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iPod touch So... what are your first impressions of the new iPod Touch 4G?

My comparison is with the 2G which I've had for about 2 years.

1. screen-awesome resolution and slightly better black levels. color saturation is also a bit better. off axis performance isn't as bad as I expected, from all the pre launch doom and gloom crowd comments. Netflix movies look great. I ripped/encoded a DVD movie for the higher screen res and it looks amazing! Some Youtube "HD" content also looks stupendous.

2. speaker-- an improvement in both volume and fidelity. yeah!

3. camera -- meh. fixed focus. no flash low resolution. no HDR. doesn't seem to have stabilization (right?). I didn't buy the 4G for it's camera as I knew that was a weak point.

4. multitasking--finally I can play pandora while doing other things. cool

5. wifi performance pretty much identical to my 2G.

6. accessibility option for mono sound, which isn't present in the 2G with 4.x OS

off the top of my head, that's it for now. I know I'm forgetting some improved features.
 
I've had almost a day to mess with it and still love it.

Reading webpages/RSS Feeds is so much better now since the text is so crisp, even when zoomed out, love it! Tonight I'm going to load on one of my movies I encoded for my iPad to see what it looks like with the new screen. As mentioned before, the retina display is really amazing. I even went so far as to lay my old 3G next to my 4G to see the differences and it's amazing to see.

As far as the overall speed, I did a "speed test" launching various games/apps from my 3G and 4G and they were pretty much identical in speed. I'm guessing it's because they share the same amount of memory, but one has a faster processor than the other which makes them so comparable when loading. I did notice that when I booted each device side by side, the 3G actually booted faster. Not sure, but I'm assuming it's because I have 4.0 on the 3G and 4.1 on the 4G.

I'm still playing with camera's since I downloaded iMovie last night. I definitely notice an improvement when there is good lighting (I know, that's obvious!). At home, we the video's/pictures came out pretty grainy indoors. I tried it again outdoors and in the office where it was much brighter and the pictures looked much better. I haven't had a cell phone in years so have nothing other than my Kodak Digital Camera to compare to, but it'll be nice to have something that is always with me.

Not specific to the iPod Touch, iMovie is turning out... okay. I like that I can stitch, trim and cut video's, but I wish there were more themes or flexibility in what music would play and which segments they would go under. I also wish there was some sort of user guide. The app does have a help sheet, so maybe there really isn't anything more than that for now. I really hope Apple continue's to update it since it's actually kinda fun to shoot video's and put a little presentation into them.

No real issues for me to report, I'm a happy camper at this time! :)
 
Here are my impressions

No vibrate function - whats the point of facetime if you can't tell when somebody is trying to call you when the ipod is in your pocket. Sure a notification will pop up on the screen but that doesn't help when you can't see it.

Poor resolution for the back camera - if i want poor quality photos ill use my camera phone, truly is a gimmick addition. Especially since it lacks rds. Stupid of apple to show us something for the iphone only at an ipod event.

Minor upgrade from 3.3 to 4.1 (I currently have an ipod touch 1G that runs 3.3) - yes i would gain multi-tasking for stuff like pandora, but im already limited to wifi networks which prevent me from taking pandora on the go (as im walking to class). If I want to multitask that bad ill use my computer.

Gamecenter - if i want to play social games ill get on my xbox 360, nice try apple but i don't use my ipod for games, its for music, checking emails, web surfing and killing that minute or 2 while im waiting in line. App store games can be fun but they aren't anything compared to xbox, playstation or even wii. (I add that I am not much of a person who plays mobile games, if I play a game it is most likely to be at home or at a friends house on a console. Gamecenter would have no use for me.)

All in all Im going to hold out until some of these things are fixed. Its stupid to cater the ipod touch as a gaming device only to have it not have vibration function for force feedback. Its been in console games for years. And doubly stupid that they had it posted on their site until ifixit took it apart and said that "vibrate motor" was actually a microphone. Good, apple. Way to falsely advertise what your own product is capable of on your own website. I really was looking forward to this ipod touch 4g and now im only disappointed that they left out enough for me to no longer be able to justify the $300 (for one with decent storage) when my old ipod is still going (even with a line of dead pixels).
 
dave1812dave said:
My comparison is with the 2G which I've had for about 2 years.

1. screen-awesome resolution and slightly better black levels. color saturation is also a bit better. off axis performance isn't as bad as I expected, from all the pre launch doom and gloom crowd comments. Netflix movies look great. I ripped/encoded a DVD movie for the higher screen res and it looks amazing! Some Youtube "HD" content also looks stupendous.

2. speaker-- an improvement in both volume and fidelity. yeah!

3. camera -- meh. fixed focus. no flash low resolution. no HDR. doesn't seem to have stabilization (right?). I didn't buy the 4G for it's camera as I knew that was a weak point.

4. multitasking--finally I can play pandora while doing other things. cool

5. wifi performance pretty much identical to my 2G.

6. accessibility option for mono sound, which isn't present in the 2G with 4.x OS

off the top of my head, that's it for now. I know I'm forgetting some improved features.
Click to expand...

Really? I thought the Wi-Fi was a lot faster since it has N support now, compared to just B/G support in previous generations, although it could still be router dependent. I have a N-router at home so it's faster and the range is further. :)
 
Toss Up

I am on the fence about getting a new iPod touch. I have the iPod touch 8 GB from the recent Back to School promotion. I like the interesting impressions about the new iPod touch. I did visit the local Apple Store but I could not experiment with the new iPod touch because all models on display had the start-up screen where it needed to plug into iTunes.
 
Noisemaker said:
Here are my impressions - I just finished syncing, but I've been playing with it non stop.

Design:

Much sleeker looking and feeling than even the 3G touch. It's slimmer, lighter, and from the top it basically looks like a piece of glass. The buttons feel far sturdier, and the device overall just feels solid - the same feeling of quality that the iPad and iPhone 4's have.

Hardware:

I'll start with the screen. It's GORGEOUS. Haters can preach about it being lower quality than the iPhone's all they want. The end result is that it looks amazing. Just absolutely stunning.

The built in mic is a nice addition. From the few short videos that I took, it picks up sound very, very well, and sounds quite good. Far better than mics on any sub-$500 camera that takes video.

The speaker is much improved over the 3G. While the 3G's sounded thin, weak, and overall pathetic for anything aside from game sound effects, the 4G's sounds rich and full, and doesn't begin to distort at higher volume.

As said above, the buttons are also quite improved, and are very sturdy feeling.

As far as the processor, I've yet to put it through its paces. I'm currently downloading Epic Citadel to give it a run through. I may edit later with some impressions on speed boosts, but as far as the basic UI and normal apps go, it's nice and snappy - no lag whatsoever that I've noticed.

Cameras:

While it seems that many are still bitching because the camera doesn't produce images that are 10,000x12,000 pixels, I find the cameras to be great, and astonishingly good for what they are.

Stills: The stills are way better looking than I thought they would be. While the resolution isn't huge, they look good. That's what counts. I took a couple well-lit pics, a handful with mediocre lighting, and a bunch in terrible lighting. Obviously, the best lighting produces the best pic. That being said, even the ones in terrible lighting looked quite good, and in my opinion, much better than the pictures that my 7MP point n' shoot pocket camera takes.

A flash would have been nice, but I'm not complaining. The pics look good, and much, much better than I expected, so I'm ecstatic.

Facetime: The front facing camera is exactly what you'd expect for a video call. It looks quite good, while making facetime calling not lag like crazy.

Video: The HD Video is impressive. Again, much better than I expected it to look, even in terrible lighting. I'm in the middle of a thunderstorm at home, and only have one small light on in my room - leaving it quite dim. Even with those conditions, the video looked good. I expect to make a lot of use of the video.

Audio:

This was quite unexpected, but the audio quality, to my ears, is significantly better than the 3G Touch, and even the iPad. It sounds thicker, well balanced, and just overall much nicer. I don't know if it's the new set of headphones, or the device itself, but it's a very nice addition regardless.


Overall:

I've VERY happy with the new Touch, and it's way beyond what I expected. If anyone is still on the fence thanks to that BS report about the screen, or the MP count of the camera, please - do yourself a favor and ignore both. Neither are an issue whatsoever, and anyone who's seriously making an issue over them doesn't know what they're talking about.
Click to expand...

Your impressions convince me so much to get this device on christmas
Thank You so much!
 
kknott228 said:
[...]

All in all Im going to hold out until some of these things are fixed. Its stupid to cater the ipod touch as a gaming device only to have it not have vibration function for force feedback. Its been in console games for years. And doubly stupid that they had it posted on their site until ifixit took it apart and said that "vibrate motor" was actually a microphone. Good, apple. Way to falsely advertise what your own product is capable of on your own website. I really was looking forward to this ipod touch 4g and now im only disappointed that they left out enough for me to no longer be able to justify the $300 (for one with decent storage).
Click to expand...

Just in case you didn't get the point of this thread, here is the OP's first sentence:

MicroByte said:
If possible, please keep on topic to honest opinions from people who received/purchased theirs today.
Click to expand...
 
First Impression:
Similar to previous iPod Touches, but slicker and smaller. Feels thinner in hands too.

Screen:
Nice! Not as nice as the iPhone 4's screen, mainly the not-so-stellar black level and the poor viewing angle, but colors look pretty much identical. Of course, its the pixel density that makes the screen special and it doesn't disappoint. The icons and texts look spectacular and the Youtube HD videos look great!

Speaker&Sound quality:
The speaker is better than before but still poor. With the best headphones I can get my hands on, the new iPod Touch sounds just like the old ones to my ears, but still no good EQ. :(

Operation&Performance:
Nothing much to say here. It feels just as fast as the iPhone 4 and overall not that different from the older iOS devices. Multi-tasking with new radio apps work well and browsing is snappy although the latest Android phones with Froyo are probably a bit faster. And I haven't even mentioned the vast amount of apps. The extra resolution works wonders for readability of texts.

Cameras:
They are crap. Pictures in well-lit environments are fine but don't expect much out of these cameras. But the 720P video is surprisingly good. Nice to be able to finally use all the iPhone applications with the camera requirement. Haven't tried Facetime.

Conclusion:
As disappointing as its (non iPhone 4 equivalent) specs are for some people, the new Touch is the same old reliable Apple experience at its best. Refined, smooth and snappy, I just don't see anybody right now competing with this thing and it's the best pocket-sized reader I've used, especially for PDFs, bar none. I sure do hope someone comes up with a competitive product to put some heat on Apple with a great Android PMP.
 
fertilized-egg said:
The icons and texts look spectacular and the Youtube HD videos look great!
Click to expand...

How do you watch HD youtube videos? Every youtube video I watch seems to be the 360p version. I've tried videos that have 480p and 720p options, but they still look bad.
 
mike828 said:
How do you watch HD youtube videos? Every youtube video I watch seems to be the 360p version. I've tried videos that have 480p and 720p options, but they still look bad.
Click to expand...

You just have to watch the right video and it'll show up as hd. For an example type "300 hd music video" in the YouTube search box and see the first one - the one with 720p in its title.
 
Nothing spectacular

I finally got to experiment with the new iPod touch. I mainly played around with the camera. To be honest, I don't see anything special about it. I can't see much difference with my poor quality phone camera (Verizon) and the iPod touch camera except the pixel density. I should have played with the iPhone to get some comparison because I have never played with an iPhone 4.
If anyone can point me somewhere I might understand the camera quality on the new iPod touch is nice, then let me know. At this point, I don't see any difference to my two year old phone camera. I may wait to buy this when Incase and Power Support make their nice cases and screen protectors for the iPod touch 4G.
 
Here are my impressions thus far having used it since Wednesday:

The screen is awesome. To the extent any sacrifices were made, the resolution and color reproduction make up for it. Which leads me to...

The web browsing is great. It's actually not a chore to load and view full web sites, which I can't say for anything else I've used in this footprint. I can poke at some tiny links and somehow it gets them right 95% of the time.

Everything is fast and snappy too. I haven't purchased any games yet but even the free ones have been pretty enjoyable.

I'd like to see Skype to be a bit less of a battery hog, but other than that, it's been great to use.
 
Another thing I noticed, I seem to be more stable connected to wifi. I can move further around the house without dropping. Don't know if that's 4.1 or just the 4G.
 
kknott228 said:
Here are my impressions


Gamecenter - if i want to play social games ill get on my xbox 360, nice try apple but i don't use my ipod for games, its for music, checking emails, web surfing and killing that minute or 2 while im waiting in line. App store games can be fun but they aren't anything compared to xbox, playstation or even wii.
Click to expand...

last time i checked xbox,wii,ps3 arent thing you carry in your pocket?!? maybe if you said ds, psp?!? plus i like games on i pod i do multiplayer games on it like nova. xbox 360 multiplayer while at home.
 
Screen is great, big improvement over my 2G touch. Text is very clear.

Safari needs a software update so that images make use of the higher resolution screen. Text in Safari is crisp and clear, but images look virtually the same between 2G and 4G touch.

Seem to have lost the setting to customize double clicking the home button. On 2G, you can set it to open the music application (iPod). On 4G, it just seems to pull up the four icons on the bottom of your home screen. Kind of a nuisance.

Camera doesn't work well in low light. Haven't tested it that much to see if it is good in well lit situation .

4G is much faster thatn 2G. Curious what the benchmarks say.

Wish there was a videoconference app to go between iPod touch 4 and a Mac. Apple needs to release Facetime for the Mac soon.

Built in speaker seems clearer than the 2G.

The battery seems to drain down more than expected in sleep mode.

No problems with light leakage, clicking in video captures, or overheating.
 
ct95 said:
Seem to have lost the setting to customize double clicking the home button. On 2G, you can set it to open the music application (iPod). On 4G, it just seems to pull up the four icons on the bottom of your home screen. Kind of a nuisance.
Click to expand...

That's the multitasking bar. When you're on that, swipe to the left. The iPod controls are right there, along with the music icon and the potrait orientation lock.
 
Called into apple store today to look at. Looks nice, feels lighter than 2g,'definitely feels smaller.

I asked about memory and advisor told me to google it, apple have not told them how much memory is inside.
 
SoraLimit said:
That's the multitasking bar. When you're on that, swipe to the left. The iPod controls are right there, along with the music icon and the potrait orientation lock.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see it now. Thanks for the info.

One more impression - the on/off and volume buttons are a little harder to press now, since the unit is thinner. The buttons now are not oriented perpendicular to the face and you have to press them up towards the face a little. A consequence of being thinner.
 
ct95 said:
Ah, I see it now. Thanks for the info.

One more impression - the on/off and volume buttons are a little harder to press now, since the unit is thinner. The buttons now are not oriented perpendicular to the face and you have to press them up towards the face a little. A consequence of being thinner.
Click to expand...

yup. thinness can be taken to extremes, just like one with anorexia. I wish Jobs would stop this fascination with thinness. our Touchs shouldn't have to mimic his current body type. (yes, I know he is ill)
 
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