iPod Touch
Having been lucky enough to get one in my Christmas stocking, I'm amazed at how well designed the device actually is. The touch screen it shares with the iPhone is a joy to use and makes any other interface I've used seem primitive by comparison.
There are only two buttons on the touch: a power button and a home button. Other than that you have to use your fingers to do everything. Much to the ire of long-time personal digital assistant (PDA) users, you can't use a stylus on the touch screen. Normal people, on the other hand, will find the interface very easy to use.
But it's no simple music player. What Apple has done is create a media player with strong PDA capabilities built in. That means you can keep track of your contacts, diary and surf the Internet on what's essentially a music and video player. Anyone who has suffered through trying to surf the Internet on a phone will revel at the ease with which you can navigate the net with its built-in WiFi.
One of the downsides of the iPod touch is that currently you can't install any additional applications on it without doing some under the hood fiddling. But that will change next month, as Apple will be releasing the tools to allow companies to write software for the iPod touch and the iPhone.
That could mean someone could write a little word processor or an email program so you could use it as a fully featured portable computer all bundled up in a pocket-sized device.
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