Coffee break- jamming with a new iPod Touch

You read that right, today I picked up a new iPod Touch to replace my old school iPod.  This isn't that big a surprise, I've said more than once that I liked everything about the iPhone except the phone.  The last thing I need is another phone but I have been impressed with the touch experience that Apple has produced on the iPhone and now the iPod Touch.  I intend to do a video of the new iPod soon but for now I am sitting in the local coffee shop listening to great tunes (Marc Cohn) on the iPod and I want to share my initial impressions of the new iPod.

The touch interface is magnificent.  The iPod Touch is a sophisticated electronic device but there is no user's manual to speak of because there is no need for one.  The device is totally intuitive and easy to use right out of the box.  No guesswork, just touch, slide and enjoy.  I can't overstate how great the out of box experience is with the iPod and it drives home why iPhone owners are so happy with those.  Apple did this right.  Sure they can always add stuff later but it's the most solid package I have ever seen on any gadget like this.

The iPod part (music) is as solid as all iPods before it and there's nothing really new except the iTunes store which is pretty well done.  The WiFi setup is as easy as I've seen it on any device of any type and it's fun to play with the store directly from the iPod.  Smart move on Apple's part as I'm sure that owners buy music more frequently since it's not only easy to do from the iPod directly but it's fun.  That pretty much describes the entire usage scenario, it's fun.  Other companies should pay attention to this and realize that a device can be sophisticated and feature-rich yet still be easy and fun to use.

Setting up the iPod was as simple as plugging it into the MacBook Pro via USB which immediately informed me of a new firmware version.  It downloaded and installed right away and then set about syncing my iTunes library to the iPod.  I got the 16 GB version of the iPod because my music collection is ~13 GB and it took about 30 minutes to sync it all over.  I synced one full-length movie and my photo album too.  I have 1.5 GB free so I'd better be careful about adding stuff.  :)  It just worked.

The main feature of the iPod Touch that led me to the purchase is the web browsing.  It makes perfect sense to me to be able to listen to tunes and surf the web at the same time and the browsing ability cinched the purchase for me.  I have played with the iPhone a couple of times so I knew what it would be like to surf the web with the Safari browser and it works just as well on the Touch as it did on the iPhone.  The entire package is just as good as the iPhone for that matter.  Surfing the web on the Touch with the Safari browser is magnificent.  This mobile browser is the benchmark that other browsers MUST compete with for mobile devices.  Safari is the Best. Mobile. Browser.  There are other decent browsers for mobile devices but they pale in comparison to Safari.  Microsoft, Opera, Nokia, pay attention to this.  You must improve to compete with the Safari browser.  I don't care for the version of Google Reader that is used on the iPhone and the Touch but that's Google's fault, not Apple's.

I will continue to use the iPod Touch and will shoot a video in the next day or two to show those who haven't played with one what they are missing.  I am impressed with the new Zunes and the firmware upgrade that Microsoft has released this week for the older Zunes but having said that they do not compare with the user experience of the iPod Touch.  They're not as fun.  :)

Comments

[Schmack]

Totally agree on Google Reader for Safari. I'd love to see an application when the SDK is released that lets you access gReader in the same interface as the iTouch mail client.

[William]

I'm a Verizon user so the iPhone was out for me. But the Touch is amazing. Super thin, reminds me of my first gen nano. I'm avoiding the 1.1.2 firmware since I've got a bunch of apps on it. Notes and Maps from the iPhone plus Sketches for doodles and I couldnt live without iBlackjack :)

My wish list for when the sdk comes out is eReader for the iPod Touch/iPhone. Great Googly Moogly that cant come soon enough.

[Alslayer]

Why does everyone say the iphone/iPod Touch browser is the best? I have tried it and I think the one on the Nokia 770 is better. And from what I have read the new n800 and n810 have even better browsers.

[James Kendrick]

Alslayer, I don't know why everyone else says it but I have used the Nokia browsers you mentioned and for me the mobile Safari browser beats them hands down. It is the ease of browsing and the closeness the experience is to browsing on a full screen web device.

[TS]

James is still caught up in the initial excitement, wait until he's been using it a few weeks & see's how lacking the experience really is.

it's easy to make an interface such as the Touch's when your device has no real serious capabilities. just as the PDA isnt a PC, the Touch isnt even a PDA, in fact it's not even close. i can acually get grown up work done on a PDA, the Touch has turned out to be nothing more than a teenage hipster device, not meant to be taken seriously at all.

hopefully that will change with the addition of SDK's. but on the flipside now watch the intuitive interface go down the tubes with 3rd parties getting ahold of it.

[James Kendrick]

TS, I didn't buy it to be a PDA, I have one of those. What I bought it for is a music player, just like my iPod of old, with a great screen for videos and an awesome web browser. I don't intend to try and get grown up work done on it, I have an arsenal of devices for that.

[Sumocat]

Having just tried the browser on the iPhone, I have to agree that it is excellent, but I feel the hardware (screen and multi-touch) is what puts it over the top. I doubt the same software on a different device would perform as well. However, to be fair, I'm sure my familiarity with browsing on a Tablet PC colored my experience considerably.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

TS, I should point out that I've been using the same browser on my iPhone for nearly four months so the "initial excitement" should be over for me. For me personally, it provides the best mobile browsing experience I've had to this point, bar none. As far as capabilities, it meets my needs for the intended uses.

[Raghu]

Safari browser is great to some extent but it does have few down comings. For eg if you open multiple windows and try logging into meebo.com it works with any 1 window. I mean other than active window, internet is not accessible on others.

[HG]

TS, I have also been using the iPhone for over 2 months now and the interface is pretty much well done. I could of have purchased the Touch but wanted the built in speaker for listening to music when I would be at office or when showing videos to friends. 2) The volume switch on the iPhone comes in very handy when listening to music, because you don't need to pull out the iPhone to raise or lower the volume just adjust up or down and your good to go and you can pause or forward the song with the iPhone headset. (very nice). 3) Email is just a plus when I'm listening to music just download and reply to email. 4) Bluetooth for if and whenever I do use it as a phone either T-Mobile or AT&T. 5) Great browsing experience. You can surf while listening to music very nice. 6) The large screen to view videos, movies, or just your pictures. 7) The camera comes in handy for quick shots. So basically it does have great interface, I have used Windows mobile devices, and now use the Blackberry 8830 but you have to admit the iPhone and Touch are ahead of the game in its own way.

[Scott_H]

I'm waiting for the 30% price cut. Then I'll get one.

:)

[John in Norway]

You didn't mention if it can do the important things:

1 Can I use any stereo bluetooth headphones with it? (I use my Sony phone at the moment and it's a bit picky).

2 I don't use itunes. Can I just plug it into a PC and transfer music from my hard drive? (Even my tiny, cheap, no-name mp3 player can do that).

If it can't do even these two basic things then it's a pretty useless device IMHO.

[Marty]

Hi, I use the mobile version of Newsgator, works very well and fast. The best news reader on the iphone/touch.

[vm-01]

When safari can run google docs then I will conisder it better than microb. Until then microb rules supreme.

[Jezlyn]

Yay! I have the same feelings about my iPod touch as you posted. I've had it for about a month now (IIRC), and I still think it's a great device. Yes, I sometimes wish it had separate buttons for controlling playback so it'd be easier to use in the car, but I've managed.

I wish you had waited to update the firmware, because you could've tried jailbreaking the touch by going to jailbreakme . com (URL munged on purpose so people don't go there by accident). I have quite a few 3rd-party apps, including one that allows me to download podcasts to the touch directly (that's my favorite). There's also an e-book reading app, games, and other fun stuff.

I love the browser on the touch. It connects to WiFi APs so quickly that I prefer using it to check my work e-mail in the morning over using my P1i (or previously, my N95). People who have Nokia internet tablets might not appreciate the "internet tablet" ability of the touch, but I think it's very useful for mobile browsing around the house. After a while of using the mobile browser, I wished I had an iPhone just so I could use Safari when I wasn't near an accessible WiFi AP.

I really like Opera on the P1i; it closely replicates the desktop browsing experience on my phone, but mobile Safari is still a bit more functional for me, thanks to the way it renders pages, and the touch interface making it really easy to scroll around and zoom pages larger than the screen.

(Sorry for the long post :) )

[rachel]

i realy want an ipod touch are they a good phone and are they good for texting????? i realy text alot.are they a reliable source because i am planning on getting one for christmas.and i dont want to be dissapointed if i get one and it dosent work. another thing is are they expensive??????please write me back whoever reads this thanks

[ww]

I just bought an Ipod Touch. How do I get it to work?