First Look: iPod touch

What a difference a year makes. When Apple first released the iPod touch,
it was—with its Wi-Fi capabilities and touchscreen interface—much more
than an iPod. Yet originally lacking applications such as Mail, Stocks,
Maps, Weather, and Notes (and a Calendar application that allowed you
to create events) and eschewing external volume controls and a built-in
speaker, it was also far less than an iPhone.
With software updates, Apple brought the iPod touch’s applications in line with the iPhone. With the second go-round of the iPod touch—introduced Tuesday
as part of Apple’s annual fall iPod line overhaul—Apple takes another
step in the right direction by adding those two desirable physical
features: external volume controls and an internal speaker. Along the
way, the company also slimmed down the case and, rounding the iPod
touch’s edges in style not unlike the iPhone 3G’s.
The price
for the iPod touch has been slimmed down as well. Where the 8GB, 16GB,
and 32GB iPod touches once cost $299, $399, and $499 respectively, the
latest model can be had in these capacities for $229, $299, and $399.
They also ship with the latest iPod touch 2.1 software.
This is how my new 16GB iPod touch holds up on first look. (A full review will follow soon.)
Volume controls and speaker
The
touch’s new external volume controls are welcome and perform exactly as
they do on an iPhone. Press the top of the rocker switch and the volume
goes up. A press at the bottom of the switch causes the volume to
decrease. As on the iPhone, applications that bear volume sliders
reflect the change in volume by moving up or down as you press the
switch.
Speaking of iPhones, if you have the headphones that
accompany the iPhone—Apple’s headphones that carry the Play/Pause
switch and microphone—you’ll be pleased to know that the Play/Pause
switch works with this version of the iPod touch. (It doesn’t on older
iPod touches, even with the new 2.1 software.)
The speaker,
however, is regrettably nothing like the iPhone’s speaker. As Steve
Jobs said, this speaker is for “casual listening,” which I’d suggest is
a fairly generous description. Unlike the iPhone’s speaker, which
clearly sits on the bottom left of the device and is fairly
directional, the sound from the iPod touch comes from no particular
location—it seems to just seep out of any holes on the device.
I attempted to watch Chinatown
while listening to the audio only through the iPod touch’s built-in
speaker and I had a difficult time discerning the dialog even with the
volume turned all the way up. I had hopes that I could pass this iPod
to the back seat so my daughter could watch her favorite movies on long
car trips as she now does with my iPhone. Not going to happen. Couple
the speaker’s tinny, very low fidelity with the whoosh of car noise and
I can’t imagine she’d get much out of it.
The existence of the
speaker is reflected in the Sound setting (called Sound Effects on the
original iPod touch). Here you’ll find the addition of the New Mail,
Sent Mail, Calendar Alerts, Lock Sounds, and Keyboard Clicks
entries—sounds that play through the speaker. You’ll also hear a camera
sound when you take a screenshot of the display by pressing Home and
Sleep/Wake.
The display
When the iPhone 3G shipped,
some noticed that its display had a yellower cast than that of the
original iPhone. The new iPod touch’s display is yellower still. Placed
side by side with an original 16GB iPod touch with the brightness
cranked up on both, the new iPod’s display appeared slightly dingy in
comparison. Take the old iPod away, however, and you quickly adjust to
the look of the new one.

The new iPod touch’s display (center) is clearly yellower than the original iPod touch (left) and today’s iPhone 3G(right).
The Genius playlist

When you first invoke the Genius playlist you’re presented with a list of all the songs on your iPod touch.
One
of the marquee features of the new iPod nano and iPod touch is the
Genius playlist—a scheme for selecting a track in your iTunes library
or iPod and intelligently creating a playlist of related music. (Read
more about the Genius feature in this first look at iTunes 8.) This feature is implemented in a couple of ways on the iPod touch.
Most
obviously, tap the Music icon at the bottom of the Home screen, tap
Playlists, and at the top of the Playlists screen you see a Genius
entry. Tap that entry and a list of all the tracks on your iPod appear.
Tap a track and the iPod creates a list of 25 related tracks and starts
playing the track you originally selected.
You also have the
option to create a different Genius playlist based on that same track.
Just tap Refresh and the playlist is created. If you like what the
Genius has come up with, tap Save and the iPod saves that playlist by
the name of the original track—Helter Skelter, for
example—lists it in the Playlists screen, and puts the Genius icon next
to it to indicate it’s a Genius-generated playlist. When you sync your
iPod with your computer, any Genius playlists you’ve created are synced
to the computer and appear under the Playlists heading in iTunes’
Source list.

After
creating a Genius playlist you can refresh it with new material based
on the same source song or start over by tapping New.
You
can later select this playlist and edit it by tapping the Edit button.
When you do, a screen scrolls up that reads Refresh Playlist and Delete
Playlist. Just how much the playlist is refreshed depends on the tracks
on your iPod. If the Genius feature feels it doesn’t have much to
choose from you’re going to see a lot of the same tracks appear in the
refreshed playlist.
Note that it’s possible to stump the Genius. For example, I selected Ethiopian artist Gigi’s Abay
on my iPod touch and I was presented with a dialog box that read “Try
Again. This songs does not have enough related songs to create a Genius
Playlist.”
The Genius feature is also available from within
the Now Playing screen. When playing a track, simply tap on the display
to reveal the timeline panel. Below the timeline you’ll find the Genius
icon. Tap it and you create a Genius playlist based on that track. This
playlist works exactly like other Genius playlists.
The software

You can easily create a Genius playlist by tapping the Genius icon on a Now Playing screen.
The
new iPod touch includes the iPod touch 2.1 software update—a free
update for those who’ve purchased the 2.0 software update and a $10
update for those running the older 1.x update. In addition to adding
Genius playlist creation, Apple claims this update fixes some
annoyances in the original 2.0 software. While I haven’t had a chance
to see the benefits of all these changes, I can say that Apple wasn’t
kidding when it claims that the update provides “faster installation of
third-party applications.”
I launched the App Store on an
original 16GB iPod touch running software version 2.0.2 and the new
iPod touch running 2.1. I asked both to update The Iconfactory’s Twitterific
to version 1.1. The new iPod with the latest software did it over my
Wi-Fi network in 20 seconds. The old iPod touch with the older software
version took an interminable 5 minutes and 2 seconds. I obtained
similar results with other software updates.
More to come
Apple
claims that the new iPod touch offers better battery life than the
original touch. I haven’t had the iPod long enough to test its alleged
audio playback time of 36 hours and video playback of 6 hours, but will
as I delve deeper into the device in preparation for my full review.