Product Reviews

The newest addition to Apple's music player family bears a closer resemblance to the iPhone than to any other iPod. Besides not making calls, it lacks the camera.

The first thing you notice is just how thin it is - almost too thin. Then there's that touchscreen. Yes, it smears after a few hours, but that's easily remedied with the included cloth, and the interface is a joy to use. Holding it in portrait mode (like a phone), you just touch the item you want with your finger. In landscape mode (width-ways), your music albums appear

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as record sleeves which you can flip through using your fingers almost like a real record collection, if you can remember such a thing. There are quirks: the automatic switch between landscape and portrait can be sluggish, for example. But mostly it works extremely well.

As well as playing MP3 or AAC (iTunes) music files, the touch can also play MPEG-4 or H.264 video, which looks fantastic. We found even movies as dark and detailed as Alien very watchable. Built-in WiFi allows you to connect to the Internet, use the Safari browser or the included YouTube application, and buy songs from the iTunes Store. The browser works well, and the ability to zoom in and out of pages using fingers, in the same way as you zoom in and out of your photos, is excellent.

The touch isn't perfect. At £199 for 8GB and £269 for 16GB (with small discounts at best), it's expensive for the amount of storage it offers, and - at least for the moment - is hobbled in daft ways, such as the inability to add events to the Calendar and the lack of an email client. But it's a joy to use, and we reckon it's well worth the money.