iPod Touch (8 Gig / 2nd Gen)

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great feel in hands, apps offer sense of innovation, speakers make using iPod much easier.

Cons: Battery life sets iPod back. You find yourself playing with device while plugged into wall.

The Bottom Line: 
The iPod Touch is a great device that has a lot to offer. The price may seem steep at first and the battery isn't best, but it's worth it.

Author's Review
I bought the iPod Touch (8 Gig / 2nd Gen) about a week ago, and I am very happy with my purchase. I had gotten an iPod Nano for christmas, but I was looking for a gadget that could do a wider variety of things. The iPod Touch does exactly that. Not only can you listen to music and watch videos and movies, but you can surf the web and the best of all, you can download apps. Apps, short for applications, can be free or paid. There is an app for just about anything and everything. Some apps include 
            
Tap Tap Revenge- a game along the lines of guitar hero, but instead, you have to tap the screen to hit a note

Textfree Lite- This app is the free edition of a paid app. It lets you text to a cellphone, absolutely free. The free version only lets you send 15 texts per day

Grand Pro- This app turns your ipod touch into a piano, letting you
tap the screen, as you would the keys of a real piano

Slacker Radio- Slacker Radio is a free app that lets you listen to unlimited music, for free. Millions of songs are divided into radio stations that you can listen to at your liking.

These are some of the apps in the app store, but the list goes on and on. There are over 25,000 apps available for download, as of know, sorted into different categories, such as games, music, utilities, etc.

8 GIG vs. 16 GIG
 After doing a bit of research, I decided that the 8 Gig iPod was all that I needed. Some of my friends and people that I have talked to told me that they got the 16 Gig version because the 8 Gig would not hold all of their apps/music/videos/etc. At first I was skeptic, but then I realized that apps don't take up much space{depending on the app, usually around 7mb} and the iPod can only allow you to hold around 148 apps anyway, no matter how much space you have left.
Right now I currently have 84 apps, 100 or so songs, and a couple videos, and my ipod still has 4/5 of its memory left to go. Another reason why I decided to pass on the 16 Gig version was the price. The 8 Gig is priced at $229 while the 16 Gig remains at $299. For me, $70 is a lot of money, not to mention tax. I'd rather put that $70 towards the next hi-tech iPod, or whatever it may be.

HARDWARE
In terms of the iPod Touch itself, Apple has done an amazing job. Even after I put a case on my iPod, it remains virtually weightlessfor a gadget that is capable of so much. The iPod also boasts the new addition of speakers, something that wasn't included with the previous iPod Touch model. I couldn't imagine living life without the speakers, because almost everything you do involves noise, and I hate lugging  around the earphone that are included inside the box. The speakers are exceptionally nice when you are playing a game that has some background music, but that isn't worth the hassle of plugging in your earphones. The speaker is located inside the iPod, but sound seems to come out of the the bottom of the iPod, through the cable port. The volume for the speakers can be controlled by either dragging the volume bar on the screen or using the volume buttons located on the left side of the iPod. To turn the iPod on, you must hold and then release the power button at the top of the device. Once the ipod is on, you can put it into sleep mode by quickly pressing the power button. To completely power off the ipod, hold the power button for a couple seconds and then drag the "slide to power off" button.

Battery Life
The battery life of the iPod Touch is the one factor that sets it behind most other mp3 players. If you are like me and will probably use your ipod every day, you can find yourself charging the iPod way too often. If you are worried about quickly using up the whole of the battery, I would definitely recommend purchasing a car and wall charger pack as well as one of those external battery packs. Apple claims that the iPod Touch gets 36 hours of music playback time and 6 hours of video, but I am pretty sure that apps take up more battery life. If you want to do everything you can to preserve your battery life, here are a few tips:

(1) BRIGHTNESS- Go to settings and them to brightness. Lowering the brightness or setting it to the dimmest amount can contribute to raising the amount of battery life you get.

(2) TURN THE WIFI OFF- once again, go to settings, then to wifi and set it to off. If you aren't using the internet, then there is no point in leaving the wifi on. Plus, the wifi uses up a chunk of your battery life.

(3)TURN EQUALIZER OFF- Go to settings, then to music, then to EQ, and then select off. Turning off the EQ setting can help raise the battery life.

TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT...
The iPod Touch may seem a bit pricey at first, but it is most certainly worth the money, beings that it has so many capabilities and so much to offer. I would definitely recommend purchasing a hard plastic case (I recommend a slide-on case by incase), not only to protect the iPod from getting scratched up, but also because your fingerprints, REALLY show. I would definitely recommend purchasing an iPod Touch (2nd Generation/ 8 Gig)