Apple’s iPod Touch 4G: Review

Dec 26, 2010 by James

I unboxed the iPod on Christmas and the thing is truly a beautiful piece. It was in Apple’s typical iPod clear case and came with the standard USB connector as well as headphones. Funny how you’re given a thing called a “touch” with a glass screen and chrome back but no cleaning cloth. I’ve had the iPod Touch as well as the iPod Touch 2G and when I picked this thing up it is clearly much thinner and lighter.

The first thing you notice when you turn it on is the screen. The screen is beautiful and it’s a shame they didn’t give you that cloth considering they knew you’d be salivating at the sight of it. It took me about 20 minutes to get all of my music, videos, photos and contacts onto it but that’s my Windows computer struggling not iTunes.

One of the first things I wanted to play with was the front and back cameras. This is also where my first disappointment with the device lies. When I was playing with the cameras it was high noon and the lighting was great and so were the photos. The HD video in natural lighting also looked like an HD DVD. None of my photos were grainy in natural light. Once it got dark the pictures go to shit. The cameras both struggle and eventually lose the battle with artificial light. Your indoor photos will look worse than the cheap camera you bought your kids. I immediately panicked thinking it was my fault but after searching Google and page after page of upset consumer postings I knew I hadn’t fucked it up. It’s not a huge draw unless you’re Brett Farve and want to send nude pics to your lover. It did bother me though until I exited the camera app.

Sticking with the theme of disappointments we are still left with the WIFI issue. Apple gave us this issue with the iPad and has still not fixed it. My WIFI drops just as much on the iPod as on the iPad even though my signal indicator says otherwise. You must once again go into settings and click the airplane mode on and then off to reactivate your WIFI. You’d think that this isn’t overly annoying, since multitasking makes it a 2 second process, but it will drive you nuts every time your emails won’t load or your texts don’t come through.

Multitasking is by far the best thing brought to the iPod. The ability to rock out to Pandora while using Twitter or a text app, or any app, makes it worth the money right there. I specifically love the fact that once I’m listening to Pandora my iPod controls switch so that they control Pandora. Switching between apps becomes a breeze and there is literally no wait time. Apple hit it on the head with this one.

FaceTime is exactly what it sounds like. I was particularly excited about this feature until I realized that I was the only one of my friends to have a device with FaceTime. I think it would be badass to see my friends face as we talk (think about the phone sex options ) but it will likely be awhile before all of my friends pick up an iPod or iPhone. So as of now I have not received a call on the iPod.

The speaker is actually louder than its predecessors and sounds clear which is nice. I’m listening to music right now without my headphones and it has some depth to it, more than the others, and I can hear it over my typing so that’s a plus.

The battery life is excellent considering how damn thin this thing is. I checked my battery at 75%, using the Battery Doctor app, and still had 25 hours and 39 minutes of audio left. You can go to Apple.com/ipod for all of their stats on battery life.

This truly is an iPhone without the phone portion but remember its a few hundred dollars cheaper without the horrible service that is AT&T. It is an excellent product that will see plenty of use and be able to keep up with the usage. It’s not meant to replace your laptop but 98% of the time I’m sure it could. It destroys my laptop in nearly every aspect except for that pesky Flash. It’s great for those who, like me, have an iPad but don’t want to carry it absolutely everywhere. Yea the cameras have their issues indoors but that’s a software fix that Apple can handle in 2 seconds; even though they haven’t. I’d still give it an 8 out of 10. It’s not the products’ fault that the company specifically made it an 8 and left some to be desired. I am once again thrilled with a device Apple pumps out but all the while I’m pissed at Apple for fucking over the consumer. If you have to have an iPod then this is the one to get.

I have the 32GB version with iOS 4.2