The more powerful processor also allows the 32GB/64GB models to use the Voice Command feature that was recently introduced on the iPhone 3GS. This means that the standard tinny-sounding iPod earphones still sound tinny but now include a built-in microphone too. All three have Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, though only wireless stereo headphone connections are supported.
The 32GB and 64GB models support voice control... but so what?
Stereo Bluetooth is at least useful, saving you cable snags that pull your earphones out when you're walking around. But Voice Control? It works, but we can't see too many folk making use of it. It's certainly not something to steer clear of the cheap, 8GB model for.
Like the 3GS, the Touch comes with Google Maps, but there's no GPS pick-up here to increase the accuracy of the Wi-Fi hotspot triangulation system. Think of it more as a digital A-Z than a gadget to tell you exactly where you are.
Long treks just fly by
Verdict
There's no doubt the 8GB iPod Touch is a great games machines, and at a new low price of £149, with a wealth of decent yet cheap games just a download away, it's a great choice for gamers who don't feel the need to brag of their allegiance to a gaming brand. It's especially good value when you consider you get a class-leading media player and excellent browser thrown in too, and a stack of other useful tools.
The 32GB and 64GB model are really for video fans rather than gaming buffs, since they're all about capacity for now. We'll have to see whether developers create games with the facilities of these two models in mind or opt for generic Touch releases, in which case you may as well have the 8GB version and spend the price differential on some games. ®
More Media Player Reviews...
Apple iPod Nano 5G |
Cowon D2+ DAB |
Sony Walkman X-Series |
Samsung P3 |
Apple iPod Touch 3G
COMMENTS
No Buttons = Bad?
As it stands, the types of games which work well with a touch interface are generally not the same as those which work well with buttons. But there are enough games in the former category to still make the iPod Touch a "good gaming device" (e.g. FlightControl, Scrabble,Super Monkey Ball).
How long will it be before a plug-in controller (or bluetooth) surfaces for the iPod/iPhone and developers code games to work with it? The relevant APIs were made available in 3.0:
"Apps for iPhone and iPod touch can now communicate with accessories via the dock connector or wirelessly over Bluetooth. ...create entirely new integrated solutions that combine an iPhone app with dedicated hardware."
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/sdk/accessories.html
(of course, for this to really take off, developers need a common controller API to target - so the ball is probably still in Apple's court)
Great
The one thing I would do most with this or any other music player is play music with it, so here's a suggestion: how about reviewing the music playing abilities? Do they sound half decent yet, or is the iPod still as woefully pish as before on that front?
@David Hicks
"I have yet to be convinced that a touch-screen control interface is going to be any good at all for games."
You speak as if there's yet to be a precedent, which is amusing only because of all the games which prove touch-screen control *is* good for games. Unless you mean games which aren't done vry well, in which case I can think of plenty controller-based games which play like utter shite too. :p
I agree about the 3G moniker. That's just plain misleading, inconsistent and stupid. iPod Touch S, is what it is, surely?
Epic FAIL
The author is clearly delusional. Please stop them from writing piffle like this in the future, it is diluting otherwise good content with nonsense.
As has been said before, ONE button (Even the wii uses more than that, this is no project natal) and tilt sensors make for a horrid experience, and touchscreen is pointless for most games.
@Darren Barratt
"I've had a good look at my PSP. It hasn't got a camera. It hasn't got GPS."
Unlike the iPod the PSP has these as an option, can you plug in a GPS system into an iPod? Can you plug in a camera into an iPod? Can you use VOIP on an iPod? The article stated quite clearly the iPod has "more extensive range of capabilities." yet it doesn't, at least not when compared to the PSP, if anything the PSP pisses on the iPod, laughs at it and says "come back when you can do half the stuff I can do".
And not a fanboi, I own a PSP/DS/PS3/Wii and of course a PC the vast majority of my games being for the PC and the DS, not the PSP, I was highlighting the incorrect statement of the article unlike your response which is typical of an Apple fanboi who will defend their pretty but useless trinket.
