My Apple iPod Touch Review (brief)

Gonzo0

Gonzo0

Gonzo0

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So today i was on my lunch break from college and decided to check out the Apple store in Derby. I got in and noticed a few people crowded around something so i see what th fuss is about and they just so happen to have a 16gb iPod Touch on Demo (the only one in Derby apparently).

I finally get my hands on it after almost dropping it, clumbsy me lol.

The iPod Touch is quite light but you can feel its £200+ of equipment. The screen is quite large and is very sharp and clear and displays colours very well too. I get into the music library on the new iPod and find myself browsing through tracks with my finger moving up and down quickly across the screen. The touch screen is very sensitive and detects fonger movement very well.

Turning the iPod 90 degrees displays album covers on the screen which you can browse through with the touch of a finger (excuse the pun). Browsing for tracks is very quick and simple like any other iPod.

I was given some sony earphones to test out music quality and was surprised by how clear the sound actually was, very sharp and crisp :).

I moved onto pictures and started playing with the 'finger pinching' zooming of pictures. It took me a while to find a decent way to do it without accidently flipping onto the next picture but eventually got it and was amazed by it. Pictures a very sharp and colours are great on the Touch :)

Other people were waiting to have a go at it so i put it down. One thing i noticed was that the touch gets very messy with fingerprints but that is to be expected and they can be easily wiped off with a cloth.

I recorded myslef playing about with it on my N70 so i will upload a video soon :)

My verdict so far:
8/10

Im definately getting one, it will be my first apple product. Yep thats right ive never owned an apple product ever :(
 
Good review. Considering one of these myself as I don't have a massive amount of music, and I like the thought of being able to browse the internet on it.

I assume you didn't get chance to try the wireless function?
 
Tute said:
Good review. Considering one of these myself as I don't have a massive amount of music, and I like the thought of being able to browse the internet on it.

I assume you didn't get chance to try the wireless function?
Click to expand...

Correct didnt use the wireless :(
 
I can't bear that album cover thing, I find it so much harder to use than just scrolling names through a-z, I know its alphabetical but I find myself looking at the pictures and not the names.
 
Surfing on this thing is amazing. It's without doubt the very best browser and interface that I have ever seen on a portable device. Makes browsing almost bearable compared to all the other mobile devices which, on a good day, is barely good enough for a tiny bit of casual browsing at best without driving you insane.
 
I got one a couple of weeks ago from the states and it's an incredible piece of kit. Screen is fantastic and it's unbeliveably thin and light.

Only real problem is that you are forced to use iTunes and it will only play back H.264 at a fairly low resolution so it means re-encoding most video if you're buying it for that. Everything else about it is pretty awesome though!
 
I had a play with one today, for half an hour or so, and it is brilliant. Really really good.

Safari works really cleverly and intuitively too, I love it.
 
I'm expecting mine to arrive tomorrow. As a fan of Creative and iRiver toys, I think it'll be an interesting experience.
 
Mines arrived, had to charge the bugger though since it was on an empty charge. I've no idea if I have one of the models with the dodgy screen yet... :/

For those who have purchased one - open the box SLOWLY - I didn't and my 'touch' flew out and almost crashed onto the keyboard. I was somewhat annoyed to find that there's no dock on this thing, and that the dock is a rip off £35 off the apple store.

Also absent is an AC mains charger, but a usb one is supplied. So now I need to sauce me an AC charger and a dock that isn't from the Apple store.
 
Kainz said:
Mines arrived, had to charge the bugger though since it was on an empty charge. I've no idea if I have one of the models with the dodgy screen yet... :/

For those who have purchased one - open the box SLOWLY - I didn't and my 'touch' flew out and almost crashed onto the keyboard. I was somewhat annoyed to find that there's no dock on this thing, and that the dock is a rip off £35 off the apple store.

Also absent is an AC mains charger, but a usb one is supplied. So now I need to sauce me an AC charger and a dock that isn't from the Apple store.
Click to expand...

Google iTango - hopefully they'll release a dock for the touch soon - basically it uses the USB dock-cable Apple provides and turn it into a dock for a mere £5 delivered.

As for AC charger, any eBay's is flooded with them at around £5 delivered too. Personally, I don't need an AC cable so from Apple's perspective of "Green to the Environment" - it's a good move but for the money paid, one would expect more wouldn't they?
 
Apple have been stingy with accesories for ages now. I think the last iPod to come with a mains charger (well, plug that the USB lead plugs into) was the 4G
 
Well I gave my Touch it's first solid test today taking it to work via the bus. I've come to the conclusion that its failed the 'kainz' test of sound quality. Now I've read quite a few posts claiming that the touch's quality isn't as good as normal ipods. Whilst I don't know about this (I hate ipods see...or did), I can say that the sound quality on my Vision:M blows this out of the water, and my previous iRivers tops the lot.

At the touch's stock default with the EQ switched off, the sound is lifeless. Bass doesn't hit you hard and it just feels weak, and those were with my Super.fi 5 Pro's. Switching on the EQ made a slight difference but live performance tracks had poor vocals.

So when I got home today I lobbed on my HD650 headphones and the sound just was lacking. Overall I have to say that it's a brilliant player. The sound quality may not be there but the rest of the player is extremely polished and makes up for that.

So my two cons:

1. Sound isn't as I expected.
2. Lack of volume dial on the side ala iPhone.
 
I bought a 16GB touch, and used it a lot, was expecting a lot for the video quality, so encoded some videos only trouble is that at a certain point during the video it will get pixelated and then quit, if I reset the ipod video plays fine but another one has the problem, I get the same problem for music, pauses at a random point then quits, only happens on some music and video not at all, also it happens if I change/edit the metadata of the song/video in itunes, a simple name change to the video will cas=use it to freeze then quit, not sure if it is hardware or software related..

I notice that other people might not have this problem or just might not know it, does not mean it does not exist..

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1161755&tstart=240

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1153159&tstart=180
 
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R4z0r said:
Only real problem is that you are forced to use iTunes and it will only play back H.264 at a fairly low resolution so it means re-encoding most video if you're buying it for that. Everything else about it is pretty awesome though!
Click to expand...

I think your mistaken, I do a lot of encoding at do 320*240 @ 2.3mb/s for video and 160kb/s for audio, best quality I have seen imagine watching high def video on a 3.5" screen, just got to learn how to encode, I use Quicktime 7Pro's Export to H.264 Option..

I can upload a sample which will blow you away, but need 60MB web space....


Check my review above...
 
My library is all in apple lossless and I can't get many songs on it. Does it have an option when you sync to convert the files down to 128kbps AAC?
 
got given a free one today - love it! dunno if i would have folked out the money myself, but as far as free things goes it rocks :D
 
I agree as a picture viewer. It's simply superb. I uploaded a raft of test drive unlimited screenshots off the 360 and you can flick through each picture by just sliding the present one to the left with your finger, and the next one slides into place. It's lovely to use in that respect.

I'm still checking out the other EQ presets trying to find a good one just to improve clarity on the sound front.
 
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