Apple ipod touch has evolved in three years, we’re not really sure what to call it anymore because so many features and uses beyond media play back. Some still pick it up for good video and old fashioned music playback, but the other see it as a portable gaming device, and some flock to the touch for it’s first class mobile web browser and email support. Apple third generation has come, with priced respectively at $199, $299, and $399 and flaunting 8GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities. With it’s status as the world most feature packed portable media player, hardware design hasn’t changed dramatically.
The looks of ipod touch third generation is not different from the second generation, for better or worse. You’d be hard to find the different of the third and second generation if we put it side by side of. The ipod touch screen resolution is 480 x 320 pixel with a glass covered 3.5 inch screen, just like its phone wielding sibling, the iphone. The shape and dimensions of the Touch also remain unchanged (4.3 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide 0.33 inch thick), defined by a flat-glass front set inside a curved steel backing that feels natural in the hand but makes the iPod a little wobbly when you set it down on a table.
The bottom edge of the Touch includes the same universal dock port and 3.5-millimeter headphone jack as previous models, piercing the otherwise unbroken expanse of chromed steel that wraps around the back and edges of the device.
In spite of its touch-screen interface, Apple includes a few physical buttons, including a slim volume control on the left edge, a hold switch on the top, and a home button on the face of the player, placed below the screen. Packaged with the Touch is an Apple universal dock connector USB cable, a pair of white earbuds that include a microphone and remote control on the cable, and a molded universal dock insert to use with any charging or speaker accessories. The quality of 32GB iPod touch’s screen still doesn’t match that of either of iPhones.
Its display has a yellower cast and is darker than iPhones’ displays. Fortunately you’re unlikely to be bothered by these issues unless you have the touch next to an iPhone and compare the two as I did, in which case you might be the tiniest bit envious of the iPhone’s display.
Apple eventually allowed adding and editing events within the touch’s Calendar application through a free software update. The iPhone’s “non-phone” applications remained missing in action, however, until Steve Jobs announced a $20 add-on package of iPod touch applications at the recent Macworld Expo. These applications—Mail, Stocks, Maps, Weather, and Notes—are included with iPod touches sold today.
The on-screen keyboard, too, hasn't lost its brilliance in the last year or so. Whether typing notes or URLs, adding calendar entries or composing emails It never ceases to amaze me how good both the touch screen's ability to 'know' which letter you were jabbing for or what word you were trying to type.
Apple has found a way to squeeze more life out of a battery charge. With the 1.1.1 iPod touch software iPod touch played music continuously for just under 17 hours five hours short of Apple’s claim of 22 hours of continuous audio play. New 32GB iPod touch, running software version 1.1.3, played for 26 hours and 36 minutes four and a half hours longer than Apple’s estimate. At this point I don’t know what to attribute the increased playtime to—whether there’s something special about the 32GB iPod touch or the latest software manages power better. With that in mind, I’m retesting the audio playtime on my old 16GB iPod touch (which is running the 1.1.3 software and includes the $20 add-on application pack) to see if the latest software gives the battery a boost. I’ll post results when I have them.