iPod touch: ten months evolved

When the iPod touch started to trickle out to Apple retail stores last September I managed to grab one of the first ones, and within a few hours of getting it out of the box I was able to surmise that it was anything but the “iPhone without a phone” that some users had been hoping for ever since the iPhone was first announced. A quick hands-on comparison between my iPhone, which at that point I’d come to rely on quite heavily, and my iPod touch, which I’d only bought for testing purposes, revealed fifteen immediately identifiable features missing from the touch, none of which had to do with not being able to make a phone call.



My little list of fifteen missing features turned out to be one of the very first hands-on assessments of the iPod touch, and as such it was linked to by everyone everywhere, made the front page of Digg, and fairly or unfairly got me labeled as an iPod touch hater. I don’t suppose I’ve done much to challenge that label in the past ten months (I’ve often been quoted as saying that you should either buy a real iPhone or a traditional iPod, not an iPod dressed up as a fake iPhone). But regardless of how the iPod touch measures up to the iPhone, the touch has evolved significantly from a software standpoint over the past ten months and so the release of the 2.0 update seems like a good time to revisit my original list of fifteen missing features. None of this is meant to disparage the iPod touch; in fact it’s just the opposite, as many of its original deficiencies have since been mitigated or erased completely. Join me as we take a look at how much the gap has closed since the touch debuted. On the following pages you’ll find my original September 2007 assessment, followed by my July 2008 updated prognosis…

EDGE network



September 2007: Just because the iPod touch has Safari and the iTunes Store doesn’t mean you’ll be able to use either of them whenever you feel like it. If you’re not within range of a wifi network, you’re not getting online with the iPod touch. If wifi access is sparse in your daily routine, you may find yourself wishing you had the iPhone and its (slow but almost always accessible no matter where you are) EDGE network. If you live amongst pervasive open wifi access (say, on a college campus) then you might not miss EDGE at all.



July 2008: Nothing’s changed here, beyond the fact that the iPhone now comes with faster 3G network access instead of EDGE, and wifi is just a bit more pervasive here in 2008 than it was in 2007. This continues to be the reason why I consider the iPod touch only appropriate for certain users in certain special situations (namely, those who encounter wifi everywhere they go at all times). But unless Apple changes course and begins offering a new iPod touch with built-in 3G access and the option for an AT&T monthly data plan (wouldn’t that be the true answer for those users who want an “iPhone without the phone”?), this issue will remain what it is.



Mail application



September 2007: The iPhone’s built-in email application has gone missing on the iPod touch, meaning that the only email access you’ll get is via webmail in Safari. Users of Gmail might not miss a beat, but those accustomed to using a client might not feel the same way.

July 2008: The Mail application arrived on the iPod touch early this year, meaning that as long as you can find wifi, you’re in business.



Safari link sharing



September 2007: Steve Jobs seemed to imply in his keynote that the iPod touch only has wifi so you can buy music from iTunes, and it only has a web browser so you can sign onto public wifi hotspots and then proceed to buy music from iTunes. But just because Apple doesn’t seem to want you to go websurfing on the iPod touch, it doesn’t mean you can’t surf to your heart’s content. The only missing feature I’ve found in Safari (so far) is the ability to email a web link, which has a lot to do with the iPod touch not having an email client.
July 2008: Yep, the iPod touch now has this feature too.



Adding items to calendar



September 2007: Even though the iPod touch features the same cool calendar application as the iPhone, and even though you can sync your calendar from iCal on your Mac to the calendar on your iPod touch, you’ll find that you can not add new calendar events directly to the iPod touch. Apple could seemingly change this easily with a software update, and might if there’s enough public pressure, but for now it’s not there. Oddly enough, however, you can add contacts directly to the iPod touch’s Contacts application.



July 2008: This one came to the iPod touch a little while ago. See, I told you this wasn’t going to be all negative.



Notes



September 2007: Not only is there no way to add a calendar event, there’s no clear way to jot down random information of any kind. The iPhone’s Notes application is missing, which combined with the lack of a Mail application means that the only way to jot down a few words for later use would be through the web.



July 2008: Well it looks like Apple has fixed all of those deficiencies, now hasn’t it?


Bluetooth



September 2007: The iPhone only has Bluetooth for use with wireless headsets, which wouldn’t make much sense with the iPod touch anyway. But be aware that unless Apple snuck Bluetooth hardware into the iPod touch and has hidden it from us for the time being, you won’t be able to use any Bluetooth accessories with the iPod touch without the use of some kind of third-party adapter.



July 2008: And here’s where I get to start criticizing the iPod touch again. Ten months later and still no Bluetooth, although it’s still possible (but unlikely) that it could make its way into the next hardware revision.



Screen quality



September 2007: Speaking of hardware, one of the iPhone’s best features – its brilliant screen – is (sort of) missing from the iPod touch as well. Although I’ll need to do more testing to quantify it, immediately clear is the fact that the iPod Touch’s screen is neither as vivid or (seemingly) as detailed as that of the iPhone. I’ll have a lot more to say about this in the final review, but unless my eyes are thoroughly deceiving me, there’s a world of difference between the two.



July 2008: Nothing new here, although again this could change in the next hardware iteration of the touch.



Rear surface



September 2007: Just as many iPhone users are finally growing comfortable with the idea that they don’t necessarily have to carry their iPhone in a case in order to keep it pristine-looking, the mirrored chrome backside on the iPod touch is every bit as easily scratchable as with traditional iPods.



July 2008: Why does Apple continue to include the ridiculously chrome backside on the iPod touch, other than to prop up the iPod touch protective film/case industry? Bizarrely, the $49 iPod shuffle is the only iPod model you can carry around without some kind of rear surface protection and not permanently scratch it to a degree beyond ugliness in a matter of minutes. But I digress.



External volume buttons



September 2007: Perhaps because Apple expects you’ll spend most of your time on the iPod touch merely consuming content and not simultaneously using other applications, the only way to control the volume of that content is when it’s right in front of you via the on-screen slider; the iPhone’s external volume buttons are nowhere to be found on the iPod touch. On the other hand, you can press the iPod touch’s round front button twice to bring up basic playback controls (including volume) at any time, something I wish Apple would hurry up and bring to the iPhone.



July 2008: Nothing’s changed here, except that the iPhone now sports the same ability to bring up playback and volume controls by pressing the home button twice.



Built-in speakers



September 2007: The iPod touch lacks the iPhone’s built-in speakers, but many iPhone users have concluded that those speakers aren’t good enough for listening to music anyway. I suspect Apple only intended the iPhone’s speakers for speakerphone use on phone calls.



July 2008: Ditto.



Included dock



September 2007: While the iPhone comes with a sturdy dock with playback for the iPhone’s built-in speakers, the iPod touch comes with a comparatively lame little piece of clear plastic which can be used as a stand. On the plus side is that while watching video or otherwise using the iPod touch in horizontal mode, you can easily pick up the touch and reset it into the stand sideways – try doing that with the iPhone’s dock.



July 2008: Score one for the iPod touch, as the iPhone now comes with no dock at all. Then again, an iPhone now costs $100 less than an iPod touch with the same capacity, meaning you can afford to buy the dock separately.



Camera



September 2007: While the iPod touch can display photos that have been synced onto it from your computer, you can’t use it to take pictures. Not that I would have expected the iPod touch to have a built-in camera, but be aware that it’s not there.



July 2008: There are now third party applications (such as Facebook) that allow you to use the iPhone’s camera from within the application, making the camera more useful and its omission on the touch more glaring – at least for those who cared about it in the first place.



Maps, Weather, Stocks



September 2007: While you can still use Safari to look up all of this information via the web in one way or another, the individual applets on the iPhone for Google maps, weather forecasts, and stock prices are missing on the iPod touch.



July 2008: That all got cleaned up awhile ago, although again, having these applications doesn’t mean you can do anything with them unless you happen to be within range of wifi.



The point of all this



September 2007: None of this is to say that you shouldn’t buy the iPod touch. In fact, based on my early testing, I’d have to say that the iPod touch is by far the most amazing product to ever bear the “iPod” brand name. But be forewarned that the iPod touch is not necessarily the mythical “iPhone without a phone” that some users have been looking for. Instead, think of it as an “iPhone lite without the phone.” If the iPod touch suits your needs, then don’t let any of the above stop you. But with as much as has been arbitrarily removed from the iPod touch, it sure looks like Apple still wants you to buy the iPhone, and then only wants you to consider the iPod touch if you’ve already ruled the iPhone out.


July 2008: The iPod touch has come a long way in ten months. Several of the original missing features I documented have since been added, a few have stopped mattering, and the touch has gained access to the same legitimate third party software applications as the iPhone. It’s still extremely difficult to recommend the iPod touch to most users, as you’re only likely to be happy with it if you either A) have access to wireless internet nearly all the time, or B) care very little about the iPod touch’s features that require network access.



That having been said, the iPod touch has come a lot closer to being an “iPhone without a phone” than it was originally. As I said ten months ago, the iPhone is the way to go unless you absolutely can’t make that happen. But if the iPod touch is what you want, don’t let me stop you