New Toy Review: iPod Touch

I decided I deserved a present, so I bought into the hype/Apple Tax and ordered a 16 GB iPod Touch. It only arrived yesterday, but I’m already completely enamored with this little sucker, who’s been named, at least temporarily, Cha Cha. Some quick thoughts (many of which will be redundant and unoriginal after months of iPhone coverage):

• 16 GB certainly won’t hold my entire mp3 library, but that’s still a lot of music - and for me, it’s an upgrade from my 20 GB 4th generation iPod (which replaced my 10 GB 2nd generation iPod). But between being able to stream mp3s found on the net and listening to full songs simply uploaded to YouTube, the need for any onboard storage is going to be eliminated.
• Flash support in the browser is, of course, key to these devices really taking the next step.
• No support for the annoying Cisco flavor of VPN Boston University uses.
• The included hunk of plastic that Apple calls a “stand” is pretty funny - it does its job when in sideways video mode, but its unusable in the vertical listening mode because the base of the headphone cord protrudes.
• I can tell already that the lack of physical buttons - especially for volume - is going to be annoying, though I can see myself being able to guess even when the Touch is in my pocket.
• I hate hate hate Cover Flow in iTunes (and I’m sure I’ll hate it in Leopard), but it is nothing short of amazing on the Touch. The emphasis on cover art throughout the music sections is really just great.
• The number of YouTube videos available is impressive, though certainly not complete (which its supposed to be “this fall“).
• The onscreen keyboard really does work a lot better if you don’t try to outthink it - it’s hard to describe, but whenever I type on it naturally instead of trying to figure out how to best hit the keys, it works better. Still inferior to a Blackberry keyboard.
• The Touch is loud. Much louder than my 4th generation iPod. I’ve been pleased with the audio quality so far.
• Word on the street is that the Touch’s battery life doesn’t live up to promises - too early for me to be able to comment.
• I don’t understand why the Touch has to have the black corner for the WiFi antenna, yet the iPhone doesn’t. Whatever. (edit: It has been pointed out to me that the bottom of the back of the iPhone is a black strip. Whoops.) I’d also prefer the brushed metal casing to the shiny metal, but again, minor quibble.

I’ll do a roundup soon of the sites I’ve been using on Safari, as well as some thoughts on web development for the mobile Safari environment.Photo courtesy of Apple. I saw Macy Gray open for David Bowie once, and you know what? Not half bad. Actually, probably right about half bad.