REVIEW BY NIR APTIR. FOLLOW HIM @knifeatgunfight

At one point the iPod seemed destined to lose its shiny preciousness in the eye of the consumer, what with all the other shiny things being released by Apple. I really thought that it had kicked the bucket in its classic form. The 5th generation iPod Touch seems to bring some of that standalone music player action back, along with extra features that make it more like a small tablet as opposed to just a music player.

Right, so, on the technical side there are many features that have made their way into the mix. Photography and HD video recording are done from a 5 megapixel iSight camera with a LED flash, mated to a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera. A built in microphone and speaker have also been squeezed in. Wireless connectivity includes Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi a/b/g/n 2.4/5GHz. The performance from the dual-core processor is enough to render Apple’s iOS 6 smoothly, stably, and provide all of Apple’s apps and functionality aside from telephony, which can in many cases be cleverly avoided these days. Currently Apple ships 32 and 64GB models. You’ll need an adapter for your old iPod accessories, should you have any, because the iPod Touch now uses Apple’s Lightning connector. Even then, not every old accessory will work, unfortunately.

Apple’s 4-inch Retina display has trickled its way down the production line– making this product ever so deserving of its name, now that there’s a virtually unparalleled smoothness and accuracy of touch usage involved, aside from the already high-end characteristics of the display.

It’s really, really thin and light – more so than the iPhone 5, and one wonders how thin Apple prepares to go with the iPhone in due time when they can produce something this thin.

A built in lithium-ion battery provides a claimed 40 hours of music playback time and 8 hours of video playback time, when fully charged.

The aluminium (or as Apple says, “aluminum”) construction and finish is extremely well crafted and assembled, and has an iPod Nano-like feel. There are some vibrant colours available, but perhaps most noticeably, a black-slate and silver that mimic the iPhone 5 very well.

Another innovation is the iPod touch loop, which is a small circular disc-like clip effort that pops out of the corner of the casing, allowing you to attach a colour-coded wristband thingy. It’s hardly the device for anyone planning on doing some gym-klapping, running, or spelunking. The only task it can perform is that of letting the Touch dangle from ones wrist in the event of a drop. An arm or wrist-band seems more feasible, but maybe a simple, well-attached strap is all that is required to save your precious. You could just strap it on with duct tape during movement-intensive activities. That said, aside from the colours, the iPod Touch does seem friendlier to hold than the iPhone, and is well suited for the much younger generation, or perhaps someone looking for the Apple experience without needing the full package of an iPhone or iPad…

The only thing lacking from the iPod Touch is a built-in GPS. Also included in the box are the all-new and improved EarPods, which ship with most of Apple’s new devices. The shape is much sleeker than before, designed to fit inside the ear, and the sound quality is on par with the quality you’d expect from Apple – all the better to hear the music with, my dear. Oh, that’s right, I almost forgot – the iPod Touch plays music, too