iPod Touch-es Down in Canada, But Don't Get Your Hopes Up

I own an iPod Touch - I ordered it as soon as the Apple Store reopened after Steve Jobs' keynote a few weeks back.

The wifi is terrific - I think you're expecting a bit much from this thing out of the gate. The Safari browser is quite useful if you leave aside the no-file-access part... and blogging is quite possible if you use web interfaces for things... Just don't try to do things that the ipod touch can't do... yet. And email is easy. I use gmail's mobile version and it works fine. If you know the web address of an image you can easily incorporate it into a message board post, etc. For the time being there are things this iPod can't do - but the potential is definitely there. I'm very happy with it. Sitting on my front porch checking my email is a new pleasure for me and I can do it while listening to my favourite tunes, or watching Nelvana's "Cosmic Christmas" on the very capable little screen. There are dozens of webapps already written for the iPhone that also work on the Touch as well.

Why people are thinking this is some kind of iPhone lite is beyond me. It's an iPod with a touch interface and wifi.

Checked out the touch yesterday at the Eaton Centre. The wifi / safari is a HUGE letdown. No flash, entering passwords for web based email is frustrating at best, pages don't resolve correctly. Reading web page information is tedious, having to zoom and scroll, no pdf support, locked interface, the list goes on. It's a fun toy, though I can play MP3's, watch videos and surf the web from my PSP and it's about as elegant.

Pass on this iteration.

I didn't realize I'd have a post written about my frivolous consumerism habits :) Actually, I consider the iPhone anything *but* frivolous. It's turned out to be extraordinarily useful, and has finally brought the idea of 'convergence' to reality for me.

Like many people, I used to grab my iPod and cell phone whenever I left the house. The simplicity of just having one device for both functions now is awesome, particularly the way the two integrate together (calls come in over the headphones of the iPhone if you're watching a video or listening to music).

The keyboard is great, but not so great that you won't feel it in your hands after 12 hours of continuous liveblogging and battling with the incessant logons required for Hydro's WiFi service (a password memory feature would be great here).

The touch is a beautiful device as a media player, just don't expect it to do much more than that. Safari is a huge bonus as well as the WiFi, but Apple's really locked down the 'write' data functionality, as you mention.

I'm a fairly technical guy, so I'm more than okay routing around Apple's software updates that will potentially cripple the phone, but for anyone who doesn't know what the terms SSH or FTP are, I wouldn't recommend trying to unlock this thing on your own.

Wow, I am glad I read this, I had forgotten about the no filesystem/flash thing, and needless to say Safari won't really be all it can be without them.

Also, a word to the wise: if you're gonna get one, buy it in the states. it's $30 cheaper, although you will have to add all your extraneous British U's to its dictionary ;)

The ipod touch doesn't make much sense to me. It's alluring to have a touchscreen ipod with some web access, but it seems 10x cooler to have more web access along with iphone in roughly the same package. I picked up an iphone, and i'm blown away by all the ways it rocks. It's the ultimate convergence device that apple is only allowing a small segment of the market to use. Instead, they're trying to appease Canadians and non-AT&T customes with this partially crippled device. Sure it's sexy looking, but it could be so much more than it actually is.

Put the touch screen and Wifi on a 160GB iPod classic and I'd be all over it.

The last thing I need is to be able to check my email when I'm not at a computer. Personally, I need what little time away from it that I can get. To each their own on that, but I dread a dread like no other dread the day that my company gets me a blackberry...

For an mp3 player, I still ADORE my Creative Zen 30gb video player. It has an awesome drag and drop piece of software, and plays DivX files, meaning most any video I download plays perfectly with no conversions necessary. I've also dropped it not once, not twice, but thrice, really hard, and it still plays without a hitch. Again, to each their own; I HATE iTunes, probably because I have no need to use it otherwise and can't wrap my mind around how non-user friendly it is when compared to a more barebones solution like Winamp.

Lastly, the whole touch screen thing... I don't see the draw of it outside of using it for the web, which I have no desire for, personally. when it comes to entertainment on the go, I have my Zen for music and video, and a DS for some dual screen touch-enabled gaming action. Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass is EFF-ING-AWE-SOME, and that shit ain't possible on an iPhone.

Daryl, what would they have to change to get you "all over it"?

See, Ryan, in my case I want such a functional portable net / media device in order to do what's important to me online on the fly and not ever feel the need to sit down hunched over at an actual computer desk.

I've always found the promise of Web 2.0 to be in its ability to let you use technology to interact more with the real world, while up until this point the internet had done so much to keep people locked up inside instead.

and Hamish, without the ability to upload images, blogging is not possible as far as I'm concerned, and I'm talking strictly about MT/WP web-based blogging. Same goes for attachments, yes I could check web-based email (somehow I don't have much faith in Windows Live functioning since it hardly works on an actual computer) but its the ability to send attachments that's lacking, critical for me.

Wow that's not much extra functionality. Considering the iphone is starting to become readily available in Toronto, I wouldn't even look at this.

Well I have the iPod touch. Although there are many things it does not have that the iPhone has, especially EDGE network, it is one of the most amazing gadgets I have ever owned. The UI is so easy to use my Nephew of 5 can use all the features. It has the best mobile internet in the world. Simple, fast and easy to use. The ability to zoom in and out of web pages at the tap of a finger makes surfing on a small screen a pleasure. The lack of a dedicated email client and an imputable calendar is off set by Google who's email and calendar mobile pages are a breeze to use. Now if the iPhone was to "become readily available in Toronto" You should wait for it. But from all the blogs and news sites I've read Rogers is nowhere near coming to an agreement with Apple over getting the iPhone to Canada. With the crazy data rates in this country a months worth of unlimited EDGE would cost you $700. I think the iPod touch is a great stop gap device for anyone who is waiting for the iPhone with bated breath.

I've owned the iPod Touch for a week now, and have no complaints with it.

In fact - having migrated from a 5th Gen 60G video iPod - the new device does everything I want it to very well.

The user interface is amazing, the video quality is fine (and much, much brighter than my 5th Gen video iPod), the Wifi iTunes Music Store is a dream to use ...

Even Safari loads well and smoothly.

My own note of disappointment (and this is a minor one, compared to other people's gripes) is that the YouTube feature does not work consistently, but then again, I primarily use my iPod for watching video podcasts (news, etc), and for listening to my music.

One thing I haven't seen anyone else comment on is the new feature that will allow you to sync your Yahoo contact information directly on to your iPod Touch. Convenient, because it will let you edit your contact information on the iPod, and will sync ot with your Yahoo contacts list. (It may do the same with gmail contacts, but I haven't tried it.)

Will I get an iPhone when it is rolled out? Sure, but I don't see Rogers and Apple coming to terms on the data plan issue any time soon. (I have a 100 MB data plan with Rogers for my PDA, and it is $100 a month - either Rogers or Apple will have to bend on their idea of data price plans, and I don't see it happening soon enough to warrant denying myself this significant improvement to the iPod line.)

My final advice? Consider the iPod Touch to be the next evolution to the iPod line, and not a stripped down iPhone. The comparisons cannot be helped, but they do detract from the beauty and simplicity of use that this new device offers.

I noted that no Notes feature exists and, though the Calendar exists, you can't edit it through the iPod itself and have to sync it from a computer. Well, that is literally true, but someone did come up with a way to compensate if you aren't using the Contacts feature for its intended use:
http://lifehacker.com/software/video-demonstration/manage-a-to+do-list-with-your-ipod-touch-306485.php

Guy in Toronto did a good review with video.
http://www.mipsscan.com/2007/10/a-quick-look-at.html