your Mac or PC. iTunes 8 has seen a major overhaul over the previous iTunes v7.7. It now has better interface as well as the Genius feature integrated. Song management is great in iTunes but new users will have a high learning curve.
So to put it straight, is it worth buying/upgrading? If you do not have an iPod Touch/iPhone then this is certainly a must buy. If you need external speakers necessarily then you should upgrade, else install v2.1 software on your previous generation iPod Touch for a mere $10 to get all the software benefits that the new iPod Touch flaunts.
Pros :
- Sleeker and curvier
- Amazing display
- Application support
- Nike+ integrated
- Great battery life
- External speakers
Cons :
- No custom equaliser
- No bundled iTunes software
- Average external speaker
- No WMA support
Final Thoughts
The second generation iPod Touch is an amazing device which beats its predecessor by quite a margin. The external speaker and Nike+ are two big additions to the device. Battery life has improved too along with the design which is now sleeker and curvier which feels better in the hand. Apple has still not added support for custom equaliser which is frustrating for music lovers. Overall a great device enhanced by application support from the App Store.
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