4Th Gen iPod Touch - Almost Set to Replace the iPhone

I've just got the new 32GB iPod touch for a few hours. Haven't gotten to know it well yet. One of the thing that sticks in my mind as I try to clean myself of Steve Jobs' reality distortion field is that this touch is being called an iPhone without the contract.

Is it?

My first impression is “wow, this is freaking thin!” And as I unceremoniously took it out of the clear plastic case and done away with the wrapping, I held it in my hand, to get sense of the lightness of the device.

It’s not going to fly off my palm in a puff of breezy wind on a Santa Ana day but you can forget that it’s in your hand if it was something else.

The touch has the same elegant screen as the iPhone 4. Almost. While it retains the Retina Display, Apple left a little something out (IPS), likely to help keep the cost down. I’m okay with that. I can’t tell the difference and I’m certain most folks can’t. Nor do most people try to read an ebook at an extreme angle.

The second thing I noticed is the speed. My 2G iPhone is no comparison and when I get the chance, I’ll check compare touch with the iPhone 4. Definitely, I’ll see how things look compared to the iPad.

What I really want to see is how the quality of the HD video capture is on the touch. As you may well know, the 720p video capture on the touch is using a less than 1MP sensor while the iPhone 4 is endowed with a 5MP back camera. I saw a sample on iLounge but it was limited. I’ll have places to go, please to see this weekend so I hope to provide with a better sense of what we get with the touch.

I bought the touch in a leap of faith. And while I’m impressed with it, I hope you wouldn’t have to do that. I called up the Apple store and they ran out of the 32GB model (they only had the 8GB model. For the price, it was no comparison). So I chanced that Best Buy might have some and they did.

So speed and lightness is what I’ve been able to get in the hour or so of use. I’m gonna check out Game Center more in depth tonight.

 Check back soon and this weekend to see if I'm ready to call this the iPhone without the contract.