THE BORE
General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: Eel O'Brian on December 23, 2008, 08:02:27 AM
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Now that I have a $50 Best Buy gift card, and am likely to receive money for Christmas, I'm considering buying a 16GB 1st Gen iPod Touch (I can get one for the same price as a 2nd Gen 8 Gig). Glancing through some lists of apps, there are already a few I am interested in.
I'd like to know the pros and cons of the iPod Touch, if you don't mind.
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It is GREAT as a portable internet device, the Safari web browser is far better than any mobile web browser I have ever used and I use it all the time, really works amazingly well. Assuming you have wifi it functions as a personal internet device really well especially when you get some apps for it like google mobile, AIM, facebook/myspace type apps, wikipedia app...etc. And as a game device it's pretty solid, it's not handheld game system but it's game store has some good stuff. There are also lots of other great apps like Pandora Radio (a online radio station) among others that are must haves.
As for a music device? Usually one would say it is not the best to go with since its only 8 and 16 GB. Using it as your main music device is very dependent on how much music you actually have. The interface to listen to your music is better than the old school iPod's and it's built in iTunes store to be able to download music and podcasts without using a computer is nice. But if you get a iPod touch you'll get addicted to the app store getting tons of free apps and games for it, everyone does. Thus making the 8 or 16 GB even less space for your music.
It all depends on just how much space for music is good enough for you.
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Jailbreak it and get free apps
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I use it for internet more than I use it for iPod features. The iPod is kind of shitty. It is difficult to seek a specific time or set a specific volume because you're dragging a horizontal slider with your finger (which is big) along a relatively small stretch of terrain. The multitouch stuff-- the real one advantage I think the iPod has over everything else-- doesn't come into play much in music. I find coverflow to be bloated and slower than selecting from a list (it's not a surprise apple loves it).
You really can't use the thing without looking at it, which is something I always used to do with my iPod classic.
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Gonna have to agree with Y2Kev about the UI. I felt like I could get around easier on the old ipod. It's also more dangerous in the car...I could at least look at the road while honing in on the general area of the band/podcast I want to listen to.
I have a bit of buyer's remorse with the Touch, as I don't use the browser/organizational features anymore (now that I have a macbook, which goes everywhere my touch goes.) I'm actually considering selling it and getting a 120gb classic.
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:bow Zune :bow2
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Gonna have to agree with Y2Kev about the UI. I felt like I could get around easier on the old ipod. It's also more dangerous in the car...I could at least look at the road while honing in on the general area of the band/podcast I want to listen to.
I have a bit of buyer's remorse with the Touch, as I don't use the browser/organizational features anymore (now that I have a macbook, which goes everywhere my touch goes.) I'm actually considering selling it and getting a 120gb classic.
Give you $50 for it
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Jailbreak it and get free apps
can you please elaborate on this?
I want to upgrade, but the idea of paying for a firmware upgrade is ridiculous.
You really can't use the thing without looking at it, which is something I always used to do with my iPod classic.
yeah, that gets annoying. I don't use my ipod touch as my everyday mp3 player because of that. I have one of the newer nanos now that I use day to day and I can pretty much control everything without taking it out of my pocket.
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I jailbroke mine and then went back to official firmware. You can get around having to pay for it if you jailbreak it to something past 2.0 and then revert to official.
I don't use iPod apps and I don't really understand anyone who uses them extensively. They all have tortured interfaces and the games absolutely suck.
There are a FEW apps I think are really quite cool...they all appear in ipod commercials.
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I don't use iPod apps and I don't really understand anyone who uses them extensively. They all have tortured interfaces and the games absolutely suck.
You don't like the iPod safari interface? It's the best web browser for any non-computer I can think of.
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Jailbreak it and get free apps
can you please elaborate on this?
I can't, I dont have an ipod... but you can get anything from the App Store absolutely free
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I don't use iPod apps and I don't really understand anyone who uses them extensively. They all have tortured interfaces and the games absolutely suck.
You don't like the iPod safari interface? It's the best web browser for any non-computer I can think of.
Well, to be honest I was referencing stuff you grab from the app store, but Safari is pretty good. Again, the screen resolution makes browsing most webpages difficult, but it is pretty good. The Blackberry Storm has a very nice browser too, and it also has "pointer mode" to enable a cursor on screen to point at specific small objects easier. The scrolling isn't as smooth yet though.
I definitely agree it's either the best or tied for the best non-computer browser. But, just as an example, I grabbed Rolando after everyone was talking about it and I wanted to kill myself. Controls are crap.
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How well does that app that 'listens' to what is playing and tells you what song it is work?
They advertise it in the commercials, seems pretty sweet
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Gonna have to agree with Y2Kev about the UI. I felt like I could get around easier on the old ipod. It's also more dangerous in the car...I could at least look at the road while honing in on the general area of the band/podcast I want to listen to.
I have a bit of buyer's remorse with the Touch, as I don't use the browser/organizational features anymore (now that I have a macbook, which goes everywhere my touch goes.) I'm actually considering selling it and getting a 120gb classic.
Give you $50 for it
no, $25
just listed it in the buy/sell/trade thread...at $320.
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How well does that app that 'listens' to what is playing and tells you what song it is work?
They advertise it in the commercials, seems pretty sweet
Shazam.
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upgrading for free is surprisingly simple
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How well does that app that 'listens' to what is playing and tells you what song it is work?
They advertise it in the commercials, seems pretty sweet
I haven't tried it, but I don't really know where I'd use it. Sometimes in stores you hear music playing, but it's never loud enough to analyze like that. Radios always tell you the names of the songs before and after playing. The feature that IS cool is that it can bring you to the page to buy that song right away...if you needed avoid typing the name in I guess.
The app I like is the restaurant finder one.
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My radio doesn't tell me shit :(
My new one will though, going to get a decent unit with a line-in.
edit: That restaurant app looked pretty cool too, I'd like to try that as well.
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:bow smartphone plus zune :bow2
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Jailbreak it and get free apps
can you please elaborate on this?
Add http://cydia.hackulo.us to your Cydia repositories, install the MobileInstallation patch then Installous from Cydia, open up the Installous app and presto, free apps.
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Brothers in Arms is somehow worse than it looked in videos
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Rolando is the only have decent game here that's worth actual money. Ngage had better games on it.
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I got one recently and I'd definitely recommend it! Sleek, lovely interface and all the apps you can get are amazing. 16GB is more than enough for me, I'm not one of those people who want to cart around every song I've ever owned since I was born. An overall great device! Just two things that annoy me are that I have to always take it out my pocket to use it, and also its such a nice looking device but gets smudged with fingertips instantly so its basically never up to the clean standard you want it to be :( I'm also very paranoid about it getting scratches.
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Rolando is the only have decent game here that's worth actual money. Ngage had better games on it.
Tetris is good, then jailbreak for free shit like the NES emulator and Quake. I couldn't control Quake at all, but damn was that impressive to see...
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Naw, Tetris was nigh uncontrollable IMHO. And agreed, Quake III on the iPhone was pretty impressive.
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I'll try out Quake 3
oh, and I did need to download one free game to get it all to work and I got that Beef shooter game. That's actually a pretty cool game with the added benefit of being free legally.
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Yeah, that's a pretty well thought out shooter. I'm trying to contact the developer of it at the moment, actually.
There's a few good tower defense games too, if you're into that sorta thing.
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just got AppSniper a few days ago. seems like a good deal (currently 99 cents) if you're addicted to the appstore like myself. tells you when apps you're interested in go on sale and gives you a listing of all the current apps that have gone on sale or gone free.
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Actually, that sounds like a damned good one. The ones I've found reduced to free so far have been mostly luck.
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How is the version of Puzzle Quest?
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How is the version of Puzzle Quest?
Planning to buy it later, I'll let you know.
just got AppSniper a few days ago. seems like a good deal (currently 99 cents) if you're addicted to the appstore like myself. tells you when apps you're interested in go on sale and gives you a listing of all the current apps that have gone on sale or gone free.
Have you seen Appshopper?
http://appshopper.com/prices
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welp, sold the touch. ipod classic is arriving tomorrow (kick ass free overnight from apple.) Thanks Eric p for inadvertently reminding me, or something.
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thanks for the input, everyone
think i'm getting it post-chrithmuss
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Have you seen Appshopper?
http://appshopper.com/prices
Great site. Keep reading the name as Ass-hopper though.
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couple notable pickups i nabbed during my hawaii vacation:
alphabetic - kinda like a "where's waldo" alphabet game
dance dance revolution s (lite) - sweet demo, works surprisingly well on the iphone, much better than that shitty tap tap game
edge - very marble madnessy with a touch of echochrome and cube.
touch grind - it's like a virtual "tech-deck". fun, simple, skateboarding trick game with some nice depth
bouncetrap - similar concept to peggle, except you time the ball dropping as opposed to aiming it
choppy (free) - interesting little 2d shooter/platformer. very retro with a kirby looking character. dunno if i'm gonna buy the full version yet.
favorites so far are alphabetic, edge, and touchgrind. must buys imo.
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I had an old 3G before my touch and so this is like getting broadband internet for the first time. In general everything is a little easier to find. There's a really cohesive design heriarchy that's kind of confusing at first, but makes total sense after an hour or two. It totally changed the way I do my web stuff- Instead of dragging the laptop to the couch, I just whip out my Touch and poke around for a few minutes. You can download the NYTimes, too, so it's nice for subways.
As for playing music, the browser is A++, but controls can be a little spotty. In general the "touch" aspect tends to be about 85% accurate with large icons and gets less and less accurate as you go smaller and smaller- And the seek and volume icons are teeny tiny.
I used to have a 60gb that was PACKED, so a 32 is a downgrade, but I think it's a good thing. Instead of keeping 55 gigs of shit I never listen to, I'm really carrying around just the stuff I like and listen to. Speaking fo which, iTunes interface is nice now. Espec. for updating the iPod.
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Edge is a fucking great game, by the way.
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I had to decide between an 8gig Touch and a 120gig Classic, and sprung for the Classic. I can fit all my music and a TON of movies on it, as well as a bunch of podcasts and still have space left over.