I have a third generation "classic" iPod and still use it all the time. I travel quite a lot, so it's great for all that dead-time waiting in airport lounges, etc. As a piece of industrial design it's fantastic. I love the way I can operate it using the same hand I'm holding it in. Part of this comes from the select button in the middle of the click wheel which is slightly convex, and when pressed gives a nice and positive click sensation when you press it.
However more recent iPods however have a very flat or even slightly concave select button, and when you press it, there is no click sensation when it is pressed.
I know I'm being picky, but this is actually issue that is holding me back from an upgrade. Why did they change it? I'm guessing that it was made flat/concave to prevent the button from being accidentally pressed if it is placed face down on a table (not an issue for me because I use an iSkin)?
I'm probably going to upgrade fairly soon anyway, because my current unit is starting to have hard disk issues. Occasionally I find that it won't start up. The disk spins up but then makes a distinct click and spins down and up again. Eventually I get a "sad iPod" icon and a web link telling me to go to Apple's iPod support page. To recover the situation, I have to perform a bit of "percussive maintenance".
I do love my current iPod, and will be sad when it really dies. Apple have been adding features to tempt me to buy a new one. I recently played with both an iPhone and an iPod Touch and I have to agree with everyone raving about these products' touch-based interfaces. It was just so natural. So I'll probably buy one of those. But I've also noticed that the same concave button is there on the iPhone and the iPod Touch as the home button, and again the buttons on these units lack that positive feedback when pressed.
The other Apple product that I own is a beloved PowerBook G4, 15", 1.67GHz. I've had this baby in my life for a couple of years now and I feel truly enriched by it. At work I use a Dell Latitude D610 - a machine that I truly despise. I resent its presence in my life and the amount of time I spend waiting for it. Two things I like:
- The quality of the PowerBook's screen is lovely and natural, as compared to the Dell's screen which, when viewed even slightly off-axis, makes my eyes bleed.
- The sound from the PowerBook, whether from the built-in speakers, or from the headphone jack is great. With the Dell, the speakers are poor and, instead of the Sennheiser headphones I use with the PowerBook, I have to use lower quality (iPod!) headphones to avoid having my brains sucked out by the bus-noise you get from its headphone jack.
Now that Leopard is out, I feel it's time to upgrade so I've been looking at specs and prices and analysing what I'm going to use it for, reading reviews and just generally enjoying the shopping experience. :)
But I've come across some articles saying that the screen quality isn't as good as my current PB and that there is some high-pitched noise or other digital interference when you listen using the headphone jack. What's happening here? Perhaps the headphone noise is down to he chipset that Intel provide to support their Core 2 Duo processor, but that doesn't explain the screen dropping in quality.
So I put it to you, dear reader, that Apple hardware quality is decreasing over time. Perhaps it's just part of being competitive - after all, their products seem to be better value than ever. But I feel there is still an expectation of quality that comes with every piece of Apple hardware.
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