just an asterisk

There is a purity to the idea of music as the primary goal for the iPod (the phrase “it used to be about the music” always reminds me of Almost Famous and this scene above).  I’ve written about the feature craziness of the iPhone (here), but recently got an iPod Touch for Xmas, so I thought I would try an experiment.  You see, the iPod touch really has only two features – it plays music and video, like any iPod these days, AND it has a WiFi connection, a feature that leads to all sorts of mischief.  I wondered what I could get up to with only the WiFi connection.  Would the device still be useful if it were not about the music at all?

The results were entertaining.  I spent my vacation downloading apps and trying to get as much mileage out of the Touch as I could.  In fact, I’ll give you a preview of the ending: it was a lot of fun.  Let the games begin…

I started my trip to Milan for Xmas with Tripit, a program I’ve used before (but never on the Touch).  I synced my travel plans (with confirmation numbers and quotes), allowing me to tell the rather snotty Italian Avis rental guy that no, it was no ok if the price was 50 Euros more than the quote and yes I do have proof. In Italian this exchange was the rental guy saying  “e normale…” (shrug) and me responding: “NO non e normale.”  (insert look that said “just because I’m foreign doesn’t make me an idiot”).

Once on the road, I could look at my world clocks to make sure that my time zones were in sync.  This isn’t technically a new feature (it’s on the iPod Classic) but I found it very useful.

While in the air, I had read through one of  my kindle books (no not the complete works of Shakespeare – it just makes a nice picture).  It was great to do the same tricks that I do on my kindle:  taking notes, highlighting passages and adding bookmarks.  I also like having access to all my books, with the ability to download the books that I make have deleted or recently purchased using WiFi.  If the screen were 1 inch bigger, this app alone would be a selling point (if you don’t already have a kindle).

At road stops, a quick glance at Google earth provided a bit of entertainment, as I pinpointed my location and explored local attractions.  In the end, I used it for almost the same purpose as Google Maps (also included on the Touch), but I found the controls much more fun…  Turn by turn directions are available from other apps and as there is no GPS on the touch, it’s tough to get more mileage out of mapping features.

Once at my destination, I managed to tune my guitar (picture on the left) and then call ANYONE in my address book for free with Skype (picture on right).

Skype is such a useful app on the Touch that I’d almost buy one if it were a one trick pony.  The ability to call anywhere from any WiFi network saves oodles of dough and somehow, almost magically, the call quality is better than when I call from my laptop.  All you need to make this work is a headset with a microphone built-in – conveniently the same as my old blackberry headset…

Once I had arrived at my destination, there was nothing else to do but enjoy the vacation.  I wrote blog posts using Evernote, my favorite online note taking application.  You can write notes, add pictures, and then sync it all up to the cloud for safe keeping.  I will say that the built-in camera of the iPhone does add to the power of having applications like Evernote, as you can upload shots documents like business cards and such (which Evernote can scan for text and process for you).   However, I enjoyed typing away while in the kitchen with my grandparents.  It was convenient and much more subtle than opening a full laptop.

I won’t go into the details of the rest of my trip, but suffice to say, it was with family so the lively conversation sparked a few ideas which I captured with Remember the Milk (on left), probably the best task application out there (which I wrote about here).  I also had to do some grocery shopping, for which I found the lovely app ShopShop (right).

Also, family conversations inevitably end up in small arguments about relatively insignificant facts.  Wolfram-Alpha to the rescue!  This handy (although expensive) app connects to the full Wolfram-Alpha website (which I wrote about here) and allows you to type natural language queries such as NYC vs Milan (8.364 million people vs 1.298 million people) or my age in days (10061 days).  I find the math functions most impressive in this app (integrals and derivatives computed in seconds), but access to swaths of useless information is an agreeable plus!

For those of you who haven’t had a Panettone, your lives are incomplete.  That said, a quintuple bypass is probably not a life goal so perhaps a fitness app would be useful?  I’ll admit that I haven’t actually worked out per se with this sucker, but it looks great!  iFitness allows you to make up your own works outs from a large collection.  My new year resolutions will involve heavy use of this software – I’ll let you know how it turns out…

To close, I include the apps that are only for amusement.  Flixster allows you to update your NetFlix queue while doing heavy movie research complete with trailers and reviews.  You can also buy tickets and find theatres for new releases.  Also, I’ve included a screenshot of the games I’ve tried so far.  I think Collapse might be my kryptonite (perfectly good evenings gone forever trying to beat the floating bat creature who ruins this Tetris like game with gobs of ink).  Physics free is fun too – it’s not nearly as nerdy as it sounds.

Overall, the grand experiment was a success.  I managed to do many tasks on the one device and could have ignored the music function completely.  I recommend an iPod Touch to any traveler who wants a bit of fun on top of music player.  Let me know if you have any suggestions for me to try in the comments!

~ab

This entry was posted on Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 6:30 am and is filed under Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

We would love to hear what you have to say! You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.