iPod touch $300 Entry Price Point for iPod Touch 5G

[djharris]

I haven't read through the whole thread, but anyone remember when the iPod touch 4th generation came out? (2010) On Black Friday, the 4th gen went on same at Apple and Best Buy. (at the time, I bought one, as I was a little while away from my phone upgrade, but I just couldn't wait) The price for 32GB was about $260-270 before tax, I can't quite remember.

Anyhow, after Black Friday, a funny thing happened... Apple's prices went back up to the usual, but Best Buy never increased their prices to the previous $300 level. (Maybe they did increase some, but I don't think they ever passed $275 for the 32GB model) Every time I checked back, maybe every few months, they still had a significant discount over Apple for the same ipod touch.

It's possible something like that may happen this time around, but I can't make any promises, of course. But it would be pretty cool.

 

[cnev3]

Uhm, I picked those specific phones because their prices are off-contract, like I said on the second paragraph. Please read the posts before quoting on them.

What makes a Samsung Exhibit II 4G better than the iPod Touch?

Because that is my cell phone, and it's a piece of crap, and I am actually in the process of replacing it with a dumbphone + iPod Touch.

It can't even run Modern Combat 3. The hardware isnt good enough. My previous gen iPod Touch ran it perfectly, even with its much higher res. The exhibit II 4G would probably melt if it tried to play Infinity Blade II.

The processor sucks. There is a delay each time I press any icon or launch any app. Screen scrolling is jerky. An app crashes at least twice a day for me. Screen brightness sets back to the darkest setting mysteriously. Keyboard input stalls. I could go on...

The ONLY good thing I can say about it was its low price.

 

[gpat]

What makes a Samsung Exhibit II 4G better than the iPod Touch?

Because that is my cell phone, and it's a piece of crap, and I am actually in the process of replacing it with a dumbphone + iPod Touch.

It can't even run Modern Combat 3. The hardware isnt good enough. My previous gen iPod Touch ran it perfectly, even with its much higher res. The exhibit II 4G would probably melt if it tried to play Infinity Blade II.

The processor sucks. There is a delay each time I press any icon or launch any app. Screen scrolling is jerky. An app crashes at least twice a day for me. Screen brightness sets back to the darkest setting mysteriously. Keyboard input stalls. I could go on...

The ONLY good thing I can say about it was its low price.

First, that's the less powerful option among the ones I listed.

Second, that's also the cheapest one. It costs half an iPod Touch if you consider the 5G one.

Third, an alternative is not meant to do everything the iPod touch does but is merely a product aimed to the same audience: people that do not want a phone contract because it costs too much, so they use an iPod plus a dumbphone most of the time.


I would gladly take any of the phones I listed over an iPod and a dumbphone, because you can have everything you need integrated in one device, and resorting to free WiFi for the iPod is too much of an unreliable option in my eyes.


But if you couldn't care less about connectivity and simply want a good game console/media player, that's another issue...

 

[cnev3]

First, that's the less powerful option among the ones I listed.

Second, that's also the cheapest one. It costs half an iPod Touch if you consider the 5G one.

Third, an alternative is not meant to do everything the iPod touch does but is merely a product aimed to the same audience: people that do not want a phone contract because it costs too much, so they use an iPod plus a dumbphone most of the time.


I would gladly take any of the phones I listed over an iPod and a dumbphone, because you can have everything you need integrated in one device, and resorting to free WiFi for the iPod is too much of an unreliable option in my eyes.


But if you couldn't care less about connectivity and simply want a good game console/media player, that's another issue...

Yeah having two devices is a bit of an inconvenience, but with that setup, I am only paying $10 a month on a family plan. If I got a new smartphone with a good data plan i'd be spending $80-$100 a month. That price difference is big enough for me to accept carrying two devices. I acknowledge that a lot of people wouldnt even consider carrying two devices, and a lot of people dont mind spending the money for a good smartphone plan. Thats just my preference.

Anyways, I tried to like Android. But i've lost interest in my Android tablet, and my phone, because the content selection is second rate. There are too many apps that aren't available for android. (See my post on the previous page for the list of some) So even owning the top of the line Android smartphone and tablet will not remedy this. As soon as my cell phones billing month is up, the exhibit 2, and kindle fire are going on craigslist. And my freedompop service and 5th gen touch will be shipped.

 

[gpat]

A smartphone plan on Virgin is $30/month with automatic billing, and you can get good phones like the HTC Evo. If you don't like Android, you might get a Lumia on T-Mobile, or even an used iPhone, always on T-Mobile, now that they're remapping their bands to be iPhone-friendly-