Unpopular I'm sure, but I don't like the Ipod touch much

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I know it has some killer features in comparison to what came before, but I just haven't managed to 'click' with my IPTouch.

Broadly speaking;

Upside:

The screen is superb, of course. It beats the 2.5" vid hands down.
Internet access is useful.
You tube player is a good idea, which I use occasionally.
The portrait and landscape switching is good, when you can control it (qv)

Downside:

The touchscreen is OK for about a week, but then it starts to irritate. Navigating music is fiddly, video is next to useless. The navigation bar and the cue / FF buttons are far too clumsy.

I also have to have the unit in my hand, and be looking directly at it to do any of these things. Makes it harder to use in the car / walking about. I'm assuming there's a remote for it available? Maybe that will solve that problem.

But my real moan, and this is absolutely unforgivable for an Ipod, is that the sound on it is dreadful. I didn't really notice it at first, as I bought a new set of buds at the same time, and assumed it was those.

It was only when I connected my 80gb video yesterday in my car, after I had had the Touch connected, that I noticed the difference. The old Ipods (I checked my ancient 1st gen 5gig model too) have a much cleaner and bassier sound. The touch is thin and tinny, none of the EQ settings improve it at all.

I'd be really interested to know if anybody else has noticed the difference.

I would say that the screen on the touch makes up for all the downsides - it's staying . . . but if the next generation comes out with better sound and usable controls, it'll be very tempting indeed.
 
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I also have to have the unit in my hand, and be looking directly at it to do any of these things.
This is exactly why I don't like touchscreen devices and why I would never buy one. I know where the buttons on my iPod are and I don't have to look at it to use them. I can just put my hand in my pocket and switch a song. If I'm driving, I can just reach over and switch the song on the iPod without my eyes ever leaving the road.
You simply can't do that with a touchscreen device.
 
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I was very close to get one, i like touch screen devices, but after playing with it i can't avoid considering a crippled iPhone. I was told that some issues (for me) will be resolved in a future firmware update, but now is just a movil iTunes store. Maybe next generation will replace my Nokia n800...
 
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This is exactly why I don't like touchscreen devices and why I would never buy one. I know where the buttons on my iPod are and I don't have to look at it to use them. I can just put my hand in my pocket and switch a song. If I'm driving, I can just reach over and switch the song on the iPod without my eyes ever leaving the road.
You simply can't do that with a touchscreen device.

I'll agree with that. But not much else. And anyway... when a single button can do so many functions, don't you still have to look at the device to know what your buttons are about to do?

I have mine hooked up to the back of my Tacoma's stereo. It is recognized as an external CD player. It's sounds awesome. I installed another in my wife's Rav4 the same way. Same great sound.
 
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This is exactly why I don't like touchscreen devices and why I would never buy one. I know where the buttons on my iPod are and I don't have to look at it to use them. I can just put my hand in my pocket and switch a song. If I'm driving, I can just reach over and switch the song on the iPod without my eyes ever leaving the road.
You simply can't do that with a touchscreen device.
Previous & Next, maybe. But going to a different artist and track entirely is easier on the touch/iphone. And I actually do skips tracks without looking at my iphone in the car.
 
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I do have to agree that using it in the car is a bit challenging sometimes. At first I had autolock on and I'd have to unlock it every couple songs, which took some effort while driving a stick shift. But once I decided to turn that off I know where the forward back buttons are and it's easy to change songs. Changing artists? I leave that to long lights maybe, even if I had a standard wheel ipod.

I love it for practically everything else. Safari could use some more features, more like the actual safari, and I'd also like to see the toolbar on top as a menu similar to OSX, so you can navigate while in separate apps into others without going back through the home-screen.

Other than a little tedious controls, I'm completely satisfied with it. Movies are awesome on it.
 
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I bought mine partly for novelty and partly as a demo device. (with external speaker add on it's great for demoing enhanced podcasts and showing promo videos.) Plus I quit smoking and I was allowed to buy anything I wanted with the money I didn't spend on smokes.

That said, I am glad it is not my primary ipod. I use my 2G black nano for in the car and walking the dog. I use the touch as above and for watching ask a ninja. I love the touch screen and the feel very glad I bought it. But is was an indulgence.

I do see great potential if wireless sync is added and podcast in the wifi itunes store. Also I would love to see wireless sync the calendar with google calendar. but <sigh> it won't happen. (oh, note the <cough>Zune<cough> has wireless sync and podcast support.)

I was please to find the it works with my JBL micro dock both syncing and playing.
 
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I've had mine since early November. I replaced the first unit as it had a faulty screen - which Apple's firmware could not fix and they NEVER admitted to being poorly manufactured! - and the new unit works fine.

It's UI failings are typical of any touch screen based device but are amplified by a lack of playback control buttons for skip, ff, rewind, pause and play. Quite infuriating at first, but since I listen to music mostly while trapped on a plane in economy class, not a deal killer.

Non-plane use finds me using it on WiFi since it's, um, liberated. Without being liberated, I would have returned it due to its inherent UI issues and being a hella-clumsy thing to cart about just to watch the occasional video on a 4" screen.

My .02 cents...

BTW, sounds fine with Etymotic ER-6 in-ear headphones, especially with a custom EQ setting that bumps the bass a tiny bit. I think, but don't know, that flash based players all sound poor compared to HDD based players. No idea why if they do but that is my observation.
 
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I've had mine since early November. I replaced the first unit as it had a faulty screen - which Apple's firmware could not fix and they NEVER admitted to being poorly manufactured! - and the new unit works fine.

It's UI failings are typical of any touch screen based device but are amplified by a lack of playback control buttons for skip, ff, rewind, pause and play. Quite infuriating at first, but since I listen to music mostly while trapped on a plane in economy class, not a deal killer.

Non-plane use finds me using it on WiFi since it's, um, liberated. Without being liberated, I would have returned it due to its inherent UI issues and being a hella-clumsy thing to cart about just to watch the occasional video on a 4" screen.

My .02 cents...

BTW, sounds fine with Etymotic ER-6 in-ear headphones, especially with a custom EQ setting that bumps the bass a tiny bit. I think, but don't know, that flash based players all sound poor compared to HDD based players. No idea why if they do but that is my observation.

It might just be me, or heaven forbid it might be my particular Ipod.

I just found that unplugging the touch and plugging in an older Ipod straight afterwards was noticeably different.

I would still swap the spiffy touch screen for some buttons in a heartbeat. I really should get off my lazy butt and find a remote control.
 

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