I recently had the opportunity to venture into an Austrian electronics store and get my hands onto an iPod touch 2G for a few minutes. Here’s what I found out!
At a first glance, one can immediately see that the device’s back is now convex rather than flat. Also, the headphone jack was cut out in a more “aggressive” fashion. The two volume buttons on the side feel stable – from a mechanical point of view, there’s little not to like.
The internal speaker is nothing but a joke. I tried it out in the store, and had problems hearing it even at full volume. Devices like the Nokia N96 are a lot louder – I am pretty sure that nobody will want to use his iPod touch 2G as a jukebox.
The software of the device is largely the same as the one found on my 2G. However, the toggles look different on the German OS – on my English iPod touch, the toggles say on and off rather than I and O:
Furthermore, a new item was added to the settings:
I personally had the feeling that the 1G has the better screen – as I didn’t have it on me at the time, I will perform this test another time.
A bit of persuasion led to a clerk revealing the following information:
The iPod touch 2G sells pretty well here (especially as Christmas is coming close). However, there is one extremely interesting trend: most of the devices sold are 8GB versions. The 16 and 32GB versions are tied, but both sell an order of magnitude less than the 8GB version (which goes for just 229 Euros, editor).
In the end, I am not too sure if the iPod touch 2G is too valuable an upgrade. Even though it feels mechanically well-made, I am not sure of the internal qualities. People who already have an iPod touch should definitely save the money – people who currently want one should probably get an 8GB model as it is about as expensive as used 1G devices and comes with warranty.
P.S. I might go and buy one with my AMEX (thank god for the return protection) and do a shoot-out – if anyone of you is interested, please let me know!
Related posts:
I do not know what you are talking about the new ipod touch is 10 times better than the other ipod touch. The speakers are great i can hear them great so get your ears checked by the way the only thing i like more about the first ipod touch is the fact that you can jailbreak it so ya that is all i have to say so go play with it again at a new store and then update this blog so you make it sound as good as it really is.
JRR
Hi Jay,
I am very sorry if my review has offended you!
However, I tested the iPod touch 2G against my N96, which was a lot louder (and could be clearly heard in the loud store).
As already said above: it is not a bad device. Instead, it is just not a worthy upgrade IMHO…
All the best
Tam Hanna