Using the iPod touch for mobile computing. good or bad.

[alfredo]

I do a lot of cafe sitting and I wondered if the iPT would be good for the light demands of casual surfing and e-mail while getting a caffeine fix.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I came this close to getting one

as a book reader,

I ended up getting a sony reader... long story with dad... and I need to hide books and will buy electronic from now on

So I got to play with it for ten minutes at the store. I found the keyboard all but that friendly... and it should have an external keyboard

Of course if you are good with texting, your mileage will vary

Me... have never, ever, done texting... swear, I have yet to join the 21st century in that sense.

[alfredo]

2. I have clubs instead of hands. My Arthritis might be a problem. Still I know

I would learn how to do it and how to be brief.


How was surfing? Fast, slow, or middlin?

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. midling

you know with arthritis you may want to take a look at the EEE900, and an external keyboard. There is this cool one that I may get one of these centuries, The damn thing rolls hence very transportable... of course cannot wait for the one that projects on a flat surface

The lappie also works with my MP3

Here is a link to those keyboards. and they have dropped in price from the last time I saw them.. I might get one in two months or so

http://www.pens.com/pens/Product_Detail.aspx?prod=SiliconeKeyboard&design=Design-None


And seen them individually at Fryes from time to time

[alfredo]

4. The palm used to have a projector keyboard. It seems like it would

be tough on the fingertips after a bit.

CompUSA used to have the flexible keyboards. I was tempted.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. I'm tempted on the flexible, truly am,

and next time I see them at fryies I just may

[alfredo]

8. It's always good to have a back up keyboard. I have a Playstation 2

keyboard that is nice and compact and works just fine on my Macs. It cost me $19.95. I spill things on my Apple Pro keyboard from time to time. I put it in the shower and give it a good rinsing, let it dry out and it's fine.

[moggie]

5. Cool, another Reader owner

I recently bought a Sony PRS-505. Lovely little device.

I wish Apple would get into the e-book market, but apparently Steve Jobs is against it, saying that people don't read books any more.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. That is why there are severeal APPs to do the readying

on the touch.

Mot that he's aganst it, the market is truly not mature

Speaking as a writer here.

Now the PR 505-c is amazing but it is missing some critical features tht the 700 does not have in a mature way, like oh notetaking.

As I said, I got it since we have issues with dad, and quite frankly I don't want a fight with dad when he comes visiting

[moggie]

12. You know what Steve Jobs is like

He's not always honest about his reasons for being against particular developments. Here's what he said about the Amazon Kindle a year ago:

"It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don't read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don't read anymore."

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/the-passion-of-steve-jobs/

But it could be that Apple are waiting for colour electronic paper to become practical.

Notetaking: yes, that and the poor PDF support (more of a problem with PDF itself) mean it's not a great device for textbooks.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. And you know what?

he is correct.

That is the bane of many of us writers... people don't read in this country the way they once did.

it is not encouraged in the culture.

Now as an annoying thing, I was going to place one of my manuals in it, but I will have to redo the PDF... the zoom feature in PDFs sucks... I need a PDF that my eyes can read, which means... 20 size type

[awoke_in_2003]

9. I have gone on two business trips...

since I got my touch. It is real nice to check email in the airport without dragging a laptop along. I have fat fingers and have no trouble with the on-screen keyboard. If you did, a stylus would fix that problem. I also surf the net while sitting in the living room watching TV, or when I go out for a smoke. It does the job nicely. I got the Body Glove hard case for it, and the belt hook makes it real easy to keep a secure grip on it:
http://www.bodyglove.com/products_detail.php?product_id=24433

[moggie]

11. A regular stylus wouldn't work

That's because of the capacitive technology the screen uses. Try touching the screen with a pencil eraser (softish, like a finger): nothing happens. Now try touching it with the negative end of a regular battery: it registers a touch. But only if you use the negative end! So a stylus containing a battery could presumably be made to work, but a conventional PDA stylus wouldn't.

[awoke_in_2003]

13. They do make stylus's for it...

I just havent needed one yet.

[moggie]

14. Thanks, I didn't know that

Like you, though, I find find typing adequate on it. I was doubtful at first, as an old Palm user and fan of Palm's Graffiti, but I was surprised at how well the on-screen keyboard works.

[Lost-in-FL]

10. I hate surfing the web on it...

but knowing that I have internet capabilities in case of an emergency is a great plus. I relay on the applications instead of having to surf the net for latest news, movie tickets, my bank transactions, etc. but to just sit down and surf for news, forget that! I have bad eyes and it irritate me to have to increase, decrease font, etc.

[crimsonblue]

16. I love my iPhone for these very purposes

(the IPT is identical in this respect). The mail client is very straight forward, and many web mail services, such as gmail, hotmail, and yahoo provide instructions on best syncing up messages onto the ipod. The web experience on Safari is awesome. You get the same web pages as using a laptop or desktop. Typing takes a little getting used to, but it is pretty easy to master.

[47of74]

19. Only thing keeping me from considering an iPhone...

The only thing keeping me from considering an iPhone is that the only game in town is AT&T. If they'd allow U.S. Cellular to provide iPhones then I'd consider getting one when it comes time to replace my current phone (2010 at the earliest). I'm not going to AT&T for an iPhone because their coverage isn't all that great here in Iowa.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. Another good thing about the Touch...

is you CAN use it as a phone, without getting locked in to ATT. If you already use a VoIP, all you need to do is set it up on your touch, and get one of the mikes that plug into the docking port. Google "iPod touch as a phone" to find out how.

[47of74]

18. I have a Touch and wonder how I ever got along without.

I believe I've said it before elsewhere, but I have a Touch and I wonder how I ever got along without it. Light surfing it seems to work well enough, as does email. But for heavy surfing and email I'd sooner have a regular computer. The software keyboard provided by the Touch isn't the easiest thing in the world to use.