Pros and Cons of ipod touch.....?

I've had a few ipod touches, 4th gen and the 5th gen which was great. However as the poster above me says Apple seems to have abandoned the ipod touch now.

More and more games were crashing on my ipod touch 5, i then bought a second hand iphone 4s 64 gig off ebay (£200) and can play all the games without crashing

I wouldnt bother getting an ipod touch 5th gen, try and get a cheap phone. The 'good news' is that with every year a new phone comes out so the older ones are cheaper and cheaper

 

If you are serious about mobile gaming then I would recommend an Android phone instead of an iPod touch. Or as psj mentioned, a second hand older-gen iPhone.

 

Well i was going to get an Android phone but i've spent so much on iOS apps theres no much point swapping

Thats why i got an older iphone 4s , jailbreaked it, got all the emulators i want on it now, love it.

If i was totally new to mobile gaming i hate to say it but i 'might' start off on Android from day 1 though

 

I must admit i'm into the emulation scene a lot, i love the fact i can play Quake II or Jedi Knight on an Android device (by using some of the files from the original cd's i have).

On Android however theres so much junk, so much crap to sift through its frustrating. I am loving the flexbility and openness Android gives me i must admit.

But again as i've bought 1000's of iOS games i wouldnt swap over 100%, but if you want a cheap MAME machine for say an iCade then a cheap Android device is a great idea.

When my iphone 4s starts to really slow (eg more and more apps not working on it or more apps needing ios8) then i'm not sure what to do as i'll get a new device but i just hope i can jailbreak it as i'm so used to my emulators now !

 

I don't think support for an existing iOS library is an issue for the original poster, as he doesn't seem to have an iOS device yet. I agree with other posters than the iPod Touch is getting a bit long in the tooth now.

I've just ordered a Linx 7 Windows 8.1 tablet for £60 after seeing a good review for it on Pocket Gamer, and a similarly glowing review for the Linx 8 on Eurogamer. It should arrive in a day or two.

I've been getting a bit frustrated by the limitations on iOS around what I can install, lack of expandable memory and communication - just sharing photos via Bluetooth with an Android device is nearly impossible, for example. Hopefully having a full version of Windows should put an end to that sort of pain.

Between the admittedly more limited Windows Store, Steam, GOG, emulators and other legacy games, I hope to get a lot of gaming out of it. I'm also hoping that I'll be able to get Bluestacks or another Android emulator running well on there, which will open up Google Play and the Amazon App Store.

 

I enjoy my iPod Touch 5G and despite the dated hardware I haven't found many games that won't work on it YET. On a budget it has many perks of a smart phone except for dialing without the high monthly bill as long as as you're in a nearly ever present wifi zone. Sometimes I recall seeking out wifi (which was a downside) if I felt like I needed to download something or send an e-mail (games requiring constant internet connection was a definite dealbreaker). However, I think that within the next few months we will quickly see games that are not iPod compatible.

I really wish Apple would issue a new iPod Touch, but they seem to have a pattern of forcing users to update devices with short legacy device support before Apple issues software protocols that require the newest device regardless of hardware.

If you're a casual gamer or not really gung ho into mobile gaming Android might be a better options, there will be games that don't come to Android or longer wait for games... but they also have a more open system that has felt more indie friendly and tolerant of cheaper third party markets like Amazon with it's constant freebies or Humble Bundle with it's dirt cheap package deals. You might not get any Capcom games, but there's no shortage of stuff to play even if there will sometimes be annoying lapses as some things show up on iOS only (there will also be Android only stuff occasionally).

 

Dont they have some special low type deals in the US ?

Here in the UK i pay £14 ($20) a month for not a lot of minutes or txts (enough) but the biggest thing is unlimited internet. Think its a great deal, they have changed it slightly for new customers but its still very good.

I think it was Walking Dead/Bastion and a few others where my ipod touch 5 kept crashing, gave up in the end as i found more premier titles crashed time and time again.

Shame Apple arent doing much with it anymore. But i would advise getting a second hand iphone a generation or two behind. I think buying a brand new phone (specially at a silly high contract per month) is crazy, i'm quite happy being a few generations back specially when i can have 64 gig.

It'll be a few years yet but i cant wait to get an iphone 6 (128 gig edition !)

 

I know this is a bit off-topic but I wouldn't rule out a dedicated moblie gaming handheld (Playstation Vita especially) as an option. I just got a Vita and am loving it, there are so many fantastic games (you can play old psone games, too!) for on the go and no freemium to deal with! I just brought it up because it's the same price as the iPod and for gaming, it's a superior device than any smartphone in my opinion.

 

Good point. The iPods were always inferior to the equivilant generation of iPhone so were more prone to crash and as a result, I think, sometimes developers were confused about compatibility/performance.

That is a good deal. Mobile prices are insanely high in my opinion (every other utility bill we have is usually cheaper - water, cable, internet, electricty). The iPods were the last opportunity for me to hold out on giving in to crazy monthly fees and I think there's still a market for them. My wife and I paid $100 without data for 1500 shared minutes and unlimited text; with data plan the bill shoots up to $170 per month using Sprint in US, granted it's for 2 people.

 

Cons. Yeah, cons first. I'm such a negative ninny. It is a nearly 4 year old processor (A5, first introduced in the iPad 2 in March '11). It only has half a gig of RAM, so web pages and some beefy games will crash or stutter. It's super skinny, so not much battery and not much bend protection. The age of the platform this device is running on might mean it won't get supported for much longer, and the games you can still play on it won't look the latest and greatest.

But on the plus side, it's the cheapest way to get into the iOS ecosystem with a new device. The games you can play on it are plentiful. The size may make it fit better into your pocket. If you get the one with the camera, then you get a half decent camera (albeit with a camera bump that may annoy you in tight pockets or laying flat on tables).

If you're not too concerned with pocketability or hand-sized devices, then the iPad mini 2 is not a whole lot more expensive and it has a much faster processor (A7), so it will play games better and last for longer (more updates, more game support).

You can also try your luck at the Apple online refurb store. They sell refurbished iPods and iPads (tip: only buy refurbs directly from the manufacturer). The stuff available changes frequently, but when it's there, it's the best deal you can get on good-as-new Apple devices. http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/ipod

If pocketability is a must, but you'd rather have a faster, more up to date device that will last a while, then an iPhone is your only choice as far as iOS goes. These get a whole lot more expensive than iPods or tablets. An iPhone 5 is one step up from an iPod touch, but it's not that much newer--it will get left behind in a year or two.

If you didn't dig too deep into Santa's pockets, you might be able to make the case for an iPhone 5s or 6, even if you don't get phone service for it (though, see my * note below). It has a fast processor that will still be supported for a while to come. Great graphics for gaming, maybe even the best you can get in a pocketable device. It has a great camera. It has GPS so you can do cool things like navigate (assuming you either have all the maps downloaded, or get a data connection every now and then).

* It's tricky to activate an iPhone without phone service, but it can be done. It has to be an unlocked iPhone, you have to put a SIM card in it (just for a moment to get past the activation screen--or you can use an old SIM card that was previously used in an iPhone). If you do later on get phone service for it, it instantly becomes a whole lot more useful (whereas an iPod will still just be an iPod)

If you open your options up to beyond iOS, and beyond those that you can carry in your pocket, then the NVIDIA Shield Tablet is the best thing I can think of for portable gaming. Sadly, there isn't an equivalent to the iPod touch in the Android world. There was the Samsung Galaxy Player, but those devices were crap right out the gate, and got discontinued.

Above all, for the purposes of gaming, make sure the device you get has at least 32 GB of storage. The more the merrier, but at least 32. Games take up a big chunk of space, operating system takes up a bigger chunk of space, and when you want to download either, you have to have at least twice as much space free as the download size is. (It needs space to save the download, then space to unpack the final install, which could easily be twice the size)

Last but not least, the dedicated handhelds. I briefly had an affair with a Nintendo 3DS, but it started collecting dust as soon as I finished the one game I wanted to play. I would say if games is all you're into, and it has the games you'd like to play, go for that, or a Vita as mentioned. But the wide variety of games and apps you can get on an iOS or Android device nowadays might trump even the best gaming experience you can get on a 3DS or Vita

 

All good points here. I have a iPhone 5 (6 today!) and an i bought an iPad mainly for gaming but now that I have a Vita for mobile gaming my iPad is mostly a web browser (when i don't want to use my iMac)/ social media device that I use occasionally for gaming. F2P and endless bite-size mobile games is what sent me to get a Vita and the experience is amazing. Yes, it should be considered and a games only device but it was built for games, unlike mobile devices where games are just one of the many things it does, but the games aren't quite the same quality. Also, I have a PS4 so remote play/cross-buy are huge pluses. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think that there is a place for both handheld and mobile devices in one's tech collection, but if you want a dedicated gaming system on the go, the Vita or 3DS is what you should get, but if you want a well-rounded device that plays games but not "uncharted" quality games, go with an iPhone.

 

I forgot about the PS4/Vita remote playing. That is a pretty neat feature to take advantage of. Also, if you have a PC with a recent beefy NVIDIA card in it, the Shield Tablet does that same thing. Of course, given you're in the same house anyway, one might expect to just play it at the source, but if you're too lazy to get outta bed, it's handy to have.

And, indeed, the best plus to the dedicated handhelds is that they were designed specifically for gaming. They're all the same, so the developers can take advantage of all the capabilities all the time - built in controllers, a higher "minimum" of graphics capability, a certain price floor... I just can't get into them, myself, they seem less connected/social than the Android or iOS games.

 

Very handy. The PS4 remote play works like a charm, and it's awesome. Handhelds are certainly less social the mobile, but that's not always a bad thing (no "invite friends for gems!" Or "ask a friend for help [or never get past level 2 without IAP]" ) but there is online multiplayer and party chat so you're not all alone. Your point about graphics capabilities with one graphics card to design for is a good one as well, as all vita games will work with your vita. Also handhelds tend to last longer than mobile devices since one model will be the newest for close to 6 years usually (didn't the PSP last for 10 before the vita came out?) so there's no need to upgrade every year just to get the best graphics. I don't know how the specs compare but I know uncharted golden abyss looks pretty much exactly the same as the PS3 games and iOS games don't. Even if mobile device pull ahead of dedicated handhelds in the next 4-6 years before new handhelds come out, I see no indication that mobile gaming will ever become as deep as console, handheld and PC gaming is. You could carry around a phone as powerful as a PS4 but still have only angry birds and candy crush to play. Now, I don't mean to bash mobile gaming, I love to play games on my iPad and iPhone and there are tons of fantastic mobile games that make me very happy I bought a 128GB iPad so I could play them all. I'm just saying that there are platforms where the best games on iOS are common. Like say on PSN, limbo, a game that is one of the best experiences on iOS (IMO) and is one of the kind of game that I mentioned before, is just one of the dozens of fantastic indies on psn and it isn't even considered AAA like touch arcade called in on iOS.

 

Personally I think Touch is a great device. It's a bit like an iPhone without the phone, but Wow, look at the price differential. Bargain, and low price reflects the fact it hasn't been updated for a while.

Closest competitor would be iPhone 5C. Get an unlocked PAYG one. Within 2 years it'll pay for itself compared with most contracts, at least at UK rates. And PAYG removes any worries about megabuck financial liabilities should the phone get stolen - once the thieves have used up your credit, you have nothing more to lose other than cost of device...