Review: Apple's iPod Updates

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I was able to test FaceTime on the iPod Touch with an Apple employee, but not with my iPhone 4. As this column was being written, a software update for the iPhone that will allow FaceTime sessions between the iPhone and the iPod Touch had not been released, but it is expected this week. The FaceTime experience is hard to fully understand until you try it. Anyone with kids away at college, young children or grandchildren, or who spends any time away from close friends or family will love FaceTime. There is no service to sign up for, and on the Touch the chance to use it without the need of an iPhone wireless contract only increases the allure. And while, for now, FaceTime works only on Apple devices, Apple has offered it to open-source developers in hopes it will eventually appear on other devices.

Compared with every previous iPod Touch, this latest version kicks up the intensity about a dozen notches. Applications pop open much faster than before; games like Angry Birds (my current vice) run much smoother and look better on the improved screen. My iBook and Kindle libraries are perfectly readable, even on the smaller screen. Another favorite app, Shazam, which I use to get the names of songs playing on speakers around me, had been all but useless on prior Touch models that lacked a microphone; now it's fully functional.

While the Touch's camera takes fine still photographs, it really shines with HD video. I shot a few minutes of footage over the holiday weekend, and was impressed with both the clarity and the sound quality. Battery capacity has improved, too. After all that activity, I didn't have to recharge it.

Shuffle's Controls

The third, and least expensive, member of the family of new iPods is the Shuffle, now in its fourth generation ($49). Here again Apple has stepped back a bit. After the elimination of control buttons entirely in favor of an in-line control for the Shuffle's last go-round, the button wheel that was originally found on the second-generation model is back. VoiceOver, the digital voice that announces song titles and playlist names, is still there, and works as well as ever. The Shuffle holds 2 GB—the only configuration—in a package about the size of a Starburst candy.

Also new in Apple's music ecosystem is iTunes 10, which boasts a new social-networking feature called Ping. While interesting—a lot of my Facebook and Twitter friends love sharing selections from their music libraries—it misses a key point: With Facebook, Twitter, and many others, the last thing people need is another network on which to "follow" their friends. What they do need is a better music-sharing experience that integrates seamlessly with their existing social networks. To be fair, Apple will no doubt learn a great deal during Ping's first weeks and months, and make it more useful. If history is any judge—and the nine-year arc of the iPod family is probably the best example of this—over time Apple only gets better at whatever it chooses to do.

Hesseldahl is a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek.

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