iPod Apple's new iPod Touch-Retina Display, FaceTime

[kjk]

http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/

$229 for the 8G version...nice entry point for the Retina Display and FaceTime.

[leebase]

The new iPod touch will be a great ereader. I love the retina screen on my iPhone 4

Lee

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by kjk

http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/

$229 for the 8G version...nice entry point for the Retina Display and FaceTime.

It looks wonderful. Has almost everything I was looking for (lacks GPS, compass, still camera) in a very neat package.

Can't justify one at the moment though. :-(

[kjk]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It looks wonderful. Has almost everything I was looking for (lacks GPS, compass, still camera) in a very neat package.

Can't justify one at the moment though. :-(

the cameras can actually take still photos, surprisingly (I thought they used the old nano video-only camera)...but for some reason only 960x720 on the back, VGA quality from the front.

And yeah, no compass/GPS is such a bummer-really wish Apple would make it them standard features across the iOS devices.

[vonCZ]

I think I might like a new iPod Touch for both ereading and skypin', but: anyone know of a video (on youtube, etc) showing off the iPhone 4G's ereader capabilities? I've only found 3G links; i figure reading on the iPhone 4G is exactly like reading on the new iPod Touch, so I'd like to get an idea of what it's like. I use Stanza to read on my iPad; i like it. But wonder what reading on a 3.5-inch screen would be like; prolly pretty decent, i'm guessing, given the 960x640 resolution.

also, this might be a silly question, but: will the iPod Touch's front camera work with Skype? Somewhere I read something that made it sound like it might only work with FaceTime, but hopefully that's not the case.

[dwharrison]

Originally Posted by kjk

the cameras can actually take still photos, surprisingly (I thought they used the old nano video-only camera)...but for some reason only 960x720 on the back, VGA quality from the front.

And yeah, no compass/GPS is such a bummer-really wish Apple would make it them standard features across the iOS devices.

I'm not surprised the camera doesn't match the iPhone 4's. Beyond product differentiation and the fact that the entry level price on a Touch is 1/3 of the entry level price on a no-contract iPhone, the biggest reason is that there is likely simply not enough room in a thinner device. The size of the sensor in a digital camera depends in part on the focal length of a system (this is basic optics), and in a very thin device that sensor size is necessarily going to be smaller. Sticking a 5MP sensor in there would result in very small pixels relative to the iPhone, and likely very poor image quality. That's simple physics, and while improvements will allow the Touch camera to get better in coming years, it will likely never be as good as the thicker iPhone can have.

[dwharrison]

Originally Posted by vonCZ

I think I might like a new iPod Touch for both ereading and skypin', but: anyone know of a video (on youtube, etc) showing off the iPhone 4G's ereader capabilities? I've only found 3G links; i figure reading on the iPhone 4G is exactly like reading on the new iPod Touch, so I'd like to get an idea of what it's like. I use Stanza to read on my iPad; i like it. But wonder what reading on a 3.5-inch screen would be like; prolly pretty decent, i'm guessing, given the 960x640 resolution.

Well, the screen is still small but the text quality will be remarkably crisp.

I'm trying to convince my wife - who reads pretty much exclusively on her Touch now - that this is a very worthy update for her, just for that reason alone.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by dwharrison

Well, the screen is still small but the text quality will be remarkably crisp.

I'm trying to convince my wife - who reads pretty much exclusively on her Touch now - that this is a very worthy update for her, just for that reason alone.

Definitely worthy-my wife reads/watches pretty much exclusively on her iPhone..and the jump from the 3G to the 4 with Retina Display is a huge improvement, she says.

[leebase]

I started ereading on my iPhone 3G. My wife and kids read on their iPod touches. For novels, it's a fine platform for reading. The retina screen makes it even better. I find myself reading more on my iPhone again now that it has the retina screen.

The iPad screen size is still much better for web browsing

Lee

[dwharrison]

Originally Posted by kjk

Definitely worthy-my wife reads/watches pretty much exclusively on her iPhone..and the jump from the 3G to the 4 with Retina Display is a huge improvement, she says.

Oh, I don't need to be convinced; I'm still trying to find an instock iPhone 4 here in Canada to buy. :-)

[JeremyZ]

I ordered one of these the other day. Amazon estimates it won't ship for another 2-3 weeks. It is going to be a long wait.

I'm excited because I've never had an iPhone, and the last PDA I had was an original Palm III back in the 90s.

I'll probably use it to replace my Game Boy DS as a portable game, the odd web surfing session, and as an eReader when I didn't think I would need one and left my K2 at home.

To those of you who've got iPhone 4s, what can I expect from this in terms of an eReader? Is it usable, or is it just way too much scrolling? Can one zoom in on the text, or is one stuck with the whole page on a screen?

Thanks.

[vonCZ]

Originally Posted by JeremyZ

To those of you who've got iPhone 4s, what can I expect from this in terms of an eReader?

yes, please tell!



Also, can one Skype (with video) with the Ipod Touch 4G? It looks like it should work:

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/get-sky...one-for-skype/

[HarryT]

I really don't think that the iPhone 4 or iPod Touch makes a good reader - for me, at least, the screen is just too small. It's fine for occasional "waiting in a line" type reading, but not for long reading sessions.

[dwharrison]

Originally Posted by JeremyZ

To those of you who've got iPhone 4s, what can I expect from this in terms of an eReader? Is it usable, or is it just way too much scrolling? Can one zoom in on the text, or is one stuck with the whole page on a screen?

I got my iPhone 4 last Friday so this is based on a week of usage.

The text quality is phenomenal; the Retina display makes this incredibly readable. Compared to my iPhone 3GS, I'm reading one font size smaller in iBooks and the Kindle app with no increase in eyestrain.

But it's still a 3.7" screen, so for reflowable text (Kindle/epub/etc), you are going to be changing pages more than you would on an actual Kindle or an iPad. Still, I find myself reading on my iPhone 4 more than I did on my 3GS (e.g. I don't switch to the iPad as quickly) because the screen is SO good.

For PDF, you are going to need to zoom in and pan around, or use a reader like GoodReader that can extract text. I'd say that it's okay as a PDF reader in a pinch but an iPad is a vastly better PDF reader simply because of the screen size.

One last comment on the screen: the new iPod Touch model DOES have a retina display (e.g. 326 dpi) but it's not the same IPS-based panel that the iPhone 4 has. From what I"ve read, this mostly means it's not as generous in the viewing angles it allows. I can't see this as being a major problem for reading, though.

[arcadata]

Originally Posted by dwharrison

One last comment on the screen: the new iPod Touch model DOES have a retina display (e.g. 326 dpi) but it's not the same IPS-based panel that the iPhone 4 has. From what I"ve read, this mostly means it's not as generous in the viewing angles it allows. I can't see this as being a major problem for reading, though.

Could you explain that in more simplified english? IPS? viewing angles?