I just got one, to use for the web and e-mail on my upcoming trip to Italy. Just tested it out and it seems to work fine. Need to find a wi-fi hot zone is all -- my school has free wi-fi so I am hopefully set. One sort of cool thing is it is possible to change keyboards, from English to Italian, French, Spanish, whatever (a lot of other languages too but I don't know them) so there is no need for contortions to print accents, etc. It also has the regular ipod features. Its too soon to say a lot since I just tried it, but it seems good. It is a little awkward typing on the little touch screen but a lot simpler than schlepping a laptop.
Let me know how you like it after you use it for a while. I was seriously thinking of getting one, but a couple of things stopped me.
First of all, they crippled the PDA features from the iPhone. You can't enter anything on the Calendar (just sync it with entries on your computer). Then they took away the Notes function, so there is no way to save text on the Touch. The only sort of clunky workaround is to use the notes feature in Contacts.
Also, you can't use it in disk mode, as you can with all the other iPods, so you can't save or transfer files on it. Everything has to go through iTunes.
Finally, when I played with it in a store for a while, it seemed VERY slow to load web pages. Then eventually it froze up. I have heard that the browser on the iPhone can be a bit buggy.
My take on the Touch is that Apple's priority was to have a portable device for selling stuff from the iTunes store. It got a less-than-lukewarm review from the iPod Lounge website:
quote:
Despite the fact that iPod touch is Apple’s most expensive iPod, it offers less battery life than the $149 iPod nano, and far less than Apple’s latest hard disk-based iPods. Apple’s post-warranty battery replacement plan for iPod touch is unusually expensive by iPod standards, as well. Between its low storage capacities and its slow transfer speeds, iPod touch takes a longer time than any other iPod to reload with music and movies....
... rather than using certain of the iPhone’s components as a starting point for an even better iPod, Apple decided to downgrade them, creating an iPod that now sits in the cell phone industry’s shadow rather than pointing the way forward, or serving the greater capacity and performance needs of iPod buyers. And those downgrades are numerous: you don’t just lose a cell phone by buying iPod touch instead of a comparable-capacity iPhone; you lose the dock, charger, camera, external speaker, microphone, battery life, screen quality, resilient back casing, Bluetooth, and several applications
I can't speak for the iPod Touch, but with the iPhone, I have been very happy with the speed and stability of the web browser. It is a little slow when surfing with the AT&T Edge network, but with wi-fi, it's great. And you really do get better at typing on the little keypad.
That said, I decided not to bring my iPhone on my upcomming trip, instead we're bringing a laptop. It's a lot more to lug around but you can do so much more with it.
I am sure that as time goes on they will add features and memory to the touch and this is not the best time to buy. However, since I am leaving for a month in Sicily next week it is really important to me to keep in touch by e-mail and I can't bring my laptop because I am determined to do carry-on only, just a 19 inch suitcase and my purse (pls travel vest). I will let you all know after that how it goes. If it's bad, it's bad. C'est la vie. For now, though, it seems really nice.
When the iPhone came out, I said right away that I would buy it if they didn't have the phone part, but now that the iPod Touch came out, I am also a little disappointed with the lack of notes and the fixed calendar. I have also read that there are some screen issues with the new iPod Touch.
If I was leaving on a trip soon, I might already buy it, but I will probably also wait for them to work out the bugs.
Please let us know how it works when traveling! I am curious to how easy it is to get wifi access.
Yes, will let you know. It worked out fine with the wi-fi at my local library. I think you are smart to wait. All I can say is so far so good. I didn't want to phone either, in Europe I have a little Nokia I bought for about 30 euros (unlocked)and I just get sim cards when I travel.
I wonder how easy it will be to find free WiFi when you are traveling. I would love to hear a report on this after your trip. I use my BlackBerry (on T-Mobile) and it is great for email and a bit slow on the web. It does not have a WiFi feature - but they say the new ones will. So keep us posted about the WiFi!
I don't think it is easy in general to find free wi-fi while travelling, although some hotels have it at a nominal cost. The language school I attend (Babilonia, in Taormina) has free wi-fi for students so I know I will have it while there.
I was hoping someone on ST would get the iPod Touch and report on it. Thanks for giving us your early thoughts and thank you in advance for any future reports. I'm going to Lucca in a few months (I'll be taking language classes at Koine there) and plan on getting the iPod Touch too. Even though I'll have my laptop, I want something even smaller I can carry around with me for wi-fi and video access. Anyway, I also look forward to your comments on the school in Taorimina, I think I read a trip report by you earlier on the school and I'm hoping to eventually take classes there as well and I'd be interested in any other comments you have on the classes and school. Thanks again for info on the IPT, especially re its performance in Italy.
Posts: 34 | Location: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: 21 May 2007
