IPhone iPod Touch. IPod evolution

In honor of the recent update to the iPod lineup, I decided to plunge into history and recall all the iPod models that came out from 2001 to the present day.

This will be a brief history of the iPod with photos and a brief description, the most important nuances in my opinion. Including I will touch on the latest update of iPod Touch in a little more detail.

Players are arranged in order of publication.

There were only two iPod models: 5 and 10 gigabytes (and the 10 gigabyte version was not released immediately). The battery could withstand up to 10 hours. The classic iPod had a mechanical scroll wheel. The player weighed 184 grams. The first and last model that was exclusively supported by Mac OS.

In the second generation iPod, the storage capacity was increased: 10 and 20 gigabytes. Touch scroll wheel. Some of the second-generation models were Windows-compatible through the Musicmatch Jukebox audio player program.

the third-generation iPod has become thinner and had a completely non-mechanical control panel. Player memory sizes: 10 GB, 20 GB, 30 GB, 40 GB. Due to the reduction in size, the model could work only 8 hours without recharging.

iPod Mini is not a very successful series, which survived only two generations. The first was in production for 2 months. Important characteristics: 4 gigabytes of memory, weight 103 grams, 8 hours of battery life, the touch scroll wheel, as in the third generation of the classic iPod, but with the ability to click on it (additional actions - due to this, 4 buttons disappeared above the wheel). The iPod Mini was sold in five colors (including gold).

Initially, the generation did not portend surprises. The first models were 20 and 40 gigabytes, all had the same monochrome screen, but with an improved scroll wheel from the iPod Mini 1 Gen.

But on October 26, 2004, the Photo model with a color screen (220 by 176 pixels, 65,536 colors) went on sale. This model allows you to store and display photos. There are versions of 30 and 60 gigabytes.

A little later, the model was slightly modified and called iPod Color. But the essence has not changed.

This tiny player gave users a new experience, making them listen to music completely at random. According to Apple, many users listened to music on their iPods in random order, which is why the first iPod Shuffle was created as a reflection of trends.

Models with 512 megabytes or 1 gigabyte were available. The iPod Shuffle weighed a fantastic 22 grams and worked 12 hours on a single charge.

Visually practically did not differ from the first generation. Added a model with a memory of 6 GB. The golden model has disappeared. Battery life improved to 18 hours.

iPod Nano was designed to replace the iPod Mini and combine the best of iPod Classic and iPod Shuffle. The model was only two colors (white and black), weighed 42 grams and worked 15 hours on battery power. Flash memory: 1, 2, 4 gigabytes. The display was 16 bits, resolution: 176 by 132.

The fifth generation is characterized by a complete redesign of the device, an enlarged screen for viewing video. Screen resolution 320 by 240 (QVGA). In 2006, after updating the model, the maximum memory capacity reached 80 gigabytes. Also, after updating the firmware, it became possible to launch some games on the iPod.

The iPod Nano is made of anodized aluminum. iPod Nano received 5 vibrant colors. Also, the first red iPod appeared, with sales of which $ 10 went to charity. The models were 2, 4, 8 gigabytes, and not all volumes were of all colors: for example, an 8 gigabyte model existed only in black and red.

october 2006  - second generation iPod shuffle

The miniature player has become even easier - 15.6 grams. There was a clip that allows you to cling the player to clothes. The amount of memory: 1 or 2 gigabytes. 9 color schemes that were added over time.

It was produced in three versions: 80, 120, 160 gigabytes. The player worked from 30 to 40 hours on a single charge (audio), 5-6 hours (video). The front panel of the player was made of aluminum (before that - of plastic).

The model lived until 2014, until it was discontinued. This event marks the end of the era of the classic iPod.

September 5, 2007  - third generation iPod Nano

The player received cosmetic improvements. A brighter two-inch color display: 320 by 240. iPod Nano received a new interface and support for new iPod games (Tetris, Ms. Pac-Man, Sudoku and others).

The first iPod with Wi-Fi and MultiTouch interface came out a little later than the first iPhone, as its more budget and trimmed counterpart. The player allowed to buy applications. IPod Touch, like the iPhone, worked on iOS.

iPod Touch in the first three generations had a 3.5-inch touch screen with a resolution of 480 by 320. On the front panel there was only one Home button. Battery life 22 hours audio and 5 hours video.

In the fourth generation, iPod Nano was redesigned again: the player was pulled out again, the color scheme was completely changed. Accelerometer and horizontal mode appeared in iPod Nano due to the vertical screen. Available models: 4 GB (limited in some markets), 8 GB and 16 GB.

Small redesign. Important innovation: added Bluetooth. Increased battery life to 36 hours in audio mode and 6 in video mode.

The player first used VoiceOver technology, which could voice the names of artists and song names in 20 languages. For the first time in a series, support for multiple playlists. The weight of the player is fantastic 10.7 grams. The amount of memory is 2 or 4 gigabytes.

The fifth generation was very similar in design to the fourth. The screen was slightly enlarged to 376 by 220. A built-in video camera also appeared. A choice of models with 8 and 16 gigabytes was provided.

The design has not changed. Of the important innovations: a microphone has been added to the new headphones that come with the kit. Increased processor performance and RAM from 128 megabytes to 256. Added voice control function VoiceControl.

The player has become as miniature as possible. At the same time, it had a full-fledged bright touch screen (240 × 240), on which only one icon was placed. Video playback, camera and speakers have been removed. Weight - 21.1 grams. The same 8 and 16 gigabytes are available. A clip has appeared in iPod Nano (as in iPod Shuffle), and the ability to attach a strap has also been added. Several options for displaying dials have been added to the interface. The first signs of the Apple Watch?

The triumph of minimalism in the series.

The smallest iPod model at the moment. It is still produced and successfully sold. It is in demand among athletes because of its size and the availability of clips.

The player weighs 12.5 grams, the battery lasts for 15 hours listening to music. Housing made of anodized aluminum. The memory size is only 2 gigabytes. In 2015, the player received a redesign of colors.

New sophisticated design with two cameras: for talking in Face Time and shooting HD video (720p). The screen with the same sizes became more contrast, the resolution increased to 960 by 640. Exactly the same Retina screen was used in the iPhone 4.

From Samsung processors, Apple switched to its Apple A4. Accelerometer and gyroscope added to iPod Touch. Discontinued support in iOS 6.1.6.

Exclusively 16 gigabytes. iPod Nano once again pulled out. Apparently, the one-icon interface of the sixth generation was not very successful. The weight of the player is 31 grams. On April 15, 2015, the color scheme of the players changed.

iPod Touch 5Gen received a contrast-enhanced retina screen enlarged to 4 inches with a resolution of 1136 by 640. RAM is increased to 512 megabytes. Improved cameras. The rear camera allows you to shoot video in 1080p quality, a photo of 8 megapixels. Finally, the iPod Touch has a few vibrant colors. Memory sizes: 16, 32, 64 gigabytes. The port for connecting to a computer and charging has changed - now the USB-\u003e Lightning wire is included in the iPod Touch kit.

iPod Touch 5G has an Apple A5 processor, exactly the same as in the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, which means that it is comparable in performance with these devices. Supported by Apple until the upcoming iOS 9 fall.

Well, the latest update to iPod Touch happened recently. Visually, the model is completely similar to the fifth generation, but there are several important improvements and changes.

• The processor in the iPod Touch 6Gen immediately became the A8 (with the M8 coprocessor). It is the A8 and M8 that are installed on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
• On sale there is a variation of the iPod at 128 gigabytes.
• RAM doubled to 1 gigabyte
• 5 updated colors: space gray, blue, pink, gold and silver.
• The 8 megapixel iSight camera and the improved front HD FaceTime camera. The first question that arises is: is the camera comparable to the iPhone 6? No, it’s a little worse and shoots at about the same level as the iPad Air 2.
• In the 6th generation, the recess for attaching the lace was removed. Now you can’t hang the player on hand ...

Afterword

Here's an excursion into history. I will stop for a short while on the new iPod Touch.

The 6th generation of iPod Touch is a significant leap in performance. There is no redesign, because already the 5th generation iPod Touch is close to ideal in this parameter. To be honest, the fifth generation player is already starting to slow down on iOS 8.4 and iOS 9 (nothing surprising, given the weak processor). Therefore, Apple urgently needed to do something about it ... They did. It turned out to be a nice gadget in terms of capabilities at the level of the top iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Buy or not iPod Touch 6 Gen? You decide. The price of the player in comparison with the iPhone is 2-3 times less (depending on the amount of memory). iPod Touch has always been a cheap alternative to the iPhone without the ability to call and the GPS module. Now, almost nothing has changed, just Apple with this update has greatly narrowed the gap between the top devices in the line. If I have an iPhone, I don’t see much point in buying an iPod Touch. If you need a high-quality music player with a good camera and the ability to install applications from the App Store, and finances do not allow you to look towards the iPhone, then iPod Touch is a good investment.

For readers:  What's your iPod player? How to use?

The summer announcement of the new iPod touch was completely unexpected: the last time the line was updated in 2012, and since then everyone has already forgotten that Apple has, besides the iPhone, another device of a similar form factor. However, to say that this announcement attracted a lot of attention is also impossible. Yes, I flashed in the news feeds of IT publications, but nothing more. Not even much discussed. To understand why this happened, remember the story of iPod touch.

iPod touch: history

As you know, the release of the iPod in 2001 was the first truly major success of Steve Jobs, who returned in 1997 to the post of Apple CEO. Of course, before that there was the first iMac with an amazing design at that time, as well as the creation of OS X, but Apple computers have long remained very niche products for a fairly narrow layer of users (almost every second programmer, designer or manager, and then Apple could not seriously compete with the bunch of Windows-Intel). So, it was the iPod that became the first product of the revived Apple for everyone and everyone - for many current Apple fans, the “romance” with the products of the apple company began precisely with the purchase of the iPod. And the subsequent release of the iTunes Store music service following the iPod has seriously changed the entire music industry and made digital music mainstream, not the lot of computer pirates.

Time passed and the iPod family expanded. And the culmination of this process was the release of the first iPod touch in 2007 - simultaneously with the first iPhone. From that moment on, the iPod ceased to be just a player and turned into a full-fledged mobile Internet device (there was such a term then as MID), offering almost the same functionality (and, importantly, the same user experience) as the iPhone, with the exception of those options that require a SIM card. At the same time, iPod touch was several times cheaper than the iPhone. Of course, if you take a closer look, you could notice other (besides the lack of a cellular module) signs of economy: for example, the screen could be worse than that of the iPhone of the same generation (although formally the characteristics are the same), SoC is weaker, etc. But, at the same time, iPod touch was still a very successful device, and in many ways unique - nobody released similar MP3-players.

So, the lines of iPhone and iPod touch developed in parallel until 2012, inclusive, when the iPhone 5 and iPod touch of the fifth generation came out. iPod touch was the most advanced iPod ever, which was as awesome as possible with Apple’s strategy and pricing. It had exactly the same screen as the iPhone 5, a very decent camera for those times, but the case was much thinner - and it looked great. I remember some owners of the iPhone 5, whom I showed my iPod touch, even thought about buying the same, although it would seem, why, if there is an iPhone? But the design of iPod touch was truly fascinating.

And then ... Apple seemed to forget about the iPod touch line. Two and a half years - no new iPods. The reasons are simple: iPod sales were falling, and iPhones were growing, and profits from one iPhone were much greater. Plus, the active development of LTE networks has strengthened the iPhone’s trump card (availability of a cellular module), and the advent of Instagram and the popularization of mobile instant messengers (WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram and Facebook Messenger later appeared) have defined a new format for using a handheld mobile device: now you always need mobile Internet Wi-fi is no longer enough. If in 2012 the user could feel quite comfortable with a traditional push-button telephone (for communication) and iPod touch for entertainment and the Internet, then in 2015 such a bundle does not save anymore - we are too used to the fact that we do not have the Internet from time to time, but every second.

Understanding this, it could be assumed that Apple without any noise would simply collapse the iPod touch line, leaving it history. The more surprising looked the announcement of the new iPod touch, and not tied to the announcement of the iPhone.

So, what is Tim Cook and his comrades in store for us in the new model? And how much does it fit into the realities of 2015?

Let's look at the characteristics of new items!

IPod touch specifications

• Apple A8 SoC @ 1.1 GHz (2 cores, 64-bit ARMv8-A architecture)
• Apple M8 motion coprocessor (includes accelerometer, gyroscope and compass)
• PowerVR GX6650 GPU (presumably)
• RAM 1 GB
• 16/32/64/128 GB flash memory
• No microSD card support
• IOS 8.4 operating system
• Touchscreen IPS, 4 ″, 1136 × 640 (326 ppi), capacitive, multi-touch
• 8 MP cameras with ƒ / 2.4 aperture (shooting video Full HD - 30 fps, HD - 120 fps) and 1.2 MP cameras with ƒ / 2.2 aperture (shooting video - 720p)
• Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n / ac (2.4 and 5 GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.1
• 3.5mm headphone jack, Lightning
• 1043 mAh lithium polymer battery
• Dimensions 123 × 59 × 6.1 mm
• Weight 88 g

As we can see, the features of the new iPod touch partially overlap with the iPhone 6, and partially with the 2012 iPod touch. From iPhone 6 - SoC, RAM, camera and wireless standard Wi-Fi 802.11ac and support for the 5 GHz Wi-Fi range. From iPod touch of the past generation - dimensions, weight, display and battery.

For clarity, we have collected the main characteristics of the listed devices in a table.

	2015 Apple iPod touch	2012 Apple iPod touch	Apple iPhone 6
Screen	4 ″, IPS, 1136 × 640, 326 ppi	4 ″, IPS, 1136 × 640, 326 ppi	4.7 ″, IPS, 1334 × 750, 326 ppi
SoC (processor)	Apple A8 @ 1.1 GHz (2 cores, 64-bit ARMv8-A architecture)	Apple A5 @ 800 MHz (2 cores, ARM Cortex-A9)	Apple A8 @ 1.4 GHz (2 cores, 64-bit ARMv8-A architecture)
GPU	PowerVR GX6650	PowerVR SGX543MP2	PowerVR GX6650
Flash memory	16/32/64/128 GB	16/32/64 GB	16/64/128 GB
Connectors		lightning dock connector, 3.5mm headphone jack	lightning dock connector, 3.5mm headphone jack
Memory card support	no	no	no
RAM	1 GB	512 MB	1 GB
Cameras		rear (5 MP; shooting video 1080p), front (1.2 MP, shooting and video transmission 720p)	rear (8 MP; shooting video 1080p) and front (1.2 MP; shooting and video transmission 720p)
Support for LTE networks (frequency bands, MHz)	no	no	2100 / 1900 / 1800 / 850 / 2600 / 900
Battery Capacity (mAh)	1043	1043	1810
operating system	Apple iOS 8.4	Apple iOS 6 (upgrade to iOS 8.4 available)	Apple iOS 8 (upgrade to iOS 8.4 available)
Dimensions * (mm)	123 × 59 × 6.1	123 × 59 × 6.1	138 × 67 × 6.9
Mass (g)	88	88	129

* - according to official manufacturers data

What is worth paying attention to here? First of all, the amount of internal memory: iPod touch 2015 has a 32 GB variant and a 128 GB variant, whereas the last iPod touch had a maximum variant of 64 GB, while iPhone 6 does not have a 32 GB variant. The second significant moment is the latest version of the OS, the main difference of which is the built-in Apple Music application. Of course, iPod touch and iPhone 6 can also be upgraded to iOS 8.4, but here it is already available out of the box.

And one more thing, already for the most attentive readers: although the SoC in the iPhone 6 and iPod touch is the same, but the CPU frequency is different. How we found out (Apple does not mention this in public materials) and how this affects performance, we will tell in our article.

Well, after a preliminary acquaintance, it's time to move on to a detailed study of the new items.

Equipment

The 2015 iPod touch box looks exactly like the box of the previous model. This is a "coffin" made of transparent plastic, wrapped in a protective plastic shell.

Inside the “coffin” lies the iPod itself, as well as flyers, stickers and EarPod headphones.

Headphones are located in a convenient box - the same as in the iPhone. But given that iPod touch is several times cheaper than the iPhone 6, this is especially pleasing (as well as the fact of having very good, albeit short-lived, headphones).

In general, there are no surprises regarding the configuration, everything is traditional and similar to the previous generation iPod touch and iPhone 6, except for the lack of a charging unit (it is traditionally on the iPhone, but not on iPod touch).

Design

When you get iPod touch out of the box, you want to exclaim: “How small it is!”. Indeed, after the iPhone 6 (not to mention the iPhone 6 Plus and Android smartphones), the slim 4-inch gadget seems tiny. But in fact, the dimensions of iPod touch 2015 did not change at all compared to the 2012 model. She has the same all-metal case with exactly the same screen, even the thickness has not decreased.

But what’s interesting: if three years ago this thickness seemed unattainable for smartphones, today we know both the Oppo R5 with a thickness of 4.85 mm and the Huawei P8 with its 6.4 mm ... In general, the iPod thickness is somewhat amazing touch is no longer.

However, the miniaturization of iPod touch is explained not only by the thickness and diagonal of the screen, which is small by modern standards, but also by the small frames to the right and left of the screen. And again, we note that at the moment there are smartphones with smaller frames (or, as they are called, "frameless"). So iPod touch is not a champion here either. Although it cannot be said that its appearance seems outdated and uncompetitive: if you like compact models, then iPod touch will most likely appeal.

Unfortunately, Apple did not equip the novelty with a fingerprint sensor. Although the same iPad of the latest generation - equipped with it.

We will not describe in detail the case of the device and the location of the connectors, since there are no changes compared to the 2012 model here, so we recommend that you read the article about the fifth generation iPod touch. But Apple nevertheless updated something in the design of iPod touch: firstly, new colors appeared, and secondly, the player lost its mount for the wrist loop (for carrying iPod touch as a camera).

New colors pleased: Apple knows how to make the most extravagant colors do not look bad taste. IPod touch is now available in blue, pink, gold, dark gray (space gray) and silver. We had a blue version on the test, but we would rather call it blue. It is darker and deeper than, for example, the color of the sky. In addition, it is darker than the blue version of the previous generation of iPod touch. But still not as dark as classic jeans. And the silver gleam adds a special charm to it. Lovely color, we really liked it. It doesn’t look good, it’s not deliberately youthful. On the other hand, he will probably not be suitable for a very strict appearance.

If we welcome the appearance of new colors, then the disappearance of the fastener button for the bracelet (and, accordingly, the absence of this bracelet in the kit) is only disappointing. After all, one of the main uses of iPod touch was shooting photos and videos. And the presence of the strap, which was attached to the player and allowed to be worn on the arm, was very helpful, for example, on tourist trips, when you have to take it off every minute. It is less convenient with a smartphone: all the time you need to pull it out of your pocket, put it back, then pull it out again, while there is a risk of dropping it. And iPod touch - hung on your hand and walk yourself, not worrying about safety and not constantly shoving it in your pocket / holster / bag. Recall how it looked:

Why it was removed from the new iPod touch is unclear. It can be assumed that the location of the components inside the case has changed, and the place for this button has been taken. But, in any case, it’s a pity. Especially when you consider that the photo capabilities of iPod touch have stepped up significantly (but more on that later). Although many consider this a mere trifle.

In general, we can say that the design of iPod touch still makes a good impression, and the appearance of new colors is welcome. But this model is no longer the champion in thickness (if we compare it with smartphones), and the screen by today's standards seems too small.

Screen

The screen of iPod touch 2015 according to the stated parameters is completely identical to the screen of iPod touch of the previous generation, which, in turn, is similar to the screens of the iPhone 5 and 5s. The editor of the Projectors and TV section, Alexei Kudryavtsev, tested the new display in detail to answer the question, is it really the same screen as the above models? Below are his findings.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are better than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, we present a photo on which a white surface is reflected in the turned off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - iPod touch, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen on iPod touch is slightly darker (brightness in photos 73 versus 77 for Nexus 7). The ghosting of the reflected objects in the iPod touch screen is weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (such as glass-air) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better under conditions of strong external illumination, but repairing them in the case of a cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating, its effectiveness is not worse than that of Nexus 7, therefore fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower speed than in the case of ordinary glass.

When displaying a white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 550 cd / m², the minimum - 4.9 cd / m². The maximum brightness is very high, and, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors will be at a good level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable value. There is no automatic brightness control by light sensor. At any brightness level, the backlight modulation is practically absent, so there is no screen flicker.

This player uses an IPS type matrix. Microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

As in the case of the latest iPhone, a lot of dust particles are found in the layer of adhesive between the outer glass and the matrix:

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen and without inverting colors. For comparison, here are photos in which the same images are displayed on the iPod touch and Nexus 7 screens, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m², and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K. A white field is perpendicular to the screens:

We note a good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And the test picture:

The color rendition is good, the color saturation is moderately high, the color balance is slightly different. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, the contrast remained at a good level. And the white field:

The brightness at an angle of the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but the iPod touch has a slightly lighter screen (the average brightness in photographs is 238 compared to 235 for Nexus 7). The black field with a diagonal deviation is weakly highlighted and acquires a red-violet or purple hue. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from a different angle:

With a perpendicular look, the black field uniformity is excellent:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is normal - about 845: 1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 22 ms (12 ms on + 10 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (according to the numerical value of the color) and vice versa in total takes 34 ms. Constructed at 32 points with an equal interval in the numerical value of the shade of gray, the gamma curve did not reveal a blockage in either highlights or shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.20, which is equal to the standard value. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power dependence:

Color gamut is sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters to a moderate degree mix the components together:

Therefore, colors have a natural saturation and hue. The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is only slightly higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the spectrum of the black body (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, ΔE and color temperature change little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since there the color balance does not matter much, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

To summarize: the screen has a very high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day. For conditions of complete darkness, you can set a comfortable brightness level. The advantages of the screen include the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, effective oleophobic coating, high black stability to deviation of gaze from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen, excellent black field uniformity, equal sRGB color gamut and good color balance. Overall, the screen quality is very high. Note that in terms of combination of characteristics, this screen is almost an exact copy of the screen of the Apple iPhone 5s.

OS and software

Of course, iPod touch can be upgraded to iOS 9, and since the hardware platform is the same as the iPhone 6, iOS 9 should work just as smoothly.

Performance

the 2015 iPod touch runs on the Apple A8 SoC, just like the iPhone 6. However, let's compare the information provided by the Geekbench 3 utility installed on both devices.

The screenshots show that if the iPhone 6 has a CPU frequency of 1.4 GHz, then iPod touch has only 1.1 GHz. Let's see if this affects real performance!

Judging by browser tests, the performance of the new iPod touch is really weaker than that of the iPhone 6. 300 MHz clearly affect!

Now let's see how the iPhone 6 will perform in Geekbench 3, a multi-platform benchmark that measures CPU and RAM performance.

The picture is similar.

The last group of benchmarks is dedicated to GPU performance testing. We used GFX Bench, Bonsai Benchmark and 3DMark.

Let's start with the GFX Benchmark. In the table below, Offscreen tests are the output to the screen of a picture in 1080p, regardless of the actual screen resolution. And tests without Offscreen are the output of the picture in the resolution that corresponds to the screen resolution of the device. That is, the Offscreen tests are indicative from the point of view of SoC abstract performance, and real tests - from the point of view of game comfort on a specific device.

	Apple iPodtouch 2015 (Apple A8)	Apple iPhone 6 (Apple A8)
GFX Benchmark Manhattan	35.8 fps	29.4 fps
GFX Benchmark Manhattan (1080p Offscreen)	18.6 fps	17.8 fps
GFX Benchmark T-Rex	51.1 fps	51.2 fps
GFX Benchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen)	42.7 fps	42.7 fps

And here comes a surprise! In the Manhattan test, the novelty overtakes the iPhone 6 in onscreen mode. But this is explained not by greater productivity (where would it come from?), But by a lower resolution (1136x640 versus 1336x750). It is logical that at a lower resolution the number of frames per second in iPod touch turned out a little more. And offscreen tests just demonstrate that the performance of the GPU is actually the same (a small error can be associated with both the OS version and the version of the application itself).

The next GPU test is 3DMark. We present the results for the Ice Storm Unlimited mode (simpler modes for evaluating such powerful GPUs are uninteresting).

Here, iPod touch again lost, but not very much.

Finally, let's see the results of the tablet in the Bonsai Basemark.

As you can see, in this test both devices reached the ceiling. That is, the difference between the iPhone 6 and iPod touch 2015 is not here.

So what is it? Yes, indeed, the CPU of the new iPod touch runs at a lower frequency than that of the iPhone 6. Apparently, this was done in order to save energy, since the battery in iPod touch is almost half as capacious. Such a solution is reflected in performance, as browser tests and Geekbench show, but in practice it will be almost impossible to feel it. The main thing is that the GPU for iPod touch is the same, and apparently it works at the same frequencies, which means that all games on iPod touch will go no worse, or even slightly better (due to lower resolution) than on iPhone 6 .

Unfortunately, we did not have the previous generation iPod touch for comparison, but given that its performance was similar to that of the iPhone 4S, we can say that the new product is several times superior to it, so the gaming capabilities of the two devices are simply not comparable.

Play video

To test the output of the image of video files, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see. "Testing technique for video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and the frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50, and 60 frames / with). In tests, we used a standard video player, which was launched when direct links to files were selected. The test results are summarized in the table:

File	Uniformity	Passes
1080 / 60p	fine	no
1080 / 50p	fine	no
1080 / 30p	fine	no
1080 / 25p	fine	no
1080 / 24p	fine	no
720 / 60p	fine	no
720 / 50p	fine	no
720 / 30p	fine	no
720 / 25p	fine	no
720 / 24p	fine	no

Note: If in both columns Uniformity  and Passes  green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies artifacts caused by uneven rotation and skipping frames, either will not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems associated with the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criterion for outputting frames, the playback quality of video files on the player’s screen is excellent, since frames (or groups of frames) are always displayed with a uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on the player’s screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, however, with inevitable interpolation and some loss of clarity. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the actual range of the video file.

Heat shots

The following is a photograph of the back surface obtained after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the heating is localized in the upper part of the apparatus, which, apparently, corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 39 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), this is relatively little.

Sound

To be honest: iPod touch is not so much a player as a mobile Internet device. Listening to music is, of course, an important scenario for its use, but far from the only one. And the typical conditions for this are such that it is hardly possible to fully appreciate the sound quality (or, on the contrary, its flaws): iPod touch is listened mainly on the street, using bundled headphones (or similar plugs). We add that iPod touch is focused on compressed audio (although the ability to listen to uncompressed tracks in ALAC format is present here).

That is why, and also because Apple has consistently kept the sound quality of its players and smartphones from generation to generation, without increasing, but not reducing it, we did not conduct testing using specialized devices. Nevertheless, at the request of our readers, who care about the sound quality of the new iPod touch, we conducted a test listening of the new iPod touch, as well as the fourth generation iPhone 6 and iPod touch (which we used to audit) using expensive monitor headphones. Madonna "Celebration" and "It" s So Cool "with surround disco sound and elastic bass, as well as Led Zeppelin's powerful hard rock number" Kashmir "(live recording from the Celebration Day reunion concert) were used as test compositions. taken from Apple Music.

As expected, there was no noticeable difference between the models. The volume level was slightly different, but in all cases it was about half of the possible. In complete silence and when using headphones such as ours, this was more than enough. As practice shows, on the street and when using the complete EarPod headphones, the volume must be set at a level slightly higher than average, but the volume margin is still decent.

In general, we have no complaints about the sound quality of the new generation iPod touch: it sounds decent for a mass non-specialized device, and the headphone / acoustics or the quality of the original audio material rather than the audio path of the player itself will become a bottleneck. However, we assume that audiophiles will find something to complain about. But audiophiles are unlikely to buy iPod touch and at home, most likely, will be able to build a better configuration for listening to music, and on the street with earphones and earplugs, they would hardly have found any difference between this model and any other player when blindly listening.

Offline work

The battery capacity of iPod touch is almost half that of the iPhone 6, but, on the other hand, iPod touch does not waste energy on the cellular module. So, what is the battery life demonstrated by the device in the same scenarios as the iPhone 6? Recall that in the reading and video modes we set the screen brightness to 100 cd / m² (this is a comfortable brightness for using the device in a room with moderate artificial lighting), but in the 3D games mode, the Epic Citadel benchmark that we used set the brightness to maximum level.

In general, no miracles: the iPod touch battery runs out faster than the iPhone 6 battery in approximately proportion to their capacity. An exception is the video playback mode. We used an HD movie from the iTunes Store here. The result at 7 hours and 30 minutes is very good for such a miniature device.

On the other hand, since the scenarios for using iPod touch are still different than those of the iPhone, it is not useful to make a direct comparison. And most likely, the same owner of the iPhone 6 will require recharging much more often than iPod touch - simply because of the limited capabilities of the latter. However, we note that with active photographing and using Instagram, the iPod touch battery can be dropped in half a day (we checked it!).

Camera

iPod touch 2015 is equipped with two cameras, similar in resolution and other characteristics to the cameras of iPhone 6. Their capabilities are also the same (including slo-mo and other effects). Therefore, we decided to compare them directly in real life. The results are in front of you. We note that a small difference in the width of the angle may be related to the OS version: iPhone is a beta version of iOS 9, and iPod touch iOS iOS 8.4.1.

In low light, the cameras of both devices do not give anything decent.
Smartphone and player can do macro shooting in good light.
Foliage worked out well in the field of the frame and according to the plans. With the removal of the plan almost does not merge. The difference between the two frames is more likely due to slightly different lighting than the actual differences between the two cameras.
In both cases, there is good sharpness in the field of the frame and good detail. findings So it's time to take stock. It would seem that the picture is completely clear: we have in front of us an excellent music player with multimedia capabilities, preserving the best of iPod touch from the past, but taking a huge step forward in camera performance and quality. In addition to this, at its price of 18 thousand rubles (for the version with 16 GB) it is half the price of the iPhone 5S and half the price of the iPhone 6. Well, shut up and take my money? Alas, no matter how good the new iPod touch is, it's hard to get rid of the thought that this device came to us from somewhere in the past. In an era when you do not access the Internet, but live on it, the mobile device of a smartphone form factor, but without the Internet, seems like an anachronism and a “fifth leg”. Well, in fact: if the task is only to listen to music, and you do not want to entrust this function to your smartphone, then it makes more sense to buy iPod nano or iPod shuffle (not to mention the many cheaper models from other manufacturers). If you need a miniature camera, then, again, it is more logical to use a smartphone, since the captured photo can be immediately posted to social networks or sent to the cloud. IPod touch has a beautiful screen (albeit very small by today's standards), excellent performance, but are you really going to play cool 3D games on this baby? Or maybe watch movies? Or surf the Internet? What seemed normal enough three years ago seems ridiculous and unjustified today. However, Apple also probably understands all this. Nevertheless, they decided to revive the iPod touch line, which was already buried by everyone, and released this model. Why? Perhaps the answer lies in another announcement made this summer: Apple Music. Indeed, today iPod touch is the cheapest way to use this streaming service mobilely. Recall that music tracks from Apple Music can be stored in the device’s memory for offline listening, so the lack of mobile Internet in iPod touch will not be a problem: they downloaded albums in the evening and listen the next day without worrying about the Internet, and also that the iPhone sits down at the most inopportune moment. True, it is very difficult to imagine a person who will buy both an iPhone and iPod touch, but you can draw a portrait of the owner of some budget Android-smartphone. Such a user may well get iPod touch for Apple Music, as well as for all entertainment and photo opportunities, and use a smartphone exclusively for communication, and even if necessary, distributing the Internet for iPod touch. Today you can buy an inexpensive smartphone for 7-8 rubles, and even coupled with the cost of iPod touch, it will be much cheaper than buying one iPhone. Yes, not very convenient. But on the other hand, significant savings, and the possibilities are very broad. In addition, if a person really listens to a lot of music and often takes pictures, then iPod touch can help save a smartphone battery. There are two more scenarios for using iPod touch: the first is a device for an iOS developer who does not need phone features, and the second is a gift (for example, to a child). It will be too cool to give an iPhone, but iPod touch is both a beautiful and a pleasant gift (although it’s a little useless if its address does not match our “portrait of a potential iPod touch user”). In the end, iPod touch retains the “iPhone demo” feature. If you look at the iPhone, and the little devil on his left shoulder whispers in his ear: “Buy, buy it! Look, what an apple, what a design! ” - and on the right shoulder the angel discourages: “You have a good smartphone, where do you get this one?” And your whole monthly salary is worth it! ” - then the purchase of iPod touch looks like a good compromise. Which, of course, sooner or later (most likely, with the release of the next version of the iPhone) will still lead to the triumph of waste. Perhaps this is why Apple still retains the line, which brings much less net profit than the iPhone. 2015 Apple iPod touch, 16 GB 2015 Apple iPod touch 32GB T-12706161 T-12706162 L-12706161-10 L-12706162-10 2015 Apple iPod touch 64 GB 2015 Apple iPod touch, 128 GB T-12706163 T-12706164 L-12706163-10 L-12706164-10

Describing the design, we paid a lot of attention to the main innovation of the model: the Touch Bar above the keyboard. But it is important that this is not only a hardware solution, but also a software solution. Moreover, the effectiveness of its use directly depends on the software and settings. In this article, we decided to consider the Touch Bar in all aspects and talk about the panel in terms of its use in various use cases.

For starters - general information. So, the Touch Bar is an OLED touchpad found in the 2016 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models. Resolution Touch Bar - 2170 × 60. The panel replaces the top row of keys and can display various information - depending on the running application, user settings and actions.

Needless to say, the panel can fully function only in the macOS Sierra environment and only if the specific application is optimized for use with the Touch Bar. Of course, all pre-installed macOS applications have this optimization, but third-party developers can use its functionality. In particular, we will see how this is implemented in Microsoft Office.

In order to take screenshots from the Touch Bar, you must install the current beta version of macOS Sierra. Any user can do this by registering with the Apple program, but you need to be prepared for the MacBook Pro to run down quickly.

To the right of the Touch Bar is the Touch ID fingerprint scanner. Physically, it is separated from the Touch Bar and is not part of it, but when we open the lid of the laptop, the message “Unlock with Touch ID” and an arrow pointing to Touch ID appear on the Touch Bar.

As we noted in the first article, the MacBook Pro 2016 is the first Apple laptop with a fingerprint scanner. And its support first appeared in macOS Sierra. Below, we’ll show you how to use this feature on your MacBook.

Touch id

So, the first time you turn on and set up your MacBook for the first time, we are asked to add a fingerprint.

The procedure is the same as with the iPhone / iPad. Several times we put a finger on the scanner, and the screen shows how the gray grooves are filled in red.

After the fingerprint is added, you can add another finger, and also indicate for what types of operations Touch ID can be used. In addition to unlocking the Mac, it can be use with Apple Pay and confirmation of purchases in the iTunes Store and Mac App Store.

Touch Bar: Standard Options

Now back to the Touch Bar itself. We have already seen what the panel shows before unlocking the computer. And here is what we see by default after unlocking. In the screenshot - the right side. On the left is only the Esc button, between it and the one shown in the screenshot there is a black space. Clicking on the original screenshot is available.

So, on the right is the Siri call button. Starting with the Sierra version on macOS, Siri is supported, and Apple immediately decided to make its launch as visual as possible. Moreover, in the process of operation, you often click on this button accidentally, because earlier in this place was the volume up button. And it turns out that we willy-nilly deliberately push us to use Siri.

Other icons do not need comments. Except the arrow. If you touch it, a series of touch buttons will open, identical to what we see in the top row of a traditional MacBook keyboard. Here is a screenshot divided into two halves: at the top - the left side, at the bottom - the right.

The decision seems to be rather controversial, firstly, to make this view not basic, but accessible only after touching a small arrow (hit it again!), And secondly, leaving Siri's call icon in this row. However, if desired, all this can be configured. About how - we will tell further.

Touch Bar in apps

Now let's see how the Touch Bar works in applications. We repeat: if the application is not optimized for the Touch Bar, the panel will always display what is shown above. However, in the case of its pre-installed applications, Apple naturally made sure that each of them really enabled the capabilities of Touch Bar. Here, for example, Safari. The screenshots below show fragments of screenshots of Touch Bar, but the original screenshot is available by clicking.

As we can see, thumbnails of open tabs are displayed here. You can move between them simply by swiping your finger. Conveniently? Perhaps. On the other hand, not to say that it is very obvious - it is painfully tiny thumbnails, and not always they allow you to understand where which site is. Yes, and switching between tabs in the usual way is no more difficult. But, of course, this is a spectacular opportunity.

Another useful feature on this panel in Safari is “search” and “open a new tab”.

The panel may change depending on what is open in the browser. For example, if a video is played there, a video navigation bar appears.

And here we come to understand the main quality of the Touch Bar: this is complete variability, that is, in one application there can be an infinite number of Touch Bar options. It all depends entirely on the imagination of the developers. The main question is that the functionality of the panel complements, rather than duplicates, the application options that are so easily accessible.

A good option is in the "Calendar". There, using the Touch Bar, you can easily switch between different weeks.

Less well done in the text editors Pages and Word. The problem is that, for example, marking a piece of text in italics is much more convenient with a mouse, because we select this piece with the mouse. It turns out that in order to use the Touch Bar, we first need to make some gesture with the mouse, then drop it, press the button on the Touch Bar, then grab the mouse again.

In general, despite the fact that the possibilities of Touch Bar in text editors are very wide, in fact, it turns out that you need to either relearn and get used to completely new movements at work, or just perceive the Touch Bar as some kind of optional addition, which we may be , someday, purely for the sake of fun, we will use it, but for now we will do it the old fashioned way - with the mouse and keyboard.

This applies not only to text editors, but also to most other applications. For example, QuickTime Player.

Yes, we see a pause button, but in order to pause the video, just press the spacebar on the keyboard.

And this is the main problem of the Touch Bar concept and the main challenge for developers: how to make using the Touch Bar more intuitive and simpler than the usual keyboard combinations and mouse commands? It is clear that much here depends on Apple itself, because it is necessary to give an example to third-party developers, to show that the Touch Bar can be really wisely used. And there are such examples. We have already given some examples, and we can give more.

Let's say Pages has tooltips. This is exactly the option that is impossible or at least impractical without a touch screen, and the Touch Bar is just right for its implementation.

Touch Bar Setup

Touch Bar can be customized for itself, not only as a whole, but also for each application separately. Access to general settings can be obtained through "Settings" / "Keyboard".

You can notice that the button “Configure Control Strip” appeared there. This is exactly what you need to set up the Touch Bar. At the top, you can also specify what should be displayed by default in the panel.

Control Strip are standard icons on the right side of the Touch Bar. An advanced version of Control Strip opens by clicking on the arrow. But if you don’t want to do this regularly, you can set the extended Control Strip to be shown right away.

So, click “Configure Control Strip” and we see a window with icons, and above them is the inscription: “Drag frequently used objects to the Touch Bar at the bottom of the screen.” Actually, from this it is already clear how exactly we can replace any icon on the Touch Bar with another. Just take the mouse with the mouse you need and drag it down to the edge of the screen, after which it “jumps” to the Touch Bar and there it trembles, like on iOS after a long press.

Here the selection is quite large. Including there are useful things. For example, “Screenshot”, “Sleep mode”, Launchpad, “Show desktop”, “Do not disturb” ... So do not miss the opportunity to create the optimal set.

Thus, outside the applications, we have two levels of Touch Bar settings: the first level is what is displayed by default, the second level is what is the composition of the Control Strip (normal and advanced options). But in addition to this, you can also configure the composition of the Touch Bar icons in individual applications. For example, the following shows how to do this in Safari. In the menu "View" we see the line: "Customize the Touch Bar."

Click on it - and we see a window similar to the Control Strip settings window, but with a set of icons directly for the browser. Well, then we proceed according to a familiar pattern: drag the necessary icons with the mouse and fix them in the right place in the Touch Bar.

Therefore, software developers should take care not only of the fact of using the Touch Bar, but also of the options for setting the panel inside their application and choosing additional icons. That is, on the one hand, there should be a clear correlation between the actions of the user and the appearing icons on the Touch Bar, and on the other hand, the initial set can be adjusted by the user.

findings

Touch Bar is one of the main innovations in recent years. This is a very interesting and promising solution that can significantly expand the possibilities of user interaction with a laptop and facilitate the performance of a number of tasks. Hypothetically. In practice, a lot depends on how the Touch Bar functionality is implemented in a particular application and how easy or difficult it is for the user to customize it and start using it in real life.

It cannot be said that the Touch Bar is really useful. And waiting for your productivity to increase if you switch from a previous generation MacBook Pro to a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar would be rash. And given that most third-party software manufacturers have not yet had time to optimize their applications for the Touch Bar, all the more you should not have illusions. But at the same time, the idea itself seems very promising, its implementation is as competent as it can be in real conditions, and the prospects are impressive, given that Apple has repeatedly demonstrated how it can convince the whole industry of the need to implement those or other innovations. Will it work this time?

The Apple MacBook Pro (Late 2016) deserves our Original Design Award for the innovative Touch Bar and the deep integration of this hardware element into the software component of the laptop.

Photos in the review are clickable.

I get on a crowded train at the Moscow station and take out a package of transparent acrylic plastic from my bag. While I lay out the contents of the box and  at the table, a young guy slowly glides past me. This moment was well remembered: in his cursory glance at the bright red, calling iPod, genuine interest was read. Interest abruptly faded as soon as he sat down and took out the iPhone 5.

The device, which lay in a minimalist package, the world was waiting for the whole one and a halfmonths. It is logical: unlike other Apple products, the touch is a non-alternative leader in its category. But do you need it? We will formulate a detailed answer together, having become closely acquainted with the fifth generation of iPod touch - the brightest, most powerful and most expensive.

Colors

This year, Cupertino decided to add variety to the line of touch players. The task was completed on a grand scale: now instead of black and white, we are offered to choose from six complicated stillworse.

Therefore, when you decide on the color, the real choice will be much easier. If you are not embarrassed by stereotypes - take blue, which in insufficient or indirect lighting gives a little green. Gray is the safest option, which is suitable for absolutely everyone. Finally, those who are used to the black frame of the screen will have to take the player only the appropriate color. Here, it would seem, and all the recommendations. But among the new "tachi" there is another one, with shades of which Apple did not make it up. It " Product (RED)". And today we will consider it. It should be noted in advance that this variation will not be sold in Russia. This can only be bought in the Apple Store or on the official website, although no one has canceled the resellers.

Packaging and equipment

The process of unpacking any Apple gadget turns into a sacred action that delivers genuine pleasure. iPod Touch is hidden in a transparent plastic-acrylic box, the shape of which is identical to the packaging of two previous generations of the device. The Apple logo flaunts on the top end, the player’s name and the inscription “Product (RED)” (optional) on the sides, and a sticker with boring information about the model and serial number is stuck on the bottom and inside. The color of the text and logo matches the color of the player.

Slowly remove all candy wrappers and open the box. The nail of the program, covered with a tightly glued opaque film, is laid on a plastic podium. You will remember the characteristic sound when you remove it for a long time. A small cardboard chest is hidden behind the stand, inside of which all the “papers” are perfectly evenly folded - a brief reference, two stickers with the Apple logo, warranty information and the Product RED insert.

Underneath all this stuff lies an evenly twisted Lightning cord, EarPods earphones in a wretched rustling package a la polystyrene and a small Loop lanyard. IPhone owners will suspect something is wrong: where, in fact, is full charging? She is not here and, unfortunately, has never been. USB is again our life-giving friend and comrade.

The packaging from the headphones differs from that of the “five” kit: unlike the pretty plastic “case”, here we are dealing with recycled materials, rustling loudly from any touch. On the reverse side, this whole thing is covered by a piece of cardboard that needs to be torn to get EarPods out. It is impossible to use this packaging as a “case”, because it’s just fall apartfrom pressure. Headphones themselves “delight” with the complete absence of a remote control and a microphone:

Although everything is honest, because Apple warns about this on the official website. I won’t spread about sound, because Seva did it much better than me in a separate one. And we are back to iPod touch.

The very first impression fits into one capacious obscene word. The new iPod Touch is not just very light and thin. Its weight is not felt at all in the hand, except for the tactile sensations from the metal, and the depth of the body is so insignificant that at first you feel some suspicious discomfort. I guarantee: if the ribs were sharp, the new “touch” could cut not only food, but also wood. But now the shape of the back panel exactly matches the cover of a regular MacBook Pro: straight on top and sharply rounded at the bottom. I can not say that all this lies in the hand it's betterthan the past generation. But there is no need to sob here.

The front panel is hereby undera panel in a characteristic recess hid the violet-blue eye of the front camera. The Home button, whose disappearance is promised to us almost every year, stands in its usual place. It is pressed extremely tightly and quite loudly - because of the miniature depth explained by severe necessity.

The glass is still slightly raised relative to the rest of the body. At the same time, the color of the rear panel is visible even in front - thanks to the protruding metal "ribs". They are sharpened to almost brilliance at an angle of 45 degrees, which creates nice highlights. The edge seems highlysharp to the touch, but I could not scratch her hands. Yes, I tried.

A screen lock button is hidden at the top end, which is now installed perpendicular to the body, and not at an angle “somewhere behind”. On the right, the player is completely empty, and on the left are two separate volume keys - this time at a very small angle. All these elements are not made of plastic, as in touch 4, but of metal, and the same color as the entire body of the rear panel.

At the bottom there is a headphone jack, a Lightning connector port and five round holes emitting sound from a miniature speaker in the case. The 3.5 mm jack and speaker have been swapped this year. It did not affect usability at all. The speaker holes are closed by a very dense mesh, and he, looking ahead, does not shine at all with either volume or sound quality, but is suitable as a background tweeter for sounding toys. There is nothing to say about the synchronization port: I inserted the cord and drove off.

Okay, what to pull, it's time to turn over. If everything is completely Feng Shui with the front, then something indescribable is happening behind. This is the most dramatic rear panel redesign in the entire history of iPod Touch - and probably the most controversial.

Be careful with your desires. Because one day they can be exactly fulfilled, and the result can be very different from what was expected. For many, many years, owners of iPods have been crying for Apple: they say, why do you put polished steel to shine, if you know that you can scratch it with one oblique look? In Cupertino, they sat and obviously twisted a finger at the temple - the tactile sensations of the metal thus treated are simply amazing, and for their sake the flock could tolerate the fragile nature of the case. As a result, the consumer won: now all the “cars” are closed behind the panel of mattealuminum, reflecting perhaps silhouettes.

Scratch the back cover now noticeablyheavier. In very bright light it is clear that the material seemed to be “squeezed” vertically. It is curious how the panel color changes depending on the lighting: it sharply turns pale, and “harsh” notes of the shade disappear from it. The Apple logo and the device name are made in the same color as the body, but they stand out clearly: both protrude over the surface by a hundredth of a millimeter and differ in almost a “mirror”, exceptionally smooth surface, and are very similar to the touch panel of the previous generation touch player. The text below is painted in black, but in the light at an angle it is almost invisible.

The camera eye has not just become visually larger. Now he naturally stands above the surface of the body by a good millimeter. The solution is not the best, but clearly forced, if you take into account the dimensions of the player. The metal rim around the camera module is framed by the finest circles, which, even if they break apart, can not be seen with the naked eye. Two-thirds of the eye area is occupied by an opaque black film, and the remaining space is divided between the gray surface of the module and a very small lens in shades of blue.

Near the camera in its own recess is a microphone hidden by a diamond-shaped mesh. And a little to the right is a new element for the “touch” - a flash. There is only one diode in it, but it shines quite well for itself. In addition to the functionality of the flashlight and something else incredibly useful (we will talk about this later), the flash makes night shots digestible. Who would have thought. True, its power is enough only for one or two meters.

Even to the right, closer to the corner, a volumetric “hole” of matte plastic gapes. A Wi-Fi module is hidden under it. Apple nevertheless returned to the idea of \u200b\u200ba separate window in the case for wireless communication modules (see), and the consequences of this decision can be safely divided into good and bad. Black blot looks sad, but the level and speed of signal reception almost doubled! For the sake of this, you can tolerate, especially after the infamous Wi-Fi module in iPad 3:

The design description would be incomplete without mentioning the large aluminum button in the lower left corner. This is a Loop strap mount. It works very simply: they pressed once - the button left, pressed two - the button clicked into the case. True, the last action requires some effort. And since we started talking about Loop, it makes sense to consider the accessory itself.

No matter how capacious and mysterious his name is, Loop is stupid strap. The material of the strap is very similar to neoprene, one side of which is smooth and bright, and the other is quite fleecy and pale. A sacred phrase is printed on the inside, the contents of which are known by heart to any user of Apple technology. They say that it makes any item 90% cooler and 50% more expensive. But not for us fanatics to judge ...

A small ring of similar material is put on the strap, which is very good - at least for now - it fixes the entire structure on the hand, preventing it from falling during a sharp vertical movement. All this joy is attached to the button with the help of a simple double hole: we thread the strap on one side, pull it on the other and you're done.

I admit honestly: so far I considered Loop another Smart Cover: the idea of \u200b\u200bingenious simplicity, absolutely unsuitableto the harsh weekdays of using the gadget. Reality genuinely surprised me. Loop doesn’t just perfectly hold iPod touch on your hand, even if you are running, sitting, spinning the player in the air like a helicopter, and so on. He is able to withstand such tricks and tricks that the heart of people standing nearby will burst with fear for the device. I'm afraid that one day Loop will fall apart from such extreme miracles. But for now, everything is fine. Just make sure that the hanging player does not hurt anything solid.

The bottom line is that the impressions of the new case remain twofold. On the one hand, brushed metal is a definite plus in any situation. But because of it, tactile sensations suffer: now the “touch” seems almost plastic, and bright colors only contribute to this. Cold polished steel gives the best impression. There can be no doubt: iPod touch 4 lies in your hand better than iPod touch 5, and causes a lot more pleasant sensations. Another thing is that in a month one of them will look like a victim of a metal machine. And it will definitely not be a new generation. Well, we ourselves requested it.

Screen: 10 out of 10

Fun fact: a year ago we laughed at the owners of Android and proved that enlarging the display is bad. Today we have in our hands an iPod Touch with an enlarged display - and we are happy. Why are we happy?

Because Apple did not lie. The screen is absolutely accurate, to the smallest detail and detail repeats that in iPhone 5. What does this mean? Firstly, colors. Lively, vibrant, accurate, pleasant - a huge difference with the blueness of all previous Touch players. Black turned black, not pale gray. White turned white - although not, quite a bit yellowish, which is still much better than snow-blue. It is believed that the iPhone 5 is the most accurate color rendering screen of all smartphones. This title is well-deserved for iPod touch 5. Eye pleasure.

Secondly, IPS. Now, at any viewing angle, screen colors are not inverted. That is, all the strangers and strangers sitting next to you can enjoy your movie or game in all colors. However, at the same angles the display still loses brightness - and highlysignificantly, which makes it difficult to use the device in such positions. But this is rather a plus - for the above reason.

Thirdly, oleophobic coating. Cleaning the display from signs of use has become much easier. And the additional sliding of the fingers from this layer has not bothered anyone. Finally, plus and minus at the same time: display size. The increased resolution and diagonal corresponds to those in the iPhone 5: 4 inches diagonally with a resolution of 1136 by 640 pixels. More information is always good. But at what cost? The width, as you know, has remained the same, which should simplify the use of devices for people with a small grip area.

After several days of intensive testing, I noticed that in my (very small) hands, the upper or lower 10-15% of the screen is still inaccessible for quick use with one hand without the need for "interception". However, a second hand is still not required. Given that the vast majority of readers will obviously have more hands, you should not have any problems.

In an amicable way, the iPod touch 5 display is the second reason that can make all owners of previous generations of this device immediately “update”. With the first reason, everything is much simpler and more prosaic.

Two months ago, the author bought iPod touch 4 at a local flea market. For fun. A day later, I sold it back, crossing myself. This thing, even after being restored from scratch in iTunes, worked very badly on iOS 5. And when I ventured to put the beta version of iOS 6 on, it just died. Does anyone need a player in which he playernot able to play music without brakes in the menu? The hardware of the fourth “wheelbarrow” was not just outdated - it had to be completely deprived of support for the latest version of iOS in a good way, because it did not pull it at all. The device urgently needed a successor. Powerful.

iPod touch 5 is equipped with a dual-core A5 processor, which is identical in frequency and other technical data to that installed in the iPhone 4S. And the eska, as you know, is still taxis double, and sometimes even three times thanks to the new memory.

iOS 6 flies in all scenarios. Absolutely. In two days of testing games, browser, music, video and so on, I did not notice a single obvious “brake”. At the same time, the enlarged screen definitely consumes more processor “juices” than that of the iPhone 4S. For the first time in the last two years, I was able to delve into the iTunes home library without risk of catching the “crash” of the player, and the browser didn’t throw me on the desktop even when I opened the tab carriage on a very voracious full version of the portal The verge.

Words are not to be believed, so here are the results of synthetic tests. In Geekbench, the device scores twice as many points as its predecessor; in Sunspider (browser test) we have almost a five-fold advantage. If you believe the results on the website of the GLBenchmark graphic package, the video performance of the player is less than that in comparison with 4S somewhere by 4-5 percent. Affects the screen resolution. The battery lasts about 10-12 hours with load and Wi-Fi turned on. According to impressions - no worse than before, but still notfor two days.

IOS 6 itself on touch 5 does not have any specific “chips” compared to that on iPhone 5. But here, unlike the previous generation of touch players, it finally appeared Siri. Yes, and all the features with which the new iPhone is gifted are also present: here you have 3D maps (unfortunately, there is no GPS), panoramic photography, HDR photos, and so on. Speaking of photosensor.

Five megapixels - this is more than five times more than in the camera of the previous generation of "touch". The appearance of autofocus, improved optics, shooting in 1080p and sapphire protective glass - all this trample in the dirt the already terribly miserable photosensor iPod touch 4. Photos from the new player are clear, good, but their quality still drops sharply in low light conditions. The detail of the photos themselves and the color reproduction are similar to those in the iPad 3, which is no wonder. And if we add Loop here, we get a player with the function of a marching “soap box”. A very viable use case for the device. Sorry, but the front camera is still sad.

A flash, by the way, is useful not only for photos, but for ... notifications. In iOS settings "LED flash". It activates the flash every time an incoming call, iMessage, letter or just a push notification arrives. Super convenient feature with the screen turned upside down, completely replacing the missing vibromotor. This seemingly little thingpleased almost more than the new screen.

iPod nnada?

So, iPod touch 5 is an iPhone 5 without a dialer. Programmatically and functionally, the new touch player is very similar to the equally new Apple smartphone. But at the same time, having excluded Loop from the list, touch is in no way able to improve the life of the owner of the “five”. So let's figure out if you need this device.

1.   Owner of iPod Touch 4 without other iOS devices - it's time for you to go to the store, and put the old man up for sale or send to the far desk drawer. There is zero doubt. And let the case not bother you - you still want to break your chrome iPod every day, so what's the difference?

2. onlyas a “take” of your smartphone or as a gift to households - to accustom them to the Apple ecosystem. Children, by the way, are better off buying a touch. Hang a Loop on their hand and let them run. At the same time, you don’t have to worry, leaving the child with his fragile new iPhone.

3. othersmartphones and tablets - take touch 5 if you want to take advantage of the latest iOS technologies, fresh games / programs and an enlarged display. I suspect that the owners of old iPhones are simply used to using their smartphones as dialers-mail-browser. Then touch will be an excellent and relatively cheap return to the system without the need to sell your main phone.

4. will not be  Significantly better than any iPad in those places where there is no Wi-Fi Internet.

5.   The owner of the iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac, Apple TV and so on - I’m sure that you still buy touch 5, and you no longer need any arguments.

Finally, don't forget that iPod touch 5 is also playerwith 32 or 64 gigabytes of memory on board, plus countless repositories of remote music, including with the possibility of downloading it. Want a cool player with tons of bells and whistles? You just have no other choice!

Conclusion and Summary

That's just it now costs at least $ 300 in a minimum configuration. At the same time, iPod touch 4 does not disappear from the market: it can be bought in versions of ... 16 and 32 gigabytes for 200 and 250 dollars, respectively. You can calculate Russian prices for all this yourself by multiplying the dollar somewhere by 45 rubles. The question arises of the appropriateness of a more expensive purchase. The only question is far-fetched: even if you buy a cheaper “touch” now, it will not slow down less than the previous ones. Better add money in advance. But, who decides whether to buy touch or a used 4S, I recommend that you weigh the pros and cons well.

Now we abstract from the price and just put it in front of us. The best player, engine of progress and the only "outlet" of the entire iPod line, the new touch is the undisputed leader in the multimedia player market. And I won’t give it to you. Unless I accidentally break it, carried away by Loop's invulnerability.

Pros:

Great display with delightfulcolor rendition
+ GreatiPhone 4S performance
  + A good camera, the pictures of which are not ashamed to show
  + EarPods will tolerably replace any headphone for less than $ 15
  + Matte cover - outlet for experienced touch owner
  + Loop - the most convenient trifle with an active lifestyle
  + iOS 6 and the App Store - two or three years will not be bored

Minuses:

Case materials are tactile unpleasant
  - The front camera has been updated, but so far “about nothing”
  - Thin almost to discomfort (yes yes)
  - The battery still does not pull the second day of use
  - The absence of a 3G modem puts pressure on the functional
  - The player does not lie flat due to the protruding camera

(4.00   out of 5, rated: 1 )

   site    Photos in the review are clickable. I get on a crowded train at the Moscow station and take out a package of transparent acrylic plastic from my bag. While I lay out the contents of the box and  at the table, a young guy slowly glides past me. This moment was well remembered: in his cursory glance at the bright red, calling iPod, genuine interest was read. Interest abruptly faded as soon as he sat down and took out an iPhone 5. The device, which was in a minimalist package, the world was waiting for the whole one and a halfmonths. It is logical: unlike other Apple products, the touch is a non-alternative leader in its category. But do you need it? We will formulate a detailed answer together, having become closely acquainted with the fifth generation of iPod touch - the brightest, most powerful and most expensive.

Colors

  This year, Cupertino decided to add variety to the line of touch players. The task was completed on a grand scale: now instead of black and white, we are offered to choose from sixextremely different colors. And this choice is more than ever complicated. I will never believe that almost half of them have personally approved the leadership of Apple. Instead of bright yellow, we were offered a faint brown color of "childhood surprise", and the red version became a passive pale pink. The players page on the official site itself pretty well conveys the whole scale of the situation, but in reality, judging by the numerous photos from the owners, the yellow and red look stillworse. Therefore, when you decide on the color, the real choice will be much easier. If you are not embarrassed by stereotypes - take blue, which in insufficient or indirect lighting gives a little green. Gray is the safest option, which is suitable for absolutely everyone. Finally, those who are used to the black frame of the screen will have to take the player only the appropriate color. Here, it would seem, and all the recommendations. But among the new "tachi" there is another one, with shades of which Apple did not make it up. It " Product (RED)". And today we will consider it. It should be noted in advance that this variation will not be sold in Russia. This can only be bought in the Apple Store or on the official website, although no one has canceled the resellers.

Packaging and equipment

  The process of unpacking any Apple gadget turns into a sacred action that delivers genuine pleasure. iPod Touch is hidden in a transparent plastic-acrylic box, the shape of which is identical to the packaging of two previous generations of the device. The Apple logo flaunts on the top end, the player’s name and the inscription “Product (RED)” (optional) on the sides, and a sticker with boring information about the model and serial number is stuck on the bottom and inside. The color of the text and logo matches the color of the player. Slowly remove all candy wrappers and open the box. The nail of the program, covered with a tightly glued opaque film, is laid on a plastic podium. You will remember the characteristic sound when you remove it for a long time. A small cardboard chest is hidden behind the stand, inside of which all the “papers” are perfectly evenly folded - a brief reference, two stickers with the Apple logo, warranty information and the Product RED insert. Underneath all this stuff lies an evenly twisted Lightning cord, EarPods earphones in a wretched rustling package a la polystyrene and a small Loop lanyard. IPhone owners will suspect something is wrong: where, in fact, is full charging? She is not here and, unfortunately, has never been. USB is again our life-giving friend and comrade. The packaging from the headphones differs from that of the “five” kit: unlike the pretty plastic “case”, here we are dealing with recycled materials, rustling loudly from any touch. On the reverse side, this whole thing is covered by a piece of cardboard that needs to be torn to get EarPods out. It is impossible to use this packaging as a “case”, because it’s just fall apartfrom pressure. The headphones themselves “delight” with the complete absence of a remote control and a microphone: Although everything is honest, because Apple warns about this on the official website. I won’t spread about sound, because Seva did it much better than me in a separate one. And we are back to iPod touch.

Design: shape, dimensions and materials

  The very first impression fits into one capacious obscene word. The new iPod Touch is not just very light and thin. Its weight is not felt at all in the hand, except for the tactile sensations from the metal, and the depth of the body is so insignificant that at first you feel some suspicious discomfort. I guarantee: if the ribs were sharp, the new “touch” could cut not only food, but also wood. But now the shape of the back panel exactly matches the cover of a regular MacBook Pro: straight on top and sharply rounded at the bottom. I can not say that all this lies in the hand it's betterthan the past generation. But there is no need to sob here. The front panel is herebythe face of any device that the user will see tens of thousands of times more often. In the best traditions of Apple, the facade is extremely unremarkable and at the same time attractive: an almost continuous snow-white panel with a slight bias towards a cold shade appeared in iDevays relatively recently, but has already managed to become a hit. At the top undera panel in a characteristic recess hid the violet-blue eye of the front camera. The Home button, whose disappearance is promised to us almost every year, stands in its usual place. It is pressed extremely tightly and quite loudly - because of the miniature depth explained by severe necessity. The glass is still slightly raised relative to the rest of the body. At the same time, the color of the rear panel is visible even in front - thanks to the protruding metal "ribs". They are sharpened to almost brilliance at an angle of 45 degrees, which creates nice highlights. The edge seems highlysharp to the touch, but I could not scratch her hands. Yes, I tried. A screen lock button is hidden at the top end, which is now installed perpendicular to the body, and not at an angle “somewhere behind”. On the right, the player is completely empty, and on the left are two separate volume keys - this time at a very small angle. All these elements are not made of plastic, as in touch 4, but of metal, and the same color as the entire body of the rear panel. At the bottom there is a headphone jack, a Lightning connector port and five round holes emitting sound from a miniature speaker in the case. The 3.5 mm jack and speaker have been swapped this year. It did not affect usability at all. The speaker holes are closed by a very dense mesh, and he, looking ahead, does not shine at all with either volume or sound quality, but is suitable as a background tweeter for sounding toys. There is nothing to say about the synchronization port: I inserted the cord and drove off. Okay, what to pull, it's time to turn over. If everything is completely Feng Shui with the front, then something indescribable is happening behind. This is the most dramatic rear panel redesign in the entire history of iPod Touch - and probably the most controversial. Be careful with your desires. Because one day they can be exactly fulfilled, and the result can be very different from what was expected. For many, many years, owners of iPods have been crying for Apple: they say, why do you put polished steel to shine, if you know that you can scratch it with one oblique look? In Cupertino, they sat and obviously twisted a finger at the temple - the tactile sensations of the metal thus treated are simply amazing, and for their sake the flock could tolerate the fragile nature of the case. As a result, the consumer won: now all the “cars” are closed behind the panel of mattealuminum, reflecting perhaps silhouettes. Scratch the back cover now noticeablyheavier. In very bright light it is clear that the material seemed to be “squeezed” vertically. It is curious how the panel color changes depending on the lighting: it sharply turns pale, and “harsh” notes of the shade disappear from it. The Apple logo and the device name are made in the same color as the body, but they stand out clearly: both protrude over the surface by a hundredth of a millimeter and differ in almost a “mirror”, exceptionally smooth surface, and are very similar to the touch panel of the previous generation touch player. The text below is painted in black, but in the light at an angle it is almost invisible. The camera eye has not just become visually larger. Now he naturally stands above the surface of the body by a good millimeter. The solution is not the best, but clearly forced, if you take into account the dimensions of the player. The metal rim around the camera module is framed by the finest circles, which, even if they break apart, can not be seen with the naked eye. Two-thirds of the eye area is occupied by an opaque black film, and the remaining space is divided between the gray surface of the module and a very small lens in shades of blue. Near the camera in its own recess is a microphone hidden by a diamond-shaped mesh. And a little to the right is a new element for the “touch” - a flash. There is only one diode in it, but it shines quite well for itself. In addition to the functionality of the flashlight and something else incredibly useful (we will talk about this later), the flash makes night shots digestible. Who would have thought. True, its power is enough only for one or two meters. Even to the right, closer to the corner, a volumetric “hole” of matte plastic gapes. A Wi-Fi module is hidden under it. Apple nevertheless returned to the idea of \u200b\u200ba separate window in the case for wireless communication modules (see), and the consequences of this decision can be safely divided into good and bad. Black blot looks sad, but the level and speed of signal reception almost doubled! For the sake of this, you can tolerate it, especially after the notorious Wi-Fi module in the iPad 3: The design description would be incomplete without mentioning the large aluminum button in the lower left corner. This is a Loop strap mount. It works very simply: they pressed once - the button left, pressed two - the button clicked into the case. True, the last action requires some effort. And since we started talking about Loop, it makes sense to consider the accessory itself. No matter how capacious and mysterious his name is, Loop is stupid strap. The material of the strap is very similar to neoprene, one side of which is smooth and bright, and the other is quite fleecy and pale. A sacred phrase is printed on the inside, the contents of which are known by heart to any user of Apple technology. They say that it makes any item 90% cooler and 50% more expensive. But it's not for us fanatics to judge ... A small ring of similar material is put on the strap, which is very good - at least for now - it fixes the entire structure on the hand, preventing it from falling during a sharp vertical movement. All this joy is attached to the button with the help of a simple double hole: we thread the strap on one side, pull it on the other and you're done. I admit honestly: so far I considered Loop another Smart Cover: the idea of \u200b\u200bingenious simplicity, absolutely unsuitableto the harsh weekdays of using the gadget. Reality genuinely surprised me. Loop doesn’t just perfectly hold iPod touch on your hand, even if you are running, sitting, spinning the player in the air like a helicopter, and so on. He is able to withstand such tricks and tricks that the heart of people standing nearby will burst with fear for the device. I'm afraid that one day Loop will fall apart from such extreme miracles. But for now, everything is fine. Just make sure that the hanging player does not hurt anything solid. The bottom line is that the impressions of the new case remain twofold. On the one hand, brushed metal is a definite plus in any situation. But because of it, tactile sensations suffer: now the “touch” seems almost plastic, and bright colors only contribute to this. Cold polished steel gives the best impression. There can be no doubt: iPod touch 4 lies in your hand better than iPod touch 5, and causes a lot more pleasant sensations. Another thing is that in a month one of them will look like a victim of a metal machine. And it will definitely not be a new generation. Well, we ourselves requested it.

Screen: 10 out of 10

  Fun fact: a year ago we laughed at the owners of Android and proved that enlarging the display is bad. Today we have in our hands an iPod Touch with an enlarged display - and we are happy. Why are we happy? Because Apple did not lie. The screen is absolutely accurate, to the smallest detail and detail repeats that in iPhone 5. What does this mean? Firstly, colors. Lively, vibrant, accurate, pleasant - a huge difference with the blueness of all previous Touch players. Black turned black, not pale gray. White turned white - although not, quite a bit yellowish, which is still much better than snow-blue. It is believed that the iPhone 5 is the most accurate color rendering screen of all smartphones. This title is well-deserved for iPod touch 5. Eye pleasure. Secondly, IPS. Now, at any viewing angle, screen colors are not inverted. That is, all the strangers and strangers sitting next to you can enjoy your movie or game in all colors. However, at the same angles the display still loses brightness - and highlysignificantly, which makes it difficult to use the device in such positions. But this is rather a plus - for the above reason. Thirdly, oleophobic coating. Cleaning the display from signs of use has become much easier. And the additional sliding of the fingers from this layer has not bothered anyone. Finally, plus and minus at the same time: display size. The increased resolution and diagonal corresponds to those in the iPhone 5: 4 inches diagonally with a resolution of 1136 by 640 pixels. More information is always good. But at what cost? The width, as you know, has remained the same, which should simplify the use of devices for people with a small grip area. After several days of intensive testing, I noticed that in my (very small) hands, the upper or lower 10-15% of the screen is still inaccessible for quick use with one hand without the need for "interception". However, a second hand is still not required. Given that the vast majority of readers will obviously have more hands, you should not have any problems. In an amicable way, the iPod touch 5 display is the second reason that can make all owners of previous generations of this device immediately “update”. With the first reason, everything is much simpler and more prosaic.

Iron. IOS performance

  Two months ago, the author bought iPod touch 4 at a local flea market. For fun. A day later, I sold it back, crossing myself. This thing, even after being restored from scratch in iTunes, worked very badly on iOS 5. And when I ventured to put the beta version of iOS 6 on, it just died. Does anyone need a player in which he playernot able to play music without brakes in the menu? The hardware of the fourth “wheelbarrow” was not just outdated - it had to be completely deprived of support for the latest version of iOS in a good way, because it did not pull it at all. The device urgently needed a successor. Powerful. iPod touch 5 is equipped with a dual-core A5 processor, which is identical in frequency and other technical data to that installed in the iPhone 4S. And the eska, as you know, is still taxis. We add here fast memory in 512 MB versus 256 - and we get an obvious advantage over the previous generation of touch players. So obvious that you can safely call it double, and sometimes even three times thanks to the new memory. iOS 6 flies in all scenarios. Absolutely. In two days of testing games, browser, music, video and so on, I did not notice a single obvious “brake”. At the same time, the enlarged screen definitely consumes more processor “juices” than that of the iPhone 4S. For the first time in the last two years, I was able to delve into the iTunes home library without risk of catching the “crash” of the player, and the browser didn’t throw me on the desktop even when I opened the tab carriage on a very voracious full version of the portal The verge.
  Words are not to be believed, so here are the results of synthetic tests. In Geekbench, the device scores twice as many points as its predecessor; in Sunspider (browser test) we have almost a five-fold advantage. If you believe the results on the website of the GLBenchmark graphic package, the video performance of the player is less than that in comparison with 4S somewhere by 4-5 percent. Affects the screen resolution. The battery lasts about 10-12 hours with load and Wi-Fi turned on. According to impressions - no worse than before, but still notfor two days. IOS 6 itself on touch 5 does not have any specific “chips” compared to that on iPhone 5. But here, unlike the previous generation of touch players, it finally appeared Siri. Yes, and all the features with which the new iPhone is gifted are also present: here you have 3D maps (unfortunately, there is no GPS), panoramic photography, HDR photos, and so on. Speaking of photosensor. Five megapixels - this is more than five times more than in the camera of the previous generation of "touch". The appearance of autofocus, improved optics, shooting in 1080p and sapphire protective glass - all this trample in the dirt the already terribly miserable photosensor iPod touch 4. Photos from the new player are clear, good, but their quality still drops sharply in low light conditions. The detail of the photos themselves and the color reproduction are similar to those in the iPad 3, which is no wonder. And if we add Loop here, we get a player with the function of a marching “soap box”. A very viable use case for the device. Sorry, but the front camera is still sad. A flash, by the way, is useful not only for photos, but for ... notifications. In iOS settings "LED flash". It activates the flash every time an incoming call, iMessage, letter or just a push notification arrives. Super convenient feature with the screen turned upside down, completely replacing the missing vibromotor. This seemingly little thingpleased almost more than the new screen.

iPod nnada?

  So, iPod touch 5 is an iPhone 5 without a dialer. Programmatically and functionally, the new touch player is very similar to the equally new Apple smartphone. But at the same time, having excluded Loop from the list, touch is in no way able to improve the life of the owner of the “five”. So let's figure out if you need this device. 1.   Owner of iPod Touch 4 without other iOS devices - it's time for you to go to the store, and put the old man up for sale or send to the far desk drawer. There is zero doubt. And let the case not bother you - you still want to break your chrome iPod every day, so what's the difference? 2.   Owner of the iPhone 5 / iPhone 4S, other gadgets do not matter - if you buy touch 5, then onlyas a “take” of your smartphone or as a gift to households - to accustom them to the Apple ecosystem. Children, by the way, are better off buying a touch. Hang a Loop on their hand and let them run. At the same time, you don’t have to worry, leaving the child with his fragile new iPhone. 3.   Owner of iPhone 3G / 3GS / 4, as well as any othersmartphones and tablets - take touch 5 if you want to take advantage of the latest iOS technologies, fresh games / programs and an enlarged display. I suspect that the owners of old iPhones are simply used to using their smartphones as dialers-mail-browser. Then touch will be an excellent and relatively cheap return to the system without the need to sell your main phone. 4. Owner of any generation iPad without other Apple gadgets - take only if necessary a mobile companion with access to the Apple ecosystem. Remember that there is no 3G module on touch, which means that it will not be  Significantly better than any iPad in those places where there is no Wi-Fi Internet. 5.   The owner of the iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac, Apple TV and so on - I’m sure that you still buy touch 5, and you no longer need any arguments. Finally, don't forget that iPod touch 5 is also playerwith 32 or 64 gigabytes of memory on board, plus countless repositories of remote music, including with the possibility of downloading it. Want a cool player with tons of bells and whistles? You just have no other choice!

Conclusion and Summary

  I’m adding these lines to iPod touch 5 and slowly I understand that this device has long gone from the categories we are familiar with. This is a great player with lots of features. This is the best internet tablet up to 5 inches. This is a glaring game console cheapand high-quality games, some of which breathe in the back of the head to full-fledged portable devices. This is a good satellite with a lot of useful applications in everyday life - from a calculator to a diary. Now it’s also good cameraa la “directed-and-pressed” - with decent quality photos and the ability to instantly share them with the world in hundreds of different ways. And it's just a perfectly assembled, one-piece, convenient and beautiful gadget from Apple, which is hard to look away from. That's just it now costs at least $ 300 in a minimum configuration. At the same time, iPod touch 4 does not disappear from the market: it can be bought in versions of ... 16 and 32 gigabytes for 200 and 250 dollars, respectively. You can calculate Russian prices for all this yourself by multiplying the dollar somewhere by 45 rubles. The question arises of the appropriateness of a more expensive purchase. The only question is far-fetched: even if you buy a cheaper “touch” now, it will not slow down less than the previous ones. Better add money in advance. But, who decides whether to buy touch or a used 4S, I recommend that you weigh the pros and cons well. Now we abstract from the price and just put it in front of us. The best player, engine of progress and the only "outlet" of the entire iPod line, the new touch is the undisputed leader in the multimedia player market. And I won’t give it to you. Unless I accidentally break it, carried away by Loop's invulnerability. Pros:  + Great display with delightfulcolor rendition + Greatperformance at the level of iPhone 4S + A good camera, pictures with which it is not a shame to show + EarPods will tolerably replace any headphone for less than $ 15 + Matte cover - an outlet for an experienced owner touch + Loop - the most convenient trifle with an active lifestyle + iOS 6 and the App Store - not boring there will be another two or three years Minuses:  - Housing materials are tactile unpleasant - The front camera has been updated, but still “about nothing” - Thin almost to discomfort (yes) - The battery still does not pull the second day of use - The lack of a 3G modem puts pressure on the functional - The player does not lie exactly because of the protruding camera

Looking through the server error log, you can find records of the following contents:
File does not exist: ... / public_html / apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png
File does not exist: ... / public_html / apple-touch-icon.png

This means that when a user logged in to your site, two pictures in png format were requested but were not found (error code 404). Please note that the picture is first requested apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png, and then apple-touch-icon.png. Why I focus on this fact, I will explain later, but first, let's figure out what kind of pictures.

What is apple-touch-icon.png

Apple-touch-icon.png is a miniature icon that should represent your site or web page. It is intended for users visiting the site from devices with a mobile operating system (iOS). What is this icon for?

Just as desktop users can bookmark any web page in a browser, iPhone or iPad users can use Web Clip to save links to their favorite sites as icons on their devices. These links, represented by icons, are called web clips.

A shortcut to your site on the device’s screen is a powerful tool to be remembered. Therefore, I think it’s worth a little effort and a little time to create an icon. And what will happen if you do not?

This is what happens when a user clicks a button to add an icon for your site to the screen of his device. The device begins to search in the root of the site for an icon named apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png. If not, searches for apple-touch-icon.png. What is the difference between these two pictures?

The point is the name of the pictures. If you name the site icon apple-touch-icon.png, the device will apply standard effects typical of Apple icons to it - add highlights, shadows, and rounded corners. If you don’t want effects to apply to your site’s icon, name it apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png.

If the device does not find either apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png or apple-touch-icon.png, then the touch iPod, iPhone or iPad will save the screenshot as an icon. This means that the shortcut to your site will be faceless, the log will be replenished with new warnings about errors, unnecessary requests will load the server.

How to create apple-touch-icon.png

The Apple IOS 7 developers' website describes in detail the requirements for icons and recommendations for their placement on the site (in the free translation of the author of the article).

• A PNG icon with the name apple-touch-icon.png needs to be placed in the root folder of the site
• If you want to specify an icon for a single web page or to replace a website icon from a web page with a specific icon, add a link element to the web page:
  
  In the above example, replace custom_icon.png with the icon file.
• To specify several icons for devices with different resolutions, for example, to support iPhone and iPad devices, you need to add the sizes attribute to each link element as follows:
  
  
  
  
• The most suitable for the device, if sizes are not specified, is the element size up to 60 x 60.

If there is no icon on the site that matches the size recommended for the device, the smallest icon that is larger than the recommended size will be used. If the size of the icons does not exceed the recommended size, the largest icon will be used.

If your web content differs in a special way, for example, in recognizable colors, it makes sense to include it in the icon. In order for your icon to display properly on the device, follow the recommendations in this table.

Many webmasters complain that Apple is complicating the work of the webmaster. Maybe so, but I don’t see a big problem here. Monitoring of some well-known web resources for the presence of the apple-touch-icon at the root of the site showed the following: Apple has the size of the icon 152x152 px, Yandex has 57x57 px, Odnoklassniki has 129x129 px, Facebook has 57x57 px, VKontakte and Google have apple -touch-icon not found.

Well, in conclusion, you can create an icon for your site of any size with and without effect, using the online generator by clicking on this link.