Review Apple’s decision not to add a Camera to the latest version of the iPod Touch disappointed a lot of people, but at least the 32GB and 64GB models received a new processor that gives the device more potential as a games machine. The iPod Shuffle didn’t even get that. However, Apple did announce some minor changes to the Shuffle product line, so we’ve decided to give the latest version a quick look in time for the Christmas buying frenzy.
The original third-generation iPod Shuffle, with its ultra-compact, slimline design remains unchanged – as does its price, at £59 with 4GB of storage. Until recently, if you were looking for something that came in under the £50 mark there was the fatter, rectangular second generation Shuffle with the control button on the body of the player itself. With just 2GB of memory, it was still on sale until earlier this month for £45.
That 2G iPod Shuffle has now been phased out and replaced with a 3G model with the same price and 2GB capacity. Both 3G models are available in silver, black, pink, green and blue, and there’s also a Special Edition version in stainless steel that costs £75 with 4GB storage. Battery life is unchanged at around 10 hours, a figure that was confirmed when we left it playing on a shelf all day. Read the rest of this entry »
Review It’s official – the iPod Touch is a games machine. When the second-generation model was launched this time last year, we noted – in one of our occasional moments of penetrating insight – that Apple seemed to have been taken unawares by the flood of games that had appeared on the iPhone and the first Touch.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed this recently, admitting that “originally, we didn’t know how to market the Touch”. But Apple seems to have made its mind up now, as the new Touch is very much intended to be Apple’s contender in the handheld gaming market.
And that, according to Jobs, is why Apple disappointed so many people by not including a Camera in the new model. Rather than adding new features, Jobs states that Apple‘s main priority was simply to reduce the price of the Touch in order to compete more effectively with established gaming gadgets such as the Sony PSP and Nintendo’s DS.
Both consoles have been slimmed down of late, and are no longer as clunky as they were at launch, but neither is as svelte as the Touch nor as feature filled. They’ll continue to enjoy a big fan-based, of course, and sell well – they have more, better-known games than the Touch does – but if we were in the market for a handheld games console, we’d almost certainly prefer the Touch with its more extensive range of capabilities. Read the rest of this entry »
