iPod Touch Arrives

This weekend we paid a visit to the local Apple Store just to see if the new iPod Touch was in stock. We were lucky enough to come home with a 16 gig version!

After unboxing and checking out the contents were surprised at what we found but more suprised with what we didn't find.

For those of you who were hoping that the iPod touch would be an iPhone minus the phone part, we hate to break this to you. The iPod not only doesn't come with the phone, it also leaves a lot of other things. More on this later.

The first thing we noticed with the iPod Touch (iTouch) is that the device is really, really thin. Thinner than an iPhone and almost as thin as the previous all aluminum nano. It's thin slick exterior is surrounded by black framed trim unlike the iphones chrome trim. the back of the iTouch has a full chrome back just like any othe iPod. Unlike any other iPod, it also has an antenna built into the rear top left corner.

Unboxing the iPod Touch was almost like opening the iPhone. The big difference is that the iPhone came with a charger and a dock. The iPod Touch comes with a iPod USB cable, headphones and a little plastic stand. It's sucks that Apple no longer includes a charger but they don't include one for any other iPod either.

The iTouch features the same "Slide to Unlock" feature as the iPhone as well as the iPhone's springboard application selector. But thats as far as the similarities go, because the iTouch features only a few apps from the iPhone. An updated version of Mobile Safari, You Tube videos, Calendar app (that you can't add to via iTouch), Contacts app (you can add to this via iTouch), Clock app, Calculator app, Settings and of course the iPod functions.

So what's different with the iPod Touch compared to the iPhone?

• No blue tooth connectivity
• No cellular radio so theres no Edge
• You can't add calendar events to your Calendar app (lame)
• but for some reason you can add people into your contacts.
• No Mail app
• No link sharing in Mobile Safari
• No Notes app
• No external playback of music
• No external volume buttons
• No camera, so no taking photos on the go.
• No Stocks, Weather or Google Maps widget
• and last but not least, no Jailbreak app (yet) to add more apps to the iPod Touch.
• iPhone maxes out at 8 gigs, the iPod Touch has up to 16 gigs
  

That's a pretty big list, but I think if you are a music fan, and are stuck with cellular contract of some sort and can't get an iPhone, the touch is your ticket to OS X interface heaven and the best iPod we have to date. Add in the fact that this thing has wi-fi with mobile Safari and you've got a pretty nice entertainment device with a plus when you're in a wi-fi area.

While I didn't get the iPod Touch for myself (it's for my fiancé) I don't think I'll have any regrets not having one just yet since I have my iPhone. I'm too addicted to getting wireless access regardless of if I'm in the vicinity of a Wi-fi network.