Hands-On Affair: the new iPods

Straight from Trinoma's Power Mac Center, I had a little hands-on time with the new iPods. They generally work great and look gorgeous but they have their shortcomings as well...

iPod Nano

The little wonder was the one I wanted to test most since I didn't actually see the iPod Touch which is the first Apple touch product in the Philippines and Asia. Anyway, it's wide but literally almost paper-thin. It has what the iPod Classic has: new interface features like Cover Flow. But more importantly, a feature that is a selling point for this device is its unsurpassed video quality. They literally jammed pixels in that small 2 inch screen for the best video quality of its class! I'm not sensationalizing, people! It's TRUE!

A con is present here, and it's the size of the Click Wheel. It's hard to get used to it, especially with big fingers like mine. But once you do, it's a great experience nonetheless.

This is the iPod you'll most likely be buying. The price is competitive (10,000 for 4GB and 11,000, a bargain, for 8GB) and features signature iTunes synchronization and wide third-party accessory support. Plus, it's the most portable, too!

iPod Classic

I actually didn't bother testing it since it's almost the same with the new Nano. Only bigger...

iPod Touch

I didn't expect it to be there but it was! I waited in line to try it out and it was actually a bit hard to learn especially since it's a glass screen with multi-touch features (because touch screens are normally unresponsive with multiple fingers). I never got to try out the web features, though (YouTube, iTunes Store and Safari browser) but videos are excellent and photo handling is intuitive. But I won't say that it's the best deal you can find in an Apple music product. You can't use it in public (because it's sexy and expensive-looking), you can't use the iTunes Store (you need a .Mac account which is expensive) and Wi-fi isn't actually that common nor free as the hotspots in America (so you can browse the web)! Plus, the storage is relatively meager for a device that is most suitable for video (it's excellent, btw) and costs 16-20 thousand pesos for 8 and 16 GB models respectively. If you want to experience it yourself, it's exclusive only in Power Mac Centers. It's so cool!