iPod Touch as Replacement PDA

[marnold]

I've seen a couple of iPod Touch threads on here over the years. I'm looking for a replacement for my aging Palm TX. I wondered if anyone on here uses the PIM apps at all. They are absolutely essential for what I do. Also, would I be able to use this without using iTunes on my computer? I only run Linux so that's a non-starter. I believe I can set up the Touch as a USB mass storage device so I should be able to copy MP3s to it manually.

Ideally, I'd like an Android phone. I just don't like the idea of paying $30/mo for a data package that I will only use rarely. Most every place has WiFi anymore, including Casa Rawk. I must say that considering an Apple product makes my open-source-heart break a little bit. If someone made something like the Touch only with Android instead, I'd be all over it.

[deeaa]

Htc beats the s*it IMO out of any Apple and there's plenty Android models, just compare them side to side and the Apples look like they're dinosaurs.

http://www.htc.com/www/product/desire/overview.html for instance runs Android and isn't even that expensive.

I use a HD2 that has Windows 6.5 and in a few years my next phone will be the HD7 that has Win 7 mobile, most likely, but it's of course possible some even more advanced models will come along. Currently am really happy with the HD2, just putting a better car navigator on it (I've tried TomTom and Gmaps on it, next will try Sygix which works very well on my older win 6 smartphone I've only used for car navigation of late since HD2 arrived.

I also have wifis at home and work but I still like to have unlimited data on the smartphones, all of 'em, plus all of my laptops as well, as often the 24Mbit home line is quite congested anyway, if someone's watching a HD movie over the net for instance, or even some TV shows over the net, and I'm leeching some multi-gigabyte torrent at the same time on my desktop, well, it gets sticky surfing unless all the machines have separate networks. And in actuality I even have my networks from three different service providers, not all the same, so if there's a momentary problem with one, the other two probably work fine.

I mean, what's 30 bucks a month? Just skip a couple of lunches a month and you're covered, or wear the same shoes a few weeks longer before replacing...I see no point in saving money with networking, as I need them all the time and it's like I could NOT do any work or hobbies or anything very well were I not connected at all times and anywhere.

BTW I've gotten into a habit of recording video clips on my phone of song ideas I have...as the phone is with me everywhere except shower & sauna, it's very easy to just record a short clip showing the guitar and the melody line...I have made dozens of such clips, now if I ever had the time to realize at least some of those ideas---

[marnold]

I don't disagree with any of your points on the comparison of the devices. I'd much prefer an Android device. $30 might not sound like much, but when it's $30 I don't need to spend for something I wouldn't really use that much, that's a waste. I'd need it for two years so that's $720. I can think of a lot of things I'd rather spend $720 on.

[bcdon]

Hey Rev,

I'd get an iPod touch unless you want a single device for both phone + mp3. I have an iPhone so I don't have to carry two devices. I really hate cell phones but have to have one at times. I got my iPhone in the states without a contract and then brought it up here and have a simple call plan with NO data service; nice and cheap. If you went the iPhone route, you should be able to find a used one that you can activate without a long-term contract and no data services (just use the WiFi when available).

Cheers.

EDIT: And that $720 would easily pay for your Jet City and a few other nice things to boot.

[deeaa]

Well, if I started thinking how much I spend in two years for networking, xbox games etc. useless stuff...several thousands anyway...and I'm always broke....but the way I see it, I rather drive an old car and never eat out etc. than save on stuff I use a lot and is important to my enjoying living. So I don't count how much I spend on toys formyself or my boys, or cicarrettes, or guitars even usually...I want and like something, I buy it, and then save from less important stuff like cars, eating, clothes and traveling etc.

I just took a holiday abroad for the first time in 10 years and it cost us something like 3 thousand...I just keep kicking myself I could have bought a jmv and pay for networking for a few years or buy a kinect for xbox...but I wasted it on two weeks with nothing tangible remaining except some memories...and now I'm like 1500 in debt ro boot...I feel so bad about wasting that money I had to go and buy two new xbox games to feel at least a little better.

[SuperSwede]

I´m not sure if its possible to sync the calender/contacts/whatever with Linux but as a previous Palm TX (and IIIe, V, Visor and more) owner I have to recommend you Apple iOS.. its just as user friendly as ye olde Palm OS and there are loads of fun and useful apps available. I don´t like Android or Windows Mobile for the same reasons that I don´t like Windows on my computers.

[marnold]

My neighbor pastor to the north has a Macbook or whatever the heck they call them so if I absolutely needed to hook it up to a computer I could. He has iTunes installed on it. It is my understanding that system upgrades must be done via a computer (how 2004). Can one iTunes installation use multiple accounts?

I'm going to try to go to Green Bay today earlier than I need to for my meeting and try out an iPod Touch at Best Buy or something. If I hate it, that answers my question. From some research I've done, it seems that the people behind libimobiledevice (http://www.libimobiledevice.org/) have figured out a way for Linux to communicate with the iWhatever without jailbreaking. At the very least I like their tagline "Teaching Penguins to talk with fruits."

[SuperSwede]

Does iTunes work with Wine?

I found a link that could be helpful if you are a Ubuntu user.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PortableDevices/iPhone

[Eric]

My wife has an ipod touch. It's a pretty nice interface. I've never used the PIM apps on it much, other than the calendar, but they seem to work pretty well from my limited exposure.

In my mind, your biggest issue will probably be syncing and/or updating it. Do you use it completely independent of your computer (i.e. no syncing)? If so, that might be less of an issue.

Also, unless you have plans for a Rockbox sort of do-over for the OS, I don't think you'll be able to play mp3s with it, even if you do use it as a mass-storage device.

Keep us updated on what you decide.

[marnold]

Also, unless you have plans for a Rockbox sort of do-over for the OS, I don't think you'll be able to play mp3s with it, even if you do use it as a mass-storage device.
Why not?

[Eric]

Why not?
Sorry, maybe my statement was a bit unclear. Hopefully I'm not just telling you something you already know, but here it goes anyway...

Unless things have changed, you need to upload mp3s to all ipods using itunes. If you don't, the ipod won't recognize the song as a valid media file. There's some sort of encryption that itunes does to files that makes it necessary to use itunes to put music on your ipod. I found this out the hard way when I tried to upload music to my sister's ipod shuffle by using it as another drive in a windows computer.

At least I think that's how it works. I'm pretty much the opposite of an expert on apple electronics.

[marnold]

At least I think that's how it works. I'm pretty much the opposite of an expert on apple electronics.
Hmmm. It would appear that I need to do some more research. From what I've read it seems like you should be able to upload MP3s to it from Linux, but I've got to find out for sure. This is what I hate about Apple--lock everything as tight as a drum so you can't use the device you paid for except in ways they specifically authorize.

[Eric]

Hmmm. It would appear that I need to do some more research. From what I've read it seems like you should be able to upload MP3s to it from Linux, but I've got to find out for sure. This is what I hate about Apple--lock everything as tight as a drum so you can't use the device you paid for except in ways they specifically authorize.
That's not the only reason I stay away, but it's something that I don't consider to be a positive part of their technology. For a certain segment of the population, the lock-down thing is a huge bonus, because it makes integration much simpler.

If you can simply upload and play, that is most definitely something new. The last time I had definitive proof of needing itunes to interface with the ipod was probably 3-4 years ago, so it's possible that they've changed their ways, but I thought that requiring you to install and use itunes was a huge part of itunes' success.

Perhaps that's part of why they changed it (if in fact they did) -- itunes might have reached that critical mass where it was self-propagating, so they no longer needed to chain the end user to the program.

[markb]

Hmmm. It would appear that I need to do some more research. From what I've read it seems like you should be able to upload MP3s to it from Linux, but I've got to find out for sure. This is what I hate about Apple--lock everything as tight as a drum so you can't use the device you paid for except in ways they specifically authorize.

Makes it work, though ;)

This might help (http://ostatic.com/blog/linux-and-your-iphone-ipod-touch), if you want to jump through the hoops that is. But then that's what Linux is all about, isn't it? :)

[deeaa]

Hmmm. It would appear that I need to do some more research. From what I've read it seems like you should be able to upload MP3s to it from Linux, but I've got to find out for sure. This is what I hate about Apple--lock everything as tight as a drum so you can't use the device you paid for except in ways they specifically authorize.

Exactly what I hate about Apple in everything. But I love iPods despite that. But I do hate to feel I can't control everything on my machines. Even at work - our computers are remote-accessible and all, and the first thing I do when I get a new work machine I 'crack' it so they can't remote-control or update it and such, and install my own browsers, software and whatnot...I don't want them to know what I do on it anyway.

Same reason I don't use the phone my company gives me, except to make some work calls rarely...even though it'd be free to use and call, it bugs me to great extent I can't decide how it syncs and stores stuff, and who can track it and so on. I want my own phone, a better phone, and divert all calls thru my own operator.

When I do put MP3's on my phone I want to be able to copy them to memory via the computer, via card reader, via downloading directly. I do use iTunes as well but it really sucks...hard to even juggle two iPods...so I use YamiPOD to update my other iPod.

iTunes always goes haywire at regular intervals, such as when I change the folders/drives I keep my musics in, and then I get gazillion duplicate names half of which don't work and I need to rebuild the entire music library...sigh...

Other apps I truly dislike are Quicktime, RealPlayer and Acrobat, all stuff it's VERY hard to not have to use sometime.

[Eric]

Quicktime, RealPlayer
+100.

Back in the day, I would have added novell (nortel? can't remember the name) to the list. Quicktime actually made some necessary drivers and libraries cease to function on computers on which it was installed.

[Kazz]

The Ipod Touch is an amazing piece of technology. I would say go for it Matt. They can be picked up used for under 100 bucks jailbroken to load your own apps on too. I would not even think twice about using my Touch as a pda. I like it way better than my blackberry.

[marnold]

Well, I got a chance to play with an iPod Touch and a Motorola Milestone (re: Droid) today. The iTouch was faster--everything scrolled, loaded, etc., much more quickly. In many ways, both interfaces tied. One key advantage of the Milestone was the keyboard(s). I've got little hands for a guy and I couldn't use the iTouch's virtual keyboard to save my life. I probably wouldn't need the Milestone's hardware keyboard because the virtual one works so nicely. Combine that with the trouble I'd have getting an iTouch working with Linux and I'm beginning to question its viability.

I just read that Samsung has introduced an Android PDA in Europe. I'll have to check that out if it comes stateside.

[omegadot]

I started using Linux around the 2.2 days and have gotten used to Apple breaking compatibility with anything non-apple. I used Amarok or GTKPod for a while to sync with a Nano I had, but at the time many other models didn't work. I just assume side-step the whole dance. I do normally have a Windows installation in a VM though, so I've leaned on that over the years. Recently I've avoided anything that I can get to work easily because I want things to be reliable.

[deeaa]

+100.

Back in the day, I would have added novell (nortel? can't remember the name) to the list. Quicktime actually made some necessary drivers and libraries cease to function on computers on which it was installed.

Yep, currently my biggest concern is Quicktime wants to update itself every other week it seems almost, and EVERY time I have to re-install certain VST plugins after the update...so I decided I just won't allow it to update itself any more. The Apple Software Update seems to pop up just when it's least wanted and tries to update Safari and iTunes, fails almost every time and causes problems...I better just not allow it to execute.

STill, some apps require the damned Quicktime.