iPod touch

As promised in a blog entry some weeks ago, I now post my impressions of iPod touch.

I bought an iPod touch (2nd generation) as a gift to myself while we were visiting Hawaii. The Apple Store I got it from was great! So was the price ($230 plus tax), considering how much more expensive iPods are in Europe. Let me say here that I chose iPod to iPhone for two simple reasons: First, I already have a NOKIA phone with which I am very happy and, second, I wanted a device primarily for browsing the Internet without a laptop and for killing my time in airports etc.

The first impression was actually not very positive. I got frustrated because I could not get iPod paired with my iTunes account. The reason was that iTunes purchases are available only in selected countries (and Cyprus is not one them yet), which was OK with me. The problem was that although I did not mind not being able to buy staff (I have plenty of CDs already), I still wanted to be able to get the freely available products (mostly apps and podcasts). Thanks to instructions from this site, I was finally able to set up my iTunes account without having to enter any data for a credit card or mailing address (it is too bad Apple did not make it easier to skip attaching a credit card to an iTunes account).

Other than this little glitch though, I have to admit that iPod touch is an amazing gadget. Most of all, I enjoy the touch UI, and the orientation sensors which add a lot to the user experience (especially in the context of game apps). MUSIC and video playback are excellent. In my last 4.5h flight back from Schiphol, I felt as if time flew by! I was using my iPod touch to watch video snippets of stand-up comedy from Comedy Central and also I was playing with what has become my favorite iPod game: TAP Defense.

I would like to also cover the development aspects of iPhone/iPod touch, but unfortunately I soon realized that the development tools for iPhone and iPod touc are limited to Macs only.

In summary, the pros:
1. Great UI
2. Excellent web and mail applications
3. Great audio and video playback
4. The appstore is a vibrant active community generating challenging and useful apps
5. As a device, it is small and light
6. It charges from USB

and cons:
1. It does not have an embedded microphone
2. Docking base comes as an extra
3. Its accessories (e.g. docking station, video connector, power adapter) are quite expensive
4. The Development tools are available for Macs only