freeform goodness

I’ve owned an iPod touch since the beginning of the year and it’s a pretty cool device— it does the expected iPod stuff with a very nice screen for video and the bonus of being a WiFi enabled handheld web browser. I also, for work, carry the world’s worst mobile phone. That’s actually probably a little unfair— it’s probably not so much worse than all the other shitty little phones billions of people carry around, but I do hate the thing — horrible UI, poor battery life, impossible to find accessories (sync cables, chargers) for, etc.

Back to positive things, as mentioned above, I really do like the iPod touch, particularly the net-enabledness of it. As ubiquitous as WiFi is, though, finding a quality clear and open connection when I’m out and about is always a bit of a crapshoot. Watching the prerelease hype for the 3g iPhone, I finally decided that what I really wanted was an iPod touch that had an always-on connection. A few months back I looked into getting something like the CradlePoint PHS300, but quickly realized that then I’d be carrying 3 little devices around all the time, and that’s just silly.

So, I, um, bought an iPhone (Tammie did, too.) We hit the sweet spot in terms of availibility — we purchased at the Somerset Apple store on Saturday. This meant that the Friday launch day activation disaster had been resolved (a friend and I talked to a guy Friday who spent 6 hours waiting for a phone), but there were still actually phones available (most stores sold out on Sunday.) We got in line @ 2:30 PM and were inside the store at 4:00. We walked out with two working phones a half hour later.

• What’s to like
  • It’s teh Internets, in mah pants. Duh.
  • It’s still a great iPod
  • Remote
  • I get to make Sven smile
  • Safari is a great mobile browser. The fact that it works everywhere now and not just when I get lucky is officially :)
  • The already way fun Maps application that I knew and loved from the iPod touch gains immensely in utility when paired with even the halfassed GPS in the phone. I may never be lost again.
  • Syndicated feeds and Twitter and and Flickr and all that crap are a natural fit, and the new apps for them in the App Store are largely pretty good, if a mite buggy.
  • The lack of Flash is a feature.
• What’s not to like
  • If I turn on all the advertised goodies (3g, WiFi, location services, paired Bluetooth headset support) the thing plows through a battery charge like Lindsay Lohan though an eightball. I’ve quickly learned to take advantage of charging opportunities when I get them.
  • 2 years indentured servitude to a phone company
  • Freetards yell at me for not donning a mobile hairshirt instead.
  • Accessories (cases, etc.) are thin on the ground — manufacturers are still converting over their lines from the 1st-gen iPhone.

:: Dave Walker 10:52 (EST/EDT) [+] ::

:: [/tech/gadgets/iPodtouchandiphone]
:: tags: iPodtouchandiphone

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