Apple iPod Touch (third generation)

Take a closer look at the third-generation Apple iPod Touch, now available in capacities up to 64GB.

Donald Bell

Sept. 14, 2009 9:32 a.m. PT

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CNET

The iPod Touch uses a two-piece design that marries a flat glass-covered front with a single piece of chromed steel that wraps around the back and edges. For a such a thin and seemingly fragile device, the Touch feels surprisingly sturdy and the steel offers a reassuring heft compared to the iPhone's plastic design.

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Apple's Cover Flow music menu is a bit useless on the smaller screens of the iPod Nano and iPod Classic, but it's a fantastic way to browse music on the iPod Touch.

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Cover Flow is fun, but when you want a more exact way of finding a song, you'll need to scroll though a list. Fortunately, Apple provides quick tabs for sorting at the bottom of the screen, and a fast-find alphabet strip on the right side. By pulling down on the menu, you can also uncover a hidden box for typing in your search request.

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Considering all the features crammed into the iPod Touch, including e-mail, Internet, music, video, and games--it's a wonder that the device fits so easily in your pocket.

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There aren't a lot of differences between the second and third-generation iPod Touch, but we did notice an improved screen quality. Here you can see the second-generation Touch (above) screen is a little more washed out and yellow-tinted compared with the third-generation model set at a comparable brightness setting.

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Do you ever feel like handing the wheel over to Apple's music experts when it comes to figuring out what music to play? Well then, welcome to Genius Mixes. As an alternative to simply hitting shuffle and taking a random stream of music, Apple's automatic Genius Mixes group together songs in your collection into mixes based around common genres.

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If touch screens aren't futuristic enough for you, Apple now offers a feature called Voice Control, allowing you to request songs and control playback with voice commands.

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The iPod Touch accessibility menu includes options for VoiceOver screen reading, black/white reversal, mono audio, and more, to aid those with vision impairment.

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With both the second-generation iPod Touch (left) and third-generation model (right) set at full brightness, the differences in screen quality become apparent. In our opinion, the third-generation's display and overall color balance is superior to the previous generation's.

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The bottom edge of the Apple iPod Touch is unchanged from the previous version. Apple's 30-pin connector sits at the center, while a standard 3.5-millimeter headphone jack sits off on the right.

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Taking some design cues from the Apple iPhone 3G, the second-generation iPod Touch has a rounded back and includes a rocker switch for volume adjustments.