One Year Later…

This post is a followup review of sorts. I bought my iPod Touch (1st-gen) last year in August, and I’ve had it for about one year now. It still works perfectly and I love it more than ever. Read on to see my thoughts on it.

Apps, Apps, and Apps

The app store was one of Apple’s greatest innovations- a centralized database, where users can buy, rate, review, and update their apps. Using it is a joy, and happily, most of the apps are of a very high quality. Just like the ads say, there is an app for everything. If you can think of it, there’s probably an app for it. Since several readers have iPod Touches as well, I’ll list my top apps:

  • Mail, Safari, Notes: These are all fantastic apps that come with the iPod by default, and I use them on a daily basis. A lot of the posts here are written in that Notes app and then copy/pasted into the WordPress app for publishing.
  • Facebook: A great app for wasting a lot of time.
  • Tweetie: A paid app, but it’s one of the best, if not the best, Twitter client for the iPod/iPhone.
  • Flashlight: A deceptively simple app, but one of the most useful if you need to find something in the dark.
  • Beejive IM: At $9.99, it’s a rather expensive app, but it’s a top-notch IM client, and chatting with multiple accounts on it is seamless.
  • Ego: A great stat-tracking app. I can track my Mint stats, Twitter stats, Feedburner stats, and Pagerank.
  • Reader: A fantastic RSS reader.
  • iStat: It shows the iPods performance, and has a “free memory” feature which frees up valuable RAM, making the iPod run faster without a time and battery-consuming restart.
  • Convertbot: An awesome conversion app, it can convert almost anything, and it has a very nice UI to boot.

Durability and Longevity

With a good case and a screen protector, the iPod is virtually indestructible, and has survived long falls unscathed. The battery life is still pretty good, and the screen still functions like new. Using the touch screen feels natural and fun, even after a year. The small animations scattered throughout the OS are still nice and haven’t become annoying, even after a year.

Space

Even after a year I still have plenty of space left on the iPod. This might not be the case for everybody, but 8gb is more than enough for all my needs. Currently I have several movies and about 700 songs on it, with room to spare.

Conclusion

Even after a year, my iPod Touch remains a very useful little gadget. I use it almost every day, and I’d say it was $300 well spent. 

Aug 20 2009
zPosted in Apple, General, Review
  • http://fynmark.org/home Jouk

    I’ve got one too, bought it last June, 1st gen. Flashlight’s definitely helpful. I use tweetdeck, and it’s starting to annoy me. Is Tweetie a lot better?

  • http://dzine-studios.com Dan

    Yeah it’s a lot better. It’s only $2.99, which is a pretty good deal.

  • wreckages

    Pretty cool mini review/response, you should jailbreak your iPod!

    it’s worth it just for SBSettings

    http://www.iphonehacks.com/2009/02/sbsettings-offers-faster-method-to-manage-your-iphone-settings.html

  • http://dzine-studios.com Dan

    Yeah, but doesn’t jailbreaking change the look of the OS? And while the whole settings thing looks useful, I’m perfectly happy with having to make a few extra click (or taps) to change settings.

  • http://net-cake.com Paul D’Amora

    I don’t have an iPod Touch, but I would like to get one.
    I have a question about it’s internet connection. Does it just connect by wifi automatically, or is there some type of payment involved, or a setup?

    Sorry, I havent done too much research on the iPod Touch.

  • http://dzine-studios.com Dan

    No setup or payment required. If the wifi zone is open (aka without a password) then you can just connect to it and go. However you can connect to protected hotspots if you have the password. The only thing you have to pay for are apps, but there are plenty of good free apps out there, too.

    Also, don’t buy now, wait until September when Apple releases a newer, fancier iPod Touch, for half the price.

  • http://twitter.com/bestkeptsecrets Jessica

    Also, don’t buy now, wait until September when Apple releases a newer, fancier iPod Touch, for half the price.

    Exactly what I was thinking! Though, it doesn’t seem like the price has dropped just yet despite September is a little less than two weeks away.

  • http://dzine-studios.com Dan

    The price only drops on the day that Apple announces it… It’s an annoying tradition, especially to the uninformed who buy an iPod one day and then discover that the price has dropped a hundred dollars for the same iPod on the next day.

  • wreckages

    about the jailbreaking, i don’t know where you read that jailbreaking modifies the appearance of the OS, all it does visually, is add the “Cydia” app (3rd party app store).

    you can change the appearance of the OS if you want, by downloading winterboard, which is a theme manager, which is where your downloaded themes are listed and can be selected easily.

    don’t fear the jailbreak, when i upgraded to 3.0, there wasn’t a jailbreak for a few days, i couldn’t bare using the phone after I had the convenience of a settings app by swiping the menu bar :P

  • http://dzine-studios.com Dan

    Huh, that sounds pretty good. So how did you do your jailbreak? (I know I could Google it, but I don’t want to risk messing it up)

  • wreckages

    what firmware are you running first? i don’t know how familiar you are with the shit + restore itunes method to upgrade firmware for free by selecting your own firmware file – see: http://www.felixbruns.de/iPod/firmware/. anyway, you’ll need software called ‘redsn0w’. here is a very good tutorial here, it shows you how to do it on the mac http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=4305. it’s a very simple process!

  • http://dzine-studios.com Dan

    @wreckages- I’m running 3.0. And I’m quite familiar with that method. I wanted to save some money back when 2.0 was released so I torrented a free copy of it. Alright, I guess there’s no harm in trying… Wish me luck!

  • wreckages

    i’m sure you’ll fly through it. if you somehow brick it (only idiots manage to) just shift+restore and you’ll be fine

  • http://dzine-studios.com Dan

    Successfully jailbroke it :D

    Thank you so much for your help :)