I asked my friend Sean (lost to the Dark Side and now an avid Mac fanboi) to write a real-user review of the iPod Touch after reading his countless incessant ravings about the device on Facebook. Needless to say he’s head-over-heals in love with his new shiny toy (much to the dismay of his wife I’m sure) but he also has some good points. Anyway, here’s his review:

I’ve been a mac fanboy for a while now and to date I have owned and sold 5 iPods and am on my 6th, the iPod Touch.

Unlike it’s predecessors, the Touch is a new animal, taking the iPod from the click wheel interface to that of the iPhone. With only 2 buttons, home and sleep everything else is done through virtual buttons or keyboards on the device, which makes it very sleek and sexy.

Lets get into the specifics though. Built on with the same OS and touch GUI as the iPhone, the Touch is really just a thinner stripped down version of the hand set with half the bells and whistles. That shouldn’t detract on getting one though, as shipped and out of box untouched it has a variety of audio and visual treats for any iPod owner.

Music
The Touch has kicked up the GUI to the music side of the iPod by including coverflow right on the device. You can still browse by band, genre, song, etc or turn the device sideways and go by album cover.

Video
Any video content downloaded from the web and converted using a mp4 converter can be added into iTunes and synced to the Touch. This includes purchased content from the iTunes store as well as files found on public torrent sites or video podcasts.

Web
Did I say web? On a iPod? Why yes! Through a fully functional web browser, Safari, which is usable where ever free Wi-Fi can be found. Apple even rolled out a web apps page from their site so Phone and Touch users can access handy tools online without needing to install 3rd party apps.

Pros
Excellent iPod, as we’ve become accustomed to. Video and web is the real gem here though. Being able to Facebook from my local cafe, while listing to the Stones 40 Licks album, drinking a dark roast Americano coffee is what life is about. Video is good enough to watch TV shows, movies or anything else you fancy. The fact it’s all in one tiny unit makes it even better.

Cons
I wish the unit had external volume controls like it’s bigger brother. However Apple has thought of this and worked out a variety of methods that controls can be accessed even if the unit is locked.

The Icing on the cake?
Version 1.1.1 software hack just came out that allows 3rd party apps to be installed. This of course probably breaks the ELUA and warranty of the device but opens it up to a world of possiblities though free open source software. For example you can get a Nintendo emulator, IM applications for AIM & MSN, and a host of other great and wonderful applications.

I don’t think I’ll be selling this iPod anytime soon, it does the job of an iPod, video player, web and a variety of other devices all in one tiny package that fits in my pocket and takes up very little space.

Now if it could only make coffee…..

m4x