According to Apple the new iPod touch is the funniest iPod ever. Oh no, hang on, at second glance it actually says "funnest" iPod ever. Whatever next? The mind boggles.

Despite the liberties Apple is taking with the English language, we're forced to concede almost against our will, that it has a point: This is definitely the 'funnest' iPod ever.

With the introduction of hundreds of 3rd party apps the iPod touch isn't just a music and video player; it's a fully-fledged PDA/web browser/games console with an amazingly good screen, a revolutionary multi-touch control method and Wi-Fi internet access built-in.

All this technology is locked inside a ridiculously thin 8.5mm case with a gorgeous stainless steel back.

Design isn't everything

It's hard not to be convinced by the iPod touch's sleek looks and intuitive touch screen alone, but to complete this review we're going to have to remain strong, unbowed and not let Apple's flair for design blind us to the drawbacks of the new iPod touch, and there are a few.

Firstly, if you're already an iPod touch owner then there's no pressing need to upgrade. In the cold light of day the new iPod touch is basically the old iPod touch with a sexy new contoured back and a few iPhone bits and bobs, like a tiny speaker and volume buttons, bolted on.

Original iPod touch owners can even upgrade to the new version 2.1 of the software for £5.99 ($9.99) and get the new Genius playlists feature too (more on that later).

The new built-in speaker is nothing to shout about, and pretty poor quality for listening to music, but its main use is for the cheesy beeps and whistles used in games and other 3rd party applications, for which it's certainly adequate.

Improved battery life

Maybe we're being a bit hard on Apple for not providing enough new features, and there are a couple we've overlooked so far.

The first is an improved battery life, which has increased to a claimed 36 hours audio and six hours for video in the new model. In our tests, the battery life did indeed match Apple's claims, but of course it did, because our review model was brand new, and we all know that the only way battery performance goes over time is downwards.

Check back with us in a year and we'll tell you how it's performing then, or rather we would if Apple didn't want our review model back in 30-days time.

Run away

Oh, and there's also built-in support for the Nike + iPod running kit. This means that all you need to do is insert a Nike + iPod sensor into your trainers and start jogging and the iPod touch will record your running habits – like how many calories you've burned off, and how far you've run.

It even makes it all into a nice graph for you, so you can track your progress over time. The only problem with this is that having something as expensive as the iPod touch strapped to your arm, or even worse, bouncing about in your pocket as you jog down the street is the last thing you'd want to do.

Jogging with an iPod touch along the war-torn streets of the UK's inner cities sounds more akin to pasting a large sign saying "Mug me, I've got a £300 iPod" to your back.

Even if you're lucky enough to live in the genteel countryside, the iPod touch is still too bulky for jogging purposes. The smaller and cheaper iPod nano, which can also work with the Nike + iPod kit, is a much better fit.