My iTouch experience - 2 day review

[volcs0]

I bought my wife an 8gb iPod Touch to replace a broken Palm. I debated getting her the iPhone, but considering we don't have a data plan now and would either have to unlock the phone or get out of our Tmobile contract, I decided to go with the Touch.

I picked up an 8gb model, new with software upgrade for about $240 on eBay. The refurbs are $249 at Apple, but I figured a new one is better - even if the refurb is from Apple.

Once I had played with it for a bit, I got to work making it more functional. I downloaded ZiPhone and in 2 minutes, I had jailbreaked it. The newest software is one-step and seems safe to use... but who knows. Breaking the thing was a risk I was willing to accept, or I would not have tried it. I was probably more willing to try it with a $240 iPod than a $500 iPhone...

The Jailbreaking process puts an installer app on there, so I was able then to quickly install a variety of games (Tetris, Shanghai/Mahjong, plus a few others) in addition to some productivity apps, a Japanese-English dictionary (for our upcoming trip) and the piano and guitar apps. So far so good.

After doing more reading, I got BusySync and used that to sync iCal with my wife's google calendars, which then allowed the iTouch to sync with iCal. I exported her google contacts as a .vcf and imported them into Address Book so they could be imported to the phone. I assume Google will come out with their own suite of applications later in the year for this purpose, hopefully to avoid having to use the computer as a go-between. BTW, all of these installation, synchronizations, etc. were very smooth and easy. Even the full calendar sync only took a minute.

Next, I wanted to put some media on there for her. I used VisualHub (amazing program) to convert Pride and Prejudice as well as a few home movies. This process took about an hour on our Dual G5. I loaded them onto the iPod in a few minutes, along with some music and some photos.... all of this very simple and straightforward.The movies on there are stunning.

So, it works fine for me. Time will tell if my wife likes it and finds it a suitable replacement for her Palm, which she really liked. I can tell she misses the stylus for writing, but I hope she'll get good at the touch tapping on the iTouch.

My kids like the ant application which simulates ants running around the screen for you to squish.

I ordered the XtremeMac Tuffwrap case for it, which will arrive tomorrow. Pink, of course.

Never having played with one of these iPods for any extended period, I can honestly say that the thing is beautiful. It is sleek and responsive. It makes my old 3G 40 look like a dinosaur. I can't wait to see what happens to the lineup later this year and next.

[ztirffritz]

I saw some screen shots of the installer app. It looks like a front end for apt from the Debin Linux project. You add a repository and then install from it. Clever.

http://www.saurik.com/id/1

[JEBB]

I've used my Palm device (Handspring Visor Edge) to carry information that doesn't change much like calendar, addresses and some information like medical history, passwords for various web sites and other such information. I can sync that info with my Powerbook and I can password protect the whole thing. What I can't do with it is get on the Internet.

I stopped by the Apple Store today to look at the iTouch. I talked to a salesman and a customer who has an iPhone about putting documents on the iTouch, be they PDFs or text documents. They said there is no way to do that. It appears that the device at present is really only an iPod music and video player with the ability surf the Net.

Is what I need an Eee PC? But the Eee can't be synced with my Powerbook, right?

[volcs0]

[quote JEBB]I stopped by the Apple Store today to look at the iTouch. I talked to a salesman and a customer who has an iPhone about putting documents on the iTouch, be they PDFs or text documents. They said there is no way to do that. It appears that the
Not only will you be able to put documents on there, but you will be able to do it wirelessly and automatically. It is going to be a great summer for Touch and iPhone users.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/software/sync...329272.php

[vicrock]

There is LOTS of info out there on the capabilities of a jailbroken touch - anyone working at an apple store is going to give you the "company line" - but go to

http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/

or

http://forums.ilounge.com/

for info on how to do a lot of things that apple says you can't do.

[sunfalcon]

I've got a 16GB touch - no jailbreak here and I love it!!!

[Silencio]

[quote JEBB]I talked to a salesman and a customer who has an iPhone about putting documents on the iTouch, be they PDFs or text documents. They said there is no way to do that.
You can email them to yourself. I keep a folder or two on my IMAP server specifically for holding .xls, .doc, and .pdf files of various kinds that I'd want to reference while on the go. Works pretty well, though it would be nicer if there was a Preview.app type of application you can go straight to from the main screen.