| Sunday, September 16, 2007 |
19:16 - iWant one, iGuess
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Stopped by the Apple Store today on the way to a movie, and played around with the new iPods.
Something I noticed about the nano—aside from the fact that it's really, really thin and shaped very attractively—is that its screen interface response seems really sluggish. Moving between screens, and especially using the Cover Flow interface, take a second or so to activate, at least some of the time. It's more than a little distracting. I compared it to the response on the iPod classic, which has ostensibly the same software feature set; the classic was much snappier. But then, the classic seems oddly bulky and heavy now, possibly because the new nano invites more direct comparison than it used to—now there's no intentional differentiation beyond capacity, so the things that are different incidentally—weight, bulk, interface speed—really stand out more than they used to.
I also noticed that the front faceplates of most of the display iPod classics in the store seemed to be blemished—scraped, nicked, gouged. I don't know what caused it or how easy it is to happen compared to past iPods, but somehow this anodized, bulging front faceplate seems to attract abuse. Now to just hope it resists it better in people's pockets.
The iPod touch, though, I found I have mixed feelings about. Sure, it's cool, and sure, the interface is super-slick; but I don't know if I'm just getting super-mega-ultra-jaded in my old age, or if Apple's just been spoiling us lately, but the experience of using it is oddly anticlimactic. I mean, yeah, I've played with an iPhone already. I know how it works. It's pretty much the same thing, without the camera or phone or maps or a few other things. Yeah, I can see using it. I'm sure it would revolutionize my life the way the original one did. But it didn't speak to me.
(Then again, maybe it was just the asinine comments I kept hearing from the people shouldering their way through the store:
"It's the new iPod."
"Oh, the iPod touch?"
"Yeah, it's like the iPhone without the phone."
"Well that's pretty stupid."
Meh.)
Anyway—it's quite a lineup, that's for sure. But I don't need to go out and buy an upgrade just right now. There's plenty to like about the 5G I have.
And I'm not just saying that because it's looking at me with big sad puppy-dog eyes.
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Brian Tiemann
