September 15, 2007

iPod Touch Screen Stinks, so I Returned it

After one day of use, I could not that take the idea I spent $400 on a crappy screen. So I returned the iPod Touch to the Apple store and took the 10% re-stocking fee hit of $40. Ouch.

It seems the bad screens are pervasive in this launch. Compared to the iPhone, it's not even a contest. The black levels look literally green and the shadow detail is non-existent. The viewing angles are very narrow and the colors seem dithered like a bad gradient. It literally is like comparing a cheap LCD TN-panel vs. a high end S-IPS LCD monitor. I can't believe that PC Magazine had the gaul to say the iPod Touch has a better screen. It simply DOES NOT. If the whole point of getting the iPod Touch is to play portable video, it sorely fails at that task. For Apple to infer is has the same screen as iPhone is pretty appalling.

It's saddening to think I've been looking forward to the video iPod of my dreams all this time and to be so utterly disappointed. I now have to resort to buying a iPod Classic, which seems to have sluggish user interface and audio quality issues of its own. Sigh. Discuss