iPhone features you’ll miss out on by buying an iPod touch

I’m smack in the middle of my hands-on testing of the new iPod touch and the full review will be posted by Monday, but in the meantime I know there are some of you who are seeing a handful of iPod touch models come and go in your local Apple Store and trying to decide right now whether to try to get your hands on one or just pony up for the iPhone and the contract that comes with it. So in that light, here is a (preliminary) list of things you’ll lose out on by buying an iPod touch instead of an iPhone, and a bit of explanation as to whether each of them might or might not matter to you:

EDGE network

Just because the iPod touch has Safari and the iTunes Store doesn’t mean you’ll be able to use either of them whenever you feel like it. If you’re not within range of a wifi network, you’re not getting online with the iPod touch. If wifi access is sparse in your daily routine, you may find yourself wishing you had the iPhone and its (slow but almost always accessible no matter where you are) EDGE network. If you live amongst pervasive open wifi access (say, on a college campus) then you might not miss EDGE at all.

Mail application

The iPhone’s built-in email application has gone missing on the iPod touch, meaning that the only email access you’ll get is via webmail in Safari. Users of Gmail might not miss a beat, but those accustomed to using a client might not feel the same way.

Safari link sharing

Steve Jobs seemed to imply in his keynote that the iPod touch only has wifi so you can buy music from iTunes, and it only has a web browser so you can sign onto public wifi hotspots and then proceed to buy music from iTunes. But just because Apple doesn’t seem to want you to go websurfing on the iPod touch, it doesn’t mean you can’t surf to your heart’s content. The only missing feature I’ve found in Safari (so far) is the ability to email a web link, which has a lot to do with the iPod touch not having an email client.

Adding items to calendar

Even though the iPod touch features the same cool calendar application as the iPhone, and even though you can sync your calendar from iCal on your Mac to the calendar on your iPod touch, you’ll find that you can not add new calendar events directly to the iPod touch. Apple could seemingly change this easily with a software update, and might if there’s enough public pressure, but for now it’s not there. Oddly enough, however, you can add contacts directly to the iPod touch’s Contacts application.

Notes

Not only is there no way to add a calendar event, there’s no clear way to jot down random information of any kind. The iPhone’s Notes application is missing, which combined with the lack of a Mail application means that the only way to jot down a few words for later use would be through the web.

Bluetooth

The iPhone only has Bluetooth for use with wireless headsets, which wouldn’t make much sense with the iPod touch anyway. But be aware that unless Apple snuck Bluetooth hardware into the iPod touch and has hidden it from us for the time being, you won’t be able to use any Bluetooth accessories with the iPod touch without the use of some kind of third-party adapter.

Screen quality

Speaking of hardware, one of the iPhone’s best features – its brilliant screen – is (sort of) missing from the iPod touch as well. Although I’ll need to do more testing to quantify it, immediately clear is the fact that the iPod Touch’s screen is neither as vivid or (seemingly) as detailed as that of the iPhone. I’ll have a lot more to say about this in the final review, but unless my eyes are thoroughly deceiving me, there’s a world of difference between the two.

Rear surface

Just as many iPhone users are finally growing comfortable with the idea that they don’t necessarily have to carry their iPhone in a case in order to keep it pristine-looking, the mirrored chrome backside on the iPod touch is every bit as easily scratchable as with traditional iPods.

External volume buttons

Perhaps because Apple expects you’ll spend most of your time on the iPod touch merely consuming content and not simultaneously using other applications, the only way to control the volume of that content is when it’s right in front of you via the on-screen slider; the iPhone’s external volume buttons are nowhere to be found on the iPod touch. On the other hand, you can press the iPod touch’s round front button twice to bring up basic playback controls (including volume) at any time, something I wish Apple would hurry up and bring to the iPhone.

Built-in speakers

The iPod touch lacks the iPhone’s built-in speakers, but many iPhone users have concluded that those speakers aren’t good enough for listening to music anyway. I suspect Apple only intended the iPhone’s speakers for speakerphone use on phone calls.

Included dock

While the iPhone comes with a sturdy dock with built-in speakers, the iPod touch comes with a comparatively lame little piece of clear plastic which can be used as a stand. On the plus side is that while watching video or otherwise using the iPod touch in horizontal mode, you can easily pick up the touch and reset it into the stand sideways – try doing that with the iPhone’s dock.

Camera

While the iPod touch can display photos that have been synced onto it from your computer, you can’t use it to take pictures. Not that I would have expected the iPod touch to have a built-in camera, but be aware that it’s not there.

Maps, Weather, Stocks

While you can still use Safari to look up all of this information via the web in one way or another, the individual applets on the iPhone for Google maps, weather forecasts, and stock prices are missing on the iPod touch.

The point of all this

None of this is to say that you shouldn’t buy the iPod touch. In fact, based on my early testing, I’d have to say that the iPod touch is by far the most amazing product to ever bear the “iPod” brand name. But be forewarned that the iPod touch is not necessarily the mythical “iPhone without a phone” that some users have been looking for. Instead, think of it as an “iPhone lite without the phone.” If the iPod touch suits your needs, then don’t let any of the above stop you. But with as much as has been arbitrarily removed from the iPod touch, it sure looks like Apple still wants you to buy the iPhone, and then only wants you to consider the iPod touch if you’ve already ruled the iPhone out.