iPod Touch Features

It's easy to think of the iPod touch as a stripped-down version of the iPhone instead of a souped-up iPod. The iPod touch is a little smaller and weighs a little less than the iPhone. But the iPod touch has a battery that lasts a little longer than the one on the iPhone. The iPhone has about 24 hours of audio or seven hours of video playback time, and the iPod touch can play 36 hours of audio or six hours of video on a full charge.

Photo courtesy Apple The iPod touch and the iPhone

The iPod touch's home screen also looks like the iPhone's, but with fewer icons. From the home screen, you can get to the iPhone's e-mail client, text-messaging capabilities, digital camera and collection of mini-applications called widgets. And, of course, you can also use the iPhone as a cellular phone. The iPod touch doesn't share any of these features, but the two devices do have a few things in common, including:

• Flash memory (8 or 16 GB for the iPhone, 8, 16 or 32 GB for the iPod touch)
• WiFi capabilities (802.11b/g)
• Safari Web browser
• Audio, video and photo storage and playback
• YouTube video player
• Calendar and contacts that synch with your computer
• Clock and calculator applications
• Access to the iTunes Music Store via WiFi
• Dock and headphone connections

The iPod touch also costs roughly the same amount as an iPhone or an iPod classic, but each of these devices has significantly different features and capabilities. Here's a run-down of the costs:

• iPod touch: $229 for 8 GB, $299 for 16 GB, $399 for 32 GB
  
• iPhone: $199 for 8 GB or $299 for 16 GB, plus the cost of a cell-phone service plan
• iPod classic: $249 for 120 GB
• iPod nano: $149 for 8GB, $199 for 16 GB
• iPod Shuffle: $49 for 1 GB, $69 for 2 GB [source: Apple]
  

In terms of storage space, the iPod touch is comparable to the iPhone and the iPod nano, although it also comes in a 16 GB model. It costs about the same as the iPhone, but it's significantly more expensive than the nano, which costs less than $200. The iPod touch also has far less storage space than the iPod classic, but their prices are roughly the same.

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When you buy an iPod touch, you won't necessarily get more room for music and videos than you will with other iPod models. You're essentially paying extra money for WiFi capabilities, a widescreen display and a touch-sensitive user interface. Next, we'll take a look at exactly what's behind the iPod touch's most distinctive feature.

iPod Touch and StarbucksMost WiFi-enabled devices have the ability to discover nearby wireless connections. The iPod touch and the iPhone will be able to take that discovery process one step further. At participating Starbucks locations, these devices will be able to figure out what song is playing and give users a direct link to that song at the iTunes music store. Starbucks stores in New York and Seattle will have this ability in October 2007. The next locations to feature the Starbucks-iPod connection will be Los Angeles, Chicago and the San Francisco bay area.