[Hands0n]

I braved the torrential rain, taking an early off from work today, to nip over to Bluewater and pick myself up one of them thar 16GB Apple iPod Touch thingymajigs.

A very pretty young blond girl attended to my needs, fnarr fnarr. Well no really, she didn't, but then that was neither the time nor the place :D Instead, upon my asking, she told me that they didn't have any stock - although there was a display table full of the darned things. Grrrr, gnash gnash, how infuriating.

"We are expecting a delivery tomorrow" she volunteered upon seeing my visible disappointment, and continued helpfully "But they're are likely to go very early on". "What time do you open" I said. "9am" she said. Well, I guess we all know where I am going to be at 08:30am tomorrow then.

How the heck am I supposed to sleep tonight? :o

[bsrjl1]

You're not, you have to keep awake until early morning & then be the first through the doors! Drink lots of coffee, Red Bull & take a pro-plus ;-)

[Hands0n]

got it and sending from one in the store

[miffed]

Cool ! - mine hasn't arrived yet ! - doesn't surprise me as everyone seems to mess me around these days , I am starting to get used to it :mad:

Let us know how you get on with it !

[miffed]

BTW , I am stickler for correctness , nothing annoys me more than when people refer to the guy on Star Trek as "Dr" Spock , and thing like that

..... So I am getting rather peeved with people asking me if I have seen the new "iTouch" yet :mad::D

[Hands0n]

BTW , I am stickler for correctness , nothing annoys me more than when people refer to the guy on Star Trek as "Dr" Spock , and thing like that

..... So I am getting rather peeved with people asking me if I have seen the new "iTouch" yet :mad::D


Cool ! - mine hasn't arrived yet ! - doesn't surprise me as everyone seems to mess me around these days , I am starting to get used to it :mad:

Let us know how you get on with it !

Got it! :D :D I could screeeem :D

Okay, thats the girly excited bit out of the way :)

First impressions; gosh its heavy! This is one solid little piece of kit, probably because of the glass front. It does inspire confidence as it does feel very solid - although I would be the first to caution against rough handling of something that is one quarter of a grand in price!

Packaging
Well, how very typical Apple this is. Far too good to throw away it is simply gorgeous. The iPod Touch has a lot of secure packaging around it to make sure it gets to you in one piece.

The iPod Touch comes with the standard USB cable and iPod earphones. It also comes with a dock adaptor for those that use such things - I tend to leave the stuff lying around on the table.

The device does not come with a case - I would think that one is essential - but it does have a rather slinky velvety wipe.

Initial connection
The iPod Touch uses the same USB cable as the other iPods to attach to the computer, so I just used the one that was hanging out of the Mac Mini anyway.

As soon as it was detected I was advised that there was an iPod Touch update for it (1.1.1) which I set in motion. This failed though with an "iPod Touch could not be updated. Unknown error occurred (1602)". The iPod Touch then displayed a screen asking to be connected. It already was. Panic set in!!

I unplugged it, and plugged it back in again where iTunes told me that the iPod Touch was in the process of restoring and to leave it alone. Being [now] used to the Apple way of doing things - where the human is virtually redundant - I left it to its devices. Albeit feeling very nervous that I'd got a brick through the failed Update process.

Several agonising minutes later iTunes told me that the Restore was complete and the iPod Touch told me to "Slide to unlock" which I eagerly did. The iTunes then recognised the iPod Touch, informed me that it was now running software version 1.1.1 (the Updated version) and I had to re-register the iPod Touch into iTunes.

Speed of copying files over to the iPod Touch is unimpressive for USB2. This is definitely not happening at 480Mbps. My thinking is that the copying-to process is limited by the speed of the NAND memory in the device. I know that the iPod 80GB receives its files very much quicker. So if you are taking the iPod Touch out for the evening, make sure that you do the Sync in good time ahead.

All settled
This is the 16GB device that I have bought today. iTunes is reporting that I have 14.78GB To play with. WTF :confused: where's the rest of it gone then? Some rotten bar steward has run off with one-and-a-bit gigs of my [very] precious memory. I can't be having that!

At the moment I am updating the iPod Touch with a selection of my music and video collection. Much has been said on other forums about how the 8 and 16GB devices have far too little memory considering their use. But it really is simply a case of managing the collection, what is it you are wanting to carry about. Who, after all, in their right mind wants to carry around their entire collection of media? Even though the Classic and its 30GB and 80GB predecessors encouraged such practise, it really is a bit daft. If truth be told, most of us listen to a fairly tight selection of our collection - only occasionally dipping into tracks and videos that we have not listened to for a while.

The iPod Nano and Touch encourage the use of either Playlists or Smart Playlists which, after all, is precisely what these lists were designed for. So if I catch anyone moaning about how little storage the iPod Touch has they'll be getting short shrift from me :D

Are you excited to see me or ...?
The iPod Touch will not look big in your pocket so popping one in there to impress is doomed to failure (you can borrow my SE W900i for that purpose!). This device has very little depth - but it is a bit on the large size in terms of width and height. Definitely not shirt pocket material, and I'll wager that more than a few will be bent or snapped in half in jean rear pockets. I recall this happening with the first generation Nano and have even seen a Nano 2G with a definite banana'ish curvature, although still working fine :cool:

My concern for the iPod Touch would be centred around the amount of glass that the device has. Glass that is essential to its use. This is not covered under any warranty, and that is fair enough. Make sure that your domestic or personal property policy will cover you for this device as it is a lot of money to lose in a single drop-on-floor accident.

Applications
I played around with these mostly in the Apple store before I left. The You Tube app seems to be excellent as the videos are [apparently] reformated for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Certainly the quality was impressive.

Web browsing with Safari is so much like using it on a regular Mac. It is lightning fast and functional. The virtual keyboard is easy to use, and very accurate for a touchscreen.

The other apps all look and feel consistent with the technology. Intuitive is a word that I have many times used about Apple's apps and hardware. It is a word that I can quite safely use here.

Picking up and using an Apple iPod Touch is a completely uneventful experience - it simply works, simply.

[Hands0n]

I resisted staying up and playing with my new toy until 4am this morning. It wasn't too difficult - what with a long week at work, an equally busy weekend, and a few late nights, it was all I could do to plug the 'Touch into the Mac Mini and bid it goodnight :)

Things not much better today where I've spent most of the day re-building a good friend of mine's Windoze XP machine. Well, not so much re-building as re-constituting - I can't get to the SATA drives because he's lost the driver disk for use at installation time, I cant locate it on the Internet so next best was rip out all of the bad sticky black stuff and try and nurse it back to health. As I write this on it things are looking good and I'm wearing a smug grin. Hands0n 1, Technology 0 - thats what its all about.

So, rather than accidently drop the 'Touch I have been mostly wearing my 3-month-old Nano to keep me occupied while I do my stuff on Win XP.

I have come to the conclusion that the iPod Touch desperately requires some kind of coverall protection. The chrome back is very easily scratched - mine has a very feint mark across its back, from where I do not know as it has been handled by me exclusively all day. Perhaps a grain of salt on the dining tablecloth marked it? It has not been anywhere hostile. So I shudder to think how well it'll survive in a bag or pocket. Honestly, even in 2007 and we cannot make a metal that does not mark at the least provocation.

Tales on the Internet are that the glass front is very scratch resistant - I certainly hope so, heaven forbid that I grow my nails beyond the quick. But I have to say that the nice shiny iPod Touch does not look so good after a day's use. I wash and keep myself clean - but the 'Touch looked as though it had come out of a deep fat fryer by the time I put it to bed. It does not seem to affect the use of the device - but it doesn't look so cool when trying to show it to an enquiring mind.

The Prada was the same - us humans are a right greasy lot! Come the Rise of the Machines we're gonna be toast! They won't like us at all, messing up their nice shiny panels.

[solo12002]

"can't get to the SATA drives because he's lost the driver disk for use at installation time,"

have you tried driveguide.com?

[Hands0n]

Yes, thanks for the reminder, I did look around there. I built the original PC and I must say that it is now whizzing along rather like it did when I first put it together. He's a bit of an avid downloader/installer and the Registry had grown beyond its limits. Things got a lot better once I'd cleared it out and de-fragmented it. According to the stats I got it shrunk down to 50% of its size! Lots of very weird things going on in there - a re-install of XP would have been much cleaner, but I think he's back in good shape for the next time :D

[Ben]

I finally played with the touch yesterday.

Wow! Really impressed by it. Either there are software glitches or it could use more RAM/CPU power/both, but on the whole the touch interface was just superb. Browsing was very cool, cover flow was very cool and the keyboard, well, I'll just say that I'd need more time to practice :p

So thin, miraculous device. I'm glad Apple were out of stock because I'd have found it hard not to buy one.

[Hands0n]

LOL :) You'll get hooked on it alright :D The iPod Touch is shipped with older firmware that is updated to 1.1.1 immediatly on connecting with iTunes. I never saw its glitchiness and to be honest have not found anything so far that causes concern. The keyboard is odd, but uncannily accurate! Lumberjacks need not get one though.

It is a gorgeous device, but now I'm hunting around for a suitable protective case for it. At the mo it lives in my bum-bag (when out and about) wrapped in a chamois cloth :eek:

I'm staggered that they are still out of stock - they must be shifting some quantity!

[miffed]

I finally played with the touch yesterday.



OH FFS !!!

I ordered mine bloody weeks ago , yet it seems I'll be the last person on the forum to see the damn thing :(

Starting to lose interest now .... Do apple have any plans to fulfill orders - or are they just going to ignore those of us that ordered early ?

May tell them to stick it now

[Hands0n]

@Miffed - You know, it would have been quicker for you to ask me to pick up one for you :)

I noticed on the Amazon website that after the release date came around they advertised their delivery time as 3 - 5 weeks! The vast bulk of that is Apple's artificial shipping delays - it took me 3 weeks to get receipt of my iPod 80GB back at the start of 2007, and that is when they had shed-loads of stock.

Ben know all about Apple's shenanigans in that departmen (dunno how though!). With the current state of the art of just-in-time manufacture and shipping that it takes Apple 3 - 5 weeks to ship an already-manufactured product is ridiculous. I don't know why, but after order the stuff just seems to be languising around in a French warehouse (oops, nearly spelled that wrong :D) before being shipped. When it is actually shipped it arrives on the doorstep the very next day.

Go figure!! I'd be interested to know the rationale behind that.

[miffed]

Hooray ! - Mine finally arrived this morning :D - not bad considering I ordered it (at least) a week before launch , but not to worry , it's here now :D

I must say , I absolutely love it , the browsing is the best any mobile device I have evet owned , I am not sure whether I want to say "well done" to Apple - or "what the hell is wrong with you lot ?? " to Nokia , SE ,HTC et al - what is so special that "only Apple" can have a UI that is as slick and finished as this ? Why can no-one else get ANYWHERE NEAR it ?

Funnily enough , the one thing that seems to let the device down , is the ipod itself !! - As Handson says , syncing is slow , I feel the sound quality is not as good as my 30GB Video , and the most annoying feature for me it that you cannot operate it "by feel" (ironically) - I used to be able to fick through tracks , adjust volume etc while cycling along , whereas now I have to look at the device , and perform a series of presses and touches to do so
- so simplicity is not quite as simple as you may think !

But that doesn't matter - the ipod side is only half the story ! - this is great for photos & web , which I have spent more time playing with than listening to music :)

The funny thing is , buying this has made me want an iPhone now :D

[Hands0n]

The funny thing is , buying this has made me want an iPhone now :D

Ditto :D But I'm not touching O2 :mad:

[Ben]

Indeed, though it has made me want a touch ;) I don't think I'm cut out for the current gen of products, though, going to try and hold out for something a bit more suited to my requirements.

[Hands0n]

Indeed, though it has made me want a touch ;) I don't think I'm cut out for the current gen of products, though, going to try and hold out for something a bit more suited to my requirements.

Cor look at the old geezer :D Surely that should be the kind of thing I'd be saying. Except that it isn't, I didn't, and I wouldn't :) I love this stuff too much to say "No".

For me, the 'Touch paradigm is near-perfect. Granted, Miffed has found some inconvenience, but the way it interfaces with the human is simply ingenious. Not just the fact that you control it by touch, but by "how". The Apple team that have designed the 'Touch have very obviously thought deeply about how we do things in the real world and abstracted that nicely into the digital one. Then they've added a sparkle of innovation such as the image control (squeeze and stretch) - simplicity of use.

It is truly hard to fault Apple in this area of their product. With the original iPod the design team hit on the touchwheel control that has yet to be bettered to this day. I suspect that they have done the same with their 'Touch screen. I also expect them to take this technology into their iMac range, and most likely produce Tablet PCs and PDAs all using the same 'Touch technology scaled appropriately. We are, I believe, witnessing merely the birth of the technology.

Other manufacturers will try, and have tried already, to achieve something approaching what Apple have done. They have all, to a brand, failed so far. It will be interesting to see if Apple decide whether or not to licence the technology - I think they'd be mad not to.

Miffed says that the iPod is probably the weakest bit of the entire kit - and I think we agree on that. Not that it is awful, far from it, but that the other iPods are at least as good if not better. But in the iPod Touch Apple have launched a true multimedia device - sound, image, video.

[miffed]

Miffed says that the iPod is probably the weakest bit of the entire kit - and I think we agree on that. Not that it is awful, far from it, but that the other iPods are at least as good if not better. But in the iPod Touch Apple have launched a true multimedia device - sound, image, video.

Yes , I agree the iPod part can be forgiven (at least for me ! ) as the device excels so well in other areas

It is the absolute slickness of the UI that blows me away though - I am amazed that no one else has ever come close .... WHY ? is it simply that the others couldn't even get as far a CONCEIVING such a UI ? surely the technology has existed for whoever wants to invest in it ? so why are has no one even attemted such a slick UI before ?
Apple innovating once again , or everyone else sitting their backsides ?

Good work fellas ! , Now can you please get on with Leopard ?

[gorilla]

Did I hear on the rumour mill that Apple are about to bring out a Mac Nano to replace the Mini? I've been planning on getting a mini to replace my laptop for some time now, but the lappy keeps on going. (why wont you break!)

[chagle]

I can't wait for Leopard personally. I've seem rumours that it's probably going to be end of this month. But I want it now! :-)

[Ben]

In theory Leopard has to be out by the end of the month to meet Apple's stated launch timetable. Of course they could slip to the first few days of November without causing many problems for themselves.

I've not heard anything about a Mac Nano. I'm not sure why they'd consider redesigning the Mac mini, but I guess we'll see in time!

[gorilla]

stuff news (http://stuff.tv/News/id-7628/)and cnet (http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9791807-1.html).

And you guys pretend to be mac lovers. tut tut

Next thing you'll be bangin' on about how good three are!:eek:

Tell me some guy hasn't stuck a mac mini in his car (http://www.product-reviews.net/2007/10/05/mac-mini-is-dead-long-live-the-mac-nano-new-rumors/)?

[Ben]

Pffft, I don't believe any rumour that doesn't make front page here: http://www.macrumors.com/

;)

[Hands0n]

Chances are that Apple will shoehorn the Mac Mini into the same case as the Apple TV. It would be a natural step to take. But I'm happy with the Mini - even in non-Core2Duo model it is slick and quick.