Apple iPod Touch (Second Generation)

Welcome features make this second act even better as a digital player


APPLE CALLS ITS SECOND-GENERATION iPod Touch "the funnest iPod ever," and with a growing list of games, best-in-class media management and navigation, Wi-Fi, and a host of other plusses, there's no arguing that this is the best the iPod has ever been. But the new features, which include a too-quiet internal speaker, volume buttons, and a slightly slimmer design, are hardly worth an upgrade from last year's model.

Still essentially an iPhone without the phone, the Touch's entire interface is smooth and—for the most pan—flawless. We did notice a slight delay when album art loaded in Cover Flow navigation, but this minor glitch stands
out only because everything else works so well. The touch screen is very responsive, and it supports multitouch gestures.

On the othet hand, the new internal speaker is really useful only for gaming, as its sound quality is somewhat worse than one would expect from an average cell-phone speaker. Worse still, it's so quiet that gaming in public—say, on a bus or a train—is still going to require wearing the earbud headphones. The hardware volume buttons, on the left side of the device, are a more successful addition.

Besides the volume, sleep/wake, and home buttons, the lack of any other hardware buttons is a big hurdle to gaming on the Touch. The processor is certainly capable,
as evidenced by games like Spore, which look gorgeous on the 3.5-inch screen (480x320-pixel). But precise controls aren't very easy with a touch screen; while its great for board games and sim flat slow-moving apps, fans of racing, fighting, and other button-mashing genres will be disappointed.
In Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D, for instance, you tilt the screen to steer, but have to tap the screen to jump or use items. Poking the screen tends to affect steering, which caused us to frequently crash into walls.

Still, the Touch can be a fun gaming device in a pinch, and along with everything else it can do, it's really more of a Mac in your pocket than just a media player. As for
staying powet. Apple rates the battery life at up to 36 hours for audio and 6 hours for video, which is fairly impressive. With all the Touch can do, of course, the battety never seems to last long enough, particularly if you're using its Wi-Fi.

The Touch weighs 4.1 ounces and measures 4.3x2.4x0.3 inches (HWD). Apple lists a capacity of up to 1,750 songs in the
AAC format for the 8GB model (up to 3,500 for the 16GB and up to 7,000 for the 32GB versions).The Wi-Fi supports 802.11b/g networks. For Nike+iPod users, support: for the fitness device is now built right into the Touch, so you no longer need to attach
an external dongle.



If all you want is music playback, go with the excellent Nano, which is smaller, cheaper, and generally a more polished
device. But if you expect more than music from your pocket-friendly player, the Touch delivers features that are leaps and bounds ahead of any other single device. —Matt Safford

www.apple.com

Computer Shopper January 2009