iPod touch 1G vs. iPod touch 2G: To upgrade or not?

Yesterday Apple announced a new version of the iPod touch. When compared to the 1st generation iPod touches, putting the battery life and pricing aside, what’s new?

• New design
  A modified design, but no white version
  
  
• Built-in speakers
  This is a big one for me. There are several occasions at my friend’s house where I found a YouTube video on my Touch, and I can only show it, but with no audio. Those were the times I wished I had an iPhone. 
  
  
• Volume controls
  Volume buttons are on the left side so you can adjust the volume with the iPod touch physically. This goes hand-in-hand with the built-in speakers
  
  
• Support for new earphones, which have a remote for volume and play controls and a mic
  A much needed feature for music playback. With the previous version, every time you wanted to change the volume or song, you had to take the iPod touch out of your pocket. Mic support is neat. Now you won’t miss out on apps that take advantage of a mic like apps that record voice memos and Midomi (singing app). Now if there was a voice chatting app like Skype or iChat, the mic would become extremely useful. If such app does come out in the App Store, it'd be for both iPhone and iPod touch. Cell phone companies probably wouldn’t be too happy with iPhone users talking via wi-fi, so chances are slim for a voice chatting app, I think.
  
  The new earphones are not included, and will set you back $29.99 or $79.99 depending on which model (regular or in-ear) you buy. 
  
  
• Built-in Nike+
  I’m not a big fan of this one. A PDA-sized music player is kind of big to carry for jogging, don't you think?

For owners of iPod Touch 1G (that includes me), should you quickly sell it and buy the new version?
If you can bare with taking out the iPod touch from you pockets every time you want to change a song or adjust volume, then you might want to sit out on this one. As for the speakers, there’s a workaround of attaching external speakers like:

• Digital Age DAP008A PocketSpeakers for iPod Nano
  
• macally IP-A111
  
• Building Block iPod Speaker
  

If a voice chatting / VoIP app does ever come out, then it might worth considering since you can use the iPod touch as a voice communication tool.

You should consider upgrading if:

• you record a lot of voice memos
  
• you like to run and don’t mind the size of the iPod touch
  
• there are apps that use the mic that you absolutely use frequently
  

Now, if you don’t have an iPod touch, should you buy the new version?
Compared to when the 1G came out, the iPod touch has come a long way. It now has all the iPhone apps like Google Maps, and some of the usability flaws are fixed with external volume control, built-in speakers, and the new earphones.

Although it’s positioned as an entertainment device, it’s a very capable PDA. So the answer would be an easy yes - that is a yes, in a world without iPhones.

Potential iPod touch buyers should definitely take a closer look at iPhone before they make their decision.  I'll leave that for the next post.  Stay tuned.

UPDATE: The post where I compare iPod touch 2G with iPhone 3G is here.

Source:

• Apple
  
• MacRumors: Forums
  

Thoughts about the "Let's Rock" Apple Special Event

Just finished watching the Apple Special Event, where lots of new iPods and accessories are introduced. TUAW and Engadget have great coverage, and you can watch the Keynote Address at Apple’s site.

Here are the announcements I  liked:

• NBC is coming back to iTunes! It means I can get my fix of the new season of Heroes and Eureka. 
  
  
• Genius feature in iTunes – Steve Jobs explains it as a feature that can “automatically make play lists from songs in your library that go great together – with just one click” I played around with this feature a bit already, and it worked pretty good. I could see myself using this feature quite a lot. 
  
  
• The Genius side bar – It recommends music to complement your library and playlists. Seems like a great way to discover new music.
   
  

Thoughts about some of the announcements:

• Genius playlist creation in iPod Touch 
  It seems like a great feature, but the thing is I keep videos on the iPod Touch, which takes up space. Naturally, I don’t have much space for my music collection anymore. So without a big music collection on my Touch, I’m not sure if the value of Genius playlist creation will be maximized here. 
  
  
• New earphones, but...
  One of the thing with the Touch was you had to use the iPod Touch itself for play and volume controls. They finally come out with a pair earphone that has a remote and mic EXCEPT it doesn’t work with the previous iPod Touch. Bummer.
  
  
• Nike+ in iPod Touch
  This seemed like a feature that should be for the Nano. Personally, I don't think the Touch is really suitable for a sport accessory due to its size. 
  
  
• No white models!!!
  Oh yeah, and no white models of iPods. 

Source:

• TUAW
  
• Engadget
  
• Apple Special Event Keynote
  

500XL: Super big iPod earbuds - must-have speakers for iPod earbuds fans!

I came across this gadget in a Japanese magazine at the newsstand this weekend. It’s the latest issue of either Mac Fan or Mac People. Anyway, I did a quick search and dug this gadget up.

This shiny white gadget is called the 500XL. It’s basically a pair of speakers that looks like a blown up version of the iPod earbuds. According to its website, it’s supposedly 500 times the size of the original earbuds.

The 500 XL can be powered by batteries, USB, or a generic AC adapter (not included).

ThinkGeek sells it for $49.99, and you can also find more pictures on their site.

I’m not sure if Apple approved this.   If not, maybe get it while it’s still available?

Source:

• Fred & Friends – Product website
  
• ThinkGeek
  

Best of Shiny White Gadgets for June to September

The top posts for the past three months are… drum roll please…

1. SH906i: Sharp’s Answer to iPhone?
   
   
2. Mac Tip: Using Bluetooth Headphones with Mac OS X Leopard
   
   
3. SH906i: User Reviews from Japan
   
   
4. iPod Touch Tip: How to take screenshots
   
   
5. Shiny White iPhone 3G

Whew! It’s already been three months. Thanks for reading!

Since I’m back in Japan now, stay tuned from more white gadget goodness from Japan.

How to buy Kindle books when you’re overseas

If you’re overseas, you’ll have no wireless coverage for your Kindle, which means you can't purchase books straight from the Kindle. Fortunately, Kindle does offer the ability to download the books from your computer. (If they didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have bought it. One big reason I got the Kindle is so that I don’t have to purchase marked up English books here in Japan. The other big reason is that I don’t have to carry books when I go back to the States.)

Here’s how:

1. First buy the Kindle Edition of the book. If you’re in the States (more specifically, an area that has Kindle wireless coverage), the book would normally be sent to you wirelessly, but in this case, we have to download it to a computer and transfer it with the USB cable. 
   
   
2. After you purchased the book, go to “Your Account”. Under the “Where’s My Stuff?” section, you’ll find a link – “View Your Media Library”. Click on that.
   
   
3. You’ll be brought to your Media Library. You should now see the book you purchased. Click on it. 
   
   
4. You’ll now see a page for the book. On the right, you should find a “Download to Computer” link. Click on it, and you can download the book to your computer. 
   
   
   
   
5. Next, connect your powered-on Kindle to your computer via the USB cable. 
   
   
6. Kindle will pop up like a hard drive. Inside you’ll see a documents folder. Copy the book you downloaded  to that folder.
   
   
   
   
7. Remember to eject or disconnect the Kindle properly, and you’re done! Now it's time to head for Starbucks and enjoy the book!
   

You can’t download and transfer samples
In case you’re wondering, it seems like you can’t download samples. Samples do not show up in your media library, so I don’t think there’s a way to download them. If anyone knows how, please let me know =)

Mac: Running Windows XP with VMware Fusion on a MacBook

I finally got VMware Fusion after my friend nagged me for a few weeks. I already run Windows XP with Boot Camp, and I wasn’t really sure how VMware would make things better.

After trying it for a few days, I regret not having installed VMware earlier. I realized that having to reboot to switch to Windows was such a hassle. Being able to run both OS X and Windows simultaneously is really nice. For example, I can now access my iCal while working with stuff on Windows.

Here are the things I like about VMware so far:

• It automatically recognized my Boot Camp Partition, and pretty much set everything up by itself. 
  
  
• I can easily drag and drop files between Windows and Mac. 
  
  
• I also really like the Unity feature, which allows me to run Windows applications as an application in Mac. This means you can minimize Windows apps to the dock and switch between windows using Exposé. 
  
  
  
• Copy and paste between Windows and Mac.

My MacBook is 2.16 Ghz with 2 GB of RAM, and Windows XP has been running smoothly. There have been some glitches. For example, the Unity feature has some problems with dual screens. VMware wouldn’t allow me to drag a Windows application window to my second screen. It’s minor, and overall, I have to say, I’m quite impressed with VMware so far.

Related links:
VMware Fusion Website

5 reasons why Japanese consumers aren't buying iPhones

Just got back to Japan this week. So let’s start with some iPhone news in Japan.

Fuji Sankei Business reported yesterday that Apple’s iPhone sales is losing momentum in Japan. It was predicted that the iPhone would sell 1 million units in Japan, but a Japanese analyst from UBS is predicting that sales will stop at around 200 thousand units.

The article also states reasons why the iPhone is not taking off in Japan. Here they are:

1. No emoticons!
   iPhone does not support emoticons, which is part of mobile texting culture in Japan.
2. Can’t pay for stuff!
   iPhone does not have e-wallet functions, which are common among other recent Japanese handsets. 
3. Can’t watch TV! 
   iPhone also does not have 1seg, which is a service that lets Japnese consumers watch mobile terrestrial digital TV. 
4. Email address has to be changed. 
   Softbank requires iPhone users to change their mobile email addresses. 
5. Short battery life. 
   

The analyst also mentions that Japanese users are accustomed to music players and browsing the mobile web with cell phones already.  Therefore, the iPhone does not bring anything "really" new to the table for Japanese consumers.  

I’d personally add one more reason – the weak content lineup of iTunes in Japan. While it has a solid lineup of music contents, the lack of video contents is quite critical.


Source: FujiSnakei Business (Japanese)