I purchased an iPod-Touch (iTouch) last Friday on September 21, 2007. I boasted that it would be ‘the’ ultimate portable media experience. I thought it would be the ‘end all device’ of all devices, but boy was I sooooooooo wrong. I posted a blog a few days ago titled “The iPod-Touch my 17 year quest.” Basically its my personal 17 year journey exploring different ways to minimize my physical carrying load. The post started out talking about how I used to carry two book-bags and a portfolio case. It moved on to discuss about how I wanted to maximize my mobility by optimizing all my media and organizational data into a pocket sized device. I really thought the iTouch was my answer, but within 24 hours I capitulated and upgraded to an iPhone.
Let me backtrack for a bit… before we get into the iPhone, I want to talk about the differences between the iTouch and the iPod Classic. In a nutshell the iTouch is a touch screen mini computer. Its an entirely new kind of device experience. I guess the only thing you can equate it to is a pocket sized Tablet PC. Hmmm did I hear someone say Tablet Mac???
All iPods to date have a 320×240 viewable screen, but this new iTouch has a 480×240 viewable area. You can surf the web off of any available WIFI network, which in my city New York, thats pretty much any block. The iTouch has innovative tactile navigation feature’s, a lot of double tapping, pinch resizing, and scroll pushing with your fingers. It also offers a single physical ‘home’ button that gets you back to your main setup. This is truly something yet to be experienced in the mass computing market. Its so refreshing, that even the non techies seem to be geeking out over its futuristic qualities.
The iTouch has everything I need, video, audio, internet and easy to access data. As a portable media strategist these are the key features I need to test, access and showcase my content. The iTouch is truly a remarkable device and will please a bunch of people, but for my personal tastes, I feel its a dud.
First of all there is a $389 price tag with Apple Care and It has an 8 GIG media capacity, far below what most people have come to expect for that cost. Other tidbits: no email client, no bluetooth, no ability to take photos, no SMS, no ability to type notes, and no application hacks. On top of all of that, its 3 months behind the iPhone with consumer and expert testing. Other things Ive discovered, the video playback is not as crisp or clear as the iPhone and an active iTouch will need to be charged more frequently than an equally active iPhone. The iTouch has been striped of numerous features unnecessarily, to accommodate a slimmer and a slightly lighter feel, as a result there were no external protective iTouch cases on the market at the time of this writing (in other words its too small for an iPhone case). I have been waiting for Apple to create this all in one phoneless PDA internet device for about seven years now. Though I am terribly disappointed, I do think that if you want to see a proper upgrade of this product wait till the annual Mac World Expo in January 2008.
As I was saying earlier in this post, I took back my iTouch the next day and purchased an iPhone (btw It was a $30 restocking fee). Actually I’ve mentioned many aspects of the iPhone in this post, if you want a more comprehensive breakdown of the device check out this iPhone website link. One thing that I forgot to mention is that there are some external extras on the iPhone, that the iTouch lacks. There is a volume control in the upper left side, a silent/vibrator switch and on the back in the upper right corner there is a camera.
I have tons of geeky pals that also have iPhones. I have seen some of them use no protective case and it looks practically new. Others like me have hard core cases. I personally have a Crystal Jacket Set that comes with a film protector for the touch screen area. I have also read articles about how you should maximize the battery’s life span. For the past 3 days I have been putting my iPhone to the test and I must say that I am so overwhelmed with geek lust that I feel the need to retract a statement I made referring to the iPhone, back on June 29th, 2007
Being a tech and mac geek I tend to have a first round adopter mentality but a second round adopter practicality. I think I am going to have to sit this one out.
I really really really tried hard to fight the iPhone craze, but I can’t deny that Its a shockingly functional device and I’m excited to say that I actually do need it for my work. As prices come down and other mobile carriers come on board, people will swarm over to iPhones just as they have with iPods. People want an all in one user friendly lifestyle device to help entertain, capture and manage parts of their lives. Oh lets not forget that they also want to connect and communicate with others.
Apple has already shook up the entire music industry and the major media networks. Now they are taking on the cell phone market. The telecoms should be nervous because they will no longer be able to push off half assed inferior technology and services. Apple has raised the bar and now the the manufactures will feel the pressure to meet or exceed the Apple standard. The fact is Apple is preparing to double their iPhone shipment for the fourth quarter. Already there have been numerous reports of over 1 million iPhones sold in less than 3 months. I believe that this device will take a HUGE chunk out of the cell phone market in the next 3-5 years. But hey what do I know… all I know is that I no longer have to carry 2 bookbags and a portfolio case and thats plenty to celebrate about.
- bendrix
Bendrix is the founder and Digital Media (Brand) Strategist for Codedsignal; a portable media network featuring; 1. Beneath the Beat: Hip Hop, 2. Beneath the Beat: Electronica, 3. Digital Media Tips N Tricks.
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Codedsignal | bendrix | 
July 28, 2008 9:44 pm | 
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