Awesome bit of kit (Apple iPod touch (2G) 16 GB)

Member Name: Byren

Product:	Apple iPod touch (2G) 16 GB
Date:	04/07/09 (9 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Big, beautiful screen, packed full of features

Disadvantages: Back is easily scratched/scuffed, defaul earbuds aren't great

I recently bought one of these touches as a replacement for my old 2nd gen 8gb iPod nano, and I'm quite pleased with my choice.

The first thing you'll notice is the big 3.5 inch screen. As the main input for the ipod you'll find that fingerprints and smudges build up quickly and easily, but it's such a minor thing when you consider how bright and clear it is and how well it reacts to every touch from your fingers.
For those that want their iPod for music (and i imagine most do), you can choose to listen to your collection through the on-board speaker, which is hidden away behind the metal at the rear of the device, or through earphones which can be plugged in to the 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack. The quality is good through a good pair of headphones, but the volume capabilities of the speaker aren't so great (the inclusion of a speaker is a nice after thought though).

The device is also capable of videos and Wi-Fi internet access, both of which work fantastically - movies look very nice on the widescreen display and internet pages load up quickly.
The iPod can also access the apple app store via Wi-Fi where users can download a variety of applications which can be accessed from the home screen. These range from games to currency converters. There is a lot of user generated content here, it would literally take days to view everything on offer.

Unfortunately the iPod touch does suffer from a few issues.
First of all the battery doesn't last a very long time during wi-fi and movie sessions, you may be able to push 3 or 4 hours at best. However, the battery has served me very well if I just want to listen to music - I barely noticed a drop in battery charge after a good 6 hours of constant listening.
The back of ipod will take a lot of minor scratches VERY easily. I can't stress how quickly your little bundle of technology will start to gather scratches.

Finally, I reccomend buying a set of earphones too. The pair that come with the ipod are really quite sub par, but obviously that's easily fixed.

Summary: A great all-rounder

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Features:
Sound quality:
Download speed: