My Apple iPod Touch review

So, you don’t exactly want an iPhone because you think its rather dumb and because you probably have a better phone(thats what you think). A classic iPod is out of question too, because the screen isn’t all that great in size in any case; or you’re probably looking at an upgrade from the older iPod but more battery life and storage are just not reason enough for you to buy it.

Enter the iPod Touch, fitting smack bang between the iPod Classic and the iPhone. Apple have stripped the iPhone of the phone and the camera to leave you with a really sweet music and video player with Wi-Fi ability. Lets take a better peek into the Microsoft Zune bashing, iPod Touch.

iFeel

Physically, the Touch is 2/3rd’s the iPhone in size and only 8mm thick which makes for a snug fit in the palm. To put things a bit more into perspective, the Touch is almost the same size as the Zune and the iPod Classic, only slimmer. It tilts the scales at 120 grams.

The Touch has all of 2 buttons. A home button, and a sleep/wake button. Thats pretty much it. For a music player, I think thats pretty silly. How in the world are you going to change tracks/volume on a crowded mass transport without taking it out of the pocket?

One of the smarter features of the Touch is well.. multi-touch!!With multi-touch you can flick, pinch AND tap. To zoom out of a photo, pinch, to zoom in, just reverse the pinching action. It senses touches by means of an electrical field and allows very natural gestures.

(Watch a small video explaining what multi-touch really is)

iSee

Black is the dominating color for the Touch , spare for the back which has a chrome finish like all iPod’s usually do. Which is a bit of a problem actually. Engrave for all your 2 cents worth, but that chrome finish just loves scratches, and needs to be handled with utmost care if you want it scratch free. Not happening. Slap on a cover or something.

What you also see on the front is that magnificent 3.5″ display, which in my opinion is good enough for watching videos on the move. Navigation is exactly like on the iPhone, so have fun.

At the bottom is the 3.5mm jack, no stupid “recessed jacks” over here. Which means, you can fit in any head/earphone you wish without the need for some silly adapter.Thank the Lord (or Steve Jobs in this case), for the small mercies.

iHear

There really is no need to elaborate about the music playback capabilities over here, its an iPod after all. Which is good in more ways than one. I just love the output it delivers, even on those ear buds, for which everyone has something bad to say about(only the lower frequencies are not so distinct). Hard rock, metal, classics, everything sounds great. But all this, in a no-noise environment. Step out, and all the noise in the world is suddenly audible.

So do yourself a favour and get a in-ear Sennheiser or Shure. Believe me, it’ll make a world of a difference. Your ears will be happy, even if your pocket isn’t.

For those who own on older gen iPod, I give you 2 reasons to upgrade to the Touch right away.

Cover Flow and Accelerometer- When you are playing music, just turn your Touch sideways. The Accelerometer (thats Apple lingo for sensors, even their terms have to sound dead cool) will detect the motion, and the screen will automatically align in Landscape mode. What you will see is sure to delight you. All your album art appears like a physical rack, and you can flip through your music using a flick of your finger.

(Watch a small video explaining what the Accelero mumbo jumbo is all about)

iTunes

If you are in a Wi-Fi hotspot, you can surf the internet on Safari, and also buy music from iTunes, on the go. Wi-fi on a music player is quite handy, to say the very least.

iNote

• Jailbreak into your iPod and install all the 3rd party stuff available for the iPhone. There are lots of silly games and some really nifty apps to install. Turns your iPod into a potential PIM.
• Battery life is excellent. 6.5 hours for video and 22 hours for audio, with Wi-Fi turned off.
• The display absolutely adores your fingerprints. So, slap on a screen protector as soon as you open the box.
• No FM receiver, no audio recording in this one too. I must be 99,978th bloke to complain, but then Stevie is the OverLord…
• After filling the Touch to the hilt with media, I found a slight sluggishness in CoverFlow.
• Apple has also launched WebApps for the Touch. If you happen to be in a Wi-Fi hotspot, head to apple.com/webapps and browse the list of applications. They are more of net widgets actually.

Whats Hot!

• Slim and slick
• Mutli-touch
• Cover flow
• Accelerometer
• Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)
• Excellent battery life
• 3.5 inch screen

Whats not!

• No volume controller buttons
• Touch screen not as responsive as the iPhone
• Some more storage space would have been welcome
• Shiny chrome finish at the back very scratch prone

Whats in the box?

• iPod Touch
• Earphones
• Docking stand
• USB Cable
• Polishing Cloth
• User Manual

Price (16GB)

• India 17000/-
• USA $399

iWrap

The iPod Touch is a really nice music player, but if you look at the bigger picture, its more of a “reduced functionality iPhone”. Clearly, Apple must differentiate between their products, but crippling them is not a very smart thing to do.

SatishSays dot Com Rating

7/10