Hands-On With The iPod Touch 5

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We've had the chance to play around with the new redesigned iPod Touch 5 for nearly a week now, and our impressions of Apple's most fun gadget thus far are thoroughly positive with very little negatives. Our impressions start off on the negative side, but quickly turn into sweet goodness below:

Apple decided to scrap the affordable 16GB storage capacity in favor of 32GB as an entry-level starting point which brings up the initial price of the iPod Touch 5 up to $299. Not cool. The iPod Touch 5 is only available in 32GB and 64GB capacities for $299 and $399. And while we like the new camera design, the metal lens protrudes making the iPod unbalanced on a flat surface.

This might be considered nitpicking, but the included EarPods don't have a simple remote to control music and volume. $300 and Apple couldn't toss in a proper set of EarPods with a device that focuses on music and multimedia? Nonetheless, we tested the EarPods and found them to be better than your average pair of earphones bundled with competing devices. Lastly, Apple neglected to include an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the screen brightness because of how thin the device is. It is ridiculously thin will give it that. Not a deal breaker though.

Apple's new and beautifully groundbreaking redesigned iPod Touch 5 is full of awesomeness. We never thought past generations of the iPod Touch could compete against the iPhone for various reasons, but that has now completely changed. The 2012 iPod Touch is noticeably snappier and responsive this time around. Loading photos, apps and general web browsing is up to par with the speedy iPhone 5. iO6 runs silky smooth on this thing and that goes without saying.

includes a large 4-inch display and a usable 5-megapixel back facing camera with LED flash plucked right from the iPhone 4 and upgraded with a sapphire crystal lens, 5-element optics and better low-light performance. Another much needed improvement was done to the front facing camera which now shoots 720p HD video and 1.2-megapixel photos for FaceTiming and self portraits. That alone is an enticing feature that could replace your old point-n-shoot camera from a few years ago.

  • Price: $299 for 32GB and $399 for 64GB
  • Dimensions: 4.86 × 2.31 × 0.24-inches
  • Weight: 3.10 ounces
  • Connections: Lightning connector, 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Display: 4-inch Retina IPS display (1136×640), 326 ppi
  • Cameras: Autofocus 5-megapixel iSight f/2.4 five-element lens, LED flash, 1080p video recording; front FaceTime HD, 1.2-megapixel
  • Battery: 40 hours of audio, 8 hours of video
  • Processor: A5, dual-core
  • Memory: 512 MB
  • Internal Storage: 32GB and 64GB
  • Wi-Fi: 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz)
  • Bluetooth: 4.0
  • What else?: Includes EarPods with no remote, color matching touch loop - available in 6 colors (slate with black display, gray, pink, yellow, blue and red with white display

This is without a doubt the best iPod Touch model ever made, and we think it should also win the award for best portable multimedia and gaming device. The 4-inch display is dead gorgeous. It's in fact the same amazing, entirely reachable with your thumb IPS Retina display with the resolution of 1136x640 the iPhone 5 has making it a much respected opponent when faced against the iPhone. No matter what angle you view it from, the iPod Touch 5's display looks super sharp, very bright and contrasty to the point where you won't want to take your eyes off of it. The new taller display is perfect for watching movies now, and as soon as app developers updates their apps to take advantage of the extra screen real estate, gaming on this will be amazing. There's more iPod Touch 5 awesomeness after the cut!

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Apple iPod Touch 5 Announced With 4-Inch Screen, 5MP Camera

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At today's Apple media event, Apple has also announced a new redesigned iPod touch 5. The 5th generation iPod touch has the same 4-inch Retina IPS display as the iPhone 5 and features an anodized aluminum back design which is available in a slew of beautiful colors never before seen on the iPod touch. It's also the thinnest and lightest iPod touch Apple has made coming in at 0.24-inches (6.1mm) thick aluminum enclosure and weighing only 3.10 ounces (88 grams). The all-black iPod touch 5 will feature a black exterior and glass display while the rest of the new colors will only be available with a white glass display.

Hardware specs have obviously been much improved in this iteration of the iPod touch. The biggest improvements in the 5th generation iPod touch are the back facing iSight camera that now sports a larger backside-illuminated 5-megapixel camera sensor with LED flash capable of shooting full 1080p HD video with improved image stabilization and f/2.4 optics. Apple is certain the iPod touch's new improved camera will replace your pocket point-n-shoot. There's also a front facing 720p HD FaceTime camera.

The performance has also seen a boost. The iPod touch 5's "new" dual-core A5 chip which combines both the CPU and GPU processors in one is said to offer seven times greater performance over last gen models. Battery life is rated for 40 hours of music, or 8 hours of video playback.



The 5th generation iPod touch also features an arguably brilliant new color matching hand lanyard loop accessory that attaches to a metal button-like anchor that pushes up. Apple says the lanyard loop will provide a more secure hold of its handheld gaming and media device. We must say, it certainly looks a lot better than it actually is useful as far as hand lanyards go.

Apple's iPod touch 5 will come bundled with the new EarPods and will be available in five colors at 32GB and 64GB capacities for $299 and $399, respectively. Pre-orders open up on September 14th but will only start to ship in October.

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Nir Schneider

Editor-in-Chief