Playing with the Ipod Touch - some thoughts — Nokia N95 and N95 8GB

bchliu 07 Sep 2008, 02:09

I am not a big fan of the iPhone ever since the launch and really have thought that Apple has in some ways been misleading public (eg. pricing and specifications / performance of the iphone in comparison to the competitors).

Anyway.. As much as that seems like a contradicting statement, I have actually bought an ipod touch (which is basically an iphone - without the phone).

since then I have been checking out a lot of the demos and apps that the Ipod Touch / Iphone offers and some of them are very remarkable.. The use of the accelerometer has to be one of the best things on it (since the ipod touch/iphone lacks keys to really play games or do things)..

For example - Crash Bandicoot racing is really nice (the graphics are about the same as the accelerated N95 version) but the control by tilting to turn the car is fantastic.

Other games like Poker Dice (yahtzee type thing) by shaking the ipod/iphone to throw the dice has been pretty cool.. and Monkey Ball is fun to play..

The N95 has equivalent stuff - but because Nokia's refusal to standardise their handsets with this sort of hardware is really forcing the software makers to include this sort of functionality.

Finally - the 3D Acceleration.. This has been talked to death on this board and I really raise objections to Nokia dropping the support for this useful feature.

The Iphone/Ipod Touch uses the hardware acceleration to render 2D stuff on the screen (eg. magnifying a webpage in safari or zooming in on pictures). This functionality can refine the interface dramatically by making things more seemless between the screen displays - whether it is zooming or flicking between things.

I guess it is this definition that makes the Apple UI seem so classy - unlike N95 pausing (to wait for the processing) before flicking to the updated display.

Mind you - I am not an Iphone convert by a long way. I still love my N95 with all the functionality of it all still triumphing over nearly every phone on the Current market. But if Nokia wants to stay in the lead against the competition, then these factors seriously need to be thought about.

For now, the best of both worlds (for me at least) is to have my N95 and Ipod Touch (which is my equivalent to the new category "MID" - mobile Internet Device).

--End rant.. 😊 😊

Dechen 07 Sep 2008, 04:53

I find myself agreeing with you regarding Nokia's lacking of certain technologies that (e.g., 3D Acceleration) would otherwise bring the UI experience to another level. I always try my hands on any new device that declares its stand above all other "smart" devices.

So having extensively used the iPhone 3G I came away impressed with how they used such technology features but it stopped with that. So, I sold my iPhone 3G and went back to my Nokia N95-4 8GB. I could not do without all the functionalities that I had taken for granted with my Nokia smartphone. I considered getting an iTouch but am willing to wait for Nokia's UI touch instead.

So I await for Nokia to do what they have been known to do and innovate but in this case it may also be doing a bit of catching up ...

zxon 07 Sep 2008, 20:32

If I were to move over to the iPod, I'd probably get an iPod Touch. My folks have one each which meant I got a chance to play with them, helping them set them up and get some music on them. In general, it's not a bad interface, and as long as your music is organised properly, it's easy to find what you want to listen to. Also internet browsing isn't all that bad on it either. What really puts me off though, is the iTunes software.

Everything above are things I haven't checked out on them yet and it got me thinking... good software for the n95 is really drying up. It seems everyone is focusing on the iPod all the time *eesh!*