Apple iPod Touch 4th

The iPod touch has just got better and better over the years. A device which in my mind is an iPhone without the phone part (3G).

The 4th Gen iPod touch brags many of the features the iPhone 4 has, with its Retina Display, gyroscope, Apple A4 Processor, individual volume rockers, FaceTime camera, rear camera, microphone and 802.11n networking this is more than just another iPod touch.

The first real major change you can see with the new iPod touch is the exterior design. The iPod touch 4th Gen is considerably thinner and lighter than the iPod touch 2nd and 3rd Gen which both share the exact same design. The back of the device is still beautiful chrome which has a great line on it. The front of the iPod has changed with the chrome now being less visible around the on the front edge and the bezel is considerably thinner from left to right. The volume rockers are separate buttons which defiantly feel nicer to use. Of course we have the rear camera on the back and the FaceTime camera on the front. All in all the design changes are fabulous and just make the iPod touch that much better.

The display is the biggest change for me, the ‘Retina Display’ that is. With a resolution of 960×640 and the advanced backlighting systems Apple have put in place alongside the ambient light sensor this thing rocks! It really does look like a print out underneath the screen, everything just looks better from text to pictures to video. When comparing this display to the previous iPod touch’s (which had an absolutely superb display) this thing blows it away. I also started to notice things within Apps which I had never seen before and text looked thinner due to it being crisper, this is all because of the Retina Display.

The rear camera takes perfectly good pictures for Twitter etc. but compared to the iPhone 4 it’s nowhere near the same. The iPhone 4 has a 5MP rear camera and the iPod touch 4th Gen has 0.7MP rear camera. 0.7MP may seem low but it does take very nice pictures but when you start blowing them up you notice that lower MP count. Video capture on this camera is a different story, it films in HD 720p at 30FPS, video looks absolutely superb and gives Flip cameras on the market no purpose.

Video taken outdoor and indoor is crisp, clear and delivers rich colors and contrast. Focusing is also possible by simply touching the screen to the destination you would like to focus on. Again compared to video taken on the iPhone 4 it isn’t quite as good but it’s defiantly close.

The FaceTime camera on the front is VGA quality which for FaceTime calls is perfect. The quality isn’t terrible which is what I always think when I hear the term VGA, it performs well in low light and when in a FaceTime call a choppy video feed never occurs even on really slow connections. The microphone for both cameras is of a very high quality, it picks up low level speech well and it doesn’t reverb audio. When played back sounds are crisp and clear which is surprising for such a small device.

The actual speaker is louder and of a better quality compared to the previous iPod touch, it’s perfect for playing games and watching movies but in a busy area with lots of noise you won’t be able to hear the speaker easily. Small and thin devices have a real challenge in terms of the speakers sound quality, Apple I must say are doing a great job with this iPod touch being even thinner than the last but it has a better sounding speaker is quite remarkable.

In terms of real usage the battery as always gets better with every new iPod touch and so this one gets me through the day with very heavy usage just fine. Audio playback is 40hrs plus and video playback is 7hrs plus. The iPod is defiantly a very nice experience to hold and to use, the thinner bezel helps it fit even more nicely in the hand.

Overall this is a fantastic device, if your in the market for an iPhone 4 but you don’t like that contract this is seriously worth considering. The iPod touch 4th Gen will also make a great gift for anyone who has an older iPod or may just enjoy their music, movies, TV Shows, Apps/ Games, email, web, taking pictures/ films and much much more all in one easy accessible place.

The iPod Touch Apple is one of the greatest portable entertainment devices that has been released. Personally I would liken it to having a similar impact to that of the Sony Walkman of yesteryear. My own iPod Touch gets a great deal of use every day, and not just as a music player. I also use it for enjoying podcasts, TV shows, films, games, books, and of course as a web browser and GPS device. Once you’ve purchased an iPod Touch is very important that you know how to get the absolute most out of your device. There are easy ways to do this.

Music

Make sure you have a good selection of music on your iPod, from a range of genres and to fit a range of moods. To save space on your iPod Touch for other things, you could select favourite songs from various albums instead of the entire album.

Podcasts

When syncing podcasts to your iPod, it may well be a good idea to set iTunes so that only the most recent unplayed episode of each podcast is synced to your device. This stops your iPod Touch becoming clogged with unplayed podcasts, leaving little room for anything else.

Apps

It’s very tempting to download loads and loads of apps for your device (I have a fair few myself), but again these can be a drain on resources. If they are out to you aren’t using much any more if at all, you can easily delete them, either via the touch screen itself or via iTunes.

Photos

It’s very easy to let your iPod be filled with photographs you’ve saved from the Internet or from your own computer. It’s cool to have a good selection of them there, just be aware of how much memory those photos take up.

Web browsing

Bear in mind that if you surf the web with your iPod Touch, you may very well open up several Safari windows. This can slow down the performance of your iPod Touch. If you have unnecessary windows open, close them down. If those pages are important, you can of course bookmark them before you do so.

Syncing

When syncing your iPod Touch via iTunes, be sure to check how much space you have left free on your device. Make sure you leave some space free for downloading things on the go, such as photographs, new episodes of podcasts, or apps from the app store. Personally I try to leave half a gigabyte free.