Q. What Has An 'iPod' Got In Common With A 'DeLorean'? (Apple iPod touch 8 GB)

Member Name: johnpeter50

Product:	Apple iPod touch 8 GB
Date:	22/01/08 (122 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stunning Interface, 8mm Thin, Wi-Fi Compatible, Built-In Music Store

Disadvantages: Storage Limitations, Lacking Applications & Games, Pricey

INTRODUCTION
I'm guessing that most people would expect an 'iPod' review to begin with a detailed technical history of Apple, or perhaps an engaging description of the original portable music-monolith's launch. Well, in a shock twist to normal events, I intend to start my critique with a brief account of the biggest '80s motoring bomb - the 'DeLorean'.

WHAT'S A DELOREAN?
The DeLorean DMC-12 was the solitary motoring offering from the short-lived car company. Often recognized as the "'Back To The Future' time machine", the sporty DMC-12 offered sophisticated gull-wing doors, lightweight fibreglass body and advanced suspension.

Nonetheless, the DMC-12 only witnessed mediocre sales. Costing more than similarly specced cars, there were notorious quality control problems, which in turn, set off a chain of events culminating in a high-profile cocaine smuggling incident. All in all, it didn't take long for the company to fall off the rails and into bankruptcy.

"But what's this all got to do with an iPod?", I hear you cry. We'll get back to this later...

IPOD TOUCH
Announced within months of its release, the 'iPod Touch' was unveiled to an eager audience dying to take advantage of Apple's new touch screen interface, minus the high-cost O2 'iPhone' contract.

The 'iPod Touch' performs all the tasks you'd expect from a regular next generation music player; it'll happily handle a range of compressed audio formats, MP4 video, photographs, podcasts, basic applications and more. United with the almighty 'iTunes', the 'iPod Touch' becomes an attractive proposition for portable media paradise!

WHAT'S IN THE BOX
Inside you'll find the usual suspects: White Earphones, a USB 2.0 cable, universal dock adapter, polishing cloth, quick start guide and a small plastic toggle that acts like a stand when watching videos (and a 'connector protector' when you're not).

This is business as usual for Apple; their attention to detail is as rigorous as ever, packaging the device with their customary care and consideration. Unlike other players (that rattle loose in the box) the 'Touch' sits firmly inside the cardboard carton, with the other content securely stowed beneath. In an age where companies increasingly treat packaging like an afterthought, it's nice to see that at least one company cares about the presentation of their product.

Still, Apple aren't exactly what you'd call 'generous' with their content; you don't get luxuries, like docking ports or AC adapters with their players, and examples of their shrewdness are rife with the 'Touch':

There's no manual beyond the quick start guide - if you want the full pamphlet you'll have to download the 'Acrobat Reader' document from their website. The USB cable is still a rather insignificant length (intolerable for those who must stretch connectors up from underneath desks), and those terrible white earphones are still the same cheap, no-nonsense, ear-scowling horrors as always. Even the old protective pouch (included with 5th Gen iPods) is mysteriously absent!

Overall, Apple's premium approach to luxury goods shows through in usual fashion. For those on a tight budget, or for the aesthetically indifferent, there's always the glut of unofficial extras available. But, as they say, "you get what you pay for", and those wanting the good-looking, high-quality extras will have to pay over the odds for officially sanctioned merchandise.

DESIGN & DIMENSIONS
The newly designed 'iPod Touch' is a virtual clone of its older brother, the 'iPhone'. Sharing the same 3.5" touch display, at first glance you may believe the two are the same. However, upon further inspection, you can see some obvious differences.

Firstly, the 'Touch' hosts the same reflective 'scratch-magnet' coating of previous iPod models; it's a shame that the more durable finish of the 'iPhone' wasn't utilised, but there are always protective cases to ensure you don't ruin the look of your new toy *too* quickly.

Secondly, the 'iPod Touch' weighs a trifling one hundred and twenty grams - a good twenty grams lighter than the '80Gb Classic' and fifteen grams lighter than the 'iPhone'; without the need for bloated mobile phone components, you'll find that the 'Touch' also becomes the new anorexic of the iPod family, slipping in at just eight millimetres thick!

It's hard to match these impressive specs on any device, let alone a media player, and Apple's refined craftsmanship is playing to full-effect with the 'Touch'. Everything is substantial, but once again, distinguished and ergonomic. You'd be hard pressed to find a competitor that'd achieve half the elegance and grace as Apple in this case.

INTERFACE
What'll instantly pique most people's interest is the new touch screen. While the resolution sits at a rather pedestrian 480x320, the high density pixel display looks extremely crisp and clear. Items that traditionally suffer on small resolution devices, like italicised text and gradient patterns, appear eerily vibrant and "easy on the eye" with the 'Touch'.

Brightness is particularly pleasing; even on the lowest settings, the screen emits warm colours and pristine whites. Although the device is best left to auto-adjust in the ambient light source, manual overrides are available to those who feel they're necessary.

INTERACTION
In terms of sensitivity, the 'Touch' is spot-on. When wafting through the, much-publicised 'cover flow' mode, things feel instinctive and effortless. Tapping and double-tapping are equally natural, even for the ham-fisted contingent. Pinching, scrolling and other elementary movements are also near perfect. In fact, issues only arise when screen real-estate is at its limits. The portrait-mode keyboard feels misaligned and tightly packed, creating a succession of frustrating misspellings. Those with small, well-proportioned fingers won't have a problem - but the rest can be guaranteed a few mistakes every now and then.

As far as bona-fide faults go, there's only one that springs to mind, and unfortunately, it's one inherent to the product. Oily grease marks plague the screen from the word 'go'; understandable as they are, the screen attracts them like a magnet and the cleaning cloth only smears the dirt around exacerbating the condition. Apple has a lot of work to do if they are going to improve the panel's resilience to anywhere near tolerable levels in the future.

AUDIO/VIDEO
As you might expect, the vast majority of features and functions on the 'Touch' are tailored towards the act of watching music videos or listening to audio. 'Convergence technology' aside, most people will be buying the 'iPod Touch' with their favourite artists and albums in mind.

Audio puts in a solid performance. The 'Touch' is compatible with all previous iPod formats, including AAC and MP3. Sound is suitably robust and well-balanced, but you're never going to get very much out of the included ear buds, so consider ditching these as soon as possible.

Testing the playback using my nice, expensive noise-cancelling buds, I noticed a considerable increase in line noise compared to my 5th Generation '30Gb iPod', especially at the louder end of the spectrum. This is no-doubt due to the Wi-Fi antenna, an item notoriously bad for electromagnetic interference. The 'Touch' still provides above acceptable performance, but hardcore audiophiles may want to try before they buy.

Video, as you might expect, looks pretty darned good. Once again, the large number of 'pixels per inch' means, even scaled down on a 3.5" display, things look crisp and clean, with a minimum of macroblocking. Official 'iTunes' purchases, such as music videos and TV Shows, provide the best results, as do videos optimized for the display; however, even poorly encoded material retains an adequate level of detail.

WIRELESS NETWORKING
It's been leading up to this moment for years, but Apple has finally included wireless networking abilities within the 'Touch'.

Sticking with the 'b/g' bands, it's disappointing to see no provision made for the new 'n' standard; however, in the grand scheme of things, it's understandable considering the higher costs, compatibility issues and increased power consumption involved.

The 'Touch' will automatically pick up, and connect to, any approved wireless network within its vicinity; it'll also offer you the chance to use retail and commercial hotspots (usually for a small fee) inside pubs, clubs, restaurants, hotels, airports, etc; with the included browser, Apple's own 'Safari', you needn't worry about awkward gateways and password protection systems on your 'Touch' - just connect and go...

SIGNAL STRENGTH
Transmission power on the 'Touch' was a big surprise; the signal reach was not only strong, but also the most impressively robust link I've ever achieved on a portable device outside of a laptop.

Roaming results with the 'Touch' proved a little more varied, however. Certainly, the transition between networks was transparent and quick, opting for the strongest, most reliable signal wherever possible. But, unfortunately, the change-over did disturb the streaming from 'YouTube' and the 'iTunes Store', requiring a manual refresh to complete the task.

As most people won't be slipping between networks over a short distance (and instead only switching between, say, the office and home) it's far from a disaster, but those with multi-stationed WANs (such as in universities and large office complexes) should take note of this particular shortcoming...

SAFARI
'Safari' on the 'Touch' is a lot better than I initially expected. Having used cut-down browsers on other portable devices (such as WAP phones, Sony's PSP and Microsoft's Internet Explorer for Pocket PC), I have to say that using 'Safari' has been a revelation. Combined with the touch-sensitive screen, web-browsing has never been better on a gadget this small!

Apple has ensured that typically tricky, everyday problems are no match for the 'Touch'; for example, a 'dot com' button graces the keyboard panel for quick URL completion, and an expandable search bar facilitates and expedites your exploration needs.
Similarly, zooming is essential for such a small screen, so double tapping will expand an area into close-up view; this makes reading fine text a cinch and speedy navigation a reasonable expectation.

Yet, once again, things aren't perfect with the portable browser. The auto-correct tool is infuriating when entering a long URL, there's no Macromedia Flash/Shockwave compatibility, and most browser options are hidden deeply within the 'Settings' menu - well away from the 'Safari' application itself!

You should note that this is only the first build of the 'Safari' software and bug-fixes, new features and added options will come with time. It's still my browser of choice for 'on the go' tasks, but given the choice of a 'Touch' or a 'Laptop' for my browsing sessions, I'd still stick with the ol' PC keyboard & mouse combo every time.

YOUTUBE & ITUNES MUSIC STORE
The other two Wi-Fi based features included by Apple are the 'iTunes Music Store' and 'YouTube'. For those that have been trapped under a rock for several years (and are unaware of these popular entertainment hubs), 'iTunes Music Store' is Apple's own online audio supermarket, allowing you to purchase songs for the first time via your 'iPod'. 'YouTube' is a popular 'Web 2.0' video storage site that provides you with the opportunity to upload videos to the net and share them with the world.

Both of these applications contain much the same content as their regular counterparts. 'YouTube' retains the 'Most Watched' categories, as well as the 'Recently Added' channels, while the 'iTunes Music Store' allows you to browse 'Top Ten' lists and 'iTunes Highlights' as you would normally.
The search features in both applications are excellent, returning the same results as if you'd been looking with a regular computer. Some of the extra functionality is missing (the failure to give star-ratings is annoying) but on the whole, this doesn't affect the day to day fun you'll be having with either app.

Obviously, it's still early days for both these systems, so there's bound to be some glaring omissions from both programs. 'iTunes', for example, is missing the ability to buy videos and browse/add podcasts, whilst 'YouTube' often comes up with an incompatibility error for a selected video. These foibles are mere oversights long-term, and will no-doubt be rectified with an eventual software update.

OTHER APPLICATIONS
Naturally, there are a range of other programs sitting on your 'Touch's desktop, strangely all beginning with the letter 'C'.

'Calculator' is the same rudimentary mathematical device that you know and love; it's not the prettiest, or most feature rich, application out there but it'll help you work out basic addition, subtraction, division and multiplication when 'out and about'.

'Clock' allows you to stack up a list of the titular timepieces, giving you a customised, 'at-a-glance' world time display; sure, it's a novelty for the most part, but it's nice to see the feature retained. Also preserved are its sub-features: 'Alarms', 'Stopwatch' and 'Timer'. All three function nicely, with the alarms and timers fading-out your music before ringing, and then fading back in again afterward. However, those wanting a replacement alarm clock for the bedroom should know that you're limited to half a dozen pre-set ringers, all of which sound awful and are far too quiet to wake you from even the mildest slumber.

'Calendar', predictably enough, tells you what date it is, as well as presenting you with a list of pre-programmed events scheduled to happen that day, as synced over from your computer. As of firmware update 1.1.2, you're able to add your events 'on the fly' - why this wasn't included in version 1.0 or 1.1.1 of the software I'll never know...

THIRD PARTY DILLEMA
One of the most controversial aspects of the 'Touch' has been Apple's tight security over third-party applications. They have ensured that only authorized applications will run on their device, leaving you with an iPod lacking even basic games and only a handful of commonplace applications.

However, the underground community has come up with a way to allow unofficial programs to run on the 'Touch'. The process, bombastically termed 'Jailbreaking', requires nothing more than a Wi-Fi signal, a spare thirty seconds, and a quick website visit using your on-board 'Safari' browser!

As a rule, I'd normally disavow all mention of such a murky practice, especially one that so blatantly contravenes Apple's terms of use. However, in this case I genuinely feel the need to make an exception; for whilst Apple's spent months working on an update that only added a splash of features (that should have been there in the first place), programmers and hackers have been beavering away, developing spectacular third-party applications for the 'Touch'.

From RSS readers to PlayStation emulators, there are now literally hundreds of unsanctioned extras you can install, and whilst I can't publicly endorse such a practice, it's hard to deny the huge impact that 'jailbreaking' has had expanding the already staggering abilities of the 'Touch'.

To try and combat this problem, Apple has fought back by offering 'WebApps': third party applications that work through the internet, offering up a secure environment that won't alter your 'Touch's software in any way.
However, these pseudo-applications are, understandably, not too good; they work pretty slowly, require an active Wi-Fi signal to load, and need access to your 'Safari' browser each time they run.
I also have some personal doubts as to the security of these 'WebApps'; granted, it's probably safer than tinkering with the firmware, but I'd still not feel entirely comfortable sending my data over the internet through an unknown party - especially private information like account details.

Apple has also tried to stem the flow of 'jailbroken' iPods 'by offering a selection of 'iPhone' applications like 'mail' and 'maps'. These are free to all new 1.1.3 iPod users, however, the rest of us early adopters have to splash out an extra £12.99 for the privilege - perhaps not the best of moves on the company's part, but certainly better than nothing.

BATTERY LIFE
Apple claims that the 'Touch' has enough power to playback music for twenty-two hours, and video for five hours. I'd say that this is a fairly accurate representation of things, although "your mileage may vary".

In testing, I achieved an average of four hours for video playback, and somewhere in the region of sixteen to eighteen hours for music. High-strain Wi-Fi activity brings things down to somewhere in the region of four to eight hours, but it's unlikely you'll be using your 'Touch' to perform such heavy-duty browsing on a week-by-week basis.

Early critics have pointed out that battery life is not as impressive as the latest range of 'iPod Classics'. However, I think that the 'Touch' holds its own, especially considering the wireless networking signal. Personally, I think concerns have been wildly overstated by early adopters; for the average person in the street - who listens to an hour of music on the train, checks their e-mail at a friend's house and maybe watches a television show during their lunch hour - things will be more than adequate, requiring little more than an overnight charge every couple of days.

STORAGE
Now it's time for that immortal question: "Which type should I get - the 8 gigabyte model or the 16 gigabyte model?"

And, typically, my answer is: get the one that best suits your needs.

If you only carry your favourite hits around on your little 'Nano', then the 8Gb will be more than suitable. If, on the other hand, you enjoy having your essential 'B-sides' and 'rarities' with you at all times, the 16Gb will be more your style.
If you want an ultimate audio/visual jukebox to be with you at all times, then you're clearly looking in the wrong place - the more substantial 80Gb and 160Gb 'Classic' range is what you'll be wanting.

COST
For me, cost is the only sticky issue with the 'Touch'. You don't get a lot of storage for your money and, on a pound-for-pound basis, you'd be much better off with a new 'Nano' or 'Classic'.

Also knowing Apple, a new generation of 'Touch' models will be along any day now, offering you double the space at half the price. Is it worth paying over two hundred pounds for a sixteen gigabyte iPod, when a thirty gigabyte version is realistically only a few months away?

"Not really", is the short answer. However, you shouldn't write off the 'Touch' on the basis of 'value for money' alone. Sure, you don't receive great capacity for your money, but you certainly get a number of 'Wi-Fi' goodies to offset the balance.

BACK TO THE FUTURE
So - why did I start this review discussing the 'DeLorean'? Well, when you take an objective look at the 'Touch', it shares more than a passing resemblance to the motoring vehicle on some key issues.

The 'Touch's battery life is barely 'on-par' compared to other portable media players, it doesn't have anywhere near the storage capacity of the other new 'iPods', early adopters are missing built-in applications available to new users, and Apple hasn't even seen fit to include a single game - not even Solitare!

But then, just like the DeLorean, there's something uniquely wonderful about the 'Touch', despite its obvious flaws. Yes, when placed against the immediate competition it seems to fail on almost every count, and yet, unto itself, it's a rather an incredible device.

The head says that you should wait another year or so before buying; it's not a wise investment with the knowledge that an improved model is just around the corner, complete with software updates, more flash memory, better battery life and refined applications for near-enough the same money.
But the heart says you should throw caution to the wind. There's just so much to love about the 'Touch' that you can forgive it all its shortcomings and then some...

Summary: Not perfect, but still a wonderful piece of kit.

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