Why would I need an iPod touch when I already have an iPhone and iPad? I hadn’t overmulled this until I went to the Apple store to buy yet another Lightning cable and a spare pair of those marvellous new ear pods: That will be £40, please.
Then I remembered that the new iPod touch would soon be in stock at £229 and would include the additional bits I am after. Instead of spending £40 on accessories, I realised that I could get an iPod touch for only £189 by holding off on the ear pods and cable. I know it’s clutching at straws, but it does make some sort of sense if you want those extra accessories.
This sort of reasoning isn’t so compelling when it comes to the more expensive iPhone. A Lightning cable, a pair of earpods and a power unit (the last item is missing from the iPod touch box) together represent a small percentage of the purchase price. But that £40 is over 18% of the iPod touch deal. Correction: The earpods supplied with the iPod touch do not have the microphone you get with the iPhone earpods.
Apart from this exercise in convoluted economics, there are plenty of good reasons to want the new iPod touch. For starters, it’s cheap. At £229 it is no less than £370 cheaper than the equivalent 32GB iPhone. Think about it: £370 cheaper. That’s a lot of money for an updated processor and a SIM-card slot. It is also thin, light and beautiful.
Yet the iPod touch does everything the iPhone can do except make phone calls, send texts to non-iPhone friends and connect to a cellular network. Most of what I do doesn’t involve phone calls and a lot of the time I can use free wifi, so maybe I could manage with a £20 Nokia for my one or two calls a day and trouser the £350 difference.
It even makes sense as an addition to your arsenal of iOS devices. There are many times during the day when you can use it and save the battery on the iPhone. More convoluted thinking, but it’s a good point when the battery is about to expire.
The iPod touch is also very practical. It is cheap enough not to need mollycoddling with a case. And that neat little wrist loop means it can be used without fear of it slipping through your butterfingers. As this review points out, the loop even makes the touch much more practical as a point-and-shoot camera.
The Apple ecosystem makes it easy to add new devices, to share apps and data. So there is none of that anxiety that used to come from trying to keep too many devices in sync.
I am almost persuaded. Pity the new model isn’t in stock yet.
Here is an in-depth review of the new iPod touch in Appleinsider.
by Mike Evans, 15 October 2012
I love your justifications ! I will have to use this in the future. I thought I was good but you have me beat!
Ah! I don’t think anyone can beat me at self justification. You have indeed met your match.