Apple recently added three attractive colours to the latest iPod Touch edition, giving consumers more funky options to best represent their unique taste and apparently making it easier for them to buy the upgraded gadget.

The Touch is a wonder of a brick as it functions as a music player, a digital camera, a gaming console and a tool to communicate via the internet (through Wi-Fi connection) and most amazingly, it slides easily in and out of the pocket.

Price-wise, the iPod Touch will not break the bank as the 32GB model sells for only $US299 and the 64GB for $US399.

The decision, indeed, for consumers to list the Touch on their Christmas shopping was given a considerable nudge by the added sexiness and muscle to the device - its 4-inch screen employed by Apple as a Retina window for 1080p rendering of moving images.

But it got complicated with the arrival of the iPad Mini, which sports a 7.9-inch screen and packs a resolution of 1024 x 768 but minus the Retina display technology. Picture and video viewing on the smaller Apple tablet will not be an HD-experience, that is true, but tech experts should agree that the power behind the iPad Mini is decent enough.

The tablet will be humming on a dual-core A5 processor, a bit slower when compared to its nearest competitors but in the same class when pitted with the Touch, leaving the two on a level playing field.

So the contest between the two flagship Apple devices will be narrowed to screen sizes and consumers will have to make the final decision as to what they prefer.

Will browsing the net, playing games and reading e-books be more comfortable on the not-too-big iPad Mini, which may not fit into a pocket but can be lugged along with a hip small bag?

Or all of the mentioned functions above would do just fine on the iPod Touch?

While the Touch benefits on the super-bright and crystal clear display rendition of Retina technology, the iPad Mini, on the other hand, "offers a richer experience with a screen nearly two times larger than the new iPod Touch," The Associated Press said in an initial review of the toy.

It is also true that the Mini is pricey when compared to the Touch but the little bump up in cash, analysts said, would not deter consumers from grabbing the product come its worldwide commercial rollout on Nov 2.

The iPad Mini, after all, is a wise compromise between the regular-sized iPad and the small iPod Touch, which in the end should convince consumers, flirting with the thought of trying out the 7-inch Android tablet class, to stick with the App Store.