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iPod touch holy cow (first impressions)

B

bluush

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 20, 2007
337
457
I bought a 16gb iPod Touch on my lunchbreak, only to endure the last half of my day by reading so many negative comments about it - bad display of dark/black colors, dead pixels, faint wifi signal.

While the wifi is faint (I'm typing this on my Macbook which is showing 3 bars, yet my iPhone literally sits right next to my Macbook is only showing 1)

Ok first test.. a hissing sound? I don't hear it.. I'm trying all different genres of music at all different volumes and I'm not hearing it. What I am noticing is surprising - sound is better than my Macbook (which is basically the only thing I listen to music through). I'm listening to the Frou Frou album and hearing cello where I never heard it before through my Mac. Already pleased.

Next: the dead pixel check: NONE! :D :D :D (that was my biggest concern)

On to the test of dark/black video showing up as a negative --- again, appears I got lucky. I'm having none of this. Folks, PLEASE make sure to check your brightness settings. Video looks colorful, well contrasted and definitely better than on my Macbook. The colors are dense and blacks show up very well. I also get killer viewing angles which it seems nobody else is getting. I can look at it from 45 degree above, below, left and right and I notice barely a difference.

Oh I'm straight giddy right now ;)

This thing flat out rocks!!! I'm gonna have fun tweaking this thing all weekend.



Oh ok, so check this out - I just realized this. Though my Macbook is getting 3 bars of wifi signal and my iPod Touch is only getting one, I just raced them to load up a YouTube video - and the Touch won... barely, but still won.

You know buyers remorse? Where you buy something and feel bad/guilty afterward, want to return it and get your money back? Imagine the COMPLETE opposite. Yeah, that's me right about now.
 
parrotheadmjb said:
does gmail work alright through safari, anyone?
Click to expand...


Yes, Gmail works great of course. I don't think they'd allow these things to even be sold without gmail capability. I only use gmail so I made sure of that before buying. :)
 
probably a stupid question

can you connect to protected wifi spots like at my house, school, and work? Or does it have to be open like starbucks
 
bluush said:
Yes, Gmail works great of course. I don't think they'd allow these things to even be sold without gmail capability. I only use gmail so I made sure of that before buying. :)
Click to expand...

can you use standard gmail or do you have to use "basic html" which looks weird
 
bluush said:
While the wifi is faint (I'm typing this on my Macbook which is showing 3 bars, yet my iPhone literally sits right next to my Macbook is only showing 1)
Click to expand...

Do you have a iphone AND a itouch? Great post... pix would be nice too.. focused ones used with a tripod or something.
-Ellz
 
On Gmail I use basic HTML. I haven't tried to use the default Gmail settings, but something tells me I doubt it'd work.

Of course the mobile Gmail setting works as well, but it's very simple. Stick with the html one.

I do have a digicam but I don't think I could ever top the ones on the Apple.com site. I keep liking this thing more and more.

One thing though - is there any way to add movies that I did not buy from the iTunes store to iTunes? I've never bothered to add movies to iTunes since I always watch them through VLC, but now I'd like to put a few on my iPod Touch. Going to File/Add to Library and selecting an .avi doesn't do anything, oddly.


Also, just a note: I've been surfing on the iPod Touch for the last hour or so with music playing, nothing has crashed or been buggy. Either I'm really lucky or lots of other people are doing bizarre things.
 
ellsworth said:
Do you have a iphone AND a itouch? Great post... pix would be nice too.. focused ones used with a tripod or something.
-Ellz
Click to expand...

I don't have an iPhone but my girlfriend does (I bought her a 4gb one). We both agree the screen on the Touch is better, if for no other reason than the contrast which seems a bit better adjusted than the iPhone.

16gb is also a lot nicer than 4gb ;P

Thinner is also better. Not knocking on the phone or anything, but the idea of a piece of glass up against my face getting all greasy just doesn't appeal to me. That's probably what accounts for the huge smudging problem.
 
bluush said:
On Gmail I use basic HTML. I haven't tried to use the default Gmail settings, but something tells me I doubt it'd work.

Of course the mobile Gmail setting works as well, but it's very simple. Stick with the html one.

I do have a digicam but I don't think I could ever top the ones on the Apple.com site. I keep liking this thing more and more.

One thing though - is there any way to add movies that I did not buy from the iTunes store to iTunes? I've never bothered to add movies to iTunes since I always watch them through VLC, but now I'd like to put a few on my iPod Touch. Going to File/Add to Library and selecting an .avi doesn't do anything, oddly.


Also, just a note: I've been surfing on the iPod Touch for the last hour or so with music playing, nothing has crashed or been buggy. Either I'm really lucky or lots of other people are doing bizarre things.
Click to expand...

This is what apple's site says:

H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
 
sblasl said:
As per Gizmodo:

"Choosing the touch over the iPhone is like choosing a fully loaded Toyota Avalon over a Lexus ES.":eek:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/ap...dict-good-in-the-face-of-greatness-300127.php
Click to expand...

I have a great deal with t-mobile and I've had some real horrible experiences with Cingular/AT&T. The iPhone has never been on the table for myself and many other people out there who only begged for an iPhone sans phone capability. As for the lack of camera, when I take a picture I want to take a PICTURE, and get out my Canon s5 which is pretty much with me everywhere I go. For me, cellphone cams are novelty.
 
bluush said:
One thing though - is there any way to add movies that I did not buy from the iTunes store to iTunes? I've never bothered to add movies to iTunes since I always watch them through VLC, but now I'd like to put a few on my iPod Touch. Going to File/Add to Library and selecting an .avi doesn't do anything, oddly.
Click to expand...

All video needs to be converted to Mpeg4 format unfortunately. Jodix do a free ipod converter, try googling that. :)
 
Your a few that feel this way, most reviews & folks posting here on MacRumors don't feel the same as you two.

bluush said:
I don't have an iPhone but my girlfriend does (I bought her a 4gb one). We both agree the screen on the Touch is better, if for no other reason than the contrast which seems a bit better adjusted than the iPhone.
Click to expand...

I agree, my Nikon D200 goes with me everywhere.

bluush said:
I want to take a PICTURE, and get out my Canon s5 which is pretty much with me everywhere I go. For me, cellphone cams are novelty.
Click to expand...
 
Dunno. I've been playing with it pretty much nonstop for the last 7 hours. The initial thrill is gone, I've gone over the thing multiple times trying to find problems/blemishes/errors/etc and it's not happening. The wifi bar stays at 1 but it's on par (if not slightly faster) than my Macbook. The video playback of dark/black colors looks completely fine on my Touch. Perhaps others got a bad batch?

It seems most people who actually bought one are pleased with the screen. Seems most of the complaining is coming from people who checked one out at an Apple Store (I didn't think Apple Stores were putting these on display til Saturday??) or are merely perpetuating rumors from other blogs/boards/review sites and are just posting what they've read.

I bet even the worst Touch cannot hold a candle to the dismal quality of the Macbook screen. If you can watch youtube/movies on your Macbook, you have nothing to fear about the iPod Touch.

sblasl said:
Your a few that feel this way, most reviews & folks posting here on MacRumors don't feel the same as you two.



I agree, my Nikon D200 goes with me everywhere.
Click to expand...
 
I havent found any problems with mine either. The wifi is a little faint but that is about it. Safari is a tad slow. Screen is perfect. sounds great. I love it.
 
thank you for those reports! Maybe others got a bad batch or something? I hope mine will be a good one...
You know , you can always exchange it if it really is a bad batch
 
jockmock said:
thank you for those reports! Maybe others got a bad batch or something? I hope mine will be a good one...
You know , you can always exchange it if it really is a bad batch
Click to expand...

Well if they ship the good batches in bulk, then buy a 16gb from Pioneer Square in Portland, OR :)

The good news is that anyone who may get one that isn't quite up to par will have no problem getting a refund. After seeing Apple's generosity during the iPhone release I have no doubt they'll extend the same courtesy to those who are less than satisfied with their Touch. PS: Did I mention I love this thing?!
 
I saw them at the Apple Store and they looked great!

As I've been saying, just a bad batch of screens, maybe QC with allowing interference into the audio (maybe caused by a bad screen?).

I say to those people just go back and get an exchange. That's what we pay Apple a premium for.

Also, they did refresh a lot of products this time around - so I would expect a few things to go wrong...
 
tangent7 said:
can you connect to protected wifi spots like at my house, school, and work? Or does it have to be open like starbucks
Click to expand...

Yes, you can connect to any wifi network.

On the wifi settings screen it will show all the wifi networks it finds. All networks that require passwords have a little lock next to them. If it's protected, you need to enter the password. If there is a hidden network, you tap the "Other" button and you then have to type the name of the network and the password.
 
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