Apple launched its iPod touch 7 on Tuesday, May 28, just a week after Apple updated the MacBook Pro. It was launched with nothing but a processor bump and larger storage capacity. After it was launched it wasn’t much in spotlight with all the ongoing rumors about it.
After putting everything together, it can be said that Apple has made a move here. They smartly launched an updated, but still basic iPod touch that can serve as a dedicated device for those of us already into Apple and an easy device for those who want to try out Apple’s services but don’t want to pay the premium for an iPhone or iPad.
For people who want
- A dedicated gaming device
- A dedicated music device
- More Colors!
- A four-inch form factor
- To spend the least amount of money on a brand new Apple device
- AR support on an iPod touch
- An entertainment device for the kids
Not for people who want
- More than 256GB of storage
- Cellular connectivity
- 4K video recording
- Face ID / Touch ID
- A 12 MP camera
- Portrait Mode
- Apple Watch connectivity
A brief history of the iPod touch
The iPod touch was first launched in 2007 . The iPod was Apple’s most popular product . In October of 2012, the iPod touch was designed overhaul that gave us the overall look That was the fifth-generation iPod touch.
In 2015, Apple updated the iPod touch again, with that things changed significantly for Apple in terms of its iPhone lineup. The iPod touch didn’t have any biometric login, didn’t support 4K video, and had an 8MP rear camera and paltry 1.2MP front-facing camera.
By that time, people were asking the question of why would someone want an iPod touch when they can get an iPhone? Let’s fast forward to 2019 and we’re looking at an iPod touch that is essentially the same design as the one from 2012 with nearly all the same specs as the one from 2015 with the only change being that it now has an A10 processor chip, so it supports augmented reality (AR) and you can get it in as much as 256GB storage. So we’re again left with the question of why would anyone want an iPod touch when they can get an iPhone?
Here are some reasons why you would choose an iPod:
iPod touch 7 as a dedicated music player
When it comes to entertainment whether listening to music, downloading it or streaming it, the iPod touch 7 is similar as its past models. There’s no new or better listening experience. The Bluetooth connection and the speakers are the same. But, if you have never owned or used an iPod touch or your last iPod touch is still running iOS 6 and doesn’t even support Apple Music, a new iPod touch is a great investment.
The virtuoso feature of iPod touch is a dedicated music player. Users love setting up new playlists and taking them to parties and camping trips. With iPod, you don’t have to worry about running out of battery life like on the iPhone.
You can also share music with your family and friends other even if you have varying tastes in music and preferred services. Also, you can use Apple Music and your friend can use Spotify. You can stream your favorite playlists and albums on Apple Music and it won’t affect his end playlist on Spotify.
If the iPod touch isn’t being used for anything but music, it can be paired with whichever speaker you want and you never have to unpair it to use a different speaker or headphones. Similarly, you can do the same thing in the car. Download all the music, podcasts, and audiobooks you want while on Wi-Fi, and then drop my iPod touch in the car. You don’t have to reconnect your iPhone every single time you get into the car. The iPod touch is always there.
iPod touch 7 is not the new mobile gaming console
Apple improved it’s processor chip to the A10 with this iPod, and thus improved the gaming experience. Now, you must be thinking this means that gaming on the iPod touch is fantastic now. Well, not really! The A10 Fusion chip is much faster than the A8 chip of the iPod touch 6. According to Apple, up to 2x faster performance and up to 3x better graphics. Fortnight, this is the game everyone wants to know whether it works on iPod touch 7, indeed works on iPod touch 7. It runs smooth, has no lag, and never drops connection.
Installing Lego AR Playgrounds to see what the iPod touch ,it is found that the screen is a little small for AR, the overall device size is much better for AR games. It’s lightweight and easy to move around. When Apple Arcade launches, graphics-intense games may not be an issue.
There are hundreds and hundreds of beautiful mobile games, like Alto’s Odyssey, Lumino City, Monument Vally (1 and 2), and more that look great on the iPod touch 7 and play great, too.
About Fortnite, whether it works on iPod touch 7 or not .Yes it did work on iPod touch 7. It runs smooth, has no lag, and never drops connection. It’s like there’s a matte filter across the screen. Everything is just a little flatter and stripped down. CSR Racing, a game that’s known for its incredibly detailed realism in graphics, plays like its riding on rails on the iPod touch. However, isn’t quite so smooth. It’s not bad or ugly, it’s just not as good as the amazing graphics on the iPhone XS. It’s like we stepped back in time, graphically, to about 2017.
And more that look great on the iPod touch 7 and play great, too. Even though Apple’s biggest improvement to the iPod touch in 2019 is its processor performance, which is obviously geared toward gaming, the iPod touch fails to impress me as a dedicated gaming device. What it all pens down to is, the iPod touch 7 is not the new mobile gaming console we’ve all been waiting for.
Movie theater in your pocket
You can watch movies, TV series, documentaries, YouTube videos, all on the iPod touch. For being such a small screen, it looks pretty good.
As a dedicated device, you can download all the movies and TV series you can fit with the storage you have and go on with it. Carry it as your travel companion with a proper HDMI connector and you don’t have to worry about whether the internet is going to work well enough to let you watch movies all night long.
An iOS device for the non-Apple people
For people who haven’t used any Apple device yet, the iPod touch 7 is a quite good first-timer’s experience. It operates with the latest iOS, supports all of Apple’s services, and has all the same features that you need.
But the weak point we think is that the iPod touch 7 doesn’t have cellular support, so you can’t use your phone number to call people. However, you can use the Messages app with your Apple ID to send and receive messages. For Android users, this is a great way to participate in the messages without having to switch.
You can essentially use an iPod touch like a phone for all purpose, using Skype and WhatsApp. Only the Wi-Fi connection is required. If you’re tired of paying that high monthly cellular + data bill for your phone, maybe it’s time to switch off and just use an iPod touch instead. It would take some working around and you’d be without an internet connection when you’re on the road, but it’s totally worth if you’re willing to try.
The size factor!
The iPod touch is the exact same width and height as the iPhone SE. So tiny. So adorable.
After two years of the iPhone X and iPhone XS screen size, the four-inch screen does seem quite small. Like, while playing games or checking email on the road, larger screen size is more preferable.
Which is why a four-inch screen is the perfect size for the iPod touch if you want to stream music, podcasts, and audiobooks from it and don’t need a big screen to do that.
What about the iPod touch 6?
If you already own the sixth-generation iPod touch, it’s not like you’re going to find the processor upgrade to be enough to buy a new one. The point of the faster processor is to play games that the iPod touch 6 can’t handle. One major upgrade is worth moving from the sixth-generation to the seventh.
Apart from this, the only other significant change is that the iPod touch 7 storage capacity goes to 256GB, which is pretty big if you only need it for using media and entertainment.
Overall performance
A device cannot be properly reviewed if it didn’t mention the overall performance, including the camera, battery life, and system speed.
The iPod touch 7 quite works as you’d expect it to. Apps and games load fast. The battery lasts a decently long time. It run for about 8 hours straight, listening to music, and the battery percentage only dropped by about a quarter.
The camera isn’t something we all be excited about. The rear-facing camera performs really well in natural sunlight. Clear, crisp images. In the dark, it’s pretty blury. The FaceTime camera good. It’s a bit grainy, but not as bad as to not use at all.
iPod Touch 7 is for more than just Android users and kids
Kids
It’s is a great starter device for kids. Parents can invest a minimal amount of money to get what is essentially an iPhone without cellular capability The starting price of an iPod touch is $199, so it’s less burdensome on the pocketbook than any other Apple device and it’s brand new, so kids won’t complain about outdated technology.
Kids can listen up to whatever music they want approved by parents, what ever games they like agreed by parents, and whatever streaming movie and TV service you’re signed up with Thanks to Screen Time and improved parental controls, you can also lock down this iPod touch and monitor it from your iPhone. More freedom for the little ones, less annoyances for you .
Android Users
Another great pros aspect we see that it is good for Android users. An iPod touch lets Android users have a low-cost gadget that will allow them to play in the Apple playground without having to switch.
With Apple’s recent push to sell its services, this is an ideal way to shore up its user base for things like TV+, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade. The 2015 iPod touch specs were perfectly acceptable for streaming Apple Music or reading News+ (though it’s a pretty small screen for those magazines to fit on). The A10 processor chip means it now supports AR apps and games, something Apple has been bullish on for the past few years. Apple is trying to sell its services and wants Android users. The iPod touch can make that possible.
Tech-Lover
It is low-cost screen reader. Thanks to the robust accessibility features, you can use VoiceOver to read the news, your favorite blog posts, and a lot more. With display accommodations, you can adjust the way things look on the screen, like inverting colors and setting filters for color blindness. The Zoom feature on iOS magnifies things up to 1500 percent, so you can read certain things without having to pinch-to-zoom the whole screen. The magnifier is another incredible feature that, when used in conjunction with display accommodations, provides an advanced magnifying reader that can help with non-digital reading. The iPod touch can do all of this and its much less expensive than buying an iPhone or iPad.
Coders
For coders it is quite next to perfect because of the low price tag on the iPod touch. If you’re looking for a developer device, but can’t afford one of Apple’s more expensive products, $199 starts to look really good. Schools can buy them in bulk and use them as learning tools for students for coding, too.
Other reasons:
- It’s like a mobile game console. Download a bunch of games you wouldn’t have put on your iPhone for space-saving reasons.
- Stock up on downloaded music. This can be done without worrying about running out of batteries on your iPhone.
- As a dedicated music player plus a device for gaming on the go, this things got it all and you don’t have to keep it with you at all times like you might with your iPhone.
- Bring it on a jog or to the gym. You can leave your iPhone at home, or at least in your gym bag, and still have the use of your entertainment apps. This is especially nice for people that don’t already own an Apple Watch.
- Download audio books and podcasts. If you’re headed on a long road trip, this can be your one-stop shop for music, podcasts, and audio books and you don’t have to deal with your navigation apps affecting your experience.
- Connect it to your speakers at work . Don’t worry about taking it home at night. It’s the work iPod!
- Want to set up a dedicated iMessage app so you can chat with grandma or the grandkids? You can sign in with a separate Apple ID from what you have on your iPhone and this becomes a special communications device.
Bottom Line-Final Review
The iPod touch is used for, specifically as a dedicated music device.
If you have an iPod touch 6, this is probably one to skip. The one major upgrade, the A10 Fusion chip, does make it possible to play games that you can’t play on the iPod touch 6, but they don’t look nearly as good as they do on an iPhone.
If you didn’t had an iPod touch since 2012 , this is the version we recommend. It’ll reinvent your love of the iPod. If you really don’t think there’s a reason for you to buy an iPod touch, you’re probably right. That is different aspect if you already own an iPhone, it’s an excess . But that doesn’t mean you won’t love it, anyway.
If you’re an android user and have been wondering what it’s like to have an Apple’s device, you really should get an iPod touch 7. It’s not the same as having an iPhone XS. The iPod touch lets you jump into the Apple ecosystem without having to commit to anything.
The 128GB model is the one you can afford it. You’re going to download a lot of music, movies, and games that you can use when you’re not on Wi-Fi, so you don’t want to run out of space too fast. The 128GB is the best value at $299.
