Hey everyone, I hope this has't been done before but I was recently debating whether to upgrade my 1st gen Touch and couldn't find much info on the relative speeds and other benefits between the first and third gen models. As I took the plunge today thought it worth posting up some times. Both devices are running the latest OS, more-or-less the same data set (actually the 3rd gen device has a couple of gigs more than the 1st) and the same apps installed (about six pages worth). Neither is full with the 1st gen 16Gb having about 1.5Gb free and the 3rd Gen 32Gb having about 17Gb free.
Might as well start with some figures I guess so Web Browsing
To make it as even a test as possible both devices were allowed to load http://news.bbc.co.uk with no other pages open. They were both then refreshed and the time taken to load measured with a stop watch.
1st Gen: 20 Seconds
3rd Gen: 6 Seconds
I'm only listing whole seconds because it's a bit of an inexact science this when you're running two touches and a stopwatch on your own and for the sake of comparision this is good enough.
Another test on www.engadget.com was absolutely ridiculous. For this one I left the previous page open, started a new page and timed how long it took to finish loading the engadget home page.
1st Gen: 64 seconds
3rd Gen: 13 seconds.
This is a big page full of images and ads but even so... Safari seemed to stall on the 1st gen for a few seconds but even alowing ten seconds (the time above is raw data btw, no adjustment has been made) for that it's still getting killed by the new unit.
Built-In Apps
Hopefully I can expand this when I've got more time but for now this'll have to do. I put a postcode into google maps and let it load all the way before pressing the home button. I then timed how long it took to load the app and show the map in full at that location.
1st Gen: 3 seconds
3rd Gen: 1 second
Next, loading a calendar with an average of two events a day
1st Gen: 2 seconds
3rd Gen: < 1 second
And finally, loading the Music app in song selection
1st Gen: 8 seconds
3rd Gen: 2 seconds
I'd say that's about right, the new unit is more-or-less instant when you load a standard application and the same when navigating within them. The 1st gen Touch isn't unusable by any means but it's not as slick and you have to wait for it to catch up at times.
3rd Party Apps
I've tried a few games out and in general the gameplay is much smoother on the new unit, to the point that games almost feel like entirely new titles in some cases. Load times are FAR lower as well:
Galcon Lite Load time
1st Gen: 4 seconds
3rd Gen: 1 second
Civ Rev Load Time
1st Gen: 10 seconds
3rd Gen: 7 seconds
Modern Combat: Sandstorm to initial cutscene
1st Gen: 10 seconds
3rd Gen: 4 seconds
General Thoughts
If you've got a first gen and use it a lot then there's no doubt this is a fantastic upgrade. There's the obvious hardware tweaks and bonus features like bluetooth but for me the speed improvements are worth it on their own over the first gen. It kinda takes me back to the days of the 486 and Pentium 1, 2 and 3... when you upgraded after a couple of years to a new box the speed improvements over your old rig were ridiculous and you really felt like everything was shiny and new, even those apps and games you'd used a million times before. It just makes everything so much more pleasant to use and even little things like refreshing info in a twitter application become FAR less of a chore than before.
If you use your touch just for media... I'd say stick with the 1st gen until it's properly dead, you'll get better hardware for less money the longer you mange to wait between upgrades. If however you're using a first gen device as an all-purpose device, browsing the web, checking e-mail, gaming and using a ton of apps then check out the current Touch, it's definately a worthwhile investment.
Hope it helps someone, please please please if you have any comments or any experiences with upgrading to the new Touch from the first model then feel free to put 'em in below.
Might as well start with some figures I guess so Web Browsing
To make it as even a test as possible both devices were allowed to load http://news.bbc.co.uk with no other pages open. They were both then refreshed and the time taken to load measured with a stop watch.
1st Gen: 20 Seconds
3rd Gen: 6 Seconds
I'm only listing whole seconds because it's a bit of an inexact science this when you're running two touches and a stopwatch on your own and for the sake of comparision this is good enough.
Another test on www.engadget.com was absolutely ridiculous. For this one I left the previous page open, started a new page and timed how long it took to finish loading the engadget home page.
1st Gen: 64 seconds
3rd Gen: 13 seconds.
This is a big page full of images and ads but even so... Safari seemed to stall on the 1st gen for a few seconds but even alowing ten seconds (the time above is raw data btw, no adjustment has been made) for that it's still getting killed by the new unit.
Built-In Apps
Hopefully I can expand this when I've got more time but for now this'll have to do. I put a postcode into google maps and let it load all the way before pressing the home button. I then timed how long it took to load the app and show the map in full at that location.
1st Gen: 3 seconds
3rd Gen: 1 second
Next, loading a calendar with an average of two events a day
1st Gen: 2 seconds
3rd Gen: < 1 second
And finally, loading the Music app in song selection
1st Gen: 8 seconds
3rd Gen: 2 seconds
I'd say that's about right, the new unit is more-or-less instant when you load a standard application and the same when navigating within them. The 1st gen Touch isn't unusable by any means but it's not as slick and you have to wait for it to catch up at times.
3rd Party Apps
I've tried a few games out and in general the gameplay is much smoother on the new unit, to the point that games almost feel like entirely new titles in some cases. Load times are FAR lower as well:
Galcon Lite Load time
1st Gen: 4 seconds
3rd Gen: 1 second
Civ Rev Load Time
1st Gen: 10 seconds
3rd Gen: 7 seconds
Modern Combat: Sandstorm to initial cutscene
1st Gen: 10 seconds
3rd Gen: 4 seconds
General Thoughts
If you've got a first gen and use it a lot then there's no doubt this is a fantastic upgrade. There's the obvious hardware tweaks and bonus features like bluetooth but for me the speed improvements are worth it on their own over the first gen. It kinda takes me back to the days of the 486 and Pentium 1, 2 and 3... when you upgraded after a couple of years to a new box the speed improvements over your old rig were ridiculous and you really felt like everything was shiny and new, even those apps and games you'd used a million times before. It just makes everything so much more pleasant to use and even little things like refreshing info in a twitter application become FAR less of a chore than before.
If you use your touch just for media... I'd say stick with the 1st gen until it's properly dead, you'll get better hardware for less money the longer you mange to wait between upgrades. If however you're using a first gen device as an all-purpose device, browsing the web, checking e-mail, gaming and using a ton of apps then check out the current Touch, it's definately a worthwhile investment.
Hope it helps someone, please please please if you have any comments or any experiences with upgrading to the new Touch from the first model then feel free to put 'em in below.
