Apple iPod Touch 3rd Generation
Apple's iPod Touch
Apple's iPod Touch is now in it's third year and has gained so many features and other uses, it is now more than a media player. Some of the new features are Higher Storage Capacity, Voice Control, Improved Accessibility, Graphics Enhancements, and Faster Processor which helps improve what is already an excellent Media Player.
Some people love it for being a Portable Gaming Device, some love it it for it's excellent Mobile Web Browser and E-mail support, and others just love it for it's plain old Audio and Video Playback. Whatever you choose the Apple iPod Touch for, the new third generation is here in capacities of 64Gb, 32Gb and 8Gb.
Apple iPod 3rd Generation Design.
The first thing you will notice about the Third Generation iPod Touch is how much it look like it's predecessor, the second generation touch. Apart from some minor detail they are almost identical.
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The Apple iPod Touch has a glass covered 3.5 inch touch screen that has a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels. Although being a touch screen, Apple have added a few physical controls. These include a slim volume control which is on the left edge, a Home button on the face of the player just below the screen, and a Hold switch on the top. The bottom edge of the iPod Touch contains the same docking port which is universal to these, and a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack.
The dimensions and the shape of the iPod Touch remain the same, approximately 4.3 inch high x 2.4 inch wide x 0.33 inch deep. It has a flat glass front panel and a curved steel back that feels good in the hand. An Apple universal dock connector usb cable, pair of earphones with a microphone and remote control on the cable, and a universal dock insert that can be used with any speaker or charging accessories, are included in the box with the iPod.
Apple iPod 3rd Generation Features.
The third-generation iPod Touch has an excellent music player, video playback, which includes a YouTube player and iTunes rentals, a photo viewer, Safari Web browser, an e-mail reader which is compatible with Outlook, Exchange, MobileMe, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or any POP e-mail service, an integrated iTunes store so that you can download music and video, and lots of other utilities such as the weather, contacts, notes, voice memos, calculator, clock, calendar, maps, stocks, etc.
An iTunes App Store, which is accessible directly from the iPod Touch, allows you to download thousands of applications, some of these being social-networking tools, games, voice recorders, internet radio players and many many more.
The capabilities of the Apple iPod Touch can be greatly extended with 3rd party "Made for iPod" hardware accessories, some being AV docking stations, speaker systems and external battery packs.
Not every model of the third-generation iPod Touch family is made with the same specification. The 8GB iPod Touch still uses second-generation hardware that uses a slower processor than the 32GB and 64GB models. It also lacks support for new features such as OpenGL graphic support, Voice Control and advanced accessibility features.
Genius Mixes, Voice Memo Recording, and Bluetooth audio, are available on all versions of the third-generation iPod Touch. The Accessibility Settings and Voice Control are features found only on the 32GB and 64GB.
The 8Gb model comes at a much lower price, possibly because of the lower spec, and this might be perfectly adequate for some people.
The Apple iPod Touch Voice Control Screen.
Voice control
The iPod Touch now has the capability to control playback using voice commands, this is done by using the microphone that is built into the lead on the pair of earbuds. You can say the name of a song, an artist's name, an album, or a playlist, and the iPod Touch will interpret your voice commands and play the requested title.
Play, Pause, Shuffle and skip, can all be controlled using the voice command feature, or you can do it manually using the earbud remote control.
The Apple iPod Touch accessibility menu.
Accessibility
For users with visual impairment, the 32Gb and 64Gb the have screen zooming features than can be enabled. Other features are an automatic text reader that will read everything from e-mails to entire Web pages, black/white reversal, a Voice Over feature that offers spoken feedback of menus and any item selected by touch, mono audio, and home button triple click. These features should be of great benefit to users who previously had difficulty or could not use the iPod Touch.
Apple iTunes on the move.
On the iPod Touch you can browse the web, preview, purchase and download content from the iTunes Wi-Fi store, by connecting to any available wireless connection. From the iTunes store you can download music, movies, music videos, TV shows, audio books, podcasts, and iTunes U educational content. Any interrupted downloads can pick up where they left off, once an internet connection is re-established.
Performance
Not many devices can equal the Apple iPod Touch when it comes to touch screen performance and menu usability, however the gap has been closed by manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony, and more notably Microsoft.
To keep ahead Apple has increased the speed where it is most noticed i.e. Gaming. With an increase of around 50% in processor power and the new OpenGL graphic processing system, the loading time and the responsiveness of games on the 3rd generation Apple iPod Touch have been speeded up dramatically. One game which took 14 seconds to load in the 2nd generation iPod Touch, took only 8 seconds to load in the 3rd generation model. If games are your main interest then the much improved speed and graphics of the 32Gb and 64Gb models are certainly for you.
When it comes to audio, the third-generation iPod Touch supports playback for MP3, WAV, AIFF, Audible, AAC including protected files, and Apple Lossless. There is no support for WMA music files, but you can easily convert your WMA tracks to MP3 within Apple's iTunes software.
The stereo Bluetooth audio streaming capability which is included with the OS 3.0 upgrade, is one of the long-awaited features of the Apple iPod Touch. The iPod Touch can be paired with Bluetooth accessories such as car stereos, speaker systems or stereo headsets. It is quite simple, and a record of the previously paired devices is stored in the iPod's Settings menu.
The range and quality of the Bluetooth which is about 30 feet, is about the same as to be expected from other bluetooth devices.
If you need a way to take video on the move then the Apple iPod Touch is just what you need. It can be loaded with TV shows, iTunes Movie Rentals, Video Podcasts, or you can watch any amount of free video clips by using the YouTube widget, which is included, or you can use any other third party video application.
The 32Gb and 64Gb third-generation Touch have a noticeable improvement to contrast and color balance, producing a cooler and more natural color balance than the second-generation Touch. It also seemed less prone to washing out at higher brightness settings.
Apple iPod Touch Battery Life.
The battery life of the iPod touch is around 30 hours, which is quite good considering the faster processor and the added Bluetooth.
Video playback times are at around 6 hours.
If you are changing from an older MP3 player with just basic capabilities to the Apple iPod Touch, then you are in for a technological delight.
This is one of this years must have products.
So why don't you ask for one for Christmas.
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