iPod’s latest release is its new iPod touch. The new iPod touch (7th generation) is amazing for both gaming and listening to music, and equipped with the new A10 Fusion processor, which makes the Augmented Reality experience, which is better than ever. It’s available at a reasonable price, making it a great deal as an entertainment device. But it’s important to note that the camera isn’t the best, and anyone who’s used to having Touch ID, currently found on the iPhone 5S or higher, will miss having it.
The iPod touch 7 is the first upgrade to its portable music and video player since 2015. The new iPod touch 7 is fully equipped towards gaming, after getting enhancements to its “power, capability, and communication”, coming just in time for Apple’s new gaming service, Apple Arcade, which is going to released later this fall. Apple Arcade will be available for a set monthly fee.
The new iPod touch 7 is already available to buy, and the price depends on how much storage space you’re looking for. Starting at the bottom, the 32GB model costs $199; the price rises to $299 for the 128GB model; and the most expensive model goes for $399 with a storage space of 256GB.
In terms of design, the new iPod touch looks the same as its predecessor. It comes with a four-inch display and its lightweight. It’s available in a total of six colors: blue, space gray, white, gold, pink, and red. The home bottom is located at the bottom of the iPod touch, but doesn’t feature Apple’s Touch ID technology, so you’ll have to remember a six-digit passcode to unlock it. The on/off button can be found on the top of the iPod, and the volume buttons on the left-hand side of the display. It also comes with front- and rear-facing cameras.
Speaking of cameras, one of the applications that comes built-in is the Camera app. The camera hardware is the same found on the iPod’s older versions. The front of the iPod touch has a 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera. On the back, a more advanced 8MP camera can be found, supporting autofocus, auto image stabilization and a f/2.4 aperture. 4K video recording and Portrait Mode are not present in this build, making this a downgrade. When comparing to the old iPhose SE, the new camera falls behind, since photos aren’t as detailed as with the old camera, and the hardware hasn’t improved since the previous iPod touch.
The new iPod touch comes with a built-in speaker, Lightning port, and the returning 3.5mm headphone jack, which had been discontinued in 2018. The reason why Apple brought back the 3.5mm headphone jack can be explained either by the superior audio quality provided by wired headphones, or just that the company is trying to appeal to children who may prefer to used wired headphones, rather than wireless ones. Along with this re-introduction, the new iPod touch comes with a pair of Apple’s EarPods, as well as a Lightning cable to charge it when needed.
The new iPod touch weights a mere 88g, feeling incredibly light, and its 4-inch display is easy to hold and navigate with just one hand, making it accessible for both kids and adults. Its 326ppi LED Retina display is bright and clear, making it attractive. The 1136 x 640 pixel display is a downgrade when compared to the color-accurate OLED display found on the iPhone X, but this new iPod touch model is only a fifth of the price of Apple’s latest smartphone, making it a bargain.
The running operating system is the iOS 12, Apple’s latest OS, also bringing group FaceTime for up to 32 users, Screen Time, and 70 new emojis. iOS 12.3.1 is the latest released version of the mobile OS, and it’s available to iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad users. The 7th-gen iPod can do everything an iPhone can, except calls or accessing the internet by using mobile data; but you can, however, use messaging apps such as WhatsApp or iMessenger over Wi-Fi.
Apple said the iPod’s battery life lasts up to 40 hours, or a straight eight hours of video playback. Average music playback and casual gaming won’t deplete the battery at an alarming rate, but playing demanding games like PUBG (Player Unknown Battlegrounds), and streaming video at full brightness will drain it much faster than when using more basic apps.
By using the Apple EarPods that are included in the box, the audio performance is great, handling music with ease. They’ll capture every detail within a soundtrack, from every tight bass note and precise percussive beats, to clear and smooth vocals, making it able to capture any low or high note. Reaching its 7th generation, the iPod touch now comes with the Hi-Res Audio codec FLAC, as well as Apple Lossless, leaving you fully fitted to access audiophile-quality music. But if you really want to listen to Hi-Res Audio, you shouldn’t use the Apple’s EarPods, since there are way better options available. But the EarPods don’t sound terrible. They are great for casual listening, and are convenient and easy to use, and if you ever need to replace them, they come at a fair price, which makes them a great choice. The inbuilt speaker at the bottom of the iPod touch is really powerful, despite its size. It’s not great to listen to Hi-Res music, but it’s nice for having a little background music or for when you can’t be bothered to grab your headphones.
This new iPod is optimized for gaming. It’s equipped with Apple’s A10 Fusion processor, offering what Apple calls “immersive augmented reality (AR) experiences”. This processor will double the performance and give you three times as good graphics. Games like AR Dragon from the App Store load quickly; something that can be very important for any impatient user. A simpler game like Whale Trail from ustwo Games looks fantastic on the backlit LED display and doesn’t have any latency issues. However, to really take the new iPod touch to its limit, we need something a little more complex to process. PUBG is a battle royale phenomenon and has a mobile version that’s known for demanding a lot in terms of processor speeds, GPU performance, and RAM capacity.
According to Ars Technica, the A10 Fusion chip’s built-in GPU delivers “about 56% the performance of the A12”, the chip that’s used in the latest iPhones, but there aren’t any latency issues while playing PUBG. The graphics run smoothly, and the bright and sharp display handles the realistic military-style graphics with ease. Lastly, the 7th-gen iPod touch has a lot more to offer, being built with double the RAM of its predecessor ( exactly 2GB ), having a lot more memory to run any more complex and newly released game.
The iPod touch (7th generation) is indeed impressive, when taking its price into account. Its equipped with a 4-inch display, and includes a 3.5mm jack, which makes it more versatile. Despite lacking Touch or Face ID, it makes music sound great with the newly included support for the audio codec FLAC, making it ideal for audiophiles. It easily handles even the most demanding games, which will help Apple with releasing its new gaming service, Apple Arcade, making the iPod touch the cheapest way to get access to it for anyone who doesn’t have an iPhone.
Let’s not forget that this 7th-gen iPod touch can’t make calls, as well as access the internet by using mobile data, but at least parents won’t have to worry about their kids downloading games over a mobile network, which could heavily increase the cost of mobile data plans. This brings another advantage for concerned parents that want to protect their kids from the dangers of the online world, since this build only allows for Wi-Fi connections, making it much easier for parents to limit their kids connection to the internet. This possibly makes the iPod touch the perfect balance between regular ‘dumb’ phones and a fully connected iPhone.
