By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The new iPod Touch is truly an iPhone without the phone but it is so much more. The device is a smart camera, gaming console and a trojan horse for iOS.

With the new 4-inch Retina Display, a dual core A5 processor, ample ($299) 32GB or  ($399) 64GB of storage and a thin and light profile, the new iPod Touch is one product that can impact various markets simultaneously. While we’ve known for a while now that MP3 players are a fading product segment, the iPod Touch truly transcends its initial niche. Here’s why.

A gaming console

For Apple, the iPod Touch ( is the iPhone without the phone contracts. It is what parents buy their kids when they don’t want to get tied to expensive data and calling plans. It works like an iPhone 85 per cent of the time including for email, instant messaging (iMessage) and even FaceTime video chats which are free on WiFi.

The iPod Touch is also a genre-slaying portable console. It costs more than a PlayStation Vita or a Nintendo DS but the games are far cheaper, can be downloaded instantly and kids can amass a sizeable collection without spending too much. Cartridges for standalone handheld consoles cost upwards of $30 dollars a pop.

With the latest model sporting basically the guts of an iPad in a tiny and slim form factor, we can expect more intense games to come to the iPod Touch.

A Smart Camera

The iPod Touch inherits the iPhone 4’s 5 megapixel camera, the very same one cited by image sharing website Flickr as the most popular digital camera based on user photo submissions. Having this camera on an even more portable device means that fans of popular photo-sharing apps like Instagram and even serious photographers jonesing for simple yet versatile point-and-shoot have a very good option with the iPod Touch. Just check out some of the features of the 5 megapixel shooter.

• 5-megapixel iSight camera
• Autofocus
• Tap to focus video or still images
• Backside illumination
• Hybrid IR filter
• Five-element lens
• LED flash
• ƒ/2.4 aperture
• Face detection
• Panorama
• HDR
• HD video recording (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio
• FaceTime HD camera with 1.2MP photos and HD video (720p) up to 30 frames per second
• Video stabilization
• Tap to control exposure for video or stills
• Photo and video geotagging over Wi-Fi

The iPod Touch lacks optical zoom but even this is a solvable shortcoming seeing as case makers and companies like Olloclip are certain to be devising clever ways to enhance the camera functionality.

A Trojan Horse for iOS

It has long been said that Apple doesn’t just build devices, it builds ecosystems and iOS, iTunes and the App Store are perfect examples of ecosystems that once one is bought in, are hard to leave behind.

I said earlier that the iPod Touch is the device parents will consider for their children when they ask for an iPhone because it offers much of the functionality and the specs of the iPhone without the heavy monthly calling and data fees.

For many teenagers, the iPod Touch is ideal for all their music, games, videos, messaging, email and social media requirements. It is even better than a phone because they can use it to communicate with Siri, chat through iMessage and video chat with FaceTime without paying for data (provided they’re close to a WiFi hotspot)

Once the iPod Touch using youngsters graduate to an iPhone or an iPad then they can take all their apps and games with them, this locks them into the ecosystem and makes it difficult to switch to another smartphone platform. This guarantees future iPhone owners and users that are already comfortable with the nature and feature set of the operating system and users that already heavily invested in apps when they upgrade.