Yeah, we know we're a little late with this one, but we see the
iPod touch as a pretty major turning point for Apple's iPod line; when it was
announced, we finally thought we'd found an iPod we could really get behind. For years technology enthusiasts pondered the possibility of an Apple-made widescreen, WiFi-enabled portable media device, and they finally did just that -- even throwing in a few things that, prior to the iPhone, we might not have expected, like a full-fledged web browser, internet video player (YouTube), multi-touch interface, etc. But after playing with the touch for a few days, it's become pretty clear that Steve was right when he declared that the iPhone is still the best iPod. Read on to find out why.
Late last year. iPods had fallen into a rut: the features were stale, the form factor of the flagship device basically stopped progressing, and it started to seem like Apple didn't care or understand where portable media players were headed -- or at least didn't seem to realize what such devices were capable of. So it came as no surprise that as soon as the iPhone was announced, people began demanding that same device, sans phone. And why not? Not
everyone hates their cellphone, or wants to switch to AT&T, or lives in America (or select countries in Europe) -- and from a media player standpoint, the iPhone made the iPod technologically respectable again. Only a handful of other devices, like the
Archos 604 WiFi, come equipped with that specific bundle of features (web browser, touchscreen, and WiFi).
Fortunately for that rather sizable group of potential buyers waiting for the phoneless iPhone, it was clear that Apple had invested an enormous amount of effort (and money) into creating its mobile OS X platform, and that all those development bucks weren't going to live on in only one product -- especially not a device that is ultimately beholden to deals with cellphone carriers. So the iPhone without the phone -- the WiFi-enabled widescreen iPod -- finally started to seem more like an eventuality than some distant hope. When it was announced a couple of weeks ago, the surprise was less that Apple had been working on this device after all, and more the myriad iPhone features unexpectedly absent. We'll get to that shortly.
Media
Thankfully, as far as media playback goes, all the best stuff from the iPhone made the cut in the touch. It shares the same audio, video, and photo apps as the iPhone, which is a good thing since we still love the new Apple mobile media interface every bit as much as we did when we first reviewed the iPhone. The
iTunes WiFi Music Store works exactly as advertised; search is fast, sampling tracks and downloads are easy, and syncing tracks back to your host computer is effortless. Apple really nailed this. To date, most over the air music downloads on a portable media devices have been tedious, if not completely impractical.
Also unchanged are our primary complaints about said media playback, the same complaints we've had about the iPod for years: we don't like managing our media through iTunes, and we don't like being limited only to those few codecs Apple supports (AAC, MP3, H.264, and MPEG-4). In fact, if Apple gave us greater codec support (or even just the option to add additional codecs ourselves) and mass storage support for drag and drop while adding media, we'd probably be able to overlook the other, smaller things that ail us about iPods.
Software
Since the touch is an iPhone at its heart --
really -- comparisons on the software end of business were immediate and inevitable. We're going to assume you're at least casually familiar with the touch's progenitor, but if you didn't read over our
iPhone review or haven't much used one yourself, we're happy to say the touch remains a rock solid device on the software end. We experienced far fewer crashes now than we did with the v1.0 iPhone firmware; the rest of the interface is just as responsive and reliable.
Apple has also since made a number of improvements to the touch which have yet to carry over to the iPhone. (We're expecting the iPhone to be brought to parity with the touch in its
next firmware update, due in the next week or so.) One major annoyance, about which we took umbrage in our iPhone review, is that periods are unnecessarily difficult to type. No longer: the touch takes the BlackBerry approach, where pressing the space bar twice types a period automatically. This is a godsend.
Also improved: many of the clicks, chirps, and other system sounds have been tweaked, most often with the result of being slightly less grating than the noises of the iPhone. And, of course, the addition of international support in menus and keyboards means you don't have to be a US American to use the thing.
But it isn't what's
on the touch that caused us to sit up and take notice so much as what's
not on it. The iPhone's suite of apps set certain expectations for what the touch should include. Granted, we understand why the iPhone's mobile email app was omitted from the touch. While we still would have liked to have the option to email over WiFi, its intended purpose is as a portable media player, not a mobile communicator, so we can follow that line of thought. But why leave out its notes, weather, stocks, and Google maps apps? We know the portable doesn't include the same constant connectivity as the iPhone has with EDGE, but it's not like downloading music over the iTunes WiFi Music Store is a practical application in ways that checking for weather, or jotting down a quick note are not. The touch is still a connected portable device, after all, and what we see is Apple mimicking the limited feature set of the old, stale iPod line instead of fully realizing the touch's potential.
And let's not forget the touch calendar controversy. Why allow users to indulge in some PIM basics, like editing and creating new contacts, while not others, like editing or adding new calendar appointments? When we
confirmed that Apple had indeed dropped calendar editing from the touch, we were floored. Not even because it's that essential a function, but because we can't possibly fathom why anyone in Cupertino thought to take something of value, however small, away from for no apparent reason.
For a company that continually emphasizes its software as being the core of what drives great consumer electronics, we just can't understand why Apple chose curb the touch's capabilities right at the outset.
Hardware
With the touch, Apple's hardware is, as usual, striking when compared with many of its competitors. Ever so slightly wider (about 1mm) and significantly thinner (8mm, which is no small feat) than the iPhone, the touch has far harder, sharper edges on its facade, and a sloping, almost difficult to grip rear. It even manages to leverage that space with a large enough battery to put out more than its advertised 5 hours of video playback -- we got about 5.5 - 6+ hours. But despite its impressive thinness, after the last few months of using the far more functional iPhone, the touch left us in want. It may be the ideal size for a device of this kind, but it omits many of the simple hardware niceties we've grown used to in the iPhone.
Hardware volume controls were highest on the list of things we miss. We could just as easily live without a mute switch on a media player, but losing the hard volume buttons is rather disappointing. Granted, Apple has made it easier to get to the media controls and volume when the device is in sleep mode; just press the home button three times (once to wake, two more times to bring up media controls without unlocking it). But what's wrong with a real volume switch, too? With no hardware controls, doing something as frequent and essential as changing the volume necessitates removing the device from your pocket. Furthermore, without hard volume buttons, you can't adjust the volume at all while playing music in landscape (i.e. Cover Flow mode). This is pretty basic stuff that drives us up the wall.
Also missing -- and missed: an external speaker. Yeah, we know not every media player has one, and it probably would have added some bulk to a device so slim as the touch. But sharing samples of songs, a bit of video, or -- duh -- YouTube now instantly necessitates friends adventurous enough to use your funky headphones each taking a turn watching Chocolate Rain or the Hipster Olympics. We know in the long run it's a relatively minor thing, but it's still disappointing.
But that's not all. While we appreciate the aesthetic sacrifice Apple made in in adding a proper WiFi antenna to the touch, the odd, asymmetric black corner on the rear looks off and misplaced. We wish Apple have just placed the antenna behind the touch's face, or possibly along the top or bottom of the unit, where its sleep / wake button or headphone jack is. It's a relatively minor aesthetic nitpick, we know, but Apple obviously holds its hardware design in the highest regard, and to us the antenna seems uncharacteristically out of place for an iPod product too pristine to even have hardware volume controls.
Then there's the matter of the display. Ours happened to be one of the
"small number" of touch units with the faulty screens. It's difficult to capture in a photograph or even explain in text (so far the best shots we've seen came from
Apple-Touch), but the result is dark shades -- especially black tones -- look almost inverted. At very least it's distracting, and at worst it makes some darker video almost unwatchable. We hope Apple gets these units fixed on the double, because for us this janky screen teeters on the edge of a return-your-unit-forever dealbreaker.
And then, finally, there's the shiny chrome back side, which is just as easy as ever to keep pristine and unmarred, provided you store your iPod in a vacuum or cover it in armor. We still don't get this. Yes, people like shiny gadgets, but the glee of that first five seconds of
ooh pretty hardly outweighs the lifetime of fingerprints and scratches that the iPod's rear mirror finish accumulates. We thought Apple had learned its lesson when it gave the iPhone a matte aluminum back side. Guess not. We can't be alone in thinking chrome doesn't patina like an old pair of jeans. To us it just seems to look worse with time.
Wrap-up It's hard to argue that there isn't beauty in simplicity, especially when it comes to consumer electronics. But there's such thing as
too simple -- and sometimes too simple can turn into crippled. Most of our complaints about the touch have to do with what it lacks -- not in general, but when compared its big brother, the iPhone. Had the iPod touch come out first, the lack of a hardware volume switch, integrated speaker, and all those apps might have been perfectly passable, but now the expectations have been set, and we can't see how taking things away from users can possibly add value. Everyone in this industry is trying to give their customers more, but with the iPod touch Apple gave its customers
less in what should have been the best iPhone alternative on the market. This time around, in Apple's obsession to edit, they managed to leave some of the best stuff on the cutting room floor.
posted Sep 22nd 2007 9:31AM
Stop compairing this to the iPhone! When you do that, you get a bad review. Just review the iPod Touch. Or compair it to other iPods. Everyone's is expecting it to be another iPhone, which it is not.
Why shouldn't customers demand the absolute best product for thier money? Lying down and accepting whatever they give you is exactly what Apple have been expecting people to do with this latest generation of iPods and it's been a big disappointment.
"Or compair it to other iPods"
Which one, 160Gb iPod Classic?
As iPod it's less useful that other iPods because of crap capacity (video device? c'mon...) and low battery, so for 400$ bucks I'd like to have at least a minimal pda (translation: nuke that crappy Calendar and give me full version).
Also a good video showing that the Touch screen problems.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nYxlrsReUEU
Quit calling it "Widescreen". 3:2, though turns out to be great for this application, is no native widescreen format. Look it up. In the future, please refer to it as "Wider screen" :)
Ok, let's compare it to the other ipods. It's incredibly expensive, and the only difference is the wireless itunes music store/safari/bigger screen. Now, I don't know about you guys in the states, but here in aus, our wireless coverage is bugger all. More to the point, I don't even use the itunes music store. So really, I'm paying twice the price for the same thing with a bigger, fancier screen.
For something that has an entire operating system on it, it doesn't seem to do a lot of "operating".
How hypocritical. If it compared favorably to the iPhone then these people would be bragging "it's exactly like an iPhone without a phone" but because it is clearly missing much more than a phone then it's "comparing it to the iPhone is unfair. It's an iPod dummy."
This isn't about comparing product names, this is about comparing products. And it's very clear the Touch is closer related to the iPhone than the iPod so comparisons are essential if you're going to properly describe what this can and CANT do.
Although I do not own one, it is my understanding that you essentially have no video out with the touch, isn't that a giant step backwards.
--Doug
I 100% agree with you [Daniel]
I've read about 8 or 9 reviews of the iPod touch, and have found that they fall into two categories:
The first are reviews that look at it as a product in its own right, and review it as an iPod. There are always comments on features that could be added, or are missed, but generally, reviews that look at it for what it is as a product bearing the name iPod are almost always good, giving it a rating of 4 stars or higher.
The second are reviews that really just compare it to the iPhone. These reviews have some positive comments about improvements made, but are generally negative, often giving it 3 stars or less.
Frankly, I've found that those in the latter category always sound like they are trying to justify their iPhone purchase. That's fine, but it's not very helpful to prospective buyers, especially those in countries that don't have the iPhone, or to people who don't want to sign up with AT+T.
I think your right on...you cant demand the same apps from a pmp as you would a quasi-smartphone...I have an iphone and i love it....however, if the touch came out first and had maybe 30gb of storage capacity (which would increase the price dramaticly) it would have been a MUCH bigger hit
I would feel like you had a point, if Apple didn't almost directly copy the OS from the iphone and then purposefully crippled the touch.
The Touch has video out, compared to the iPhone's lack of it.
And when do you people stop whining about stuff that can be handled by a simple update as if it was unchangeable
No we should compare it to the iphone. Why you ask. Because the 8gb iphone is only $100 more. Meaning the only big difference between the two should be the phone part.
The new touch is just not up to par with the iphone. First, it should have all of the capabilities of the iphone.
Where's the bluetooth? Goodness BestBuy's Insigina mp3s sport bluetooth and they are junkie players.
Why have the touch keyboard and not able to make entries and changes to iCal/ Yet you can add contacts. Makes no sense.
Yes, it's impressive and yes it's slick and thin. But am not sallow. I need something to work awesome off the bat before i commit my hard earn cash to buy it.
If all i want is a video and mp3 player. I would get an Archos 605 with twice the capabilities at a lesser price. Also the Archos knows it's place...its a media player and nothing more. The iTouch claims to be more then a media player and does everything okay and not great.
The truth is most of you won't care if I make sense or listen to engadget's review. Am glad you guys are rich enough to throw away your money. But for the poor people like me. Wait.
But if you really want one. For $100 more buy the iphone with no service. At least you will have bluetooth and more.
lol, U.S. Americans. Nice throwback to dummy from SC.
Basically Apple screwed up, it's getting greedy, included less features on a product which has an OS and should be able to handle more. This product needed increased capacity, similar iPhone functionality, improved design (get rid of the freaking shiny back!), bluetooth.
Just a few small things that could've been easily done. And stop being greedy Apple! Or we'll start referring to you as AppleSoft.
how about expandable memory slots, when will they finally add that to these players. I love the UI, but the hardware and the limitations in files types is a killer. Archos is a better player in my book and with their newly signed deal for downloadable videos and music it will be as competative as the iPod.
http://www.mp4nation.com/products/index.php?PID=PA20
After reading many, many ipod touch and iphone reviews online, and the long, long list of gripes and features 'demanded' on /. ('What Do You Want In iPhone 2.0' / http://apple.slashdot.org/apple/07/09/21/2020206.shtml), it boils down to one point for me:
Steve didn't want this--the 'phone-less iphone', the touch--to be viewed as a PDA.
Expanded media slots? Exchange-support? Mobile email? GPS? iRDA? Open File Systems? Etc? Steve killed the Newton. I own several. They're great. But he didn't want it then, and he dosen't seem to want it now--or at the very least, this isn't it. Perhaps something is in the works, and they don't want this to be seen as their foray into the PDA format while they work on the real deal.
Lets not forget, for the most part, we're comparing smart phones vs personal media players.
just hack your itouch (jail break). That solves all the issues stated in this review except hardware buttons. Its easy, it allows you to put on iphone apps, emulators, themes, games, etc. Pretty much what ever you want, you got.
Glad I have the iphone,touch will make more sense if price will drop or need more storage.
It's a shame, the Touch could have been so good but theres just too many little issues with it.
The shiny back has nothing to do with asthestics and everything to do with making people buy cases.
Everyone i know with an iPhone (That's everyone i actually know, so by some law of detatchment you shall see that everyone....) has a case for it. almost no one with an ipod has a case for it. Don't say it's just the chrome backing. Besides, i don't really need to be carrying a perfect mirror with me, it's just the back of an ipod, usually resting on a table or completely covered by your hand. you won't ever see the back.
I see a more devious reason to have the shiny back than to make people buy cases, after all, apple didn't come up with the case idea, that was an after market thing that took off.
I think the only reason they included a chrome back is so that you would grow tired of the finger prints and scratches making you eventually buy the next generation when it came out so you could have a nice, new, CLEAN device. Ohhh Stevie, you clever dog...
I've got a tin foil hat for your protection, Doug.
@Doug
Maybe at first yes. But Apple now get a slice of any accessory with the 'Made for iPod' logo and one of the main advantages they have over over mp3 players is the huge accessory support. So it's in ther direct interest to make sure as many accesories are bought as possible. They have done many things with this in mind, from the recessed headphone port on the iPhone, disabling previous video-out cables from working with the new iPods and the chrome backs etc etc
The recessed jackport, has nothing to do with "disabling previous video-out cables". The iPod has video out but the iPhone hasn't (as of current frimware). The touch can't use the same cables as previous iPods, even though it's jack isn't recessed. It has to do with video resolution (it's higher on the touch) and other hardware changes. Apple might have or might not have made the older videocables for iPods obsolete un purpose, but don't blame it on the recessed jack.
I'm not. If you re-read my post there is a comma between the points meaning they are seperate.
Without more than 16Gb I won't even consider buying this. It may be 10 times more sexy than the Archos 605, but with a tenth of the storage it's just not enough.
Yeah, I think it is odd that none of the reviews mention the terrible lack of space on Apple's first true media pod. It has a bettter screen for video but not nearly enough space for it.
I was expecting a full review because yall took so long.....this is really just a commentary and a rehash of things you said before.
the screen issue has already been addressed by apple and the new ones(week38) have fixed that problem.
Thank you for giving an honest review of this product, and basically reminding the world that Apple puts out just as much crap as they put out gold. Apple gets just as many things wrong as they get right, and the iPod touch is an example of something they got wrong. Apple put out a flawed, very incomplete product with the iPod touch, and thank you for recognizing its flaws -- so that hopefully Apple will improve this product in the future.
waiting for Zune 2, if it doesn't go well... iPod Touch, here I come...
Well, the reason for having a shiny back is obvious - so that the market for iPod cases never dies.
Look at the new 'durable' Nano. Nice metal front, horrible shiny back.
Something like an external speaker and volume control would be almost necessary. Even with the older iPods with click wheels, you could adjust volume in your pocket easily without even needing to look at the iPod, now needing to look at it seems like an almost backward step. Bein in Australia, I've not yet got my hands on an iPhone, nor have I been out to get my hands on a Touch as yet.
Since getting my first G4 iPod (20GB), I've been wishing I could create notes instead of just read them on the iPod. It would make it so useful, as well as being able to add calendar events. On the flip side, I can use my mobile phone for both notes and a calendar, and I tend to have my phone closer to me than my iPod.
Can you create events for calendar on the iPhone? Or is that merely a sync from iCal/Outlook?
Nice review :)
Yes you can on the Iphone but not the Itouch
Oh, ok, thanks for that :) Hopefully we'll get the iPhone over here soon, but being a student, I doubt my budget will stretch that far...
This review was spot on. I used the Touch this week on a plane and the minor complaints are aggrevating. Especially the lack of hard button volume controls. Having to bring the touch out of sleep just to adjust volume or even to change tracks was enough for me to put it back in my laptop case and bring out my trusted Nano.
I too was floored when I heard about the crippled PIM functionality. I mean, OK, I understand market segmentation, but I think that taking the phone and camera out of the iPhone would segment off the touch sufficiently. Fortunately, that is something they can fix in firmware if they want, but the idea of Apple gratuitously removing features that would have been actually easier to leave in is downright perplexing.
More disconcerting is the lack of a hardware volume control. I have an iPhone and I find myself using that all the time when listening to music. Having an internal speaker is nice, too. Tinny though it is, I use it frequently when listening to podcasts or watching videos.
And reverting to the chromed back is odd. I thought with the iPhone and the new iMacs, Apple was going wholeheartedly over to glass and brushed aluminum.
"but the idea of Apple removing features that would have been actually easier to leave in is downright perplexing.
- it seems more arbitrary than gratuitous. the logical separation of their product line is gone as the new ipod line.
I understand that everybody wants 160gb versions of the touch, (me included) but we need to be aware there is a shift in the form factors to flash memory. Not only is this quicker ( for coverflow anyone?) but also less power hungry. This is what we want in the long run so us apple-ites should just go with the flow for now.
However, i think the only thing steve jobs should have done is either given an option of a 160gb version of the touch and the 16 gb flash version. At at time when i have almost 30gb of music and almost 90gb of video, not only do i need a larger capacity ipod, i want one with a bigger screen as UK now has TV show downloads and is really taking off (finally)
All in all, people should stop bitching because Jobs has a clear plan, introducing flash players and giving us a somewhat limited option, then i bet the next one will come on leaps and bounds!!!!
I think Engadget summed up my complaints nicely. The same-old codec selection, puzzling choices for the backplate, and removal of the GMaps and email apps made me leave the Apple store without one.
Apple's true values are exposed. Use their design talent to fool consumers into buying over priced products. There was no need to remove apps from the iTouch as I assume wifi could have prvided the contectivity. In the UK the iPhone comes with free wifi as this is faster then 3.5G but for the iTouch Apple feel connectivity is not adequate so they remove connectivity based apps!
Ahrg! Both Apple and everybody else need to get this: WiFi isn't nessesarily faster than 3G (or 3.5G in this case) I can make my old dial up connection wireless if I want too...is that then automatically faster than 3G? Hell no, and far from it! 3G actually brings you broadband speed, so it's a quiet wrong statement. I actually have mobile broadband (with 3 as the provider) My connection is 1.5 Mb/s. I have the option to go 3.6 Mb/s if I should choose so in the future. After that I have to buy a new mobile broadband modem, as this one only supports speeds up to 3.6, but that is by now fast enough. So if I take this mobile broadbnd modem and hook it up to my router, I (and everybody else covered by my router) can get on the internet via my modem...using Apples logic my modem would suddenly become much faster...why you ask? Well, Steve has several times that "WiFi is SOO much faster than 3G you know..."gah!
Look guys great review, but i agree with the first comment. It isnt an iPhone, it looks like one. Big deal.
But i think you are forgetting the power of numbers, the more complaints apple receives about the lack of apps, the more likely it is theyw ill update the firmware to include the oh-so-necessary notes app or calander additions. As for email, im not fussed at all, it has safari and last time i checked www.gmail.com is fairly easy to type. Lol.
(First pre-ordered iPod Touch in Sydney, Australia.)
A great tip: When accessing gMail, instead of using the regular website, use m.gmail.com. By doing so the screen is formatted with minimal data. It seemed to be of significant benefit.
I did get one piece of info from this I did not have...I did'nt know you could not adjust volume in landscape mode, I hope apple will include this in a future update because I was planning on mounting mine sideways in my car below my stereo. I could still mount it up and down but it would look nicer sideways.
You Engadget guys hit it right on the head.
The Touch *should* be compared to the iPhone, b/c it's NOT an iPod. iPods play games, have an EQ setting, can be used as storage devices, lack a screen worth watching videos on, and lack internet connectivity.
For Apple to leave easily implemented (and useful features) off the Touch that are already coded for the iPhone is ludicrous. It seems Apple only wants us to use internet for iTunes and uTube - limiting what WE want do do with our Touch.
And I can't understand why Apple gets all pissy about people developing Apps for the Touch/iPhone that rely upon the internet. If Apple wanted otherwise, then it shouldn't have released an SDK and not insisted that apps could be added via Safari interoperability.
And what's the point of putting a freaking OS on an iPod if you can't DO anything with it.
Apple needs to get off its micromanaging, narrow thinking high horse and let US decide what WE want to do with our hardware.
oops meant SHOULD have released an SDK.
"Apple needs to get off its micromanaging, narrow thinking high horse and let US decide what WE want to do with our hardware."
They've been that way since they started, I don't see why they would feel like changing their mindset now. And even though this mindset keeps burning them from time to time (such as losing most of the personal computer market-share to the more open IBM and PC clones back in the day), it's also the reason they have such a positive image these days. It's easy to claim "It just works," when you control all the variables (well, they still do it better than most, I'll grant them that). Once you start letting in more third-party apps and letting users have more control over hardware and software, you end up in the realms of Windows and Linux, neither of which "just works" once you start fiddling with them (or even if you don't fiddle with them in some cases...just thought I'd throw that in there to placate the Apple fan-boys).
So, while it's sad that Apple missed some key design elements that would have made the Touch fantastic (I know I was considering buying one when I first heard about it), it's not really that unexpected they decided to flex their control muscles...and it's not likely that'll change anytime soon.
This latest generation of iPods has really given me a lot of doubt about Apple. Granted Apple has always been one to skew on the side of proprietary, but the intentional software crippling stance they have taken with the iPod Touch is disturbing at best.
Folks I think we are losing the last good hardware company.
It also makes me wonder about their supposed marketing genius, too.
If they released the Touch first and everyone would have talked about how much better it is than a 'classic' iPod. "Hooray, widescreen, wi-fi, etc!"
But since they released the iPhone first, everyone talks about how the Touch is just a crippled iPhone. "What, no volume control, no speaker, no maps, no e-mail?"
By releasing the iPhone first, they raised expectations with what could be done with this form-factor, then they failed to deliver with the Touch.
It would have been SO much smarter to just do what we had all been expecting - strip out the phone and leave everything else be. Then everyone would have cheered that they could get a widescreen iPod without ponying up to AT&T.
Lame. What Ipod has hardware volume controls? Buttons break and require more circuitry. Don't you think they'll add software if people express the want? I mean the only valid critique here is the Calendar gripe, which is very real. And seriously, have you heard a decent speaker out of something this small, why bother? and yes, it would make it bigger.
The crippled Calendar app was a deal breaker for me. All the other issues raised I would have dealt with had the Calendar function been fully functional. Hopefully changes are made because Apple could have taken advantage of the PDA market had they allowed more PIM functions. I can't get At&T where I live (nor other GSM networks) and so the iTouch would have been a great compromise for the iPhone, however, since Apple has deliberately limited its functionality I will be forced to continue to wait and see what develops...
The best of the best will never come...steve wants his churn rate its all about £$£$£$£$£$ ohh next year and another £260 we get hardware volume control & speaker, LOL, and like sheep we follow..
I'm actually adding this from an iPod touch, laying in bed and I really can't complain. My biggest dissapointment in this thing was that my safari bookmarks did NOT transfer when I synced. I figured that would have been a given. However, not having to go get my laptop to check engadget,and risk waking my girlfriend, priceless.
Just as you... I am laying down ok my couch browsing engadget on my iPod touch while watching some college football.
I love this thing and of course just wish that they hadn't removed the mail application and google maps. Hoping for apple to fix it on their own or for jailbreak to come along so we can load ot ourselves.
Also, my week 38 version has a great screen - no blacks issue.
I am looking forward to doing the same thing at Christmas when Santa will hopefully do what I pay him to do.
After giving the Touch a good seeing to in the Apple store today I am just glad Apple create things like this, it makes me happy. It didn't mater what they did with the Touch people would complain, we all have ideas just not many of us have the millions it takes to make it work. Apple's a business, they need to make money to keep creating this stuff. I plan on saving £5 a week and next year getting the latest version, and the same the year after, that's a lot of fun for £5 a week.
Engadget!
You guys/gals rock!!
Thanks for everything you do. It would be so easy for you to buckle under the weight of advertisers, but you don't. You call it as you see it.
For all the apple fan boys/girls out there, that's called integrity. And that my friends is the primary reason for which I will always be a devoted fan of this website.
Keep up the good work!
I am a bit of an apple fanboy but that doesn't mean I'm blind!
This review is spot-on. Well done engadget.
We need an online petition or something about getting us a calendar and a notes app.
Keep up the good work engadget, you guys rock
I hear ya Shaun.
I'm a fan of Apple myself, at least to some degree. I fully appreciate the design and engineering that goes into their products. That said, there's always room for improvement.
I agree with the general tone that the Touch is both cool and crippled. I ordered a 16GB Touch last Sunday from a third-party online retailer right after playing with one in the Apple store. Apple was sold out and I figured I'd save on tax. Anyway, I cancelled my order this morning after reading the Engadget review and others, throughout the week.
I too am an Apple fanboy, but that doesn't mean that Steve Jobs is my technology messiah. The reason I cancelled my order wasn't so much that I couldn't live without mail or maps or whatever, but rather that I'm pissed by the whole giveth and taketh away sense everyone is reporting on. I hope that Apple senses general dissatisfaction and I hope they ultimately enable those features that seem arbitrarily removed. I may eventually get the Touch, but at this point I'm just as likely to wait for a 16GB iPhone. Of course, a Classic is also an option.
All the stuff about the Touch being crippled is funny. We are paying for what we are getting in my eyes, and that's a really great piece of kit.
When people talk about software and apps why do they think they should be free, these things cost a fortune to develope. Personally I think the Touch is realy good value for money, it would keep a smile on my face for months and that's worth a fortune to me.
Yes in 12 months the second gen version will be better but that's the way it always works, that's what I enjoy about gadgets. This device has still got the most Flash memory i have ever seen, at the moment (16 Gig) in a media device.
With media devices I want to store my media, that's not to much to ask. The 80Gig iPod Classic works out at about £2 per Gig and the 16Gig iPod Touch works out at nearly £17 per Gig. Sorry £17 per Gig I don't think so.
My understanding is that the devices are 8 or 16 gig because of the type of storage they both use (Same for the IPhone). It is much faster storage than the ones used in the other IPods, and at point in time, putting any higher than 16 gig would increase the price of the device to a point where not one of us could afford.
Having said that, eventually the IPod Touch will obviously have an 80 or 160 gig drive capacity. For me, at this point I will wait and enjoy my Archos 605 WiFi, playing the various format of Audio, Video and streaming my media from my MacBook Pro (Ironic isn't it) to my HDTv :)
Good review Engadget, as always
I take that last coment back. After playing with the touch in the Apple store today who cares about the memory, this is the coolest thing I have ever seen. It's a whole new way of doing things, that's what you are getting.
that's really funny, i did the same thing too.. decided i didn't want one then ACTUALLY USED ONE and now can't wait to get it delivered!
Question: to pause it while it's in your pocket, you have to click the home button 3 times and press the spot on the screen that corresponds to 'pause'?
Can you at least pull out the headphone jack and have that pause? Is there a remote you can get? I'm spoiled by my Nano, its upside-down-in-the-pocket ways make this very easy for me.
My iPod Touch just shipped from KUNSHAN, CHINA according to FedEx. I'm super excited.
Not enough memory and the fact they "had" to go with AT&T, turned me off from
buying one. The price will also turn a lot of consumers away. Had three
iPods already, which I gave to my siblings. Waited for a video version and was disappointed. Will go to another company for a video player.
yeah nice to hear a review that really gets to the crux of the important issues from a users perspecive. I think this really exposes apple for the cynical marketing machine they are. While multitouch and coverflow are nice 'gimmicks' your not really getting that much for your money functionality wise apart form some nice looks. I mean no hardware volume control? are they crazy? mp3's always have differing volumes. And to ommit such simple things like a notes and a proper calender is just like you say, a step backwards.
Here come the fanboys...
AT&T, you think you got problems, come to the UK next month and see what a shambles o2 will make of iphone....Edge, come on 30% coverage only if you can see the mast,if the wind is blowing the right way and live in the city, oh yes and a full moon...Customer support LOL, stop stop my belly hurts
Out of interest does anyone know where this magical 30% is?
I have a feeling that o2 headquarters will be in it..
Wow, what a bunch of whiners.
Got to agree with the review..not to mention the lack of FM radio a/o recording (what could it hurt to include it? I know I for one get bored of listening to the same songs over and over - radio is still the medium of discovery); same old limited codecs (so much out there as Divx/vid/OGG - so countless hours wasted on conversion)!
Personally I think they should've put all the extras (wifi safari, google, FULL calender. notes. contacts etc) or NONE and left it as a PMP - rght now it's a half-@$$ed PDA! The scratchable back is just another minus but minor with cases but it all adds up - unsatisfactory! Plus external speakers like the iriver x20 wouldn't hurt...
I would overlook the limited space (creative sells the 16 GB ZEN for $100 less) due to the interface, but interface gets old fast and then you're left with function.... hopefully they'll read the review, realise ppl STILL don't want an iPhone to get a good touch iPod and deliver accordingly.
The device just had so much potential and ended up so very crippled..sad! If they ever jailbreak it I'll consider simply because a lot of the missing apps may be added. Otherwise it's not worth all that money.
Real good review but I guess I mist the part when apple said it was ment to be a PDA, sure it would have been nice the toch had mail and same calendar as the iPhone but even if apple would have had included that, people would then have had complaint about why it was not included in the iPod classic, but also these are the things that make company better, reviews and opinions and apple is real good at listening and adressing issues. now only if I could find one near me, all my local stores are sold out, and I just gave my hopes up on the zune, why the heck are they trying to release a new model instead of just releasing a firmware update on the old one first, old microsoft habits I guess, I should have know better next time
Thanks for the review! I didn't know about the volume control nor the crippling of the app's. Since I'm no fan of AT&T (slow as molasses), I knew I wasn't getting an iPhone. However, I was hoping and expecting I'd upgrade to the touch.
With so much stuff wrong with it (including such low capacity for a video device), I definitely think I wait and see whether they fix the product. I'll definitely recommend my friends hold off and do the same.
I'm a music video editor and Avid use to do the same thing when Final Cut Pro was emerging. They'd cripple their low-end products to half-heartedly compete with Apple's offering. Now, Apple owns the low-end and competes fiercely in middle-end market with Avid.
In the case of the iPod Touch - since Apple's crippling the product - I wonder who's going to be Apple's Apple?
lol the first 2 paragraphs read like a behind the music story
I just want a music player that does videos and internet, what am i missing? i can seet a bookmark to weather.com, google maps, and google calendar. it's not going to replace my palm with lack of editable calendar, but i like my palm. and my schedule's already on it. however, paying $300 for an 8gb music player was a stretch... i couldn't even bear the thought had i payed $400 for anything.
AND WHERE IS THE FKN A2DP BLUETOOTH ?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very good review... I agree with every part and thank you for your candidness.... I just hope Apple reads it.
All of the iPhone users who are bashing those of us that want the same features as the iPhone minus the phone need to understand that just because they were foolish enough to overspend on a first generation product, they don't have the right to say what people who want PIM functions and do not want an iPhone can or can not ask for. In fact, it does them good for non-iPhone users to have the best offering available because the more Apple develops products with the funtionality that people need, the better future iPhones and iPods will be. Many people looking for PIM with their ipod will instead jump to a an Ipaq or a palm, not an iPhone. So Apple is crippling their own earning power. As for me, I'll buy a touch when it has all the offerings of a good PIM and touch ipod. Until then, my video ipod will do.... if nothing changes with Apple... on to a new product from a new company!!
They do have the right to say that, and we have the right to ignore them.
It still blows my $400 First Generation iPod out of the water!
What a stupid review. I could go onto ilounge or macrumors forums and hear the same kind of complaining. And yes i have an ipod touch. The device is great, the only minor gripe I have had is the fact you cant change volume in landscape mode, seems to be something the forgot more then anything and easily fixable. Now stop comparing the damn ipod touch to an iphone. The thing is not a fucking iphone. Its an ipod. Review it for what it is.
bought one a few houres after seeing it and I don't regret it a second!
I don't know what everybody's complaining about. I got mine last week, and I love it.
The crippling was pretty much unavoidable... O2 was already very unhappy seeing the Touch after agreeing to iPhone exclusivity and handing Apple a large amount of their iPhone customers revenue. I am sure ATT was just as unhappy.
Apple should have never gone with the exclusive carriers. They are restricting themselves and force them to be too cautious not to offer products that compete with the iPhone. The Touch is the first victim. I am afraid others will follow.
The saddest part is that they did it out of greed. As if the 500$ per iphone was not enough they wanted more. I think they will be less well off than if they were just selling unlocked iPhones to anyone wanting one. First because adoption would be higher and second because they wouldn't have to be careful not to offend partners.
Soon as this thing is jailbreak'd, I may get one... May. Still wondering if it's worth the £200 or the new iPod Nano for £100... Or may get one anyway... Who knows.
Add me to the list of people that was excited about the iPod Touch until Apple removed the information about the calendar. If it can't be changed or hacked, Apple will not get on cent of my money.
And I'm sick of the shills saying that the calendar feature is moot. It's not. If I can edit my contacts (which is a far less frequent activity) Then I need access to a note pad and a calendar.
It's sad that my stack of note cards is more useful than this sexy piece of hardware.
Come on Apple, at least tell us you'll implement these features when Leopard comes out!
some people don't live in the US, and don't really have much choice, I'd like to see a review of the touch from a canadian point of view? Or a review that does not compare it to the iPhone....
I guess I don't understand why it should have all the same PIM features as the iPhone...I mean, it's purpose is a media player. The iPhone's purpose is a smartphone. Apple understands this, and made it work that way. For those who want their Touch to be a PIM, I'm sure hackers will figure it out, but most consumers want the Touch to be an iPod, not a PIM.
...and yet AAPL will sell millions. So don't buy one. And STFU while you continue to not buy one.
You may now go back to hoping in vein that MSFT will do something meaningful in your lifetime.
If Apple would produce a full blown, WiFi PDA, with spreadsheets, lite word processing, presentation software, mail, Safari, and gps that, oh also, happens to use the iPhone touch interface and form factor, they would have a run-away bestseller.
You're damn RIGHT. That would be a great device.
Apple is STUPID.
THEY CRIPPLED THIS DEVICE. DO NOT BUY IT.
THE ONLY THING APPLE WANT YOU TO DO IS BUY MUSIC!!
iphone vs touch comparisons make perfect sense. This is a no-brainer.
They INTENTIONALLY CRIPPLED the touch.
ALL they want you to is BUY MUSIC, not to use it for anything else.
This sounds more like MS THAN APPLE.
I hope A SMARTER CORP comes out with the a similar device is that NOT CRIPPLED.
That is the device I will buy.
Your syntax is genius.
Yes, they want you to buy music. Big Deal. Would you rather steal it? Everyone is trying to figure out what the new model for new music sales will be. The Cd is dead. As soon as I got my touch I HAD to try out the wi fi itunes feature. In one week I have purchased more songs than I have in the 4 years that I have had itunes prior. It's brilliant. Works incredibly seamlessly. I forsee a future when Best Buy, Walmart et al offer this in their store. Just walk in, switch to their music network while you shop and buy songs on the fly.
It might actually get me into a Starbucks.
Our first a victim! Someone find a Priest!
I love my music, that's why I buy it on CD, I can do what I like with it then and its totally uncompressed. Would I prefer to steal my music, well, steal is a very strong word, I kind of lend CD's off friends and put them onto disk and then into iTunes and then I lend my friends CD's that I've bought, my music collection is massive because of this. Do I feel guilty, no.
The Touch is however like a gadget dream come to true, I've been using it today and the memory thing maters not. I was one that really laid into the Touch as well, I was wrong. Yes apps are missing that could have been there, but who cares, it's all on the net anyway. Yes Apple want to sell music, but without that revenue stream there wouldn't be the hardware, I bet they make very little at the moment in profit per Touch sold. I don't like buying music online, I want something physical for my money, so I just let everybody else fund Apple while I'm enjoying their hardware.
dude that has nothing to do with ipod anything. fuck off spammer.
No mention of browsing at all in this review! I want it to download podcasts, listen to live radio. Saw on at Best Buy in San Diego on 9/21, browsers seemed sluggish. Out of stock there, they had a few in early and sold out.
where the hell is a hack for the touch? that's what I want to know.. it makes me sad inside. I refuse to buy one UNTIL it's been hacked... I'm quite sure alot of people feel the same. I want to transfer mail/google/calender etc onto it.
and hell, I'll probably just rip it open and solder in a small speaker and volume switch, unfortunetly bluetooth is far too complex and out of my league.
iphone dev team? why no hack? pretty please?
you asked why apple leaves stuff out of the touch. this is why: if they really made the ipod touch the iphone without the phone and left all the other applications inside, the number of people buying iphones would plummit, because i would bet that most people are content with using their cellphone as a phone and having a music player as a music player. apple wants you to buy an iphone instead of the ipod touch, especially if you have AT&T already.