Apple launched the iPod in Hong Kong today.
Needless to say, I snapped one up.
I'm a little bit bugged, though.
1. Why does Apple have to include a 40-foot FireWire cable? Actually, I measured it and it's 6 and a half feet. But this is ridiculous, especially for use with a Powerbook. Let's get this straight... a mouse, which stays on your desk, needs only two feet of cable, but a device which is meant to be portable needs six and a half. Riiight.
Fortunately, OWC shipped a more logical 2' FW cable with my Oxford FW enclosure that I can use instead.
2. You know the cool power adapter that plugs directly into the wall? Well, Apple was too cheap to design a British plug that fits the way the US plug fits directly onto the brick. Instead we get a separate, thick-ass, huge six and a half foot power cord that the brick plugs into, and it looks like sh^t. As soon as I can I'll post a pic. You'll be amazed. Are UK iPods shipped like this too?
3. The screen is really, really poor quality. Backlighting is uneven and there are vertical lines of liquid crystal "shadowing". This is obviously a very poor quality passive matrix screen.
4. In the demo unit I noticed that the matte white navigation wheel is going to get really dirty, and it doesn't look very easy to clean.
5. Apple really needs to include slipcase and a cap for the firewire port, the cheap bastahds
.
But it's not all bad. A nice touch I noticed is that the Apple logo and legal info on the back isn't silk-screened on, it's actually etched into the metal. Nice.
I'll send an update later...
Needless to say, I snapped one up.
I'm a little bit bugged, though.
1. Why does Apple have to include a 40-foot FireWire cable? Actually, I measured it and it's 6 and a half feet. But this is ridiculous, especially for use with a Powerbook. Let's get this straight... a mouse, which stays on your desk, needs only two feet of cable, but a device which is meant to be portable needs six and a half. Riiight.
Fortunately, OWC shipped a more logical 2' FW cable with my Oxford FW enclosure that I can use instead.2. You know the cool power adapter that plugs directly into the wall? Well, Apple was too cheap to design a British plug that fits the way the US plug fits directly onto the brick. Instead we get a separate, thick-ass, huge six and a half foot power cord that the brick plugs into, and it looks like sh^t. As soon as I can I'll post a pic. You'll be amazed. Are UK iPods shipped like this too?
3. The screen is really, really poor quality. Backlighting is uneven and there are vertical lines of liquid crystal "shadowing". This is obviously a very poor quality passive matrix screen.
4. In the demo unit I noticed that the matte white navigation wheel is going to get really dirty, and it doesn't look very easy to clean.
5. Apple really needs to include slipcase and a cap for the firewire port, the cheap bastahds
.But it's not all bad. A nice touch I noticed is that the Apple logo and legal info on the back isn't silk-screened on, it's actually etched into the metal. Nice.
I'll send an update later...
) and they've all had fabulous screens.
.
