iPod Touch

The Touch, launched on 2007-09-05, is attempt at providing a non-mobile alternative to the , originally made infamous for the removal of all editing ability from the calendar until firmware revision 1.1.2.

Upgraded to an 8Mpx camera, new color options and “modern” specs (except TouchID) on 2015, it had been previously revamped in 2012 to match the :

It was upgraded to a high-res 960×640 pixel display and a set of front and back cameras on 2010-09-01 and slimmed down a bit:

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The first refresh version launched on 2008-09-09, with styling, volume controls and a speaker:

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The original version:

Notes on the early revisions:

Good Points:

  • Now finally includes an e-mail client (as of firmware rev. 1.1.3, although it was considerably lame of to demand early adopters to pay up for this)
  • Much thinner than an
  • Metal back
  • The Skyhook location feature works in Lisbon. Creepy.

Bad Points:

  • No support for audio or for dial-up networking via a decent phone (fixed on later revisions)
  • No speakers on the original version. There’s a piezo clicker, but it would have been nice to have had a simple speaker for showing videos and stuff without resorting to the earplugs from the get go
  • Everyone I know with the original model complains about short battery life (and I do too)

Owner Info:

Since the device has no support for an “Owner Info” screen, I created a wallpaper specifically for that purpose, using measurements gleaned from iPhoneMinds:

Feel free to change this for your own purposes in any editor that suits your fancy and sync it to the device. Besides a photo, there’s plenty of room for contact information.

Some design notes:

  • Helvetica Bold works very well for phone numbers, making them very readable.
  • The colors were chosen to work well with the tinted overlays from the clock and slider:
    • The top becomes a neutral, informational navy blue
    • The bottom turns into a mossy green that reinforces the point that it’s how you gain access to the device

You can, of course, fool around with coloring to suit your own tastes, but gradients are, in general, a bad idea – the tinted overlays will mess them up, and in this case you want the text to be readable under pretty much any conditions…

Bugs:

Issue Description
“#5748499”:Radar:5748499 Hidden/Protected Web Gallery Albums are inaccessible on and iPod Touch – the redirects are broken for hidden albums (you can get there, but only by manually tweaking the URL)

Resources:

Date Link Notes
Sep ’10 iPod touch review Engadget’s detailed review.
Older Guided Tour
Walt Mossberg’s Review
Features Guide PDF link

Here’s a shot of the factory diagnostics screen (via Engadget):

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