Why You Should Think Twice Before Buying A 2019 iPod

So what role does the iPod, a device that is inferior in every respect to the mainstream iPhone, plays in the grander scheme of Apple? That’s what we have been trying to work out in the past few days, and we got a few ideas.

Aimed At Very Niche Audiences

The first thing we need to talk about is its appeal. Despite retaining the classic ‘iPhone’ look with the Home button, and the thick bezels. Even when the extra, funky colors are thrown in, it certainly can’t be compared to the likes of the iPhone XS and even the XR. So if you’re looking forward to buying an iPod for its look, you’re looking at the wrong place.

With that said, the only reason that the new iPod Touch 2019 exists is to cater to the rest who does not need an expensive phone. Kids, for example, shouldn’t be trusted with an expensive phone. The new iPod is the perfect and most rational choice to act as an entertainment and communication device for the children, considering how it can handle most of the basic tasks that the more expensive iPhones could do.

Others in the service industry, like doctors and nurses, can be given an iPod as a working device that allows them to check patients’ records, schedules, and procedures efficiently. 

It is the cheapest iOS-running device that you can get at the moment. For the price, you will have the base version with 32GB of memory. To put that into perspective, you can fill the phone with about 4,000 songs before it has to be cleared out. 

Are People Even Using The iPods Today?

It is the same company that made the device in the first place. Employees at Apple Stores are all offered iPods grafted into a particular case with a bar-code and credit card reader to ring up the items you buy instantly without the fuss of having to run around and find a reader.

That’s not all; we think that one of the greatest audience of the new iPod would be kids. Before iPhones and iPads are popular enough that they are regularly handed down from adults to kids, iPods are the way to go for parents when they found that the time for the kids’ first phone had come. Considerably cheaper and less connected, it checked all of the boxes parents were looking for.

Today, with the new iPod and a subscription to Apple Arcade, you can give your kids a reliable smart device without spending far too much. Aside from making and receiving calls, Apple Arcade gives your kids access to as much as 100 games during a subscription period. 

The size is also very fitting for most kids’ hands without being too unwieldy. The new iPod is small, about the same size as the iPhone SE. Furthermore, games in Apple Arcade doesn’t contain in-app transactions, so your credit card is safe.

iTunes Is Dead

Unfortunately, during the WWDC 2019 keynote, Apple officially announced that they would do away with iTunes in the next version of macOS. But don’t worry, where iTunes felled, Apple Music filled in. It will be the recommended music conduit on every Apple device from now on.

But you can always take the other route and get Spotify.

No matter which music streaming service you choose, the iPod has one hardware drawback. It doesn’t have a cellular antenna so you can only stream when there’s WiFi, or will have to pre-download all of your music onto the iPod beforehand if you plan to bring it out onto the streets.

New Hardware Makes For Two Times The Performance

Apple really didn’t exaggerate when they said that the new iPod is faster than the old 2015 iteration by two times. All of the benchmarking done by various news outlets and experts testified the same thing. The A10 chipset within, aside from upping the performance to today’s standards, also brought AR to the iPod and makes it compatible with the upcoming iOS 13.

For gaming, even when the A10 is more than capable of handling most games at optimum settings, the screen can be a little bit awkward to play on.

Drawbacks

Though improved greatly over the 2015 version, the iPod is still a cheap and antiquated design. This especially shows when it comes to its photography hardware. Images are decent for social media but don’t expect professional-grade photos or videos. When pushing to the limits, its images can get noisy and muddled. The worst thing is the selfie camera with little to no tolerance for lack of light. In order to get even a usable picture, you will need to find a good light source to stand under.

Battery life is very short. You can get about half a day of life out of it if you use it heavily with WiFi on. It also lacks some features like GPS and more novel ones like wireless charging or water resistance.

Think Before You Buy It

Don’t get me wrong, the iPod is still a very solid device although its use can only be realized when it’s used or given to the right people. Unless you really need it or have kids, you pretty much wouldn’t find the new iPod very appealing. Furthermore, if you think that by replacing the less feature-endowed iPod could cure your attachment to your phone then forget it, better just buy a flip-phone.

The iPod is now up for sale on Apple’s main page, and you can definitely find them at your local tech retails.