After so much talk and speculation, and fear that the device might have been cancelled, the iPod Touch 6G is finally here, and it’s been out on the market for a while now. And now that the dust has settled and people have had a chance to play around with the device and form their opinions, what is the final verdict? Was the hype justified or should Apple have left the line alone?
Many people were surprised to see that the new iPod Touch was actually real. There was a lot of talk that the company was considering abandoning the entire iPod line as they no longer saw it profitable/necessary for the market, due to the loss of popularity in favor of smartphones. It used to be that smartphones were too slow and uncomfortable in their interfaces in order to be a good substitute for a portable media player, but no longer.
So, is there still a point in the new iPod? Reviewers were initially mixed in their opinions, but now that some time has passed and they’ve had a chance to explore the device’s features more closely, it’s starting to seem like there really is a lot of potential in the new music player, and there might be a lot of interest in it on the market in general.
The build quality has been noted as excellent, and the player has the characteristic high Apple production value. It’s not just about a shiny exterior either, as it’s powered by some impressive internals and sports a good screen and even a nice camera. In the end, it does its job of offering multimedia features in a compact package quite nicely.
It can run most apps that the latest iPhone can, and the music player has been designed excellently, as one can expect. There is no lag during playback and the interface is very intuitive, with all relevant features offered in a clearly visible way. Some have noted that the OS seems to run slightly faster than its iPhone counterpart, which might be true in the end if the device doesn’t have to run various cellular operations in the background.
The camera has also been reported to take some surprisingly good pictures, despite not being the main feature of the player. Reviewers have pointed out that Apple have obviously put a lot of effort on the finishing touches and fine details of the new iPod Touch, and they are determined to a solid build quality and making a good impression.
However, in the end, some are still asking the obvious question that has been bothering pretty much everyone about this device – who is it actually aimed at? The problem is that most people have very capable smartphones nowadays, and not many are interested in investing in a dedicated music player.
Some critics have suggested that Apple might be targeting the younger market with this device, as it’s perfect for privacy-conscious parents who don’t want to expose their children to the world through a smartphone, but still want to give them some good pocket entertainment. And given how well the new iPod Touch handles both its music playback as well as playing games, that could be a good answer to the question. If nothing else, the device is touted as a pocket media player and that’s exactly what it does – and it does it quite well, from what we can tell from the various reviews that have been coming out left and right ever since the launch.