Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model) review – how to use?

Share

Can you make FaceTime call in Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model)? The iPod Touch 7th Generation is amazing! Its camera is very capable of producing very good pictures; the colors and values are outstanding. How many music songs you can store? You can back up thousands of Google Photos from all devices and perfect for viewing offline at any time. It’s great for reading Kindle books. Know about more benefits in Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model) review.

Consumer Reviews is supported by its audience. This website contains Paid Links. As an affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchase. Find more

In the box

  • EarPods with 3.5 mm Headphone Plug,
  • iPod touch,
  • Lightning to USB Cable

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • 3.5mm headphone jack
  • A dedicated music device
  • A four-inch form factor
  • AR support on an iPod touch
  • A dedicated gaming device
  • An entertainment device for the kids
  • To spend the least amount of money on a brand new Apple device

Cons

  • No Touch ID
  • Apps feel rather cramped
  • Tiny screen and big bezels

Specs – Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model)

  • Item: Apple iPod Touch 7th Generation
  • Price : 32GB $199 / 128GB $299 / 256GB$399
  • A10 Fusion chip
  • Battery life 40 hours (music), 8 hours (video)
  • Bluetooth version 4.1
  • 3.5mm jack Yes
  • Internal storage 32GB, 128GB, 256GB
  • Dimensions (hwd) 12.3 x 5.9 x 0.6cm
  • Weight 88g

Retina display

  • 4-inch (diagonal) widescreen display with Multi-Touch IPS technology
  • 800:1 contrast ratio (typical)
  • 1136-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi
  • Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
  • 500 cd/m2 max brightness (typical)

Video recording feature

  • Tap to focus while recording
  • 1080p HD video recording at 25 fps, 30 fps, or 60 fps
  • Time-lapse video
  • Slo-mo video (120 fps)
  • 3x zoom
  • Cinematic video stabilization
  • Video formats recorded: HEVC and H.264
  • Video geotagging over Wi-Fi

Camera feature

  • Autofocus
  • 8MP camera
  • Five-element lens
  • ƒ/2.4 aperture
  • Hybrid IR filter
  • Auto image stabilization
  • HDR for photos
  • Backside illumination
  • Burst mode
  • Tap to focus
  • Photo geotagging over Wi-Fi
  • Timer mode
  • Exposure control
  • Panorama (up to 43MP)
  • Image formats captured: HEIF and JPEG

FaceTime HD cmaera

  • Auto HDR for videos
  • Burst mode
  • ƒ/2.2 aperture
  • 1.2MP photos
  • Backside illumination sensor
  • 720p HD video recording
  • Exposure control
  • Timer mode

Price

The new iPod touch (7th generation) is available to buy now, with the price varying depending on how much storage you opt for.

If you do decide to grab one, I recommend the 32GB model for $199 which puts 4,000 songs in your pocket (after you figure iOS takes up 10-12GB of space). That price makes it the most affordable iOS device you can buy new from Apple. If you are tempted by one of the pricier options, grab a new iPhone 7 instead for just a bit more. Apple sells the top of the line iPod Touch for $399 and the iPhone 7 for $449. 

Why Not a iPhone?

The rational argument against the iPod touch is that you can very well get a SIM-less, unlocked phone for the same price or a little more. For $199.99 right now, you get a Moto G7 Play with a 5.7-inch screen and expandable memory. Used 32GB iPhone 7 units online go for $239 to $279; 128GB models go for $299 to $329. Those are all better buys if you’re looking for a low-cost smartphone.

Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model) review

Design

Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model) comes with a four-inch display and a sleek, lightweight build. At just 88g, the new iPod touch feels incredibly light, while its 4-inch display means it’s easy to hold it and navigate the touchscreen with one hand, making it accessible for kids as well as adults.

Buttons

At the bottom of the iPod touch you’ll find the home button. the on/off button is situated on the top of the iPod, while you’ll find the volume buttons on the left-hand side of the display. There are also front- and rear-facing cameras – more on those later. 

Display

The screen size 4-inch. The 1136 x 640 pixel display is definitely a step down from the color-accurate OLED display utilized by the iPhone X, but it’s worth remembering that the cheapest new iPod touch model is only a fifth of the price of Apple’s latest smartphone.

Processor

Apple states that the new iPod is 2X faster than the 2015 iteration. The new processor brings AR functionality to the iPod for the first time and allows it to run iOS 13 when it’s released this fall.

Memory and storage

with double the RAM of its predecessor (2GB to be exact), the 7th-gen iPod touch has a lot more memory to run the increasingly complex titles available to mobile gamers. 

Music apps

It’s actually not bad for music, which is what the iPod Touch is primarily for anyway. Apple Music, Spotify and similar apps work fine here, without many on-screen controls to clutter up the interface. The 7th generation of this device continues its strong traditions as a music player, and you have the usual support for standards like AirPlay and Chromecast (in compatible apps) too.

Audio

The bottom edge of the iPod touch houses a built-in speaker, Lightning port, and, puzzlingly, a 3.5mm headphone jack – Apple stopped including headphone jacks on its smartphones a long time ago in favor of its own multi-purpose Lightning port.

True wireless earbuds, Bluetooth earbuds, and wireless headphones are getting better all the time, and there are plenty of Lightning-enabled cans on the market if you still prefer a wired connection. 

Gaming

With Apple’s A10 Fusion chip built in, the new iPod touch is optimized for gaming, including what Apple calls, “immersive augmented reality (AR) experiences”.

According to Ars Technica, the A10 Fusion chip’s built-in GPU delivers “about 56% the performance of the A12”, the chip that’s used in the latest iPhones, but we didn’t experience any latency issues while playing this rather complex game, and we found the graphics ran smoothly, with the iPod touch’s bright and sharp display handling the realistic military-style graphics of PUBG just as well as the colorful, cartoonish graphics of Whale Trail.

iOS & apps support in Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model)

The 7th-gen iPod touch therefore comes with pretty much all the apps you’d expect to find on one of the latest iPhones, except for Phone of course – essentially, it can do everything an iPhone can, except for making calls or accessing the internet over a mobile network; you can, for example use messaging apps such as WhatsApp or iMessenger over Wi-Fi. 

The new iPod touch runs iOS 12, Apple’s latest operating system, which brings with it group FaceTime for up to 32 users, Screen Time, and 70 new emojis compared to the previous version, iOS 11. 

Movies, TV shows, documentaries, YouTube videos, you can watch it all on the iPod touch. For being such a small screen, it looks pretty fantastic. No, I’m not suggesting we all throw our 5K monitors in the garbage, but if you’re stuck at a boring seminar, hiding from the family on Thanksgiving, or just want to show your buddy the latest Fail videos, the iPod touch is a nice little media player.

Camera function

The camera hardware itself is exactly the same as its predecessor’s: on the front of the iPod touch is a 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera, while the rear sports a more advanced 8MP camera that supports autofocus, auto image stabilization and a f/2.4 aperture.

Modern luxuries like 4K video recording and Portrait Mode are nowhere to be found on the iPod touch, which does feel like a step backwards.

Battery life

Apple says the battery life of the iPod touch (7th generation) is up to 40 hours, and is good for up to eight hours of video playback. 

Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model) Performance review

Using a Hi-Res Audio playback app for iOS called Vox, we listened to Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor. The strings had a warm and natural quality, while soprano vocal duets soared sweetly above the mix without ever sounding harsh. 

CSR Racing, a game that’s known for its incredibly detailed realism in graphics, plays like its riding on rails on the iPod touch (did you get my Pretty Woman reference there?). How it looks, 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.

How to setup in Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model)?

Once you’ve gotten your new iPod touch, you’ll need to set it up. The setup process is pretty easy and quick, and once you’ve completed it, you can get the good stuff, like:

  • Adding your own music
  • Buying music from iTunes
  • Using the Music app
  • Getting apps from the App Store
  • Setting up FaceTime.

Once you start to learn the basic features of your iPod touch, it’s time to boost your skills by tackling some of these more advanced topics:

  • Creating folders to store apps
  • Using AirPlay
  • Discovering the many uses of the Home button
  • Rearranging home screen icons
  • Setting and changing your wallpaper.

How to play music in Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model)?

You’ll see icons along the bottom for Playlists, Artists, Songs, Albums and More. These are just different ways of sorting the music on your iPod.

  • The More tab is where you can find podcasts, audiobooks, and iTunesU lectures. You can also search by Composer or Genre through the More tab.

This will move you to the Now Playing screen.

  • At the top of the screen, you’ll see the artist, song title, and album title. Beneath that is a progress bar showing where you are in the song. You can drag the circle in the progress bar to skip ahead or behind in the song.
  • Beneath the progress bar are two arrow icons. Tapping the circular arrow icon on the left will put the song on repeat; tapping the crossed arrows will shuffle all the songs on your iPod and play them after the one you selected.
  • At the bottom are the skip buttons on the right and left, and the pause/play button in the middle. Beneath that is the volume bar. You can drag this to the right or left with your finger to increase or decrease the volume.
  • If the song came bundled with album art, this will be displayed in the background.
  • Tap the bulleted list icon in the upper right corner to rate the song. Once you’ve done this for several songs, you can then sort them by rating.
  • Tapping the arrow in the upper left corner will take you back to the different lists of your music. To get back to the Now Playing screen, tap the Now Playing button in the upper right corner.

Apple iPod Touch (32GB) – Gold (latest model) alternative

Cowon Plenue D3

SPECIFICATIONS

Storage: 64GB, expandable to 192GB with a 128GB microSD cardScreen size: 2.8-inchBattery life: 45hrsDimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.6cmWeight: 103g

REASONS TO BUY

+Detailed presentation across frequencies+Bluetooth connectivity+Classy build and finish

REASONS TO AVOID

-Screen looks a little dated

Now into its third iteration, Cowon has added Bluetooth, a volume wheel and a dual DAC to its 2021-issue bijou matchbox-sized player – and produced a What Hi-Fi? 2021 Award winner. The cracking new volume dial on the top right of the player feels like an homage to Astell & Kern players (several of which are listed below) and makes this little machine feel much more expensive than it is. 

This is a talented player that’s sonically similar in character to its older siblings, but there are small upgrades here in terms of rhythm, timing, detail and musicality. It’s important to note that wi-fi streaming is still off the menu – so you will have to go without on-the-go streaming of Tidal, Deezer and others – but if you have the files and like the idea of pairing your portable music player either to a wireless speaker or pair of headphones for one of the smallest wireless systems you’ve seen, there’s no better shout currently on the market for the money. We gave it five stars across the board – what more do you need to know? 

The Plenue D3 boasts a seriously impressive battery life of up to 45 hours if you’re playing MP3 files, or a solid 30 hours when listening to hi-res files at ‘normal’ volume. There is support for 24-bit/192kHz WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF and DSD128 file compatibility too – and that support is native, so DSD files aren’t converted to PCM during playback.

Editor’s recommendations

Abu Saleh Rizvee
Abu Saleh Rizvee

I love to write content and contribute for my society. I invest my days in creating content for products those I love and brands who need online presence

Articles: 1357