MacFormat UK – September 2019

APPLE CHOICE iOS hardware

80 | MACFORMAT | SEPTEMBER 2019

iPod touch

Improved, but is it for you?

From £199 FROM Apple, apple.com/uk

FEATURES 4in Retina display, A10 Fusion chip, 32GB-256GB

storage (256GB reviewed), 8MP camera, 88g weight, six colours

A good device in its

own right, but hard

to justify unless it’s

being bought for kids.

++++++

Very lightweight

Reasonably priced

Manual unlock

feels slow

Do you need it?

VERDICT

Even the most

demanding

games like

Asphalt 9 run

smoothly

macformat.com @macformat

Paying £399 for the 256GB iPod touch is

a tougher sell, as you’re starting to move

towards iPhone price territory.

Where the iPod touch is hard to justify

is when it’s compared to the iPhone 7, which

is £449 for the 32GB model. Though that’s

over twice the price of the 32GB iPod touch,

you get Touch ID, a bigger screen, plus full

phone and messaging capabilities. Apple will

let you trade in an older iPhone to get money

off; trade in a 16GB iPhone 6 Plus and the

iPhone 7 drops to £299, for example.

Should you buy an iPod touch, then?

Well, the 32GB model would make the perfect

portable music and games device for a child

who doesn’t need a phone yet. Add them to an

Apple Music family subscription and they get

as much music as they could ever want, too.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty hard sell. Most

people already have a phone that can play

music – do you need an iPod touch as well?

You can get a second-hand 32GB iPhone 7 for

the same price as the base iPod touch and it is

far, far more capable. The iPod touch is a great

device – just give it plenty of thought before

buying one. ALEX BLAKE

T

hese days, the iPod

touch seems to be one

of Apple’s ‘forgotten’

devices. This year, though, Apple

has updated the iPod touch by giving

it 2016’s A10 Fusion chip and a new

256GB capacity. Prices start at £199

for the 32GB model and go up to

£399 for the 256GB version.

The A10 processor may be a few

years old now, but it’s plenty fast

enough for the iPod touch. Apps load

in a snap, and even the chunkiest,

most demanding games like

Asphalt 9 run smoothly.

The iPod touch’s real advantage,

though, is its size. At just 88g it is by

far the lightest of Apple’s iPhone and iPod

devices. Coming from one of Apple’s more

recent phones like an iPhone XS Max or

iPhone XR, you’ll be amazed at how small

it is. Just think – all of Apple’s phones used

to be this size (though never this light).

Not the iPhone SE 2

Now here’s an interesting situation. Apple

has disabled the Phone app, so theoretically

you’re limited to text messages and on-device

tasks. The reality, though, is a little different.

Download Facebook Messenger, for example,

and you can make Wi-Fi calls. That means

you get the call and text capabilities of an

iPhone as long as you’re within Wi-Fi range.

You won’t be able to take it out into the middle

of nowhere and be able to call people though.

That means if you’re hoping for a new

iPhone SE, you’re out of luck; the iPod touch

is not a true phone replacement. There’s also

no Face ID or even Touch ID; no dual camera

support; no edge-to-edge screen. There is,

however, a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The £199 price tag for the 32GB model

is reasonable. You can get a 16GB Sony

Walkman MP3 player for around £140, but

that has half the storage and no access to

Apple Music (or other streaming services).

The iPod touch is great for gaming and music, but so is

an iPhone. And you get a great deal more with an iPhone.