Hands-on with the iPod touch
The new iPod touch from Apple is in a class by itself. It's like an iPhone, only without the phone. It's a music player, though not your best choice if that's what you're looking for. It's a wonderful video player and web browser, despite certain limitations.
Most important, it's beautiful, and I bet it sells like crazy, even at US$299 for an 8-gigabyte version and $399 for 16GB.
The chief attraction of the touch is the web browser which technology is shared with the iPhone and is by far the best on any handheld device. None of the others let you magnify or shrink the contents of a large web page by spreading or pinching your thumb and index finger, or drag a page just by touching the screen. However, the touch shares a major defect with the iPhone: the inability to play Adobe Flash.
The touch screams out for comparison to the iPhone, which costs the same as the 16GB version but offers half the storage. The new iPod has the same general appearance, with a similar 3.5-in. display, but is shorter, noticeably thinner, and features the iPod's trademark polished metal back. Its basic software is the same as the iPhone's, though tweaked in some interesting ways. WiFi is the only wireless option. That means no voice service, but also no commitment to pay at least $1,400 over a two-year contract.
Read the full article here.
