I know that this has been a hope of mine for a long time - Bring back the iPod Classic click wheel for the iPhone and iPod Touch devices. No, I'm not talking about a physical click wheel, but rather an application that utilizes the touch screen on the device to simulate the click wheel, for a "classic" feel. The developer at blog.epelaez.net has created this exact app, taking it even a step further by not only simulating the click wheel, but simulating the actual classic iPod interface as well! I hope my review of this app will explain the rest, enjoy!
Presentation:
The presentation of the application is overall very well done. The graphics make it seem like you actually are using an iPod classic. You have the option to change the appearance of the iPod between silver and black, a nice feature if you have a certain color preference for the classic iPod. The iTunes library along with album artwork, playlists, artists, albums, and songs are all integrated perfectly. Overall, very authentic looking. Although the click wheel changes the volume when music is playing, the volume bar is not shown, so there's not much of a visual of how much or how little your volume is changing when you move your finger around the click wheel. *FIXED IN FINAL VERSION* I have not run across any visual problems yet. This app does a wonderful job of simulating the UI of a classic iPod.
Overal score- 4.5/5 ... Final Revision Overal Score- 5/5
Usability:
The usability of this app could have a little improvement. Changing songs too fast causes it to close. Thankfully your music keeps playing in the background, but still an annoyance. Another issue I have noticed is that using the right and left click to change tracks under the albums category causes it to display "No Song." At this point, clicking play seems to cause a random track to be played in your library. Besides from that, the only other problem I can think of is the click wheel speed. Dragging your finger slowly around the click wheel on the screen appears to work perfectly, but move it at normal speed and all of the sudden your skipping all the way down your music library. It seems like the developer was trying to have a faster scroll skip down to the next alphabetic category, but at this point, it is too fast to be usable. Hopefully that will be fixed as doing so will greatly improve the usability. *FIXED IN FINAL VERSION* "No Song" bug is fixed, and the click wheel speed is improved (Still not perfect, but a great improvement).
Overal score- 3.5/5 Final Revision Overal Score- 4.5/5
Value:
For $1.99 on the Cydia Store (did you really think the App Store would allow this app?) this app is a decent value. It brings back the greatness of the original iPod onto the newest iPods and iPhones. With a few minor improvements, this app will be an even better value. For some, the $1.99 could be spent on something else, but for others, the retro feel is enough for them to buy this app. Keep in mind that besides a click wheel simulator, this app really doesn't do anything more than the built in music player does. Whether this app is for you or not is going to depend on how much you want that retro feel back!
Overal score- 4/5
Final Score- 13.5/15...an A-
This application will be released soon is on the Cydia Store. For more information you can visit this website.
Recommended Comments