New (and pretty harsh) review of iPod touch from iLounge

[Rumz]

Actually there's no corelation between what week the Touch was made and the box its in, to my knowledge-- mine was not a Macy Gray box, but rather had Corinne Bailey Rae on the front.

When does yours stop playing? Immediately after launching Safari? I haven't surfed for hours by any means, but I did spend a half hour or so browsing the web while listening to music without a hitch.

If anything the QC on these units is the problem. If your list of glitches includes a defective screen (shimmering / negative looking darks in videos), I'd try to return yours soon for a week 38 or later iPod Touch. Great device marred by some serious QC issues. Do you have hiss too? Or is music stopping when you browse your main issue?

 

[drizek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoSXS /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why is the iPod "much less robust" than other players on the market when it comes to being able to take abuse? Especially when Apple's own numbers put the failure rate of iPods at less than 5%? You can google that for proof if you'd like. And while you're at it, look for some pictures of the inside of an iPod. The hard drives inside the iPod are generally covered in a very large amount of padding and they have rubber grips and stoppers on either side of the drive. Theres also some physical space between the case and the drive. You could literally dent the iPod case and the metal would not be making any contact at all with the HDD casing. Let us also not forget that portable drives these days are designed to take a few Gs of force. A very large amount of 2.5" HDDs are designed to take as much as 7Gs of force. Considering that the drive manufacturers know these 1.8" drives are used primarily in media players, and in some ultra portable laptops, they know they have to design them to take abuse. If they weren't designed for it, then a simple action such as dropping it in your pocket could damage it. And we all know how the average person moves a laptop around while the system is ON. Those drives would die a lot more frequently than they do if they were not designed to to be able to take abuse.

I think the iPod is less robust because it is designed to break. Virtually every other player has a user replaceable battery while the iPod requires you to either give apple gobs of money or go through a ton of trouble to replace the battery yourself. I replaced the battery in my brothers mini and it was impossible to take it apart without at least some minor cosmetic damage. The iPhone and the Touch are much much harder to take apart than the mini was, and AFAIK all current iPods have their batteries soldered on.

As for other failures, both of my room mates with iPod videos broke them during my first year of college(HDD failure). And I hear from tons of other people about how their iPods break all the time. This isn't exactly scientific, but the failure rate is WAY WAY higher than the 5% that was quoted by apple. The other explanation I can give, other than apple just flat out lying, is that the iPods fail after their warranties have expired, so they arent recorded.

I remember when the first gen nanos were released, they would break very easily when people put them in their back pockets. Granted, people shouldnt be doing that, but when you build a device that thin whats the point in telling people not to sit on it? Its like the warning in the macbook manual telling people not to put it on their laps. Other manufacturers choose stronger designs for their flash based players, with the iRiver iFP series being the perfect example. It is in the shape of a triangle which makes it much stronger than the rectangular nano, which can snap down the middle. The new nano is more square and can probably take more abuse than the 1st and 2nd generations.

And look at the stainless steel back of the iPods, that is designed almost entirely just to create a third party case industry. It is so easily scratchable yet has remained part of the iPod since it was first created. They could very easily add a BSE-type cover to it to prevent scratches, but they choose not to.

 

[indigo]

No, no hiss using SFP or Shure E4's Am getting the E500's in the next day or so. That may give a better indication as they are more sensitive.

No display issues as far as I can see (especially compared to the ones posted in the apple forums).

I think the music stops after about 10- 15 minutes of surfing. Initially out of the box there was no problem. I read in the Apple forums that this was a known issue also with the iphone with no fix yet.

I agree about the QC issues (hopefully no lead poisoning issues)

and of course Jobs saying the Touch is "training wheels" for the iphone alienated quite a fair bit of the fanbase.

But you know what I mean right? Even though my unit doesn't seem to manifest most of the common issues, it comes from THAT batch, and there's always that niggly feeling at the back of your mind...especially when you know that the latest batch has no problems. Ah, the curse of the early adopters.

 

[Rumz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by indigo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think the music stops after about 10- 15 minutes of surfing. Initially out of the box there was no problem. I read in the Apple forums that this was a known issue also with the iphone with no fix yet. But you know what I mean right? Even though my unit doesn't seem to manifest most of the common issues, it comes from THAT batch, and there's always that niggly feeling at the back of your mind...especially when you know that the latest batch has no problems. Ah, the curse of the early adopters.

Ahh... well I can't imagine they did anything different manufacturing-wise that would impact that web / music glitch. I'll play with mine some more this weekend and see if I run into that issue. Hopefully a firmware update will do the trick...

But yeah. Because of all the commotion over the screen issues and "week 36-37 defective" talk-- you generally feel like because it's a week 37 that it's suspect, huh? I can see that...

 

[MoSXS]

Quote:

I think the iPod is less robust because it is designed to break.

Prove it.

Quote:

Virtually every other player has a user replaceable battery while the iPod requires you to either give apple gobs of money or go through a ton of trouble to replace the battery yourself.

Sort of like your own iRiver H320 that does not have a user replaceable battery, right?

Yeah you to pay Apple to replace your battery. But the good thing is that you almost always get a refurbished unit back from Apple. According to Apple's own refurbishing policies, and my experience with their refurbished products, that means you're getting a like new unit back in better shape than the one you sent out. Less wear and tear on the hard drive and a new battery. Plus you get a battery directly from Apple, not some 3rd party manufacturer. It's guaranteed to work.

Quote:

As for other failures, both of my room mates with iPod videos broke them during my first year of college(HDD failure). And I hear from tons of other people about how their iPods break all the time. This isn't exactly scientific, but the failure rate is WAY WAY higher than the 5% that was quoted by apple. The other explanation I can give, other than apple just flat out lying, is that the iPods fail after their warranties have expired, so they arent recorded.

So Apple is lying, because you say so?

Yeah right haha. Do you realize the very large class action lawsuit that Apple would be a target of if they were lying?

Also, keep in mind that even with a 5% failure rate, that means MILLIONS of broken and dead players. That means more players dead than some companies have even sold. For example, you'd have 5x more dead iPods out there than Zunes have sold.

Again, Apple themselves have stated 5% or less failure rate. They're not lying just because you want them to or because it hurts your argument. My experience, after owning 4 iPods and seeing others last for years after purchase, has proven that statement to be completely true.

Quote:

I remember when the first gen nanos were released, they would break very easily when people put them in their back pockets.

First generation nanos break easily?

Completely and utterly false. http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3

What else would you like me to prove you wrong about?

Quote:

Its like the warning in the macbook manual telling people not to put it on their laps.

Both of my Core 2 Duo laptops, MacBook and HP, get hot when used at full load on your lap. When just browsing the web or watching DVDs.. neither one is uncomfortable or "hot".

Quote:

The new nano is more square and can probably take more abuse than the 1st and 2nd generations.

Go read the arstechnica reviews of the nano. Both the first and second generation can take a ton of abuse. They didn't do a stress test on the 3G iPod nano. But I can tell you that mine is extremely durable. Its strong, and it uses the same scratch resistant screen as the iPhone.

Quote:

And look at the stainless steel back of the iPods, that is designed almost entirely just to create a third party case industry. It is so easily scratchable yet has remained part of the iPod since it was first created. They could very easily add a BSE-type cover to it to prevent scratches, but they choose not to.

I know people with 1st generation iPods that have no scratches. My 5.5G 80GB has none. Neither does my nano.

You know how I achieve that?

By not putting it in my pocket with keys or change

Is that really so hard?

 

[drizek]

My Iriver has a replaceable battery. I just take a few screws off and pop the cover off. I can even put in a higher capacity battery that gets 30+ hr life. IIRC, the high capacity battery is about $17.

Here is an article about just how durable the nanos are, notice the class action law suit at the end, it wouldn't be the first time apple lies to its customers.

http://hardware.silicon.com/storage/...9152703,00.htm

Remember the "fastest computer in the world" ad for the G5? It was banned in the UK because the claim was a flat out lie.

 

[LFC_SL]

Went to Apple store yesterday. Finally had Touch in (previously went in for Sumo and Classic).

Much smaller than I thought it would be. As expected greasy fingerprint galore but the UI is just so easy to use. It was like instinct. Unfortunately couldn't test Safari and YouTube. Photo, video and music navigation worked quite well though. Couldn't test SQ as no headphones were plugged in the demo units... one small gripe is black plastic in corner on the back for I presume the wi-fi

Hopefully next gen Apple revert to to non-shiny back for their iPod line

 

[Veniogenesis]

By the way, iPod Touches with Macy Gray on the boxes reportedly don't have the screen issues. (New hardware update.)

 

[abs@nilenet.com]

Can the Touch read songs from a remote iTunes library over wifi?

Happy Listening!

 

[indigo]

Ok, definite low hiss with the Shure E500's unamped, whereas there is no hiss with the E4Gs and the SFPs.

 

[MoSXS]

Quote:

My Iriver has a replaceable battery. I just take a few screws off and pop the cover off. I can even put in a higher capacity battery that gets 30+ hr life. IIRC, the high capacity battery is about $17.

So.... somehow taking your iRiver apart counts as a "user replaceable battery"... but taking apart an iPod to replace the battery is not?

Quote:

Here is an article about just how durable the nanos are, notice the class action law suit at the end, it wouldn't be the first time apple lies to its customers.

So... now an article based entirely on speculation is somehow more accurate than the link I posted, which showed actual abuse tests and how well the iPod nano stood up to it?

Oh, and whatever happened to that iPod nano lawsuit? Yeah, it went nowhere. Nothing but a bunch of fluff from some idiots who dropped their iPod in their pockets with their keys and wondered why it got all scratched up.

Quote:

Remember the "fastest computer in the world" ad for the G5? It was banned in the UK because the claim was a flat out lie.

No, it was banned because the group that oversees that kind of thing in the UK didn't like Apple's method of testing.

At least Apple hasn't used racist advertising, like iRiver did in South Korea.

 

[francineee]

MoSXS <-- maybe you should try working for Mac. what a fanboy. =/

 

[MoSXS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by francineee /img/forum/go_quote.gif MoSXS <-- maybe you should try working for Mac. what a fanboy. =/

I love how people whip out the "F" word when you've done nothing but tell the truth

Oh and you want me to work for a product? Not a company?

 

[Mark Larson]

Now now kids, play nice.

You know, cell phones could be so much more... we don't need a 5G network for streaming music, its all there right now but nobody is doing anything with it. Take my Moto Q for example. It has sucky Windows Media Player on it, comes with sucky headphones with a sucky 2.5mm jack, and has a sucky miniSD card format instead of SD or built-in memory. The only thing I like about it is the ability to add programs, but what good is that when there are no good programs available? MS intentionally, by its own admission doesn't put its full weight into application development because they want to create a market for 3rd party developers to make mini-apps and charge $20 for something that should have come built in and integrated.

The PC model is not working for phones, and I can see Apple going very, very far with the iPhone/iPod touch "we supply everything but the network" paradigm.

It has a 3G connection to the Internet that I can use to stream music from online radio sites or from my own personal machine, but its NOTHING like Apple would do. Everything is a hackjob. Sprint doesn't even supports their "Sprint radio" on it like they do on my other phone, an m610.

Apple does stuff right, IMO. And I'm the farthest thing from a fanboy of ANY company.

Look at how everyone else did wifi and touchscreens, and how Apple did it. They did it right, and they get mad respect for that.

 

[OverlordXenu]

You miss that the Q9 is just a smartphone, not a PDAphone. If you used a real pdaphone, like I have (i730, i760 when it comes out, soon hopefully), I could never go to a device like the iPhone, lose all my third party applications (Kayako, billing software, database management, SSH), a real keyboard, Slingplayer, and the ability for me to just load up Visual Studio and write a quick and dirty app if I need something. Not to mention the iPhone (or iTouch, for that matter) can't go and hook up with a bluetooth GPS receiver and use real navigation software, Google maps is no substitute. The iPhone is just too, well, useless for me. Not to mention I don't see how you can say removable memory is a con...I can carry around as many SD cards as I want, and when I get the i760, as many microSD cards as I want...Not to mention there are already 8gig microSD cards coming out, and the standard goes up from there. The iPhone isn't directed to me.

I have seen an iTouch in real life, and boy, that thing is thin.

Also, WM devices are superior, because if MS didn't add in a feature you want, you can most likely add it in yourself, or buy it from someone. If Apple didn't include something you want, you can't add it, unless you want to hack your phone and void your warranty.