Archive for October, 2007

I received my iPod touch 8GB yesterday and have rarely put it down in the past 24 hours.

It’s everything I imagined it to be and more. From the moment I lifted it out of it’s beautiful box it was like holding something light years ahead of it’s time. The whole transition from one application the other is so smooth. When I switched it on I headed into ‘Settings’ to set up wi-fi. Immediately it picked up my network aswell as my neighbours. Clicked on my network name, entered the password and I was up and running. It was so quick, no problems.

The iPod touch interface, as you can see above, is gorgeous. One of the things that has impressed me so far about the touch is the ability to have more than one page open at a time (picture above right). This is something I’ve always wanted from a handheld device and the iPod touch has delivered. Browsing websites with Safari is a lovely experience as it’s a proper browser, not a mobile one where pages appear messed up if not optimised for mobile devices.

Now, to music. I didn’t sync my iPod touch with iTunes as I wanted to transfer music manually. My whole purchased music library only comes to 1GB, so the 8GB is perfect for my needs. I also plan on buying a new iMac in a few weeks so wanted to put the extra money towards that.

Coverflow on the iPod touch is stunning – friends and family in awe as you simply flick your finger across your music collection and it scrolls through. A beautiful touch. I also find the text input easier than I thought I would. Just a gentle touch to the on-screen keyboard is enough.

At the moment I have nothing even remotely negative to say about the iPod touch. I haven’t added many songs to it yet and no TV shows or my own movies have made their way onto it. I’m looking forward to doing that so I can see how good the screen really is.

Oh, and I may aswell address a question here that I’m frequently asked…

Q: Why have you bought the iPod touch and not the iPhone?

A: I would love the iPhone. Show me an Apple fan who wouldn’t. I knew the monthly tariff for the iPhone was going to be beyond £30 so I wasn’t surprised to hear that the lowest plan costs £35 per month for 200 texts, 200 calls, unlimited data and free wi-fi via The Cloud. That in itself is not a bad deal, but since I don’t use my phone as much as some people it just wouldn’t be worth it for me personally to pay £35 a month…even if it *is* for something so stunning as the iPhone. I am already an o2 customer and I managed to get a good deal last november when I upgraded my handset. I was given the £30 a month 400 texts/400 calls deal for just £15 a month and it’s way more than I’ll ever need. Never say never, though. If things change then who knows