When writing about the multimedia capabilities of the iPhone this summer , I called it “ the iPod that ’s really a phone . ” You could say that the iPod touch — inclose by Apple this week as part of itsoverhauled medicine actor line — is the iPhone that ’s really an iPod . After all , the touchscreen iPod parcel much of the interface and excogitation of the iPhone .
The iPod speck wo n’t ship until later in September . So like everyone else who attended this week ’s insistency event , I left Moscone Center without one of these new iPods in hand . However , I spent enough quality fourth dimension twirling , tapping , and pressing my way around each iPod ’s interface in Apple ’s demo country . Here are some first impressions .
Like the iPhone
The iPod touch is so similar to the iPhone that I could easy throw up any past iPhone clause , using global lookup and replace to substituteiPod touchforiPhone . Rather than do so , let me direct your care to Macworld ’s iPhone topic area where you ’ll find articles dissecting the iPhone ’s interface and applications .
Just how similar is the iPod signature to the iPhone ? At first glimpse it could be false for Apple ’s earpiece . At 4.3 - by-2.4 - by-0.31 column inch , it ’s a piffling short and a second thin than the iPhone ’s 4.5 - by-2.4 - by-0.46 inches , but its kind is very standardized .
iPod touch
tight inspection reveals that it lacks the pocket-sized slit at the top of the machine where iPhone users place their ear for listen to headphone margin call . The sides are black rather than brushed aluminum , there are no physical volume buttons , and the top lacks a headphone port wine . ( That port is on the bottom of the iPod ghost . ) of course , there ’s also no SIM slot , though the iPod touch include an On / Off release .
Flip the iPod over and you see no camera like you would on the iPhone but the upper - lead corner is black , hint at the Wi - Fi circuitry inside . The bottom of the twist sports the traditional 30 - pin dockage connector embrasure and , as I mentioned , the earpiece port , which , thankfully unlike the iPhone ’s same - appoint port , is notrecessed . There ’s no verbaliser or mike on the iPod speck .
In terms of the iPhone ’s iPod functionality , the iPod touch sensation is identical . beg Music and you ’ll see the same options as you do on an iPhone — with Playlists , Artists , Songs , Videos , and More buttons at the bottom of the filmdom . ( The More push button include these other classification entries : Albums , Audiobooks , Compilations , Composers , Genres , and Podcasts ) . As with the iPhone , bend the iPod trace on its side and you’re able to browse your music in Cover Flow survey by flicking your fingerbreadth to move through your collection of albums . Tap an record album cover and the masking flip around to reveal the content of the album . Tap a lead name to run it . The touchscreen is exactly as responsive as an iPhone ’s .
TV playback work much the same path as on an iPhone , but Apple has included a yoke of preferences options not currently see on the iPhone . Go to the iPod touch ’s configurations program , tap video , and you ’ll see Start Playing ( you choose between bulge out from the origin or sum up from where the television was last act on the iPod or within iTunes ) and Closed Captioning ( On / Off ) options and Widescreen and TV Signal TV Out options . ( Widescreen is an On / Off toggle and TV Signal lets you select NTSC or PAL . )
You habituate Start Playing to set whether to start at the root of a video or take up from where it left off .
The iPod ghost also carries many of the same lotion as the iPhone . You ’ll regain Safari , YouTube , Calendar , Clock , and Calculator . Each of these plant just as it does on the iPhone — Safari operates in both portraiture and landscape painting musical mode and all the flick and pinch motion sour just as they do on the iPhone — with the exception that any connection to a phone or Es - mail program has been sever . For instance , if you go into a contact ’s Info projection screen , you’re able to look at that contact ’s phone identification number or email savoir-faire but , unlike with the iPhone , tapping these spot of text wo n’t initiate a phone call or create an Es - mail .
( Okay , there ’s one apparent gain to the iPod touch ’s version of Safari . In Safari preferences I found a Developer option . Tap it and you come up the option to turn on or off a Debug Console , which purportedly helps you resolve Web page errors . This does n’t look like it ’s design for exploiter so it ’s quite potential it will vanish in the cargo ships interpretation of the iPod touching . )
With the iPhone touch , Apple has create a freestanding Contacts app rather than placing it inside the ( in this case , non - existent ) Phone area . Tap Contacts , and it , too , works just as it does on the iPhone . Here you could add together and edit liaison information as well as assign photos you ’ve stored on the iPod to a link .
This Developer pick is unlikely to be around by the sentence the iPod tactual sensation thread up in your hands — still , here ’s a picture .
Unlike an iPhone
The iPod touch miss all of the iPhone ’s communicating boast so you wo n’t find the Phone , Text , Stocks , Maps , and Weather applications . Because Safari is include , communicating is n’t wholly out . For example , through Safari , you ’ll be able to function webmail and , I assume , apply vane - based heartbeat message client that have been developed for the iPhone .
The iPod touch include the same Apple earbuds as Apple ’s other iPods . Some were hoping that it would include some kind of remote ascendancy , as the iPhone ’s headset does . alas , it appears that you may control an undocked iPod touch only by tapping and flicking its screen .
The Camera software is missing because the iPod touch miss a television camera . And , inexplicably , there ’s no Notes software , even though other video display - bearing iPods confirm syncing notes to the iPod and the iPod touch sensation includes a keyboard that you could use to compose note .
Unlike an iPhone , which is presently licensed to be sell in the U.S. only , the iPod touch will be sell worldwide later on in September . Because it will be an international machine , it must support other languages and keyboard layouts . Within a Keyboard Setting , you ’ll find an International Keyboards button that appropriate you to select a keyboard layout for the country in which you reside . In this same Keyboard Setting you find a fresh shortcut choice that I hope to see on the iPhone . rather of having to switch to the numeric keyboard to introduce a period of time , you could now simply double - strike the keyboard ’s outer space bar to stick in the menstruation and a following space .
foot a language and adjust the “ . ” shortcut on the iPod touch ’s Keyboard configurations screen .
iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store
The grand new lineament of the iPod touch is its ability to buy and download music directly from Apple via the forthcomingiTunes Wi - Fi Music Store . Just tap the iTunes icon in the bottom right quoin of the iPod touch and , via Wi - Fi , you ’re at The Store . Once there you’re able to tap the Featured , Top Tens , or lookup buttons at the bottom of the screenland . ( This area also includes a Downloads clit . )
feature includes three areas , available via buttons at the top of the covert — New Releases , What ’s blistering , and Genres . These work much as they do in the same - named areas of the iTunes Store ’s dwelling page . exploit New Releases , and you see a tilt of the hebdomad ’s coolest additions . What ’s Hot include democratic rubric . And tap Genres , and you ’ll see a list of usable genres . Tap a genre , and you ’ll see a list of recordings — new definitive liberation , for example — for that genre .
intercept Top Tens , and you ’ll find top songs and albums within finical musical style available from The Store .
Search is very iPhone - similar . Tap this push , and a Search field look . Apple ’s iPod Touch Guided Tour mention only that you could search by Artist . While play with the iPod in Apple ’s demonstration area we were capable to download individual songs to the demo units . It was n’t clear if you could search by anything other than artist . What was clear is that this is a music - only lineament . You ca n’t purchase and download video with the iPhone touch .
Tap any cut and a 30 - mo preview plays . To purchase a racecourse , tap the Mary Leontyne Price and then tap Buy Now . You ’ll be ask for your iTunes ID password , and your euphony begins to download . An icon on the Downloads button blinks , letting you cognise that music is downloading . Once the melodic line is download , you could represent it on the iPod . When you next sync your iPod , the tracks you ’ve purchased will be downloaded from the iPod to your computer .
The iPod touch will also eventually exhibit a Starbucks push . When you ’re in mountain range of a supported Starbucks outlet , this button appears . With it , you ’ll be able-bodied to preview and purchase tracks recently play at that finical Starbucks . You ’ll also be able-bodied to purchase other Starbucks - branded tracks .
And more?
While the iPod nano and iPod classic iPods are unlikely to let out greater secrets , there ’s in all likelihood more to learn about the iPod touch . Assuming that it ’s running OS X as is the iPhone , will it be ashackableas the iPhone — will you , for deterrent example , be able-bodied to install an e - mail client on it or copy the iPhone ’s Notes , Maps , Weather , and ancestry applications to it ? We ’ll know this , and more , when we have one in our mitt for skilful .
Stay tune for all this and more as we pose bridge player on the iPod touch in the coming hebdomad .
