With all of Apple’s touch devices these days, do you ever miss the classic iPods? Sure they didn’t have as cool of games or shoot HD video, but there was definitely something sexy about that click wheel. It was responsive and made browsing your music collection faster than ever before.
If you are looking for a way to kind of relive the good old days, check out iClassic. The Cydia application for jailbroken iDevices will allow you to bring back the click wheel, on your current touch screen device. But can an application truly capture the experience of the click wheel?
I’d say it’s pretty close. After downloading the software, you’ll notice it doesn’t look exactly like the iPod Classic. Due to copyright issues, the developer is not allowed to use the exact likeness of the device. However, if it bugs you enough, there are several free themes in Cydia that look exactly like the real iPod video and other models.
I’ll say that the look of it almost didn’t matter once I started playing with it. The click wheel is amazing. It’s extremely accurate and makes browsing your music collection a breeze. It even has that awesome “click” sound as you scroll and press the click wheel in.
The click wheel wasn’t the only detail the developer nailed. If you start rotating your finger about the wheel, the volume setting comes up. If you turn on repeat or shuffle, their respective icons show up in the upper right hand corner of the display. The entire app is well done and accurate.
For those that prefer a click wheel iPod experience over that of the touch screen, iClassic is a good bet. The download will run you $2, but once again all of the themes are free. It’s available in the BigBoss default repo, so just search for it in Cydia.
Have you tried iClassic yet? Do you prefer touch screen or click wheel?