iPod Touch Take 2- Some Initial Thoughts

The FedEx man stopped by a bit ago with my new iPod Touch (thanks michael!). Set up was incredibly quick in large part due to my having formatted and rebuilt both my iPhone and 1st Generation Touch so many times.

I loaded it with some of my favorite apps and am already ready to share a few initial thoughts.

 
Hardware-
Like the 1st Gen Touch it is super thin. In fact, it is even thinner AND the tapered side make it feel even thinner-er. It is also noticeably lighter than the original Touch. Between the weight and the curves it is by far the most comfortable to hold. In fact, when I went back to the original Touch after using the 2nd Generation for a bit the former felt overly square and too heavy. (Amazing how quickly perception can change.)

Between the thin curves and the weight loss I am finding typing on it, especially using WriteRoom in landscape, fantastic.

The shiny metal back is a horror and will likely be a scratched mess in a few days unless it is protected.

The physical volume controls are awesome.

The speaker is awful for music but great for games.

The home button “clicks” more than the previous generation’s and feels a bit cheaper for some reason.

The screen is nice. I have read many of the comments about the yellow tint of both this and the iPhone 3G but cannot comment due to my high degree of color blindness. I will note that it is more than bright and crisp enough for my liking.

Initial Use-

I was most interested in what, if any difference, there was between the two Touchs with regard to apps. Since upgrading my Touch to version 2.1 it has been rock solid even when I loaded tons of apps. The new Touch (whose version is 2.1.1) appears to be just as solid.

I loaded a few of my favorite apps on the new Touch so that I might make a few comparisons. A few quick thoughts—

Games-

I played a bit of Asphalt4 and Spore (two of the best games currently available IMO).

The graphics are the same as on the original Touch and the game play feels no different. There is a huge difference, however, due to the speaker on the new Touch. It makes a tremendous difference in the enjoyment of playing a game since you can now hear it without having to don earphones. (Assuming, of course, there is no one around to disturb.) To my mind that is the main point of the speaker since it is DEFINITELY not intended for music.

Productivity-

Back in July I noticed that while applications like Jott did not show up in the list of available apps in the App Store. If it were downloaded for use with the iPhone, however, it could later be loaded onto the Touch. Although it did not, of course, have the ability to record it did mean you could keep your notes with you. Similarly apps like reQall and Evernote loaded but did not indicate any ability to record voice notes since no line-in existed.
 

Since updating to firmware version 2.1, however, the original Touch no longer allows Jott to be loaded at all. I had high hopes that the line-in of the new Touch would mean that Jott would load and Evernote and reQall would gain voice functionality when a microphone was plugged in. Even more to the point- I was hopeful TruPhone would load and allow access to VOiP.

Is there VOiP?? Nope. TruPhone and Jott will not load and Evernote and reQall do not show the record buttons.

Big disappointment.

To my mind this is further indication that Apple is working hard to consciously distinguish between the iPhone and the Touch and (HOPEFULLY) will come out soon with a non-iPhone/Newton/(Mike Cane’s)iPod Air device.

I’ll be paying around with it on and off the next few days and will report back anything that seems to be relevant.  The next big thing I want to see app-wise is what the battery life will be when playing graphics intensive/battery sucking games.

In the meantime if anyone has any questions or anything you want looked into let me know in the comments section.