User review: iPod Touch 32 GB 2G

March 1, 2009 by Charles Wilkes

I have had this exact model for several months now, and I really love it — it goes everywhere I go. It has the clearest screen I have ever seen on such a small device, and I bought the first Zune, but don’t use it anymore, as it doesn’t compare with my touch except in one thing — it can tune in the FM band which I would my touch could.

I also have a Kindle which I got when it was first announced, and now have over 600 books on it. But since I got my Touch, I no longer bother to bring my Kindle with me, since it’s much easier to read on the backlit color screen of the Touch. And with the 32 GB model I have, I really don’t know how many books I can host on it, but it’s got to be a lot. And of course everything on my Touch is backed up to my desktop everytime I plug it in, so I could easily just erase books as I finish reading them on my Touch, since I can always upload them again if I want to read it again (never happens with me).

I didn’t buy the iPhone, since I really dislike AT&T and wasn’t about to pay them the huge monthly fee they want to support it. But I did buy the ear buds with microphone from Apple, and if I am on a WiFi hot spot, using my Touch with a very cheap (there are several) I can use it as a telephone very happily. However one problem is that many places haven’t woken up to provide free WiFi, like all public buildings and commercial restaurants should do to attract and hold customers in these days of poor economics. And I live in San Jose, billed as the heart of Silicon Valley. Boy — how out of touch people can be of new technologies.

I now have six screens full of menu items, but I understand the limit is 9 — and I will reach that for sure — so increasing this is very important to me, and it should also be important to people who sell apps for it on iTunes. Here’s my wish list, but I suspect these can never happen without improved hardware, which I can no longer wish for due to the expense involved in replacing it.

1. I wish it had a camera like most telephones do these days. My older Nokia doesn’t have a camera, but is a perfectly good cell phone when I am out of WiFi hot spot areas with my Touch.

2. I wish it had a built-in microphone. It can record sound, but I hate to have to plug in my ear buds with microphone accessory just to get a microphone. At least it has a built in speaker.

3. I wish it had a built in memory card — I like having the full 32 GB, but what will I do when I max out with things which I don’t want to offload to my host desktop.

Charles Wilkes, San Jose, Calif.

Pro & Con

Pro	Con
Thin, fits my shirt pocket, has a beautiful stainless case Has a very wonderfully sharp fully backlit screen which is very easy to read Has never had the battery run out of juice, and I use it lots	Would like a built in Microphone, built in Camera, and a built in memory card removing all memory restrictions like I have on my Kindle

Rating

Rated by Charles Wilkes

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