iPod touch - My new must have work gadget...
I didn't expect to be writing this, when the iPod touch was launched I saw it as a bit of a pointless device, it had only a few applications and the capacity sounded small compared to the other iPods, however a friend of mine just bought an iPhone and decided to sell his iPod touch so I went to meet him and left with my wallet £90 lighter.
First thing I did when I got home was pay the £12.99 to download the extra applications, don't get me wrong, the iPod touch was OK without them and fine as a music player, but adding Mail, Notes, and Maps has transformed this device.
I've only had this for a few weeks, yet already I'm using it all the time.
It's the best iPod I've ever owned.
I, like many freelancers am always on the move, I work from home, from my office and also at the offices of clients and end up lugging around my MacBook all the time, just so I can be guaranteed a way to check my email and get on the internet if I need to. I can't quite believe what has happened, but since the first day I had the iPod touch, I've not carried my laptop anywhere! I have access to a machine, if I need one, at most of my clients offices and have a Mac at work so I now leave my MacBook at home now and use logmein.com if I need to access the machine.
Mail on the iPod touch is stunning, it's a brilliant interface and doesn't resemble mobile email at all, it's like having a real computer in your hand.
Safari is just as fast, reliable and accessible as the OS X version.
Notes is brilliant for jotting stuff down in meetings and reminders when on the move, I was always grabbing a pen and paper out of my bag to jot something down as ideas popped up, but I've been doing it all on my iPod.
It takes a while to get used to the keyboard, it is a challenge, not so much the fact you're typing on a touch screen, but learning to trust the error correction so you can continue to type fast without stopping to delete a mis-typed letter every few seconds as the iPod will, nine times out of ten, know what you meant to type and change it on the fly.
I didn't want an iPhone until I used the iPod touch, but I'm now totally in love with Apple's new interface. The iPod touch is a brilliant multimedia player, what's more, it's a fantastic PDA. I never got along with PDAs, styluses, bizarre handwriting recognition, clunky software that had just been scaled down from a PC version just didn't work for me. The iPod touch is a revelation and has managed to replace my MacBook on a day to day basis.
I really can't put in to words how great this device is.
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Good timing on the post.
Good timing on the post. I've needed to join up with the rest of the 21st century in this respect as well. Will check out this unit along with another I'm considering.
ttfn!
3dogmama
It hadn't even occurred to me to use the iPod touch for business
I was genuinely stunned at the capabilities of the device and delighted with its performance. I have a feeling as soon as Mr Jobs decides to grace us with a 3G iPhone, I'll be dropping a wad of cash and switching networks.
Thanks a lot for this review
I'm using a Nokia e61i now, but I wish to replace it with the iTouch, so I can have a dedicated small phone and a small communication / organizing device. Question is can I run gMail on the iTouch? Google Apps?
I've got an iPhone and I'm
I've got an iPhone and I'm fairly sure you can use a gMail account on it, don't know about Google Apps. However there could be a third party solution, via jailbraking.
As for the main post, I really agree with you. Having had my iPhone a little over a month I feel that Apple has found the perfect evolution for the iPod. The technology is there for the device to really become multi functional. I can't tell you how many times I've been out and jumped on open WIFI networks to get directions or check my mail. Also the organization between the computer and pocket device really seal the deal. Having iCal in sync, and my complete Address Book on my phone are things I don't ever want to go without again.
Of course there are some things that Apple really needs to address. I feel the iPod Touch should get an immediate bump in size, make it 16GB and 32GB. Unfortunately too many people are stuck with the idea that they need all their music on them at all times. A size bump would really help sales in my opinion. On the phone end, there are some things that irk me. Standards that were over looked. The phone can't send and receive vCards. The phone doesn't have status reports, so you can see when a message you sent was received. Also with report estimating that well over a 3rd of all iPhones sold are being unlocked Apple may want to rethink their greedy phone carrier partnership strategy.
I'm on an e65 myself...
Nice phone, but a compromise. Email is poor and Web is painfully clunky
The iPod touch has IMAP Gmail support is built in to the Mail client, as well as support for any other POP, IMAP or IMAP enabled Exchange accounts.
Google Docs will run right in the browser.
It's an awesome little device whose features, surprisingly, haven't been hyped as much as they should be by Apple.
Google Docs
You can get Google Docs to work in the Safari browser on the iPod Touch? I can only view documents ... not edit them.
Sorry, I didn't mean editing...
It's not something I ever need to do on a mobile device so I didn't mention that.
The only reason I use Google Docs is to pull up documents for reference while I'm out and about. If I need to do anything else, I jot it down in Notes on the iPod.
Google etc on the iPod Touch
I picked up the iPod Touch last November and haven't looked back. Even at the 16gb size, it's perfect for anything and everything I'd want to do with it.
On the iPod side of things, I first thought of picking up the 160gb iPod Classic to hold all of my music, movies and podcasts ... then thought to myself that a lot of that stuff isn't really worth listening to all the time and dug deep into my wallet for the iPod Touch.
16gb is perfect for me to put my trimmed favorite music on, a handful of movies, a good selection of up-to-date podcasts ... and the wireless capabilities of this thing are through the roof.
I was an early adopter of the PDA thing waaay back with a RIM Palm Pilot. I had a little modem I could plug into the end to browse the web on a cruddy browser at sllooowww speeds (12 baud or something like that ... 9.6 maybe? I don't remember those tiny numbers anymore.)
The iPod Touch is not the best iPod out there. There are some significant interface flaws with the iPod software. But it definitely is the best PDA out there ... and it has an iPod socked into it. :)
Mail is beautiful. Calendar and Contacts are seamless with iCal and Address Book. Safari is fast and useful. Web clips on my Home Screen are ingenious. And I haven't even jailbroken this thing. Give me a month until the developer kit launches and I can only imagine how great this thing will be.
Killer app? iGet Mobile. Allows me to run a little server on my Mac at home so I can access all of my files through my iPod Touch. Allows instant conversion of files to those readable by the iPod, or I can email the files to me wherever I am. Nice. There are other apps out there that allow actual browsing of your Mac or PC desktop through the iPod Touch screen, but these interfaces felt cludgy at best. iGet Mobile is well worth it.
Google Apps are borderline useful on the iPod Touch. Gmail, Google Reader, Google Maps, etc are all perfect. But the word processor, spreadsheet app, etc only allow you to view your documents. Zoho, a similar online product offering, is in the same boat.
I also wish that Flash were available on Safari on the iPod Touch. Currently you cannot use a good variety of websites that utilize Flash interfaces or video.
I am a die-hard Nokia phone person ... but this Apple product is just awesome. I can't justify the cost of the plans for the iPhone. But if the prices on those plans go down when my T-Mobile contract is up I'll definitely think hard about getting the iPhone as well.
'Til then ... this is definitely the best PDA available.
I'm considering this for my
I'm considering this for my husband (uhm and me... lol). I'm assuming there is no monthly fee or anything?
Nope.
It's an iPod with WiFi.
If you can find an available network it's free, the only cost would be subscribing to WiFi hotspots if you wanted to, but that isn't really necessary as if you need one desperately, you're rarely far from a McDonald's with free access.
Indispensable
I have an iPhone and find it indispensable. The best thing about it for me is to finally have a device that keeps my calendars and contacts synced with my mac as a singular system. I used to use an app called GoBetween to sync between iCal/Address Book and a Palm device. Always had issues figuring out which of the three lists was the master list. No more.
The only thing I don't like about it is the mail app. There's no spam filter so when I'm on the road I find I have to sift through way to much crap to find the important messages. And you have to delete them individually. I no longer even use it for these reasons.
~ spigotdesign.com
Use Gmail.
I forward all of my email accounts to one solitary Gmail account ... that's the one that I use to get my email from on my iPod Touch.
Yea, .mac email has no spam filter. But Gmail's rocks. I get very little spam in my inbox anymore since I've forwarded .mac and other email address to Gmail (hundreds of spam messages in my Spam folder ... but it deletes itself automagically). Very nice.
My webhosts have a fantastic spam filter.
All the spam is caught at their end and placed in a spam folder for me so I only get one to two emails slipping through each day in to my inbox.
Without that though, it would be a problem.
16GB
In case yall haven't heard, they just released the 16GB version of the iPhone. 8GB is still available. With the larger capacity, the iPhone is getting much closer to a viable tool for me.
The iPod Touches got larger too.
It's $100 more for the 32gb iPod Touch than I paid for my 16gb one. I dunno if that's all worth it at this point. Maybe if the 32gb was available when I purchased mine I would have sprung for the extra space, but I'm liking the zen-like approach I take to my music/podcast storage now.
Maybe the increased storage is a portent of mounted disk use by the iPod Touch and iPhone? That'd be nice.
How do these units compare
How do these units compare to RIM's Blackberry?
ttfn!
3dogmama
Socks
They rock the Blackberry's socks off!
But ya can't tie into Lotus Notes on yer iPod Touch or iPhone yet ... yet. (As if anyone would want to use that hateful email program.)
In what way?
In what way?
Now in 16GB & 32GB
The iPhone just received a bump to 16GB at 499 and the iPod Touch is now available in 32GB.
Good move by Apple, they need to market and push the touch. They have a real successor to the iPod in that product.
Oooh, that was a sneaky one...
Glad I didn't pay full price for my 8Gb one.
;o)
pretty happy with my 16gb touch too
pretty happy with my 16gb touch too, except not with having to pay for extra apps and also safari doesn't work now i updated it to 1.1.3. Just a warning to anyone, tried reinstalling, resetting, etc but no joy. If anyone has any ideas before I tackle apple direct, then i'd be grateful. Cheers.
No idea why Safari wouldn't work...
Didn't have that problem when I upgraded to 1.1.3
As for the apps, admittedly I only paid £90 for the iPod second hand, but I think the applications are seriously worth is.
Bring on the SDK!
i think we will have to pay for the SDK apps too.
i think we will have to pay for the SDK apps too. Shame, as for a while palm pdas were great and there were so many apps to choose from, just hope the touch goes down that route, having some great free apps. Mine was a present, no way would i fork out almost £300, but it's the principal of the thing more than the extra cash really.
Am I right in saying that the only app that works without wi-fi is the notepad? It would be useful at least to take email with you and be able to store it on the touch, but is that possible? Gmail works pretty well without purchasing the app, and currently i write notes in the contacts section. ONe huge thing too, why no cut and paste? Cheers for now.
It depends on the app...
It's being set up like podcasts, you can choose to distribute for free, or charge up to $3.99 for an application I believe.
I expect there will be a LOT of free applications, I'd expect only a few to charge and for those that do there'll be free alternatives.
I take my mail with me, I've got it set up for my IMAP account and sync in the morning, then read and reply to my mail on the train on the way to work, and the same on the way home. I've not tried it with Gmail, I don't use any web based email services anymore.
The Notes application is good, but as someone pointed out, they don't sync with your computer, which is odd, but not an issue for me personally.
Cut and paste would be nice, but I think it'll take a while to work out the best way to implement it on the device. It'll come sooner rather than later.
One other useful feature I discovered...
I've got in to a bad habit of surfing the web in bed on the iPod touch, the consequence of this is that it wasn't always fully charged in the mornings. I like a lot of people have an old iPod firewire charger from my 2004 iPod (before colour screens and everything!) and I'm pleased to report, the touch does charge with this.
plugz check this out if interested
Just got a remote, wires a bit long but i think it's almost a necessity for the touch. http://tinyurl.com/yrpfn6 Many available on ebay for under a fiver.
Hmmm...
It's bloody ugly.
I'm not struggling yet without a remote, I'll keep it in mind though.
Cheers!
well its not sexy, but a bit harsh!
well its not sexy, but a bit harsh!
Just realised!
I was here trying to fix a friends touch (ok that sounded weird!) and I REALISED that you cannot use with disk mode (mount the touch as a drive on the desktop)
That's kinda lame. . . anyone know of a free way (and safe) to make it do this?
"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda
apple selling touch refurbs
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=44BD9AA2&nclm=Certified
or go to the apple store, scroll down and click on "refurbished ipods" under special deals on the left side.
$229 for 8gb, $329 for 16gb. just ordered the 8gb last night.
I'm typing this on my new touch
...and I am loving it.I have my entire portfolio aswell asall my wedding Picts
but ypimg is lottle getting used to (as you can see!)
And having the chance to surf the net in anypart of the house is really great as now the wife can do her surfing from the living room!
"Try not, Do! or do not, there is no try."
-Yoda
I'm fairly sure you can use a gMail account
I can't justify the cost of the plans for the iPhone. But if the prices on those plans go down when my T-Mobile contract is up I'll definitely think hard about getting the iPhone as well.Maybe the increased storage is a portent of mounted disk use by the iPod Touch and iPhone? That'd be nice.I get very little spam in my inbox anymore since I've forwarded
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anna
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I'm fairly sure you can use a gMail account
I can't justify the cost of the plans for the iPhone. But if the prices on those plans go down when my T-Mobile contract is up I'll definitely think hard about getting the iPhone as well.Maybe the increased storage is a portent of mounted disk use by the iPod Touch and iPhone? That'd be nice.I get very little spam in my inbox anymore since I've forwarded
=============================================
anna
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I found the best site so far online for info for affiliate marketers. Stop by and leave a message!
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Ipod Touch
I wondered the features of ipod touch. they are very useful itworks like a pocket computer to everyone.but it is very smooth you must take care about it.
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madhu
Your Social Media Marketing Turnkey Solution!
http://widecircles.com
So doea anyone here hae the
So doea anyone here hae the I Pod touch or did anyone get it?
I've had it since February...
Forget the CrackBerry, this thing is with me every day, at work it's my calendar and note application as well as checking mail, on weekends it's my iPod and for surfing.
I will be giving this one to my mum though on July 11th when I upgrade to the iPhone 3G. ;o)
ipod
i am using sony ericcsson i pod it is very comfortable and helpful
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jeanpotts
Your Social Media Marketing Turnkey Solution! http://www.widecircles.com
It is a good device
It is very easy to use by our fingers. I like function of this ipod.It looking very attractive. It has a wide screen.
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Asif mukhtar
http://www.adepttours.com
Hi, i have an apple ipod
Hi,
i have an apple ipod classic.
my uncle gifted me.iPod classic puts your entire music and video collection in your pocket.
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puja saluja
http://www.adepttours.com
i m using ipod
I m using ipod touch .it is a good device and easy to use .in ipod touch there is a lots of function like , mp3 player ,touch screen .8 gb memory . a its one of the best ipod touch in the market right know .
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tosim malik
http://www.edepttours.com
hi I am having an ipod it is
hi
I am having an ipod it is sleek and attractive .it has many features like mp3 player and it can store
Up to 200 songs .it isa good device.by you can listen music any where.
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allan
http://orkut.com ">http://orkut.com - http://orkut.com
21st century machine
hi,
new,good looking,stylish apple's ipod having much large screen and having whole world control at your one finger,press the finger and enjoy the new world.
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frank
http://orkut.com - http://orkut.com
Hi, I am software engineer
Hi,
I am software engineer and a Ipod lover too .i do have Nokia E61 but I am not totally satisfied with the feature given by the company I really do want a replace my cell phone with the Ipod touch .It has a advanced feature and better accessories
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paul
http://orkut.com - http://orkut.com
ipod
Hi,
The iPod touch is slimmer and lighter than the iphone. It lacks some of the iPhone's features: access to any phone network, an internal speaker, a microphone, a camera, physical buttons for volume control, bluetooth capability and assisted G.P.S. The iPod touch uses software-based volume controls which require users to double-tap the home button, bringing up an on-screen slider.
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Nelson
http://orkut.com - http://orkut.com
ipod
Hi,
I am very happy because ipods are coming with lots of features for example mp3 player, touch screen and camera etc. They are very useful and itworks like a pocket computer. On ipod we can watch movies and can play songs. It comes with good amount of capacity like 8gb memory and with fast speed.
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ryan
http://orkut.com - http://orkut.com
Hi
I bought iphone last month and my experience is amazing with its use. I really feel glad because i can check my mails and click pictures all at the same time. The processing speed is also very fast.
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Rose
www.orkut.com
ipod
Hi,
I am a software engineer and I love ipod because I cannot carry my laptop anywhere. But once I had the iPod touch. I am very easy to work from home, from my office and also at the offices of clients.
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Ricky
http://orkut.com - http://orkut.com
ipod
Hi,
The iPod touch has the iPhone's multi-touch interface, with a physical home button off the touch screen. The home screen has a list of buttons for the available applications. All iPod touch models have included the applications Music, Videos, and Photos (collectively duplicating the standard functions of the iPod classic), iTunes (providing access to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store), Safari, YouTube, Calendar, Contacts, Clock, Calculator, and Settings.
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Nelson
http://orkut.com - http://orkut.com
HELLO
What apple has given to world in the form of ipod is really a amazing gadget as it is compact with large storage area and the voice quality is really great.
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Ryan
http://orkut.com
good gadget
Hi,
This is an good new's for the gadget lover's like me, as i love to use new gadget's , iam eagerly waiting for this one.
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Shawn
Orkut
Hi, Introducing iPhone 3G.
Hi,
Introducing iPhone 3G. With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping, support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more features at your fingertips. And like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one — a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device with rich HTML email and a desktop-class web browser. There are many more option available in this phone, so really it is
amazing phone.
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Rony
orkut
Hi,
ipod touch is a fantastic gadget i can not live without it. It's like a computer in your poket. I hope every gadget lover will definetly like it.
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Ron
www.orkut.com
HI!
With apple ipod you can get your songs on the #1 music download store and attract millions of new fans.
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Jeny
http://orkut.com
Hi,
Invention of ipod is good achievement in market.It has large storage area and the voice quality is also superior.
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Aaron
http://orkut.com
wow, i was *almost* fooled
wow, i was *almost* fooled by all this spam and suckered into clicking on the orkut links!!!
ipod is a good technology
It is a good information. But i want know more information about ipod.
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Noel
Social Media Network
http://www.orkut.com
Having an i-pod is a great
Having an i-pod is a great deal looks like whole world in your hands.
An i-pod gives features that appears to be that of a computer in your hands, which facilitates the feature to download a song, clarity in voice with feature to watch clips and so on.
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William Sphere
Social Networking
http://www.orkut.com