Re: iPod Touch

On 20 Sep, 18:30, Sarah Brown <sarahli...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Just had a play with one in Regent Street. Immediate thoughts - the
interface is very nice - not quite as fluid as one might be led to
believe from the ads, bit still pretty good. The only real irritation
was that when holding it at a comfortable viewing angle, it wasn't
great at detecting a change in orientation. The onscreen keyboard
works well enough, although I found it a little bit hit and miss -
someone with large fingers might have trouble.

I'm replying to this using a Touch, typing with both thumbs in
landscape mode. It really isn't bad at all, in fact significantly
quicker, and with fewer errors, than using Graffiti on my Palm TX -
and orders of magnitude faster than T9 texting my SE K800i phone.
Anyone who used the browser on a PSP will know the screen was lovely,
but text entry was a complete no-no. I've never used a Blackberry, so
can't compare with that.

I set up the Touch on the train using a Powerbook. The Contact and
Calendar syncing was faultless. A great touch is the Safari bookmark
syncing. It 'just works' and is very well implemented.

As for the interface, I was expecting to be slightly underwelmed, but
it just feels alive. 'Flicking' through Contacts or playlists is just
as much fun as it looks. My 6-year-old was playing with the photo
viewer today and was 'pinching' in and out, and flicking between
photos within seconds. She loved it.

For me, it is a seriously clever and compelling piece of kit which far
surpasses my expectations.

The only disappointment is the 'flat' look of the Calendar, which
doesn't preserve the different colours of multiple calendars from
iCal. As well as not being able to enter events. But the positives far
outweigh these drawbacks.

Unfortunately, this means that far from putting me off buying an
iPhone, or delaying the purchase, it makes it more likely I'll get one
sooner. In fact on the strength of the Touch my partner will probably
get an iPhone. She is a phone Luddite (1) and continues to use a very
old Nokia, but she loved the idea of getting Flickr on her phone.

Danny

(1) Nice touch. The inboard dictionary had 'Luddite' in it, and
capitalised it.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Question about Abstract classes and Interfaces
    ... Cylinder and Circle classes all implement the interface. ... Secondly, about Abstract classes. ... It can't be a calendar object ... you can use its name to refer to any instance of a subclass. ...
    (comp.lang.java.programmer)
  • Re: [9fans] GSOC: Drawterm for the iPhone
    ... iPhone on an OS level directlya drawterm ... that conformed to Apple's guidelines could provide a novel interface ... to experiment with new forms of input and ways of hooking into Plan 9. ... If the iPhone drawterm: ...
    (comp.os.plan9)
  • Re: Rivals no match for iPhone
    ... the iPhone interface has no match. ... The interface isn't the only major feature. ... Then you are a blatant liar or have a 10" thumb. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Rivals no match for iPhone
    ... the iPhone interface has no match. ... The interface isn't the only major feature. ... Then you are a blatant liar or have a 10" thumb. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: About that Android fragmentation (or why the app market sucks)
    ... difference between the Hero and Galaxy Tab or the iPhone and the iPad, ... it's kind of silly just to blow up your interface by a factor of two ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)