Apple iPod touch 32 GB (2nd Generation) [Previous Model]
by Apple Computer
![Apple iPod touch 32 GB (2nd Generation) [Previous Model]](/images/Apple-iPod-touch-32-GB-2nd-Generation-Previous-Model-B001FA1O0E-L.jpg)
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List Price: Our Price: $393.40 You Save: $5.60 (1%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $100.00 (click here) Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple iPod touch 32 GB (2nd Generation) [Previous Model]
Customer Review: In retrospect, I would not have purchased this
Summary: 1 Stars
(Review updated slightly to fix really obvious spelling errors, and to reflect a week plus of usage.) Updated a second time...
Third Update: My iPod touch is dead. I came in last night, and the screen suddenly stopped responding to touch, though audio continued playing. It then rebooted, and still didn't respond to touch. Then it wouldn't even turn on. I saw a review on here from a few days ago talking about condensation from rapid temperature changes killing these, and I wonder if that's what happened here. At any rate, I'm done with the mobile OS X/iPhone/iPod touch platform. I have a lot of issues with it.
Because the Zune software appears to be incompetent for podcasts and audio books, I have no choice but to buy an iPod classic, which is what I should have done to begin with. Just ordered the grey model from Amazon a few minutes ago. Hopefully it will last me the years that my older hard drive based iPods did.
-Forgot to mention, the touch is truly dead. My computers can't even "see" it. It's not just the screen that died (actually the screen is probably just fine...)
Back to the review:
I've owned numerous iPods over the years prior to the 2nd Gen Touch. I bought it over a new nano or some other model because I thought potentially I'd be able to have it replace my Palm OS PDA at some point.
In retrospect, I'm VERY disappointed with it, and would not buy it again.
For starters-unlike my earlier iPods, the touch actually REQUIRES registration-it's locked until you do that. That's unacceptable (and actually probably illegal). I'd register it if it were optional, but this kind of "activation"/DRM isn't acceptable.
Beyond that, the unit is a pain for a lot of practical reasons.
-Even with hardware volume buttons, I'm finding the touch controls much more frustrating than physical buttons like the regular iPod models have. You have to look at it to hit the software button, and it's easy to (for example) accidentally hit the button to jump back to the beginning of a track, rather than pause it. Fast forwarding through a track is a pain too compared with hardware buttons.
-Related to the above-mainly it's just very hard for me to use in the car-unsafe. It's occurred to me that all I'd really need to "fix" it would be a wired remote, but the wired remote that includes a radio dosen't work with the touch (and from the reviews of that product, it sounds like it's not well built anyway).
-On top of software buttons being annoying, the interface is also sometimes unresponsive-and you don't know "did I not press at the right spot" or "is it just not responding to input yet"? Sometimes when I switch screens it will randomly not respond to button presses for a few seconds. It's like either the CPU isn't fast enough, or the software isn't efficient enough.
-I also dislike the interface changing in the audio player application based on the unit's orientation. To me the alternate horizontal interface isn't useful at all, and the player is constantly shifting to it. I have to hold it upright for several seconds to get it to shift back to the normal mode (occasionally the lag is exceptionally long). I'd like the ability to just lock it on the normal interface. (Thankfully video is always locked to a single interface, only changing orientation if you physically flip the unit around 180 degrees.)
-While its PIM abilities are far better than the "traditional" iPod models, they're VASTLY inferior to a Palm OS device from even a decade ago. The interface is clunky and slow by comparison (even if it's graphically shiny and flashy). Finding and viewing data is much slower. (And of course right now it's missing basic features like Office suite support that Palm OS devices have had for a decade).
-Related to that, text entry is painful. Graffiti is slower and more annoying than a real keyboard. Thumb keybaords are also slower and more annoying than a real keyboard. But both are vastly superior to Apple's virtual keyboard here. It has some interesting auto-guessing features, but with some time put into it I'm realizing I'd never actually use this device to replace a real PDA...and without that use, I don't see any real reason not to go with a device better suited to be a dedicated media player. (It might depend on the size of your fingers, but I'm 6' and obviously don't have small fingers.)
I will say the audio quality is excellent by my standards (as all my iPods have been except the 2nd gen Shuffle have been). It also syncs quickly.
I like having a built in speaker-and have wanted one for years-but it's so quiet that it is of limited use, unfortunately. Even at home I'm often using headphones just so I can hear it. It's also far too quiet for alarms. That said, it is at least very clear sounding, and I'd certainly rather have it than not! Hopefully future models will have louder speakers, and they'll spread the speaker to the other iPod models.
In theory it seems like I'd at least prefer the touch for video because of the large screen, but even there I strongly prefer my 5th gen regular iPod. it's still too easy to accidentally hit the wrong software button, and fast forwarding through commercials (I watch a lot of video recorded from my Tivo) is much much harder than on my 5th gen with hardware buttons. UPDATE: I'm somewhat softened on it's video playback at least. I still prefer my 5th gen as being easier to navigate video, but the extra screen inch is nice-but I use it much more for audio than video, so...
The web browser is one of the best I've used on a mobile device (except for input). The separate Google Maps application seems nearly as fast as on a computer. UPDATE: I HAVE used it with WPA for quite a while now. It works (unlike most mobile devices), but it's SLOOOOOOW to connect. Like it can take minutes. A coworker with an iPhone running the same OS revision has the exact same issue. Makes WPA much less practical for many uses. (My coworker just completely disabled it and connects to an unsecure network.)
-I have noticed that if Wi-Fi has been off for while, to get it it to turn on, I have to flip it on, then flip it off, and then back on again. For some reason it doesn't actually turn on the first time I flick the software switch).
Basically the point I'm trying to make with this review is, it's not for everyone. Really think twice about what you want the device for. I think most people looking for a media player will be much happier with an iPod nano, classic, or even a Zune (which seems to be fairly solid, though the desktop software seems much more primitive than iTunes, and its features are lagging behind the iPod models, generally). The iPod touch is annoying enough to me that I'm seriously thinking of picking up either a (much cheaper) iPod nano/classic or Zune, and just cutting my losses with this. UPDATE: I'm still planning on picking up a new media player. Still haven't decided which one, though leaning towards a nano, just because I'm not crazy about having a hard drive in these devices (though my 5.5G iPod served me well for over two years).
Customer Review: Apple's iPod Touch 32 GB - Some Great Updates, Some Updates Still Missing
Summary: 4 Stars
The new Apple iPod touch 32 GB (2nd Generation) has a few improvements over the first generation Apple iPod touch 32 GB. Overall, the improvements make it more attractive to new owners than to existing ones looking to upgrade. I will explain why I chose it, and ultimately whether the changes are enough for you is bound to be subjective.
Apple's 32GB iPod Touch is still the largest you can buy. The Apple iPod touch 8 GB (2nd Generation) model is priced so low that it is very attractive as an entry level unit. So from that perspective, the 16 GB model is kind of the ugly duckling since it's not much less than the 32 GB model. If you just need the WiFi browsing, the 8 GB model will meet those needs. If you want to put a decent amount of music and video on it, the 32 GB model is the way to go. I would recommend those who are considering the 16 GB model to step up to the 32 GB model if at all possible.
The unit finally has volume controls, and even adds a few features that were surprising such as the small speaker. But adding volume controls without track controls was surprising to me. And while the speaker is nice and the Nike integration is also nice, neither of those are deal breakers for me. The battery life improvement is noticeable. And web browsing is still great, though the wireless range has not been improved. Overall the best improvement is probably the lowered price, which is a bigger deal to those who were holding off. This is my third, and I'm still looking forward to the next version and more capacity.
For me, I found that the first generation player became much more of a multimedia device than my other MP3 players. I could live with some of the weaknesses, but the battery life really became an issue. That was even after disabling most power hogging features. I made sure to test this out for at least two weeks before making a judgement on this particular improvement. On the new one, the battery life is definitely improved though not nearly as much as advertised. The other big improvement is the addition of at least a few buttons for volume control.
Safari browsing still rocks, but the fact that they didn't upgrade the wireless is disappointing. I will hope that the next version will have stronger wireless and more capacity. If they can do that, they will be at a nice starting point for future generations to build on.
There is a widely publicized issue with wireless browsing on certain types of secured networks. You may have to reconfigure security at home or wait for an update. I have not directly experienced this and I only connect to secure WiFi, except for rare cases. I have still experienced a long time polling and connecting to WiFi networks however. Depending on many factors, you may need to wait for the next software update if this is a big issue for you.
Pros
+ 32GB of storage is a decent size for music and video for most users
+ Nice new lowered prices for each capacity level
+ Safari web browsing and easy WiFi hotspot setup still the best feature
+ Great design with a sleek thin body with slightly more curvature
+ Beautiful 320x480 pixel wide-screen provides pleasing video viewing
+ Turn to the side to view video using the full wide screen width
+ Orientation detection changes view to landscape mode automatically when turning iPod!
+ Brighter screen with great contrast and crisp sharp images
+ Wireless access via 802.11 b/g compliant antenna (still waiting for `n')
+ Wireless searching and video on mode can be disabled to extend battery life
+ Headphone jack compatible with standard phones
+ Genius playlist feature works well enough
+ New apps work great and give you stocks, maps, email, notes and weather
+ Supports both NTSC and PAL video out
+ Unlike iPod classic, all flash memory means less failures and breakage
+ Flash memory also awesome for running / working out, though I use my nano for that ;-)
+ Integration of Nike workout features also nice add-on
+ Cover-flow works better on the Touch with the software update
+ Slightly better sound quality than 2nd generation iPods
+ Small speaker is great for playing games or previewing tracks
+ Apple reputation is probably still worth the premium
+ Plenty of free video and audio teaser content available on iTunes
+ Easy access to iTunes right from your device over your local wireless internet!
+ Apple store provides easy access to more and more apps
Cons
- Still not enough capacity to make it a replacement for your disk-based player
- Still no track controls, though the volume controls and hold are nice add-ons
- Accessories such as cases that fit version 1 need to be replaced due to body redesign
- Screen requires "real touch," bad for those of us in cold weather cities
- Data port still seems cramped
- Still not backwards compatible with legacy docks and cables
- Battery life somewhat improved, but not nearly as much as advertised
- Only minimal usage of WiFi and video will allow regular daily usage on one charge
- No expandability or SD card slot like competing players
- Limited native formats (MP3, MPEG4, AAC) and high software overhead (still growing!)
- iTunes attempts to install extra software when updating!!!
- PDA functions such as calendar syncing and contact management still need work
- Still lacking some features such as built-in FM radio & voice recorder
- Missing wireless syncing and song transfer, features already on the Zune
- No Bluetooth for peripherals and accessories (strange considering Nike integration is based on bluetooth)
- No wireless synching or wireless access to iTunes WLAN libraries
- No WiFi viewing of live iTunes PodCasts
- Still no local viewing of PDF or other common document formats
- No mode to use as disk storage?!?!
- Still relatively expensive in GB/ $ terms
Conclusion
Overall this device is enough of an improvement to lure in more converts. Those who own the first generation iPod touch or want to store their entire music collection will probably want to wait. Except of course, if you must have one or more of those updated features (improved battery life, Nike integration, etc). In that case, you can find comfort in the slightly improved sound.
Enjoy!!!!
Customer Review: Touching makes everything better!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've held off on writing a review of the iPod Touch 2G 32GB...simply because I was afraid of how long a review it would be. Lengthy, only because of its fine features and excellent performance!
*exhales deeply*
...let's give it a go, shall we?
The 2nd generation of the iPod touch features:
-motion sensitivity, which means that the screen on your touch will rotate depending on how you hold your iPod touch. VERY COOL!
-volume buttons on the side, which is VERY, VERY convenient for being able to adjust volume without having to unlock the iPod every time a song gets too loud/quiet!
Some Favorite Features:
CALENDAR
I bought the Touch because of it's Calendar feature, as surprising as it may be! Once synced with Microsoft Outlook, all my calendar data was immediately transferred to the Touch. Rather than being a music/video/photo player, exclusively, the Touch also became my personal day-timer. And boy, with a busy schedule, it's nice to be able to have all that information at your fingertips...literally. Adding/editing appointments is easy as anything.
Which leads me into typing with the Touch
TYPING
Typing with the Touch, is AMAZINGLY sensitive! Granted the thinner your fingers are, the easier it will be, but still...it can accurately tell the difference between typing a 'T' or a 'Y'. Fabulous! I will say that typing on the landscape mode (or horizontally) is preferred and considerably easier and feels more natural.
Typing e-mails, web URLS, calendar events...all this, is very easy and convenient. For e-mails, please note that the 'Mail' application of the Touch does not rotate and thus, you cannot type horizontally. HOWEVER, there are a variety of 3rd party applications available for that, and they work marvelously...so, no worries. (I recommend FireMail).
WEB-BROWSING
By far, the COOLEST feature, in my opinion. There's nothing like checking your favorite websites and physically interacting it! With a touch of my finger, I can click a link. With simple finger movements, you can zoom in/zoom out...anywhere on the page.
Now, granted, you need a WIFI connection, but if you are like me (a college student), then...hopefully, most of your campus/work-environment is already wireless! In which case, you are good to go! I can be in the Student Union or in my dorm, and still be fully connected at all times!
APPLICATIONS
Applications, are your best friend...thanks to some savvy programmers! Of all the applications I have downloaded and used, the Apple Remote application blows my mind the most!
Just imagine...you can control the iTunes library on your computer...BY YOUR IPOD TOUCH! SNAP! Once I got it connected (easy to do...takes...1 second), I was just browsing my computer's music library on my Touch. VERY COOL!
Some other games/apps utilize the Touch's internal gyroscope (which allows for motion sensitivity) and makes usage a lot of fun. From bowling to beer pong, you can find many games to entertain you (and people watching you swing your Touch in the air and scream, "STRIKE!").
VIDEO
Fight Club or Casino Royale...in the palm of your hands! Damn straight! The video quality is phenomenal and it's just, overall, very convenient to be able to watch movies whenever you want. There is a nifty feature that, when you decide to leave the movie...it'll start up exactly where you left off when you return to the movie!
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
The Touch also features a built-in NIKE+ receiver...which I have yet to use as I use my 1G NANO for that. In all honesty, I'm still a little bit too nervous to go running with a 400 dollar iPod. But that's just me.
I didn't cover the Photo feature, so here's my 5 seconds on it: The pictures will rotate when you rotate your Touch. You can also zoom/zoom out by using your fingers. Simply put, too cool.
NOW, you're thinking...okay...okay...I'm gonna spend the money on it, but wait...what about protecting it from everyday use?
WISE QUESTION!
I had the same concerns and from my experience with iPods (I own 4), the back of the iPod is like a scratch magnet! Not to mention, the entire front screen of the iPod is well...pretty darned important. For that, I would recommend Zagg's Invisible Shield. You may have seen the youtube videos where a key is used on the back of an iPhone?
It works...seriously. I took a key to the front and back and...nothing. Now it is a bit tricky to install, but once it's done...it is well worth the effort...and price!
I use my Touch...everyday! I check my e-mails, weather, websites, calendar, and even my to-do list. And protected by the Invisible Shield, I have no worries about putting it in my pocket with my keys!
All I can really say is: You have to experience owning a Touch, to really understand why we Touch owners love it so much. You won't get tired of playing with it, and even if you do...you cannot get tired of its functionality, which is unparalleled!
BUY IT!
Customer Review: Good, but not great
Summary: 3 Stars
I resisted the temptation to buy one of these for over a year. I skipped out on it at first because of originally only having 16gb. I purchased one a few days ago and this review is based on only a few days of use. If you don't like that, please skip this review.
First, I have a few Apple Computers, but my main PC is and always will be a PC. No Apple Fanboy here. I do like Apple, but a lot of the things they do just annoy the heck out of me. I think this important. I just don't trust all the reviews from some Apple Fans. Sorry, but it's true.
Plugged in the device, installed the new Itunes and copied my music over to it. No problem there. I then went to copy over my H.264 movies and no luck. They were ripped at 640x480 into H.264 and no such luck. Apparently a specific profile needs to be used in order for them to work. I eventually got the movies to work after encoding them all over again. They turned out OK in the end, but it was a bit confusing figuring out how to get the video encoded correctly. Too bad Itunes can't convert them like the Zune software could.
Everyone in the world says that this device has the best ipod sound quality yet. I do not agree. I was actually so disappointed with the sound quality that I went online to do some research and was shocked to find out this was supposed to have really good sound quality. I should point out that I use a headphone amp with AKG 701 headphones or Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10. Strangely enough, this thing sounds worse when using an amp! I don't understand how that is. The bass is also a bit much and I had to use the bass reducer to fix this.
I was impressed with the web browser. At first I was thinking it was a waste since I have a PDA with a web browser. There's no comparison, the Ipod Touch browser is way better.
Typing on this was a major pain for me. At times it took me three tries just to get the correct letter pressed. I don't have fat fingers or large hands really. Too bad a Stylus wouldn't work with this. Yes, dumb me even tried! I think some that work with this exist.
I downloaded two games and played them. It's a joke that Apple markets this as some sort of gaming device. Uh huh. With one button and tilt? Not quite. When this has an SNES emulator and working external controller, I might consider buying this again. I was NOT expecting a PSP like device. Games are a nice "extra".
Changing the volume with the onscreen menu was a pain. Often it'd go the wrong way or not even register me touching it. You can blame me for this, but it was just so annoying that I use the left volume control on the unit itself.
I connected the device up to my PC and it copied over all my purchased items. The next dat I try to use an APP I purchased and each one starts and closes. I found a fix online to remove and resync and that worked. Of course I had to authorize my PC again, no idea why that was! Yet the same day all my previous music purchases worked just fine without having to authorize them (DRM music).
I will say it's a pretty cool device. I liked how you select music in this much better than on the old Ipods.
Overall, the main reason I took it back is that it's a bit overkill for what I needed. I didn't feel it was worth the price to ME. Not for what I need. Please don't take that the wrong way. The touch screen features worked well in some areas of the device, but not others. Small items are a pain to select.
Wifi worked just fine and was fast, unlike on my PDA. I also like the idea of buying music right on the device, but too bad they didn't let you purchase movies from the device or watch movie trailers. I think for that they want you to buy AppleTV instead. Sounds like something Apple would do. They have always removed features in devices to try and sell you something better (Mirror only mode on the old Ibook is one example).
I'll admit that at first I was really impressed with the Ipod Touch. It was about 3 times better than I thought it'd be. It's just that the price, what I needed it for and several negatives kept me from keeping it. Half of the features I would never use, so why keep it?
What really hurts is having to return it and watching movies on the old Ipod. As a movie player this thing was great. Even better than the old ARchos unit I had.
One thing I don't get those is how this device has lower television output resolutions than the Ipod Classic? Why on earth would that be?
It also makes me wonder why Apple doesn't let older docks/speakers works with this. It makes me wonder if they're just out to get even more money from us. I'm not saying that's the case at all! BTW I don't think this is overpriced much. In my case, four hundred for music and movies only is a bit much. For that, I can use my old Ipod Classic.
I returned this for an Ipod Nano because I heard those have really good sound quality. Just my luck, they probably have the same DAC, but who knows.
Customer Review: the best player in the world
Summary: 5 Stars
The iPod Touch debuted only one year ago, and this is the first update. I was excited to pick up the new iPod Touch at the Apple Store because I had never owned a first generation, though I do own iPhones.
I want to concentrate primarily on the new features:
First, physical volume buttons are now placed on the side of the iPod Touch as they are on the iPhone. This is very convenient. It allows you to adjust the volume of your music, without having to pull the entire device out of your pocket and activate the screen. A time saver.
Second, many people requested a built-in speaker for the iPod Touch like is available on the iPhone. Apple listened. However, there is one important point to make on this! The iPod Touch is incredibly small, and Apple is forced to put an incredibly small speaker. The speaker in the iPod Touch sounds worst than the speaker in the iPhone. I have compared it side by side, and it's fairly significant, and the iPhone speaker isn't that great to begin with. However, in a quiet room, the speaker is still useful for previewing a song you might want to buy, or for playing games. However, still, if you want great sound, you need to connect your headphones.
Genius - This new feature is really surprisingly good. When you're listening to a song you enjoy, select the genius option. It will create a playlist for you, with songs that go together nicely with the one you started with. It helps you rediscover great music from your collection with a playlist suited to the mood you're in. I didn't think it would do a good job compiling this list, but it has been quite impressive.
Applications - It's great to have the ability to buy (or get some free) applications right on the iPod Touch. Furthermore, with the software update this new iPod Touch comes with, the Application installation process is so much smoother than it had been even on my iPhone. It now works how you want it to, seamlessly. I like having a weather application that includes doppler radar images, and that is free. I also have several games on it. There is a great variety of applications available from hundreds of third-parties right on the iPod itself, so you are certain to find something that interests you. I really like the new release of Spore, for the iPod Touch and iPhone. Apple is really pushing the games and quietly suggest they are challenging Nintendo and Sony. They are innovative and interesting games, but I think they have a ways to go, to challenge those game makers.
Nike + is now built in too, so if you have the shoes and the puck, the iPod Touch is ready to receive the data from it. Battery life is improved to 36 hours audio and 6 hours video according to Apple. I find the audio number fairly accurate if you don't light up the display much, but the video number is a slight bit harder to achieve.
Of course, the new ipod Touch does look and feel even better than the first generation, from my small experiences with the previous one. I also think it feels cooler than my iPhones, but obviously your interpretation may very. I like the metal back on the iPod Touch. It looks classy, though it is prone to scratches.
One of my favorite features continues to be, when in my home on Wi-Fi, to reach down for the Touch, use Safari web browser and look something up. It's great.
Overall, it was a solid update for the iPod Touch. I wish the speaker could be better on it, but I believe that is due to the physical restrictions of the small device. I could have knocked it to four stars for that, but I think most people realize a built in speaker isn't the way you want to listen to most audio on an iPod to begin with. I'm impressed by the second generation iPod Touch, and I think with the third party applications getting better and becoming more popular, more people will consider the Touch.