iPod Touch Followup

So I've had my iPod Touch for a couple weeks now, and I thought I'd follow up with more information about my experience with it.

For the most part I'm still happy with it.  There is one problem which is pretty significant, though, and something that I hope Apple addresses in a future version of it... And that is it's battery life.

I noticed that battery life seemed short compared to other devices I've used, but after a couple weeks playing with this, I'm a little perplexed.  If I had been watching a lot of video on it I'd understand; its hard to keep a backlit display running for any period of time on a battery, but even when the Touch isn't turned on it still drains the battery too quickly. 

I first noticed it on my first full day at my parents.  I hadn't touched it (no pun intended) all day, and though I had charged it the previous night, the battery was down to about 60% charge.  Odd.  Maybe it's cause I had it set to check for new email every 30 minutes?  So I turn that off.  Several days had better life, but none managed to store over 90% of the battery even when the device wasn't ever turned on.  Then today was the worst I've seen.  Automatic email checking turned off, device charged overnight last night, didn't turn it on even once today, and when I went to check it tonight it had drained to less than 10% charge.  It was low enough that it had completely shut itself off (not just gone to sleep) and I had to plug it in and restart it to make it come up.  Something seems amiss.

Other than the battery life it is still a pretty good device.  As I had suspected previously, it doesn't make a great music player because of its lack of tactile buttons.

Oh, one more issue: I have to plug my iPod Touch into my computer to charge it.  Plugging it into a USB charger doesn't work; the Touch just ignores it.  This means I can't charge it in my truck, and I have to keep a computer running to keep it charged.  Not a deal breaker, but it is annoying.

Compared to my Zune

In one of my first blog posts I mentioned I bought an 80GB Zune back in November.  A lot of people on the internet are comparing the Zune to the iPod Touch (though they are two entirely different devices which shouldn't really be compared).  Here's my two cents, since I own both:

Sound Quality: On my Shure E3s I can hear HDD motor spinup and seeking sounds from the Zune at the beginning of each music track.  Fortunately it does go away after the music starts playing.   The iPod Touch doesn't have this problem (it has no HDD).  I like the overall sound of both, with the Zune having a slight edge in fidelity, aside from the noise.  Winner: If you have a "normal" set of headphones: Zune.  If you have high sensitivity in-ear monitors, iPod Touch.  As for the included headphones: the ones with the iPod (any iPod) are absolutely awful, and anyone using them should throw them away and buy ANYTHING else.  Apple has really insulted (and may be damaging) our ears here, folks, and most people don't know any better.  The headphones with the 80GB Zune are acceptable, and are remarkably better than the ones shipped with iPods.  (Trivia: Apple switched the Left and Right headphone connections on the iPod compared to the industry standard.  If you use headphones other than ones certified for use with the iPod, the left/right channels will be swapped, if you care.) 

Music Playback: Zune's user interface is much more flexible, iPod's may be a bit easier to use, with significantly less functionality, and definitely less consistency.  The lack of physical hardware buttons make music playback on the iPod awkward.  Winner: Zune, easily.

Video Performance: The iPod's bigger screen is definitely a plus.  But the Zune supports more file formats: everything the iPod does, plus several more.  The Zune features composite video output on its headphone jack, the iPod requires a $50 Apple cable to output to a TV.  Winner: depends on your needs.  For me, its a hard call.  I like the bigger screen, but I have a lot of video that won't play on the Touch.  Either way, both devices are huge upgrades from the iPod Classic or Nano for video. 

Audio Books: iPod currently supports Audible, Zune's support is coming later this year.  Winner: iPod, for now; later this year it will be a draw.

Battery Life: Zune wins here, hands down.  No matter what you are doing, the Zune definitely lasts a lot longer even though it has a HDD, which is odd.  Winner: Zune.

Internet: It should be obvious: the iPod touch can browse the web, check email, watch YouTube videos, download music directly from iTunes.  The Zune doesn't have any of these capabilities.  Winner: iPod.

User interface:  The iPod's interface is definitely flashier, no question.  But in my opinion it puts style over substance too often.  As far as actual usability goes, I prefer the Zune's more consistent GUI (it's always the same and doesn't vary between "applications"), which is actually easier to use once you understand its paradigm.  Winner: Zune by a touch.  :)

Capacity:  The iPod's 8/16/32GB storage is no match for the 80GB Zune at a lower price.   Winner: Clearly Zune.

Non-PMP Flexibility: The iPhone's SDK is likely to be made available for the iPod Touch, so any applications which don't use iPhone-specific hardware (like the phone, or Bluetooth) will probably run on a Touch after it has been upgraded.  Google Maps using the Touch's interface is awesome.  The Zune is now expandable via XNA Game Studio, allowing custom applications to be developed by anyone using Visual Studio.  Winner: iPod.

Software: I'm not a fan of iTunes; it has become bloated, cluttered, tries to be and do too many things, and it has always had stability problems.  The Zune software is simple and clean, and overall pretty good, but is somewhat buggy.    The ironic thing is that iTunes looks like a bloated Microsoft application from 10 years ago, and the Zune software looks like something Apple might create if it decided to use a little color in its software designs.  Gotta love the irony.  Winner: Zune.

Cool factor: No description needed.  Winner: iPod Touch.

Appearance:  We all know the iPods scratch if you so much as look at them or even enter the same room, but it has better styling.  Winner: Draw.

Product name: Inconsequential, but I felt like including it anyway, cause it bugs me.  I have always hated the name "iPod."  Sounds like something out of a really bad 1960s movie.  ("Oh no!  The iPod is coming!")  And the "Touch" part doesn't win me over either; it sounds like something a dirty old man might do.  Ick.  They should have called it the iPod Fondle or iPod Grope.  Who names these things?   So uncool.  Not that Zune is a perfect name either, but it sounds cooler than iPod.   Winner: I somewhat reluctantly give Zune the nod here.

Anyway, I'm tired.  So I'm posting now.