Review: iPod Touch

No sooner than I announced to my flatmate that I had Apple’s iPhone without the phone in my possession she took and immediately attempted to check her email account.

Luckily for me Gmail was down at the time or else she'd probably still be on it, such is the allure of the Touch.

Although the Touch is part of the iPod family, it's much more than a music player.

As soon as you turn it the array of Mac-like icons should be enough to make you realise you're in for a whole lot more than a device to play your favourite tunes.

At your fingertips are a web browser, address book, diary, links to YouTube, a photo album and video players.

You could call the Touch a PDA that plays music, but that doesn't sound quite as sexy.

Being an Apple product there's a distinct lack of buttons.

The Touch has two, an on/off switch and a home button.

The touch screen controls everything else.

That 8.89cm screen delivers videos that are crisp and clear, however, I don't know whether it would be suitable for watching long form programming such as movies or TV shows.

That's probably not the point.

iPods are for people on the go so if you're want to do more than watch a few music videos on the bus ride a portable DVD might be more your style.

Talking visuals, the Touch does photos very well.

Photos are loaded from the computer via iTunes and the display renders them vibrant and sharp.

Zooming in and out is done with pinched fingers.

The touch retains the same dock system as other pods making it compatible with existing speakers, car chargers and radio adapters.

Supplied headphones are the ubiquitous apple ear buds.

Just because you see them dangling from a lot of ears it doesn't mean they're that great.

It's a shame because the sound coming out of the pod deserves a better delivery system.

The wi-fi browser is a great idea, but one that's time hasn't quite come.

There's probably not much call for surfing on the touch around the home and currently there just aren't that many hot spots around most urban areas to give you proper on the hoof coverage.

That said the browser works a treat.

Pages render quickly and zooming is just a matter of double tapping on-page elements.

The iPod Touch is $479 for 8Gb and $650 for 16Gb from www.apple.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News