My 16GB iPod touch arrived yesterday. Since I’m probably among the last of the mobile enthusiasts who got a touch (even though I pre-ordered it the day it was announced), I’m not even going try to write a mini-review. However, as a Windows Mobile enthusiast, I thought other Windows Mobile users might find a couple of quick observations from that point of view interesting.
The T-Mobile Dash (Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition, formerly Smartphone) has been my main device for the past half-year or so. As you can see from the photo the iPod touch and the Dash are pretty close in height and width dimensions although the touch is much thinner than the Dash (0.31 vs. 0.5 inches). According the to iPod touch spec page and the T-Mobile Dash spec page, both are 4.2 ounces. Frankly, I’m having a hard time believing this. The touch feels much much heavier than the Dash. But, I don’t have a scale to check this, so I’ll believe the specs. You can see that the screen is about twice the physical size of the Dash’s screen and is exactly twice the resolution (480×320 vs. 320×240).
The one thing that became obvious real fast is that thumb typing as I know it is impossible for me on the touch. The lack of tactile feedback and what appears to be a slight digitizing offset (selection appears slightly to the left of where I touch the screen) is deadly. My typing mode (especially for passwords) is reduced from two thumbs to my right hand index finger. I’m really tempted to use a stylus when I need to type on the touch. The Dash’s keyboard, on the other hand, is the best thumb keyboard I’ve used on a Smartphone (the Universal’s and TyTn’s keyboard are my favorites on the Pocket PC side of the Windows Mobile house).
One somewhat surprising aspect of the touch’s lack of tactile feedback is that I don’t think I can use it without looking at the screen. I’ve also used the iPod nano and the 5th generation iPod (video). Both of those are very easy to use without looking at the device because the click wheel gives lots of location and tactile information.
IMHO Apple was wise in NOT positioning the iPod touch as a PDA. It is clearly not a PDA. On the other hand, its Safari browser is clearly superior to Windows Mobile’s Internet Explorer (and Opera mini on Windows Mobile — for me anyway). That combined with a relatively easy (but not great) YouTube app makes the iPod touch the current overall multimedia champ. I just looked at the new Zune announcements. I think the Zune still has a lot of catching up to do. But, more on that after the firmware upgrade for the current generation Zune’s become available next month. I’ll flash my Zune then and give it a spin.
Comments
4 responses to “iPod touch and T-Mobile Dash – Tactile Impressions”
I am enjoying my Touch to, wish it had the same exterior casing as the Dash. The metal exterior is just a fingerprint magnet.
Battery life could be better, but given how thin the device is that is not surprising.
I did read it but I glossed over the big NOT. Sorry! Here is a hint for you. Stop using your thumbs and move to your index fingers, add your middle fingers when you get better.
Since I use a linksys router with WEP I had to enter a 26 digit password into the Touch when I first got it. That was tough! I did have to input it again after an upgrade and a reset and after all the practice the second time was easy.
Randy: I think you didn’t read my entire post. Read the first sentence of my final paragraph.
I think you have missed the point somewhat. Apple has not positioned the touch as a PDA. True, for some it will replace the need to lug a PDA along but the Touch is an entertainment device first and foremost. All iPods have synced contact and Calendar info before none has done it this nicely. Having the power of Safari in the Touch is the true killer app of this device. Having put up with phone browers and PDA browsers…..if they can be called that, makes using Safari a delight.
You will get used to the Touch keypad. Keep your stylus with your PDA, it will not work on the Touch. The Touch needs skin to work. None of my PDA’s or Phones has had a real keypad but I can type on the touch’s keypad much faster than any other faux keyboard that I have used. Some users will love it, some will hate it. Some will make peace with it and after building up their bookmarks will probably be using the keypad less and less. A bonus for Mac users who have a dotmac account, Apple has made a nice iPhone and iTouch interface for accessing the bookmarks on your computer and other features of dotmac,
Try going to http://www.appleopolis.com/
and setup a free account to setup your web 2.0 apps. You get a lot of mobile power real quick with the site!