Apple iPod touch review

Average user rating

8.2

excellent

Average user rating from 6 users

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Apple iPod touch user reviews

December 13, 2007

Posted by: preime

"Almost, but not quite"

What I like:

The user interface, the size, the speed of the device

What I don't like:

You have to use itunes, no 64bit support, no "back" button or hardware volume control

Review:

First the good news - using the touch is a akin to a religious experience. For a multimedia device it is truly remarkable. Sure the capacity is not emough to carry your entire collection of music and video around, but is that really necessary? you don't pack your entire wardrobe if you are going on a two week holiday or? Browsing the web is actually usable, showing off pictures and video is fast and beautiful with a pin sharp screen and excellent view angles. Battery life is reasonable considering the screen size. Sound quality is good, although the equaliser presets are pretty useless, and you have no choice of creating custom ones. I have noticed some clipping distorion of loud and bass heavy tracks, although that may be a problem with the files themselves. Due to the complete lack of buttons bar menu and power, in-pocket user control is not possible, i.e skipping tracks or even changing the volume, without removing the device and looking at the screen. Considering that most of the use will be visual, this is not really a problem. Personally I don't even bother using it as a music player on the move unless i have no alternative.

Here is the bad news: in classic Apple form they have released an potentially excellent device and then crippled it severly with poor implementation:
1. You have to use the waste of space called itunes as they now use special drivers unlike the regular ipods. This means no drag&drop support, won't run on 64bit systems and little or no funcionality with itunes alternatives. The effect is that you have a device on one hand that is perfect for viewing and showcasing pictures and photos, yet all you can use are poorly "optimized" low resolution images from one PC thanks to itunes and it's insistance of only uploading one folder and deleting the pictures already on the touch if they came from a different PC. Oh and whilst itunes loves the word sync, this is actually a misnomer that implies a two-way exchange of information. the only thing itunes can do automatically is upload and replace. This is but a small sample of the gripes i have with this software.
2. Browsing the web is a fantastic experience, and thanks to the innovative zoom process, you can actually view full size web pages without any hassle. That is all hunky-dory, however apple , in their wisdom, have decided not to include flash support, meaning a large chunk of the web is inaccessible.
3. you have an incredible touch based interface, so why not include a few games that can make use of this? You can't even download them from itunes as the touch / iphone is not supported.
The verdict a full 9.5 for the touch itself and a negative 3.5 for having to use itunes. Its like landing your dream job, only to find out the office is 200km awy, they will only pay you in Armanian Dram and the dress code is a leather mini skirt, thick thermal tights a silk bouse and black army boots, regardless if your male or female.