When Apple’s iPod Touch first came out, someone suggested that I write about it, and whether it is a “replacement tool for Windows Mobile and Palm.” They specifically wanted to know whether it made a good PDA.
Note: This post was first written in March 2008, but, because it is so popular, I keep it up-to-date. Current update: June 9, 2011. Although I cut off further commenting in August 2011 (since I no longer plan to make updates to this blog), there are 230 comments on this post, and many of them have great information on apps and device capabilities.
Feb 2012 Update: Apple’s iOS 5 has several features that make the Touch an even better PDA. (Of course, it is far more than a PDA, but this post focuses on its PDA features.)
The new features include a Reminder app, the ability to use Text Shortcuts, a Mail app that supports rich text, an improved Calendar app (ability to show colors for different types of appointments, for example), WiFi syncing, and a notification center that shows all of your notifications in one spot. iOS 5 also enables you to sync Calendar(s), Contacts, Mail, and iWork documents to iCloud. With it I can keep the calendars and contacts on my iMac, iPad, iPhone, and Touch in synch.
There are many, many more updates, but these seemed most useful to me. Note that the Reminder app is location-based, so you can set a reminder to go off when you enter your grocery store. (Just add the store and its address to your Contacts, and then you can select its location for an errand, if you choose.)
Now to the original review (which includes several updates):
I’ll give the bottom-line view first: this is one of the neatest devices I have ever owned, and I have sure owned a bunch of gadgets: over 20 Pocket PCs, Palms, and Smartphones. (I’ve also been a Judge in the 2006 and 2007 Smartphone and Pocket PC Software Awards.) The pictures shown herein just do not do the Touch justice: the screen is far more stunning than a picture conveys. And the 4th generation device, released in September 2010, is even more stunning, featuring Apple’s famous Retina display with a 960×640 pixel resolution.
Even though Apple promotes the entertainment and gaming features of the iPod Touch, and it is now the number 1 gaming device in the world, it is also an excellent PDA. You can even use the 4th generation Touch as a phone, via the FaceTime video service and WiFi. And there are a couple of apps that will let you use your 2nd generation and up Touch (or iPad) as a phone.
And, I’ll tell you something else I love: how easy Apple has made it to upgrade the device, and how they are constantly adding neat features to the software and hardware. For example, my first-generation Touch runs the 3.1 software, and my iPhone 3GS is currently running a pre-release of the iPhone 4.2 software. All the upgrades have been easy. Contrast that with this tweet:
- ethank I have bought five android phones since I got my 3GS. All different software versions, no easy upgrade paths. That is why I like iPhone.
I don’t say that to knock Android. In fact, I am glad Apple has some competition: that’s good for consumers. Just pointing out that Apple does a good job on upgrades for iOS owners.
Anyway, in what follows I break the discussion into three parts: built-in software, add-on software, and hardware. And, of course, when we talk about the Touch being a great PDA, the same goes for the iPhone (which has even more capabilites).
Built-in Software
The Touch comes with the following applications, many of which are Mac OSX tools that have been adapted for a hand-held form factor:
- Top Row: Safari Browser, Calendar, Mail, Contacts
- Middle Row: YouTube viewer, Stocks viewer, Maps viewer, Weather viewer
- Bottom Row: Clock, Calculator, Notes, Settings
And, along the very bottom of the screen are the traditional iPod applications: Music, Videos, Photos, and access to the iTunes store (via WiFi). The 2.0 version also added an application for connecting to the App Store.
What’s really cool is
- Everything on the top row syncs to a Mac or PC, as does everything on the very bottom row (the typical iPod stuff)
In fact, the calendar syncs with Microsoft Outlook, iCal, Yahoo!, Google, MobileMe, and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync for Enterprise. I personally sync with Google Calendar and sync my Contact data to Google Contacts. And the operative word is syncs: that is, I frequently use my Touch or iPhone to enter new Calendar or Contact data, and the changes are reflected back to Google Calendar and Contacts, almost instantly. The Touch is not a “read-only” device.
- Note: You can actually sync with multiple calendars, as exemplified in my post Gluing Together Outlook, gCal and …
Cool, huh? The sync capabilities alone make the Touch usable as a PDA. It lacks a built-in Tasks handler, but pretty much everything else is there.
- For second generation devices and up, there are plenty of third-party applications you can use for task management. I describe one of them below, in the discussion of add-on software. With this app, you have a complete PDA, giving you everything you would expect from one.
A final note on task applications for those using Microsoft Outlook with an Exchange Server: If your organization provides Outlook Web Access for Enterprise for you, you may be able to access your office Outlook through it on the Touch or iPhone. Because I am retired and no longer have access to an Exchange Server interface, I haven’t tried it. But, when I did have such access and was using a Pocket PC, I could access my office Outlook calendar, tasks, email, and so forth using the browser on the Pocket PC. I suppose one could do the same with the Touch or iPhone. It might not be the best interface, but it should be workable. If any of you try this, perhaps you can discuss it in the comments section so others can benefit from your experience.
October 27, 2010 Update: If you are a fan of the Remember The Milk tasks application, but also need to use Outlook, you may want to look into RTM’s Milksync application. Apparently this app lets you keep tasks in sync with Outlook, and since there is an RTM app for iOS devices, it lets you sync Outlook tasks to your iOS device (iPod, iPhone, iPad). I haven’t tried it on an iOS device, because I prefer other task apps. But, I did try an early beta of Milksync on my Pocket PC and BlackBerry Curve a couple of years ago. It had problems with duplicating tasks and deleting some of them, at that time, but those kinks have probably been fixed in the newer version.
As for other PDA functions, you can even dictate messages on the Touch (or iPhone) and have them converted to text (with the free Dragon Dictation app), there are plenty of apps for taking notes (some can sync with your computer, some sync with DropBox, and some with other online services), the Contacts app is very functional (syncs with Outlook or with Google Contacts, and reportedly with some other services), and on and on.
By the way, I love having Safari on the Touch. Up until I got an iPad a couple of months ago, it was my primary interface for using Twitter, checking my Gmail, skimming through Google Reader, and more. Without moving off the couch I can easily keep up with my daily communications stream. And, the interface for browsing is fantastic. (Now I use the iPad for most of my browsing, but the Touch and/or iPhone is certainly great for it.)
Now, to the middle row: I love the YouTube app. Of course it is just a web interface into YouTube, but it has a lot of functionality, including the ability to search for videos and to bookmark them.
I actually like viewing the YouTube videos more on the Touch than on a computer: The screen resolution and size is just perfect, and, as Thomas notes in the comments below, the Touch uses the h.264 codec instead of Flash for YouTube access, which gives it fantastic viewing clarity. (Some folks are upset that Apple does not support Flash on the iOS devices. I’ve not really found this to be an issue for me: occasionally I come upon a web page that has a Flash video that I cannot view, but almost every web page of interest to me views fine.)
Now, while the Stocks, Google Maps, and Weather viewers just latch into data at Google and Yahoo, they are classy. Leave it to Apple to present simple data in such a classy interface. I use the weather and stocks apps a lot during the days, and it just about eliminates my “need” to watch any TV news.
For the bottom row: the Clock is great, and even has alarms, timers, and stop watch applications. The calculator is very functional, and the Notes app is pretty darned neat. You can use the Touch’s built-in keyboard (on-screen) to leave notes to yourself.
Speaking of the keyboard, it takes a little getting used to if you have been an active user of a physical keyboard, such as the one on the BlackBerry Curve. However, the adjustment curve is not steep. The operating system monitors every key press you make, and its smart algorithms learn what mistakes you are most prone to make, and helps you adjust. Really well thought-out. For me, it works well. However, if you are accustomed to writing long emails on your BlackBerry, you might find it hard to make do with a software keyboard.
One thing I’d like to see Apple improve with its keyboard is the word-prediction software. It’s really not very impressive, especially compared to the word-prediction software used in Android-based devices. When the Apple software predicts a word (it doesn’t try to for every word), it is not a good guess as often as is. And it just gives you one choice. The Android phone I tinkered with recently gives 4 or 5 choices for most predictions, and one of these choices is almost always right. Note that I do not know if the prediction software for Android devices is built into the software, or whether it connects to Google’s servers for the prediction algorithms. If it is the latter, that may be why Apple’s word-prediction algorithms are not that great (since they can’t rely on being connected to a server.)
I don’t want to make too big of a deal out of the keyboard. Most people, including me, get along just fine with Apple’s software keyboard. It’s perfect for entering a Calendar entry, or for making minor changes to documents. And most of us use PDAs for content consumption much more so than for content creation. But, if your PDA use involves a lot of content creation, other devices may suit you better.
As to the iPod functions: they are great. Listening to music is as good as ever, and it is a very practical movie-viewer. If I were traveling much I’d have a dozen movies loaded on it. I also loved using my iPhone and Touch for reading e-books, although I now use the iPad instead. (I prefer either of these devices to the Kindle, although I have not tried the newest Kindle.)
Add-on Software
There are over 250,000 apps available for the Touch and iPhone. I discuss just one today, because it is a To-Do app and a lot of people are interested in such apps: Todo from Appigo. You can see its icon on my first page of apps on my Touch:
There are a lot of things I like about this app. First, populating it with tasks was easy: I easily set it up to sync with my Remember The Milk Pro account. (It can also sync with Toodledo.) Secondly, I love its interface. It is so easy to make any type of change to existing items, and it is easy to add new items or to delete ones you decide you no longer want to do.
Here is a screen shot of its primary editing interface for one of my tasks:
And, if you want to change the date, the interface for that is really slick, too, offering up a pick list of Today through a week later (and all days in between), or this handy “other date chooser:”
By the way, on this date chooser, the Month, Day, and Year spin independently, so you can quickly go to any date desired. It is really slick!
Just to check things out, I made changes to several tasks and re-synced back to RTM: worked great!
And a couple of other things I really like about this app: you don’t have to be connected to WiFi to use it (except to sync), and it is cheap ($9.99). The Toodledo app is very similar, and is only $3.99. Of course it works with Toodledo and not Remember The Milk, but many people now prefer Toodledo to RTM.
Mac users may prefer OmniFocus or the Things app for GTD management of tasks. My brief review of Things is here and my review of OmniFocus is here. Outlook users may prefer Pocket Informant, which has recently been upgraded to sync with Outlook tasks, as well as Calendar. (A separate, inexpensive sync utility is required.)
- I also consider the Kindle app to be essential. Apple’s iBooks and the Stanza app are also very nice for reading selected e-books (in the ePub format, for example).
- Dropbox is also a great PDA utility, enabling you to access files from your Dropbox account. And, a final note on apps: There are a ton of good note-taking, note-reading apps, such as Evernote, Writeroom, Notebooks, SimpleNotes, and so on.
Hardware
Did I mention that the device is stunning? Yes I did, but it bears repeating. The screen is gorgeous.
The device is incredibly thin. It feels very comfortable in the hand and is easy so to use.
The only downside I have found with the Touch, as compared to previous iPods, is that the lack of a scroll wheel. I don’t miss it when I am using the Touch at home, but I miss it in the car, which is where I have typically used the scroll wheel to skip parts of a tune or to replay a tune, and so on. You cannot use the screen-interface that effectively while driving. But, in time I got accustomed to this. And, if it bothered me enough, I could always get an iPod Nano for the car, since they are so inexpensive.
The battery life has been very good in my opinion, and I use the WiFi a lot.
By the way, the iPhone and Touch are similar in many ways, except that the iPhone has even more. So, if you are thinking of getting an iPhone, I don’t think you will be disappointed.
Earlier I mentioned that Apple does a great job of updating software and hardware. Sometimes, though, early adopters get left behind. An example is with my Touch, which is a first generation device: it does not have a speaker or microphone, and so cannot benefit from the software upgrades that added Voice Control and Voice Memos to the operating system, and I also will not be able to upgrade it to the iOS 4 software. I don’t really feel screwed by this: this sort of thing happens all the time with early adopters, as I learned long ago. For another, my iPhone of course has Voice Control and Voice Memos.
Obviously I am pleased with all of my iOS devices (although I hope Apple continues to have competition, as that will ensure even better products for everyone). Feel free to ask about anything I forgot to mention or haze over, and fellow Touch users, please chime in with your thoughts and tips.
GREAT review, Bruce. Not sure if you’d seen it or not, but if you click and hold on any of the icons on your home screen, they all start to wobble and you can rearrange them. You may know that, but wanted to mention it because the arrangement in the rows you mention is no longer static (where it was prior to the 1.1.3 firmware).
The Windows syncing via iTunes/Outlook works well, from what I hear, which is good for the Windows users. Also wanted to point out that the YouTube interface is great and it uses the h.264 codec instead of Flash, which makes the quality great and it streams well (same codec used for the Apple TV store).
Steve Jobs recently mentioned that something like 90% of users do not CREATE content on their mobile phones, they CONSUME it. I found that interesting, as I tend to create content on mine, but I realize I’m in the minority. So, having a seamless sync experience is crucial. The ability to do that now with iCal and Address Book (and in the future with Exchange) is a GREAT feature on the iPhone/iPod Touch.
I personally wouldn’t jailbreak my device either. Theoretically, jailbreaking doesn’t harm your phone and you can revert back, but not unlocking. However, why take the risk when the new software will be out so soon (relatively speaking)? I would rather have a stable phone with the new software in a few months than having any issues down the road, but that’s just me. Same reason I don’t install the major Mac OS X updates until others have tried it out for a few days.
Lastly, regarding the lack of tactile feedback, that was my biggest concern as well. If the whole screen is touch with limited or few buttons, it makes things like pausing without looking hard to do. That is one benefit of a phone or device with more buttons. I personally miss the scroll wheel too, but have gotten used to the new iPod interface controls.
I wonder if Nuance (owners of Dragon Naturally Speaking) will release their Mobile Voice Control product for the iPhone/Touch or if anyone will create something similar? MVC works as a subscription service ($6/month), so I don’t really like that aspect. They must do the transcription remotely and send back commands. However, something that allows you to control the iPhone with voice commands would definitely be useful and mostly mitigate the tactile feedback barrier for me.
Glad to hear that you’re liking the Touch so much. I’m really looking forward to hear more about your migration to only using the Apple tools (iCal, etc.) and how it all works with your Touch. If the Touch replaces your Windows Mobile PDA, I will be very impressed.
I’m still torn, as I love my BlackBerry as a phone/PDA-lite and my Windows Mobile device as a PDA, but the new Exchange ActiveSync support may have me replacing both with a single device…
Thank you for the compliment, Thomas. I appreciate it very much.
Gosh you bring out lots of good points (typical for you). I did find out about the “wiggly” by accident, actually. But, it is a neat capability.
I used to be one who demanded a good data-entry PDA, and would fit your profile more than the norm that Steve Jobs talks about in the Fortune interview. But, over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten to where I more and more just jot something on a piece of paper and enter it on the computer later … it’s just so much quicker for me. But, like you, I do like to have the ability to enter data on my device of choice, and I appreciate that Apple has accommodated that so nicely (with such a fantastic and intuitive interface, I might add).
Glad you mentioned Dragon Speaking. That would be a good combo.
Your comments reminded of one thing I forgot to mention: the responsiveness of the Touch. Apps open instantly.
I am falling more in love with the device each day and will surely get an iPhone later this year (awaiting 3g, etc).
I also like my BlackBerry, and still use my x51v a lot (I’m reading an ebook right now with it). But, I can easily see an iPhone becoming my primary portable device. I would likely eBay my BlackBerry, although I might keep it as a backup, but would hold on to the x51v until it croaks, or until someone comes out with an ebook reader for the iPhone/Touch.
Thanks again for adding in some great info Thomas!
Well Bruce . . . I picked up the Touch (32GB version) this last Friday night and have been in “gadget heaven” all weekend. My only regret is that I did not purchase this sooner. What an unbelievably responsive interface! I cringe to think of all the time I have wasted trying to get things to work/sync on Windows Mobile and Palm platforms. My Asus A626, Palm Treo 650 and Zune 80GB are going on the eBay chopping block this next week. This Touch does all the things these 3 other devices attempted to do (except for the phone, which I carry around a Razr for, hardly know I’m carrying it) and does them well.
I have wi-fi capability, extremely nice web browser, can sync my calendar and contacts with Outlook, that I have to use at work
and can check all my email accounts with the slick Gmail application. I have all my music, videos, photos and access to iTunes. And the YouTube app runs flawlessly. I’m going to try your RTM tip and that should pretty much take care of all those other devices were doing for me. With the 3rd party apps this should prove to be a device that could almost replace my laptop full time when I leave the office. How cool is that?
Thanks for pointing me to Mconnick’s twitter site. I’m still trying to wade through all of his Touch tips and URL’s to fantasic iPhone/Touch friendly websites. While the 2nd place Nokia n810 offered bluetooth, GPS capabilities and Skype, I think sacrificing those for all the other offerings of the Touch have been well worth it.
Steve, I am delighted to see how pleased you are with your decision to get a Touch, my friend. They are truly fantastic devices and I look forward to them being even better with the availability of third party apps via the next firmware update.
Glad you like Mconnick’s twitter feed and his blog. He has some fantastic tips for the Touch, and I really should allocate some time to just reading through all of them.
My reply is to Bruce and whomever wants to listen. WPA works fine. I’ve also used the VPN feature to tunnel into work account. Also works great…in fact, third-party VNC has allowed me to take over remote computers with my ipod Touch and access files, network resources, etc…
Amazing. Love this gadget. Only wish I could afford the iPhone.
Thanks for mentioning some of its “extra” capabilities, Ron. I briefly describe the use of VNC Lite on the Touch in this article. Remote control capability is really pretty slick.
Yes, an iPhone would be nice but I am pretty happy with my BB for calls and the Touch for everything else.
Hi!
regarding the calculator, you can download and install an app of HP12C…which is a greate calculator!
regards
Is the Wi-Fi free, or do you have to pay-as-you-go for services?
Amie, My Wi-Fi at home is routed off of my DSL connection. As for the free Wi-Fi, lots of places have it. I typically do not use Wi-Fi when away from my house, although I suppose I could tap into it at Barnes and Noble or Starbucks or other places I frequent.
I just bought the ipod touch. I am very upset because right after I bought it they came out with the model with the volume controls on the side and the speakers. I was wondering if there is an app available on the ipod touch that is similar to Word, Excel and PowerPoint?
I seem to recall that Documents To Go is now available for the Touch and iPhone. I’ve used their software for years on my Palms and more recently on my Windows Mobile Smartphones. It handles the Office apps well.
So glad I stumbled onto your blog! I am getting my DH a new Touch for Xmas and I was sure he would love it – now I want one too, lol!! Really though, clear and easy to understand review of the touch – thanks!!!
Time for an update. I was feeling a little cramped in 16 GB of storage, and decided the alleged improved battery life and added built-in speaker had some potential as well, so I picked up a gen 2 iTouch. I’ll be selling my gen 1 unit next week on eBay. According to what I’ve read, the gen 2 version is capable of using the microphone that’s built into the new $79 Apple earbuds. I haven’t gone that route yet – I’m not fond of either the sound or the fit of the Apple buds (although I understand the ones with the mic are better quality than the standard supplied iPod buds). The speaker is pretty interesting – there’s no obvious opening for the sound to escape, but it’s quite audible. You can listen to music w/o phones now, but the sound quality is about what you’d expect from a tiny little piezo component. OTOH, system beeps and alarms are much more audible. I don’t see any musical reason for Apple to have included a speaker in gen 2 – it seems more like another step in the direction of making the iTouch a more capable PDA. I’m very interested to see how software developers will make use of it. Skype, anyone..? Jott..? Speaking of Jott – I found a similar service (also free) that works on the iTouch. It’s called Reqall. They have a really nice (free) client available for the iTouch and it’s available in the iTunes app library now. Worth a look. I agree with your assessment of Apipgo ToDo. It’s a great client for Remember The Milk, and well worth the $10 cost. The developers at RTM have been working on an iPhone/iTouch client of their own for a while now. They’re pretty creative folks, but I don’t see too much they could do to improve the client experience beyond what Apipgo has done. Maybe add support for smart tags? One last surprisingly useful addition – there’s also a free RDP client available for the iTouch. I tried RDP on my old Dell X50v Windows Mobile device – horrible. It was like trying to eat steak through a straw. Totally frustrating, and nearly useless, so I didn’t have high expectations for RDP on the iTouch. Surprise! Due largely to the easy pinch, zoom and scroll capability, RDP is actually very usable. I had a trial by fire a few weeks ago – keeping a watchful eye on a problem Netware NFS gateway server during a long, boring meeting. I RDP’ed into my desktop box which was running KVM/IP software connected to the problem Netware server’s console and was able to restart and manage the server after an abend via RDP on my iTouch.
Hi capo … what a fantastic update! Thank you for sharing. Yes, it sounds like Apple really is aiming the Touch more and more toward being a great PDA. In my view, it already is a great one. Glad you went the 2.0 route … really sounds neat.
Bruce Keener 09.21.08 at 11:07 pm
I seem to recall that Documents To Go is now available for the Touch and iPhone. I’ve used their software for years on my Palms and more recently on my Windows Mobile Smartphones. It handles the Office apps well.
Bruce I am responding to your message. Thank you for the great advice, but I looked the Appple application store and I did not see Documents To Go. Would this be available at an office supply store or at their website?
Hi Precious Knight.
I just did a quick search and found the following post that mentions that the Documents To Go people are working on a release for the iPhone:
http://bit.ly/bSGR5M/
This link also references a link on the Documents To Go site that confirms that Dataviz is porting DTG to the iPhone. However, they haven’t finished porting it yet and they do not give an expected production date for it. Sorry that I assumed that they had already finished doing the porting (they are normally pretty quick in delivering products once announced). Hopefully they will have it ready soon. Note that you can have them notify you by email when it is ready.
Hi,
I am considering getting the Touch to replace my PDA but have some doubts.
Could you tell me how the Touch would compare to a PDA when it comes to entering data? I feel that with a PDA it is easier and faster since you have a stylus and graffiti to work with, as opposed to having to type everything out.
I have also heard that one is limited on creating recurring appointments in the Touch calendar. I guess it could be done in Outlook and then synced to the Touch.
Hi Hector,
I do somewhat miss the stylus input methodology, because I have used it for about 9 years. But, the text entry on the Touch is workable … it takes a little getting used to, but with practice it is not bad at all. As to the recurring appointments, I have not run across that, but your solution sounds like a winner to me. I do have several recurring appointments that I did set up in Outlook, many of them having been there for a long while (weekly activities, birthdays, etc), and they sync just fine.
I too am looking to use the touch as a PDA and am finally leaving Palm. I have been using the Treo 650 and it is no longer being supported through my carrier Bell (Canada). i have a year left on my contract so i cannot switch to Rogers and get the iphone. i thought why not use the touch as a PDA and get a slim light phone with 3.2mpeg camera and go from there. I love the stylus and have now heard that Apple has come out with one or the ability to use one…Could someone confirm.
Jeremiah
I’ve not seen any releases from Apple regarding a stylus but I have seen one advertised by a third-party vendor. I do not recall who the vendor was, though.
My own experience has been that you get accustomed to doing without the stylus, and it also becomes one less thing to have to deal with. For me a stylus was most useful on a Pocket PC, for handwriting recognition. I often used my fingers on the Palm for the the menus and non-graffiti activities, because it was so quick and easy. My hunch is that you won’t really miss the stylus. But, others may be able to chime in with different input, and with specifics on a stylus.
Hi Jeremiah
Regarding the use of a stylus you have several options:
http://bit.ly/SHah7
http://bit.ly/E0PhI
http://bit.ly/cGEA0
http://bit.ly/daCtxx
… but the device/interface is not indented to be used with a stylus. At least give your finger a chance ! That’s what I will do when I’ll get my iPod touch.
@Jeremiah – after using the Touch for almost 8 months I find myself heavily sighing when I break out my “old” Nokia N810 for something and have to locate the stylus and calibrate the screen, etc. I don’t think you will miss that bloody stick at all.
Jeremiah and others who may be interested in a stylus: my brother got an iPhone recently and recommends the following stylus : http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/a31f/
I currently use a Palm T/X and am considering a Touch. Here are some important Palm T/X features that are not on the Touch. On all other fronts the Touch is superior.
1. Memos (notes) by category. Some third party apps on the Touch do have notes but none that I have seen do the three memo functions in the Palm: by category, sync, and search (find) see #2 below. I use Memos for all kinds of data – prescription lists, electronic gadgets serial numbers, passwords for web sites, shopping lists etc.
2. A global search (Find) function. This is my most important missing feature on the Touch. I often search the entire palm device – Calendar, Contacts, Memos, to-do list, for subject matter.
3. SD card for memory expansion. I suppose I could just buy a 32 gb Touch and forget about the expansion card.
Maybe some of you have work-a-rounds for number’s 1 and 2.
Hi Peter,
You raise good points on what the Touch lacks at this point. However, I just noticed the following rumor:
“On another note, Mac Soda received whispers early this morning from a potential source who claims that iPhone 2.3 will hit us at MacWorld as well, with Copy and Paste, Push Notification, and Email Search finally arriving.”
That quote is taken from this link. Steve Rubel thought highly enough of the rumor to post it on Twitter, so it could well be true. Bottom line is that it looks like functionality is being added to the iPhone (and Touch) with almost every update, and the updates have been pretty often (compared to typical cycles for software updates). I doubt that you’ll see a good Notes app come to the Touch, one that syncs with Outlook, anytime soon, and email search is not as handy as global search, but the Touch is playing catch-up pretty well and is better than a typical PDA in some respects.
Hopefully others will chime in with their thoughts, too … I just wanted you to know what is likely coming soon for the Touch.
I own an iPod Touch 2g 32GB and I do love it’s functionality and smooth UI. It does resemble a PDA very very much and I hope Apple would enable text editing, or use iPod Touch 2g as a mass storage drive. So far, my iPod has been detected as a digital camera and that’s about it. I just wish Apple would be less strict about their products being compatible with other things that are not their property.
I also want to buy a touch to use as a PDA instead of Palm, but don’t want to purchase Outlook. Currently have Outlook express and Vista. Does anyone know of a way round this?
I bought a 2nd Gen iPod touch as I wanted to use it as PDA and retire my SONY Clie PDA. I like the sleek design, intuitive user interface and many features such as the AppStore etc. etc. However, battery life is a big disappointment as I usually have to re-charge it everyday and I am not even using it heavily. Not acceptable for a PDA (although I know it’s not meant to be a PDA).
I also did not yet get used to the on-screen keyboard and miss handwriting recognition, especially for Japanese characters. I also don’t like the childish font that is used for the Notes – just a minor complaint. I will keep using the iPod touch primarily as a PDA and hope that I will be able to tweak it and solve the issues that I explained. At the moment, my Clie with all the apps is still the better PDA for me and I will use the iPod and Clie in parallel.
Hi AndyJapan,
The Clie is hard to beat as a PDA. Interesting that you mention the comparison. Just yesterday I switched back to using my Pocket PC for my PIM activities. The Touch was doing okay for it, but I really missed the handwriting recognition features of the Dell x51v. Plus it is just lightening fast. But I used the Touch as a PDA for a full year, so it sure can serve as one for those who are interested in it.
Thanks for the comment!
I’ve been using a Nokia N73 as a PDA for over a year – syncs well with the Mac, believe it or not! However, a job change has meant the calendar is now creaking at the seams. So it was time for a change.
Been using the iPod Touch 16GB version and it is going really well. Love the intuitive interface and the tight integration with Mac environments. I’m using Concrete’s To Do List for task management (pretty neat) and everything else is based on eMail and Calendar. OK, the calendars need to be set up on iCal, but that’s a small price to pay when running multiple projects (as I have to!)
Small problem is the battery life. I need to recharge every couple of days and I’m not a heavy user, maybe she’s on for an hour a day?
But the big thing is the security. Enabling a pin is dead easy to set up and really easy to use.
Overall, a worthy successor to the Apple Newton (mine’s still in the loft AND IT STILL WORKS!!!!)
Hi Ross,
Cool blog you have.
Glad you are liking the Touch as a PDA. Battery life has not been much of a problem for me, but, being retired, I probably don’t put any PDA through the paces like working professionals do. Sounds like the battery life issue, although annoying, is at least tolerable for you, which is good.
@Ross
I recognized that switching ‘Fetch New Data’ off is improving battery life.
Goto Settings / Fetch New Data and switch Push to Off and Fetch to Manually. I also switched off Auto Brightness and EQ (under Music). Not sure if this has any impact.
I also found a company (Radius) who is selling a charger jacket. I will have to take a look at it as this might be an useful accessory.
http://www.radius.co.jp/products/ipod/ra_lb411.html
Thanks, AndyJapan. Yes, making some adjustments to the settings can improve battery life.
Figured it was about time for a visit… I’m finding more and more ways to use my 2G iTouch as a PDA. At this point, it’s easily as useful as my previous Palm and WinMo devices ever were. I don’t find battery life to be much worse than my last PDA, a Dell Axim. I bought a Griffin TuneFlex for car use – it holds the ‘Pod in an easy to see angle, doubles as a charger and comes with a steering wheel mounted wireless remote. You’re probably aware that WebIS finally released Pocket Informant for the iPhone/iTouch. It’s a 1.0 release and a little sluggish, but I’m sure they’ll be releasing regular updates and will address the issues. I dumped Remember The Milk and started using ToodleDo – for my ToDo list. Appigo makes a great little app that syncs with both and works very well on the iTouch. I also use their Notes app which also syncs with ToodleDo. Apple’s Contacts app is okay for me and syncs nicely with Google. I’ve been playing with mindmapping a bit too – while the limited screen real estate on the iTouch is a problem there, I bought an app called Headspace – it does mindmapping in 3D. Of course there’s Twitterific (a twitter client), Amazon’s iPhone Kindle app, an RSS feed reader, my Bible, Pandora, a weather app, a full screen clock (Apple’s clock app is somewhat lame) a few favorite games and a few thousand songs. If you’re into it, now there’s Skype for the iTouch. I have to carry a cell phone for work, so Skype is overkill for me. To sum it up – I like my iTouch. I’m looking forward to OS 3.0 this summer. I wonder what the next generation iTouch will offer…?
capo! You made my day. Really glad you visited, sir.
I like your list of apps. Like you, I’ve switched from RTM to Toodledo (nicer interface in my view) and I use Appigo’s ToDo app (not their Notes app, yet).
Glad you’re liking the Touch. Me too. What a great device. I’m actually thinking about getting an iPhone when they come out with the next version, just so I will one less device to carry around (still using the BlackBerry for a phone).
It has been really good to hear from you. Stay in touch!
Just to say, thanks for the blog Bruce.
This has really helped me decide that a 32gig Touch is the way to go. I also have been using PDA’s for over 10 years, the last 5 years windose 2003 which I found very unstable & must have soft reset 1000,s of times. Paid over £600 ($1200) back in 2004 for it and the operating system struggled when pushed. It brought it home to me when my wife showed me a free astronomy application on her Touch that was just as good one I had paid for on the PPC. The thing froze one too many times and I’m afraid to say my fist went through the screen and it’s now in the bin. My only concern is are the wifi’d features such as weather reports and maps as potent in the UK as the US. Will keep an eye on this blog for further articles.
Thanks again, TJ
Hi Tim,
Glad this was a good article for you. Lots of folks are coming to the same conclusion: that the Touch/iPhone makes a great PDA. I’m very happy with mine.
I do think I would experiment with another alternative, the T-Mobile G1, mostly for kicks, but the T-Mo signal level is pretty crappy here in the Atlanta burbs (great in the city, not in the burbs). One of my favorite geeks, Gina Trapani at Smarterware (and Lifehacker) seems to like the G1 better than the iPhone. But, I would have to see it myself to be convinced. Regardless, the Touch/iPhone works great for me.
Hi Everyone,
What a great source of information you all are!
I decided to get an itouch today to use as a PDA based mainly on this review! Quick question- and you may or maynot know the answer- I am an aesthetician ( I do facials and waxing) and need to schedule appointments anywhere from 15 mins to 2 hours in duration. I was wondering if any of you have tried a scheduling program where you could also make notes on a client, include pictures and search appointment history. When I was at the Apple store the guy helping me showed me their appointment program, which you could indeed do all of these things in. It wasn’t until I got home that i realized that this program was specific for Apple employees and the guy at the store said he wasn’t sure what app i should use, but thought that one like what they had was available…..so…hmm….anyone used a scheduling app where you can include detailed client information and search for client history/future appointments?? Thanks so much!
Andrea, I waited a few days before replying in hopes that someone would identify a solution for you, but it is beginning to look like the app you want is yet to be developed. I know that I searched the iTunes store Business Apps section, looking through several pages, trying to find something that would work for you … all to no avail. Hopefully someone will get around to developing such an app soon, as it sounds very useful.
Hi Bruce!
Thanks for your response. I have tried the saisuki calander app, and with several adjustments (like listing the type of appointment in the location box, and including the client’s phone number is the appointment type box next to their name) I have been able to work with it. You can search all previous appointments by keyword, and make notes on each appointment- so while not ideal, it is working for me. I can sync it with google calander so that i have no fear of loosing my information.
There is currently an app available called iSession that is made exactly for scheduling client appointments, but it is only able to make one hour sessions. I have contacted the developer and He is working on making it possible to adjust the time blocks. I will keep you guys posted if anything better comes out, as i think a program like this would be great for many people.
Thanks again!
Andrea,
Thank you so much for updating us on this. Glad to hear that there are workable solutions. Although it sounds like neither app is perfect for you, it also sounds like the developer will come through for you on the iSession app. It’s also good to know you can sync with Google Calendar. I recently set up to use Google’s exchange service for iPhones to sync Google Calendar and Google Contacts to my Touch’s built-in calendar and contacts apps, and it’s great to be able to do that.
Thanks again. It’s always good to learn about a useful app for the Touch. I look forward to hearing back from you about any further developments.
Hi Bruce,
I’m a decade-long Palm user just moved over to the iPod touch. The last 2 things that aren’t quite there yet are
1) search. Even after forcing iTunes to sync all 3600 days of calendar, the iPod won’t show those older items (about a year or so) in a search.
2) make your own database. JFile on the Palm is very slick. I’ve tried “better lists”, for example, but the UI to the database is clunky: a simple packing list, say. JFile lets me create a record type that has a checkbox and a text box. Tapping the checkbox toggles the checkmark. No wasted effort. “Better Lists” (and others I’ve tried) OTOH expects me to tap the text; tap edit; tap checkoff; enter a number, and then navigate back to the top of the list view. Not slick. Any suggestions for a database app that generates a minimum-tap UI?
Thanks,
Bob
Hi Bob,
Interesting limitation you discovered on the calendar. Not a prob for me because mine doesn’t go back that far, but I can see it would be frustrating for those with calendars that do go back a long way.
I haven’t experimented with any of the database apps, yet. I just check the ListPro site to see if it has been updated for the iPhone yet, and it is not, but there is hope for it given that eWallet has been updated.
So, I looked in O’Reilly’s Best iPhone Apps publication, and they recommend a database utility called Bento, which goes for $4.99 From the little writeup they do on it, it looks like it might have the programmable features you are looking for, but I can’t say for sure. I know what you mean about having to multi-tap when a single-tap would be easy to set up.
Like you I used JFile when I used a Palm device, and I also used a database called HandBase. I just did a quick search and found that they apparently have a version that will sync with the iPhone: http://bit.ly/9kUL6u It was a very capable database, and had a good forms design capability, so it might be a possibility for you, too.
Hope this helps. Good luck and keep me posted.
In addition to Bento and HandDBase, there is also an application called Tap Forms. Out of the three, HandDBase has the worst iPhone-like UI (in general even on other non-Palm platforms, I couldn’t get over its clunkiness). Tap Forms is getting better over time and is worth a look. Bento is a great app and also allows syncing with the desktop version of the app (though certain field types from the desktop app, including calculated fields don’t work on the iPhone version).
I own all three and tried checkboxes in both Tap Forms and Bento. Tap Forms implements a nice checkbox as you describe. Bento uses a slider (on/off type switch). Both accomplish what you’re looking for, but I think that you may like Tap Forms more.
Not sure if it is as optimized as JFile, but I find that the iPhone requires more taps and screen transitions in general. Hope that helps.
Bob – Never mind… I just realized exactly what you were asking for. Even with Tap Forms, you have to select an item in order to edit it (check the box). You can at least group by this field, so completed items would show beneath uncompleted ones, but it’s not exactly what you’re asking for.
Sorry about that.
Pingback: iPod Touch as a PDA and Entertainer | My iPod
is it possible to:
1. transfer big files- (pdf/chm)- on to ipod touch from a macbook? in other words, use it as a mass storage device?
2. is it possible to read such files?
thanks
I’ve heard that there are some file xfer utilities but have never checked them out. One thing you might consider as an alternative is to use DropBox (iPhone app also available), and xfer files to your DropBox … that way you can view them on any machine that has a DropBox interface. I use it to keep selected files synced between my Mac and my Windows laptop and my iPhone. Viewing PDFs stored on it, from the iPhone, works just fine.
This would be my first PDA purchase. I am looking for calendar and address book that would connect to my computer that would allow me to update from either as the palm does. Does the Itouch do this?
Thanks
Hi J,
Yes, the iTouch/iPhone can sync to your computer’s calendar and contacts, depending on the software you use. If you have Outlook, iTunes sync will let you easily sync to Outlook Calendar and Contacts. You can also sync with Google Calendar and Contacts (which is what I do) using the Exchange Server feature of the more recent iTouch/iPhone operating systems (version 3.1 and greater, I believe).
If you have more questions let me know.
about to get an ipod touch mostly as an organizer, your blog is really helpful, thanks!
I too need an app like Andrea,so I will be checking back about this.
Thanks for the feedback, Kate. I know you’ll love the Touch.
I hope we can help you find the app you want.
Wow. Almost 2 years after this post was written people are still posting comments.
As I am now.
I’m considering buying an iPod Touch as I have some rewards points to use up. I such a geezer that I still use my Palm Vx. The two basic abilities I would want to try and mimic would be reading news (I use Plucker and I’ve written a Perl site scraper that formats some of the content I download), and syncing between my MS Access MDBs and Dataviz’s SmartLists To Go app.
Now I’m aware that I can access content via wifi, but more importantly when I’m commuting and not in wifi range, disconnected via various news apps, such as BBC and NY Times.
But what was of interest to me in the comment thread was the discussion about database apps, such as Bento, Tap Forms and HanDBase. Unfortunately there isn’t a SmartList To Go equivalent for the iPod Touch. I’d really like to not have to port my databases to another proprietary format if there was something out there that could read my MDB. I could even live a read-only solution on the device as I make most of my updates on my PC.
Anyway, if you or anyone else have any recent thoughts on my options I’d appreciate it.
BTW, perhaps an updated posting is in order with the latest tips/thoughts? :^)
Thanks.
Hi Daniel,
You are sure right that this post could stand an update. I’ll begin work on it after the holidays … there is really a lot that can be added.
Sorry that I can’t personally help on the apps you are looking for. Hopefully someone else can chime in with an app that would meet your needs. BTW, I would expect that Dataviz would be providing a Smart List To Go for the iPhone/Touch at some point … they seem to be pretty good about trying to get into the iPhone market.
One more thought, Daniel. Although not the same thing as Plucker, you might get away with using a feed reader like Newstand, grabbing feeds whenever you are near wifi, and then reading them later. I have it on my iPhone, and have not tried it in offline mode (since the iPhone is always connected, even when not around wifi), but I think it might work. If not, there may well be a feedreader that is. With 100,000+ apps, there almost certainly is one that at least comes close to what you want (one would think).
If all else fails I can always fall back on my Palm Vx, but I suspect on this front I’ll have more luck finding replacement services as the number of text-only news sources suitable for “plucking” is remarkably low. Most services cater to Smartphones and have abandoned less smart PDA support.
I’ve submitted the question to DataViz. However, the chatter on the Yahoo Group for SmartList To Go hasn’t been upbeat about any iPhone / iPod Touch support for the product. Yet this seems to be an untapped (no pun intended) niche. HanDBase might be a way to go, but it has been viewed as buggy in the past – maybe not as much now (http://www.ddhsoftware.com/iPhone/)?
That links should have just been this: http://www.ddhsoftware.com/iPhone/
Daniel,
As Brandon mentions below, there is also TapForms. Bento also comes recommended in the O’Reilly Best iPhone Apps book (in the mention for databases). I do not have a need for database syncing, so haven’t tried any of those mentioned. I know HanDBase worked great on my older Palm, then when I moved to a Pocket PC, their implementation was more buggy, especially with syncing, and I ended up using SprintDB (I doubt they’ve converted to iPhone/Touch interface). Good luck with which ever one you try out. I’d like to hear back from you when you’ve found something you like (or found that there isn’t one).
Isn’t Bento a Mac only solution?
Well, Tap Forms is a great product to consider too. I should know… I wrote it!
If you’d like to get a copy to review for your blog, please let me know. I’d be happy to send one your way.
Thanks,
Brendan
Brendan – Tap Forms is indeed nice (I’ve checked out your Flash demo), but I already have existing databases (a 500 item books database for one) that I wouldn’t want to have to reenter. Being able to manage that on my desktop and synchronize it is what I’m after. I can do that with SmartList To Go between MS Access and my Palm device.
Daniel,
WordPress wouldn’t let me reply underneath your message (guess I’m at max indent limit), so I hope you see this: you are right that Bento is a Mac-only solution. My apologies for mentioning it without verifying that it would work for your situation (which it would not).
I do not have any sort of palm or smart device at this time. I don’t really need a fancy phone with a high monthly fee (I just use a prepay type plan), so that is why I am looking at the iPod Touch. I really want access to my Yahoo calendar and email.
Does the Touch hold a local copy of your calendar when you are outside of a wifi area? Does the sync with Yahoo work the same as with Google? I would like both way sync so if I make a change on the Touch it syncs back to my online calendar and visa-verse.
Do I have to use wifi at home to sync or will it sync to my Yahoo stuff via iTunes and the cable? Can you use bluetooth for syncing?
Any help would be appreciated. These are some of the questions that I have found conflicting answers to.
Jennifer,
The Touch does hold a local copy of your calendar and contacts, at least for every calendar and contact application I have tried (several). The sync would work both ways. For Yahoo, you might want to see this article. I have not used Yahoo, but I did notice the referenced article and that there is an app in the iTunes for the Yahoo calendar (that also integrates your Facebook calendar if you would like).
There are apps that use iTunes for syncing and some that use wifi … I do not know which way Yahoo would work. Bluetooth would not be used, though. I do know that I use wifi for syncing to my Google Calendar and Contacts (using Google’s exchange service) and that it works like a charm.
Hi Bruce-
I am considering getting an ipod Touch as a PDA. I am currently using a Palm Tungston and have loved it – I’ve used it for years. However, I am very interested in the ipod Touch. I use an application called Datebook 5 that puts all my to dos and daily calendar on one screen.
I have used my Palm as a stand-alone device, I only hotsync to save my information.
Is there an application that would run like Datebook 5 and do this without syncing the Touch to my pc?
I have enjoyed browsing through all your information.
Thanks – Jeanie
HI Jeanie,
Although I haven’t tried it out on the Touch/iPhone, PocketInformant probably does exactly what you want. I used it for years on a Pocket PC because it gave me the kind of screens I had become accustomed to on my Palm using Datebk 4 and Datebk 5. The developer (Alex Kac and his team) ported it to the Touch/iPhone platform several months back, and it has gotten some pretty good reviews. Here’s the website for it:
http://bit.ly/Q5hnw
Glad you found the other information above helpful. Let me know if PI is not what you are looking for … it sounds like the ideal app for you. (BTW, my experience with Alex Kac and his team is that they are constantly providing improvements to their software, and are very responsive to bug reports.)
Hi Bruce -
Thanks so much for your helpful reply! This app looks so familiar. This is what I need. However, I noticed that the first requirement was an iphone. I do not need a phone. Do you know if this works for a simple second generation Touch? I could not discern that from their website.
Thank you so much for your time!
Jeanie
Jeanie,
The iTunes store says it compatible with the Touch, but that you do have to upgrade the Touch to version 3.1 (I finally did that the other day and it cost only $5 or so … I always keep my iPhone 3GS up to date, but had left the Touch at 2.1 until just the other day … the update went smoothly for me).
Excellent! Thanks so much.
I do have another question. If I were to purchase a refurbished Touch (2nd generation) how do I upgrade to version 3.1? Can you do that? I’m not sure what you mean by upgrading so I can use the PocketInformant.
Jeanie,
Yes you can upgrade (I think it cost me $4.96 or so). When you hook up the Touch to your computer, through the USB port, iTunes will load up (you should go ahead and download the latest version of it, if you haven’t already) and it will tell you that version 3.1 is available and ask if you want to purchase it and do the upgrade. If you purchase it (through the iTunes store), iTunes downloads it and installs it to your Touch for you. The download is over 200 MB, so it takes a little while to download, but the installation does not take very long. It’s really a pretty painless process.
Thanks for your quick reply!
Jeanie
Great discussions Bruce.
I don’t have a PDA yet and am considering the I Phone. My major concern is the link to my Outlook calendar at work. I may not be able to install I tunes on my computer at work but can access my calendar using Microsoft Exchange at home or on the road. Do you know if this will pose a problem with synching?
That’s a great question, Mark.
I don’t have a way of testing it out, but I would think you might be able to get a URL from IT folks that you can type into the settings panel on the iPhone (in its Exchange setup). That URL would probably strongly resemble the one you use in making the web interface to Outlook.
But, that is just speculation on my part. Wish I had a way of testing it out to see if it works, but I don’t have an Exchange profile to tinker with.
I suggest you contact your IT folks and mention to them what you’d like to do, and hopefully they can get you set up.
Let me know if it doesn’t work out, so my words of encouragement don’t mislead anyone else.
Good luck on it. (Hopefully someone who has had experience with this will chime in to answer your question.)
Mark – I recently got an iPod Touch, which is very much like an iPhone, but without the hefty phone charges, or the added connectivity you get with that.
IMO, if you want a PDA, the iPhone or iPod Touch isn’t a great choice.
I still haven’t stopped using my Palm Vx because syncing with Outlook via iTunes is a poor experience. The software poorly converts the Calendar, seems to always duplicate my Notes, and cannot even sync Tasks. Furthermore, if you want to sync at work, and at home via your PDA, iTunes just won’t cooperate. I haven’t been impressed at all with iTunes – it is quite infuriating software.
The iPhone and iPod Touch are nice devices for various reasons, but so far I haven’t had much success in retiring my Palm. You might find 3rd Party software that does it better, but I’ve yet to. Perhaps in time.
Bruce, This is a great article. I found it by accident after buying my first touch 8gb. I immediatley fell in love with this as a highly functional pocket PC. I have ordered a 32gb to replace the 8gb as I found out that it adds voice command capability and faster processor among other goodies. What have you found to be the best office type software for the touch? (if you answered this above I apologize as I missed it). I want to be able to not only read but create and edit/save docs on my touch. Also, any apps you might recommend for handwriting recognition that then turns it into regular text (like the original Palm Pilot used to do)? Thanks in advance for your help and a great article that is still relevant and helpful.
Hi Jeff,
I haven’t found the need to edit documents on my Touch or iPhone, and so have not tried out any of the office app packages. However, I know that the O’Reilly “Best iPhone Apps” book recommends Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite for editing documents. I used Quickoffice on the Palm a few years ago and liked it, but I also liked Documents To Go, and they now have an iPhone/Touch version, too. I still get the sense from other reviews that I’ve seen that Quickoffice might still be the preferred app, though.
I have no recommendations at all for handwriting recognition software. Sorry. Just haven’t tried any out. Perhaps someone else can chime in with their experience with such software.
Thanks much. Take care
Bruce
Hi
Am considering finally giving up my palm e2 with a windows desktop (with vista ) for backup . PIM is crucial and have found the above info helpful.
In particular 3 questions
Have people found difficulty synching calendar (and other apps) with outlook on a windows based system?
Can one search for a name in calendar for prior appointments going back at least 6 months -is there an app for this ?
Lastly, can one easily change the length of appointment times for a given appointment ?
thanx
shalom
The calendar has a search built in (visible in the List mode) … I just tried it on my Touch and it pulled up all entries for the search parameter, even going back more than a year.
Appointment length can be easily changed as needed.
Although I use an iPhone and iMac regularly, I have tested the Touch and WIndows Vista setup with Outlook, and my testing did not reveal any problems with syncing. Seemed more reliable than ActiveSync for my previous Pocket PCs.
Bruce,
thank you the quik and helpful feedback!
shalom
I’ve been unable to ween myself off my Palm device for a few of reasons:
1) I synchronize my device with my home and work computer, using it as a means to transfer appointments and such that I enter on one to the other. With my iPod Touch and iTunes I cannot do that because Apple’s software essentially sucks in that regard.
2) Because I’m unable to do the above, I am unwilling to stop using my Palm device, but even if I just try to synch my iPod with just my home computer it doesn’t seem to understand what’s records are the same and what are new, and I end up with duplicate records on the device or the desktop.
3) Offline reading is painful with my iPod. Yes, there are apps like Read It Later that are nice for adhoc web pages, but doing targeted downloading, like I can with Plucker on my Palm is something I haven’t found an app for. Even the BBC and NY Times apps don’t match being able to do what one could once do with AvantGo.
4) I use SmartListsToGo on my Palm to put MS Access databases on my device. Unfortunately they don’t have a version for iPod Touch or iPhone, and I’ve not wanted to migrate to using HanDBase, which seems like the best of my options out there.
So I’ve resigned myself that these three things I can do much better on my Palm Vx than on my iPod Touch, and that even if it means carrying around an extra device, I’ll listen to music and do a few other things on my iPod, but continue to use my Palm for PIM-like stuff.
Great comment, Daniel. Thanks for taking the time to lay it all out so nicely.
Before retiring, I also sync’d with two computers (home and work), both Windows-based, both using Outlook, and found it to be a frustrating experience. Neither a Palm nor Pocket PC could keep me from occasionally getting duplicates. I finally resolved it by just using the Exchange Server address from work in my Outlook configuration, so everything was kept in sync by Exchange Server.
When I retired, I fiddled with multiple computer syncs for several months (Windows laptop and an iMac), and just got tired of all the issues. So, I moved my data to Google Calendar and Remember The Milk (the latter for tasks). That way I could access my data from any computer. And, when I got the Touch, it made it so simple to sync with those (nice two-way sync that has worked great for me, no issues at all).
Since I use my laptop so little anymore, I finally decided that I would only use my iMac and iPhone (or Touch) for tasks, and moved my tasks from RTM to OmniFocus, because the latter is so powerful (RTM is actually pretty nice, too).
As for reading, I use Read Later a good bit, although a lot of the blogs I visit are formatted for mobile viewing (that will be increasingly the case). I also read a lot of Kindle books on my iPhone, actually preferring it to my Kindle (not a big fan of e-ink technology).
So, having laid out how we differ, I must say that it sounds like, in your case, carrying around two devices is the way to go (especially if you are stuck with using Outlook). BTW, speaking of Outlook, you might check with your IT folks to see if they will enable syncing your calendar to your Google Calendar account (if you have one) … that way, you could have your calendar on the Touch without having to worry about syncing to Outlook at home. And, changes you make to the calendar on the Touch would sync back to Google Calendar (and hence to Outlook at work).
Anyway, thanks again for the comment, Daniel. I like having all the cons laid out, as well as the pro’s. You’ve done a good job of explaining why, in your case, sticking with the Palm is the appropriate thing.
Take care
Bruce
Indeed, one has to have a lot of patience trying out different ways of syncing, but the main problem is that Apple always wants you to do thing the way they’ve conceived them, and if you find yourself fighting that in order to do it the way you’ve been used to doing it you’re likely to become frustrated. To make matters worse it is so easy to wipe out content on your device when you do a simple thing like switch from manually managing your music to automating that, or the reverse. iTunes seems to think, “Right, the first thing I’ll do is completely remove everything you put there first!” You can stop it from doing that by immediately canceling your sync, and then syncing again in the new setting, at which point iTunes doesn’t go postal on your content. I’d like to find the morons who wrote this stuff and give them a piece of my mind. Absolutely insane.
Also, using an Exchange Server isn’t a solution that works for me either.
So now I don’t fight it and just enjoy the iPod in the ways Steve Jobs has defined my user experience for me. No denying the iPod Touch looks and feels really nice and has some really nice abilities. But when I need something more I fall back on my trusty Palm. I don’t care if it makes me look like a Luddite on the bus when I read the morning newspaper I’ve previously Pluckered on to it, but at least I know I’m reading content that is not available unless you’re paying for phone service or wireless service of some kind.
thank you both-food for thought
(btw bruce what app do you use for your contacts ?)
shalom, I use the regular iPhone/Touch contacts app and sync it with Google Contacts. Prior to using Google Contacts, I used the Contacts app on my iMac, which I had synced to Outlook a few years ago using one of my Pocket PCs.
I like syncing my data to apps in the cloud, like the Google apps, because there is no need to hook up the Touch or iPhone to my computer to do it. (Plus I can view the data from any computer that has internet connectivity)
Hi Bruce,
Very informative and helpful post; thanks everyone for your input. I’m considering jumping to an 8GB iTouch 3rd gen. after using Palm pda’s for years. The lcd on my Palm Zire 31 fritzed out.
My needs are pretty simple but I just wanted to get a little more info so I can feel secure that I’m making the right choice (the alternative is buying a used Palm Zire 71 on eBay).
I use an iMac power pc g5 with 10.4.11.
a) People say I should be able to export all my Palm calendar data into iCal (which I currently don’t use). How well is this likely to work? Bob (post #48) mentioned he couldn’t turn up results for more than a year prior when doing a search. I would have a big problem with this if true; I too have events saved from almost 10 yrs. He also said iTunes is used to sync calendar data. Is this true, and if so, why? Can’t iCal sync directly to the iTouch? Lastly, plz confirm that any events I schedule on the iTouch would be synced back to my iMac.
b) Ditto that I can do an export of all my contacts data from Palm to Mac’s Address Book and thus to the iTouch, and edits/additions on the iTouch get synced back to my iMac?
c) Here’s what I can’t find online: someday I want to get an iPhone. Will any apps I put on my iTouch be transferable to the iPhone, and if so, how? Or will I have to buy them all over again?
Your insight is much appreciated!
Hi Eve,
You can use iSync (a standard app on the Mac) to sync the Palm Calendar and Contact data to iCal and Address Book. This should do a complete sync that is not limited to the past year of appointments. If that works for you, then you are set to go as far as being able to have all of your data on a iPod Touch. [Notes will not sync, nor will tasks, but you have probably read enough about that above.]
Any changes that you make to appointments or contacts on the Touch will sync back to the Mac, through the iTunes sync. You will have to select the option to do this, within iTunes, but it is just a matter of selecting it [it might even default to that option ... I can't recall at the moment].
Once you go from a Touch to an iPhone, all of your apps will sync to the iPhone. I did this myself about a year when I got my first iPhone (I still have the Touch as well).
Hope that helps. Good luck with your decision.
Thank you so much for answering all my questions!
Now to decide whether I should bid on a “new” iTouch on eBay or buying a refurb from Apple. Any warnings?
Best, Eve
Eve,
I’ve generally had good experience with eBay, but of course not everyone has. Also, my current iPhone is a refurb (had it for about six months), as it is a replacement for my first iPhone which became water-damaged. I’ve had zero issues with it.
Hi Eve,
along with my iPod touch.
The apple search function still works that way (won’t go back more than about 1 year). The events are all in the iPod, but you can’t search for them so it’s of limited use. I consider this a major flaw in the calendar app. The other major flaw is that the reminders (make a chime sound or whatever) don’t have an option for “keep making noise every minute for 5 minutes until I shut you off”. The reminder noise is a one-time only (well, twice, at most).
Since apple doesn’t allow non-apple apps to wake up the unit, we have no other choice for a calendar. I have some hope that the new API apple is releasing this summer will open this up, but from what I’ve read, it’s not clear the situation will change.
If I were you, I would buy that Zire on ebay. I keep my TX with me (I carry a “man bag”
HTH,
Bob
Bob,
Pardon my ignorance, but what is an API?
I don’t think I’d really have a problem with the reminder issue. So, other than the calendar issue(s), would the iPod really not be suitable as a Zire replacement, in your opinion?
Eve
Eve, by API Bob means the Application Programming Interface that Apple exposes to other apps to interact with the device features. Unfortunately Apple is extremely protective of its properties and often controls features by making them only available to their own apps and products.
Personally, I think that if you are a power PDA user, I think you’ll find the iTouch or iPhone wanting in many ways, and would be better off staying with what you already know works for you. So I’d suggest you go for a replacement Palm Zire – they can’t cost too much.
Bob,
I appreciate your reply to Eve. Nice to have differing views expressed, to help her be most fully informed.
I’m unclear though what you mean by “Apple doesn’t allow non-Apple apps to wake up the unit,” as the Notifications setting allows apps that use it to provide notifications. For example, my WSBTV app alerts me when there is breaking news (well, it did … I turned it off because it was annoying). So, unclear what you mean by that.
Eve: API=Applications Programming Interface. It’s the part of the iPhone OS that apple allows the app developers to use.
Bruce: Thanks! The app store is pretty thin, but a search on calendar turns up Pocket Informant. Unfortunately, PI syncs to Google calendars and the last I checked, GC only keeps 5 years of events (they’re google, why the limit!!!!). But, PI is better than iCal, so I just spent $13 on a better calendar.
Eve: don’t bid on that Zire, yet
Bob,
I just verified that my Google Calendar has events going back to 1999, about 12 years, which is as much history as I ever kept in Outlook.
I hope PI works well for you. I haven’t tried it on the Touch, but used to use it on my Pocket PCs.
Hi,
Thought I’d let you know I won my bid on a used Zire 71 ($52.99). I hope it works! Oh well, iTouch. Someday. When I have money.
I hope it works well for you, Eve. We all have to pay attention to our money. I hope you are able to get a Touch and/or iPhone in the relatively near future … I know you will enjoy.
Bruce – Thanks for this informative blog.
All, O.K., my quest to turn my iPod Touch into a device that will replace my Palm TX PDA has been a failure. That being said, I want to try to make the best of it. My next step is to buy a To Do List app.
While not ideal, I’m looking for a To Do List/Tasks app that I can sync with my iPod Touch (no wifi at work) and with MS Outlook 2003 at work. I’m looking for a recommendation. Some apps I’ve found include:
- Chaoshost
- Fcmobilelife
- ToodleDo
- Remember The Milk
What is the best To Do List / Tasks app?
Thanks,
Pat
Hi Pat,
It’s can be difficult to switch from one device to another. I remember that after going from a Palm (I’ve owned a lot of them) to a Pocket PC, I went back to Palm three or four times before I finally stuck with the PPC. And, it’s aggravating because you have to buy new apps.
Anyway, since I no longer use Outlook, except for email on one of my email accounts, I’m not the best one to recommend an app to you. I can say that, when Appigo ToDo worked with both Remember The Milk and Toodledo, I used it successfully for several months. (The app no longer syncs with RTM, apparently because RTM doesn’t want it to conflict with sales of their own app.) And I worked with the online interfaces of RTM and Toodledo trying to decide which I liked the best (RTM seemed a bit more functional to me, although Toodledo has a nice clean interface). At the time that I was tinkering with them, neither synced with Outlook. It is my understanding that both do now, although I have not tried either out with Outlook. I’m not familiar with Chaoshost or Fcmobilelife, so I can’t comment on them. But, I would think that either Toodledo or RTM would suit your needs well, provided that they suitably sync with Outlook.
As I mentioned above, I currently use OmniFocus. But, I am thinking of switching back to RTM. That would allow me to have access to my tasks on my Windows laptop as well.
I hope you get some good solid recommendations from people who use an apps to sync to Outlook.
I can’t offer any suggestions, but I use Outlook and finding an alternative conduit to that provided by iTunes for any of the Outlook content would be of interest to me as well, although I’ve just about resigned myself to using my Palm for my Outlook content, and for my Access databases (using Smartlist To Go) in perpetuity.
So if you do find something please post your experiences.
When trying to sync my Outlook 2007 calendar with my 2G i-touch, the time on my computer changes by one hour as soon as I plug in the touch. This often resets some of the times in my calendar also. Frustrating! There has to be a setting on the desktop computer that creates this issue. When we attach the touch to another computer, the time does not change??? Any suggestions? Thanks
Carol,
This frustrating problem is not due to the Touch, as you kinda indicated by noting that it did not happen on another computer. I know that I experienced the problem when syncing a Pocket PC to Outlook on my Windows Vista machine about a year or so ago, using Outlook 2003 (I’m too cheap to upgrade to 2007). I researched it and found some sort of patch that was related, if I recall correctly, to a DST problem. I can’t remember if the patch was to Windows or to Outlook, but it did ultimately fix it. Drove me crazy for a while.
You might try searching for Windows Outlook Sync 1 Hour, or something like that, to see what comes up.
Bruce
Hi Bruce and all,
I just have to say how relieved I was to find this article!! I have been having the ONLY indecisive episode about to whether get the itouch. So thank you for having this and for being here
Here’s a little about of my backstory and some questions I would appreciate your feedback on. I am sort of technologically challenged so I rely on the expertise of others!
I currently have a blackberry, but I was disturbed to find that the curve has a bug that randomly erases items on your calendar, to-do, etc. I was so terrified that I reverted to a paper calendar. You can only imagine how tedious that is! I am very very organized and need a system that keeps everything together, in order, and that the info is backedup. Especially since I have more than 2 jobs and school.
Do you see anything wrong with getting the 8GB itouch ($199), if my intended use of the itouch is only for organizing? I really just want to use the calendar, notes, a to-do app, and the internet. Not necessarily music or anything. But I am worried that the info will eventually start erasing because there isn’t enough memory. Also, the MAC support guy at the store advised me to get the $299 one, because of upgrades coming out in the summer? I wasn’ t sure if he was trying to upsell me or what. What do you think? Are the upgrades important for my use of the gadget?
Also, I work predominantly off a PC, so I know it seems that it’s ok and that the itouch is pc friendly, but I just want to confirm, is that true? If I use outlook, will that be a good enough calendar program to ensure a proper backup? What about if I just have itunes? Does that backup a calendar? How do I backup a to-do from an app? The Mac guy said the app could be backedup on itunes but not the actual info.
And finally, is it true that the itouch does not have a camera and will not have one for the foreseable future?
Thanks soooo much everybody! Have a great day!
-C
Hi Claudia,
The 8GB device will be more than adequate for organizing purposes. Mine is loaded with tunes, photos, and organizing data, and uses only 4GB, and almost all of that is the tunes and photos.
However, I have heard that Apple is going to phase out the 8GB products (Touch and iPhone), so that its next operating system (the 4.0, multi-tasking version) will apply only to 16GB devices and above. We should know more about this on June 7 when Apple hosts its Developer Conference (WWDC) … so keep your eyes open for announcement from that.
The PC to Touch interface, accomplished via iTunes, works just fine for Calendar and Contact data on Outlook (I understand it will work with some other programs, too, but I have only tried it with Outlook). Forgive me that I don’t recall if it syncs Note data, as I really use my Mac and just used the Outlook interface a couple of times for tinkering. It does not sync with tasks in Outlook, though. There is no separate, built-in tasks app within the Touch system. However, it is easy to set up an Online System, with Remember The Milk or Toodledo (and there may be others) to sync with using either one of their apps or the Appigo ToDo program that I mention above. I personally use OmniTask on my Mac because it is such a powerful program, and because I decided that I don’t use my Windows computer enough to worry about being able to access tasks on it. But, there are good options for task management separate from Outlook. And, if it does not support notes, there are also some good note programs that sync to online data (and perhaps to WIndows offline data … I have not explored that).
So, the Touch will work fine for you as a PDA and the 8GB model would be adequate, but if you want to be in on upgrades in the future, you may as well wait a couple of days to see what Apple has to say at its WWDC event.
Hope that helps … if you need more info, just let me know.
You can sync Outlook Notes with iTunes. However, personally I don’t think the iPod Touch makes a great PDA. It is good for other things, but lacking as a PDA. But that’s my personal opinion.
Thanks for following through on the Notes sync, Daniel. I think everyone has figured out by now that you do not like the Touch as a PDA … no need to keep repeating it over and over.
It appears that the only versions of the iPod Touch that will not have have the ability to upgrade to the new iOS 4.0 will be the 1st Generation devices:
“Free Upgrades for (Almost) Everyone
“Naturally, the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch (Gen 3) will get an upgrade, and this will be free for both smartphone and handheld customers.
“The older iPhone 3G and iPod Touch (Gen 2) will also get an upgrade to iOS 4.0, but the slower processors on these device mean they won’t support multitasking.
“The original iPhone and iPod touch released in 2007 won’t get any more operating system upgrades.”
My 8GB iPod Touch is a Gen 3 device, but I’ve seen others suggest that the Gen 3 8GB iPod Touch are essentially still running the Gen 2 processors, but either way, it should be upgradable. I guess I’ll find out in a few weeks.
I watched the entire WWDC live blogging by gdgt.com today … what an amazing conference, with so many great announcements. I went ahead and ordered an iPad today … I had held off thinking they might up the pixels per inch on it today, but alas that is for another time, and I don’t want to wait another few months or several months for that, since just about everyone is raving over the iPad as it is.
I think you’ll do fine with the iOS 4 upgrade, having a 3rd gen Touch … I have a first gen, so no luck for me on it, but I will upgrade my 3GS iPhone (my contract is not up until next year, so I’m not eligible for the good pricing on the iPhone 4 or I’d definitely get it … guess I’ll wait until next year for that).
Apple has really been pushing the gaming capabilities of the Touch, recognizing that far more people are interested in that than in the PDA features. What was not clear to me, from today’s conference, was whether there is an Touch 4 that has the built-in gyroscope, as that gives additional gaming capabilities. A software upgrade won’t compensate for that on the existing Touches or on my iPhone 3GS.
Anyway, also fantastic to see that the upgrades are free. They have been free for the iPhone all along, but normally cost $10 for the Touch … good to see they are free all the way around now.
I purchased a used 3rd gen iPod Touch 8gb to use as a PDA about two weeks ago. It performs perfectly for the PDA functions I needed. (e-mail, calendar, to-do & notes) I use a Windows based machine running Vista and Outlook 2003. I had previously used Pocket Informant on a Dell Axim x50v and really liked the program. There is a version in the iTunes store for the iPod Touch. I have been able to sync my calendar and to-do lists through Pocket Informant. My notes sync through iTunes and I get my e-mail through WiFi. (I have a WiFi network at home and there is one at my work and several other places around town that I frequent.) So for what I wanted in a PDA, the iPod Touch works out just fine.
Great to hear, Keith. About 70% of the people who visit this blog use Windows to do so, so having a good sync solution with Windows is of interest to many. Good to hear that Pocket Informant actually handles your tasks as well as calendar. I used Pocket Informant for years on my Pocket PCs and loved it … it has a nice interface, and it’s great to see your appointments for the day and tasks for the day all on the same screen.
Thanks for the feedback.
Thank you so much Bruce! This was very helpful! I will take your advice and wait a couple of days to hear what Apple has to say!
I recently began having trouble with my 8gb Ipod touch. I love using it for the calendar aspect but now it wont sync between outlook and i-tunes. any suggestions. I’ve tried a hard reset. thanks.
Hi Tammy,
Perhaps someone who visits here has had similar issues and can help you. But, you stand a better chance solving an issue like this by visiting the Apple support forums: http://www.apple.com/support/ipodtouch/.
Millions of visitors to that site means that they do a good job of covering just about ever technical problem that can be imagined.
My only suggestion before checking there is to ensure you are using the latest version of iTunes.
Take care and good luck.
Bruce
I’ve read through many of these posts and while there are several references to a calendar and sync’ing with another, I’m still a bit lost. Just not a techie, really. Here’s my question:
I used to use a Tungten Palm PDA for my calendar and contacts. I LOVED this because whatever was on my hand held, easily sync’d to my computer, which is where I enter the bulk of my information. I like that I have a back up of everything so if I lose it all on one device, I still have it on the other. I recently had to upgrade my computer to a Windows 7, 64-bit OS, and now the Tungsten does not sync. It’s just not compatible. I bought an Ipod touch because I was told I could have the same capability. So far, I cannot figure out how to do this or with which application. I see you talking about Google Calendar and Google contacts, but I THINK my Win 7, 64 bit is a hindrance to this. Is there anything out there that I can actually use with my OS and the Ipod Touch so that the info I have in my hand, syncs to what I have on the desktop?? What do I use? How do I use it? If not, as neat as the Touch is, I will just return it. I only bought it for the PDA qualities. Thanks!
Hi Gloria,
You need to install iTunes, if you haven’t already. It is used in syncing the Touch to your calendar (either the built-in Windows Calendar, or Microsoft Outlook). Once installed, then when you connect your Touch to your computer, iTunes should open automatically and begin syncing. It may be that the default settings do not include syncing the calendar. Just go into the Info Tab within iTunes, for the Touch, and select Calendar and Contact syncing options.
If you wanted to use Google Calendar and Contacts instead, just follow these Google instructions for setting up the calendar and contact syncing … they are very easy to follow. Those are the instructions I have used to set up my Touch, iPhone, and iPad to sync with Google Calendar and Contacts. (You can also include mail in the syncing process.) Your 64-bit Windows 7 is not a hinderance to this at all … it’s really not even relevant, except for syncing to Outlook or the Windows Calendar.
Take care.
Bruce….
I think you just saved my organizational life!! All it took was telling iTunes to sync my calendar and contacts… who’d a thunk??!! Why didn’t somebody tell me this two months ago??
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
Gloria
Glad to help, Gloria. Enjoy!
Like Gloria: I am now over 10 years a Palm user. My 5 yo Tungsten E has literally worn out: buttons won’t pop back up, only charges through the synche port and not an AC port. Like Gloria, I use this as a PDA: contacts, medical databases (epocrates, Sanford, a few others), memos (post-menapausal doc..need to carry my brain in my pocket these days….). I have a phone and an IPOD already.
I have received donations of discarded-but-still-working Palms from co-workers who have moved on to the I-Phone. But I am tempted by the opportunity to cruise the internet on occasion.
On the other hand, like Dan K., I don’t like being controlled by “Big Brother Jobs” and having to do everything (including going to the bathroom) via I-Tunes.
So, maybe a question for Danny, what be would your second choice for a (non-Apple) NEW device in 2010, that will allow transfer/synche of my beloved memos, contacts AND will still be supported in 2 years by whatever PC OS I am using?
RB – You might look into a Windows based device, but I honestly don’t know.
RB,
I was just reading Mashable’s Mobile Developer Survey a little while ago, and developers are pretty much saying that Palm and Windows Mobile are dead in the water (they are of course alive, but with a very limited future). The developers cite the iPhone and Android systems as the ones they expect to most support going forward.
So, since you do not like the approach Apple is taking (a lot of people don’t, and I ain’t tickled with it either), Android may be something for you to look into. It has its negatives. There are currently several versions of it floating around, from 1.5 to the newest (2.2), and the carriers often do not support updates to the latest version (2.2 is said to be a significant improvement, while previous versions are not nearly so user or battery friendly).
I say that in case you are looking for a converged device (phone and all). If you just want a standalone PDA, I think Danny K is right-on: a Windows Mobile device would be good. The only ones that I know of that are still being sold new are the HP ones. HP tends to be a bit expensive, but their build quality is really good. Dell did a good job with their PDAs, but they got out of the market. (I still have a Dell Axim PDA that I piddle with from time to time … it’s five years old and still works fine.) You can probably get a decent PDA on eBay at a decent price if you take your time looking through the options. That would probably tide you over for a couple of years while the iPhone / Android war settles out, and Apple starts using the Cloud instead of iTunes (Jobs recently mentioned that they are headed in that direction, something I wish they would do soon).
Anyway, just some thoughts for you to chew on.
I was wondering how to use the dragon app and how to turn on the microphone. I plug in the dragon headset and it dose nothing on the app.
Janna
Hi Janna,
I have not used the Dragon app on my Touch, because mine is a first gen device that has no microphone input capability. I’ve used it on my iPhone, though, and it works as advertised. If you have a second or third generation device, its 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack should work well with a microphone. After you have installed the Dragon app on the Touch, you then need to open it and tap the screen to begin dictation. You may want to go into its settings first, though, to ensure all the settings are to your liking.
Hi Bruce & followers of this thread-
Wanted to update on my post from a year ago. I am an esthetician with a private practice (I schedule facials, waxing and body treatment services) . I was looking for an app to serve as an appointment book to track client history, notes, etc…. wanted to tell you all about one I’ve been using. It’s pretty incredible.
It’s called vagaro. There is a $25/month fee, but it is well worth it for a business owner in the salon/spa industry. You can schedule & track client appointments, view payment history, notes, client photos, cancellations, etc…you also can allow clients to schedule appointments with you online. They are a salon review website, so your clients can leave reviews and rate your service. They also can serve as your credit card processing, and all of your information is saved online, no fear of loosing your device! The customer service is available 24/7 and they are wonderful!
Because they are a salon review website, it also helps with your search engine optimization.
I have been so pleased with this app, I just had to share!
It is available for PC, iPhone, itouch, ipad and android. Hope this information helps someone!
“Online scheduling for Salons and Spas. Salon Software, Salon appointment Software”
I guess there *is* an app for everything!
My main problem with services that save your data in an online “cloud”, or whatever they want to call it these days, is that inevitably that one service you just love will go out of business and you can’t use their software anymore, as opposed to services that enable you to save the data on a local computer.
But that’s just me reflecting over the past 15 years.
Good point about putting data in the cloud, Daniel, but it is the future for sure (it’s now, actually). I use a couple of rules regarding where I put my data in the cloud: I never put it where I can’t get it back, nor where I can’t delete all of the data and my account, and not with any company that I doubt will last less than 20 years.
Andrea, thanks for sharing your experience. I remember you looking for such an app. Glad you found one that works for you.
Bruce -
Like many on this blog/article I have been a Palm user for many many years and now thinking about an IPOD Touch. Your article and everyones comments have been EXTREMELY helpful. I am using an Palm T/X right now (it is my brains) and one of the things that might have been touched on, but I use it all the time is the search capability. I put information in based on certain verbiage that I will remember just so I can SEARCH on that word. Does the touch (I’m looking at the 4th generation 8gig) have that capability to search ‘names’ or ‘phone numbers’ etc.? Thank you for all the great info. I just happened upon your article. You are doing a great job. Thanks again.
Hi Linda,
Yes the Touch does have a search capability. Some apps (such as Contacts) have a search box built right in. But even for apps that do not have this, there is a global search function that searches through all apps. I’ve found that it generally works very well. It seems to be inconsistent in looking backward in time for certain types of recurring appointments (no problems looking forward). For example, I have an annual recurring appointment and when I do a global search for the key terms, it only returns the next time the appointment will occur (in 2011). But, I have a monthly recurring appointment, and it seems to find all instances of it, even back to 2009. [I sync my calendar with Google Calendar, and it handles recurring appointments differently than Microsoft Outlook ... it could be that all Outlook recurring appointments are treated well in the search ... I do not know.]
I hope that helps. And thanks for the nice feedback.
How do you invoke the global search? Thanks.
Ken, from the Home screen, just swipe your finger to the left and it will bring up the global search screen.
Bruce
Thanks! I’m new to this. I acquired my son’s 16GB 2nd gen to get started (subsidizing his purchase of a 4th Gen!).
Cool Ken.
By the way, I should have said swipe to the Right on the home screen, instead of swipe to the left.
Take care and enjoy!
Bruce ~
Thanks so much for the quick reply. I have decided after reading your articles on the IPOD Touch as a PDA to go for it!! I am going to get the new 4th genration 32 GB device. I have used Palms since almost the beginning of their time of “Palm Pilots” A friend has transitioned to the IPOD touch last year and he loves the IPOD Touch – so I’ll jump in with both feet. Thanks everyone on this link for the information – ti was ALL helpful in my decision. I’ll visit back and let ya all know how I am surviving. I’m a gadget girl – and Apple is pretty intuitive – so I think I’ll be Okay. i have a Nano – so I’m familiar with ITUNES. Thanks again.
Linda,
Thank you and congratulations! I know you’ll enjoy it. I kinda envy you with the 4th Gen Touch … I may have to try justify getting one for myself
Thank you for crediting all the fine people who have made comments on this article … you are certainly right that there is a ton of useful information in the comments.
Take care
Bruce
Hi Bruce -
Well I am now the proud owner of my first IPOD Touch – and am lovin’ it – the 4th generation is great. Now let the questions begin . . . I have my email set up with yahoo, but I don’t generally sync my yahoo contact with my PDA (in the past a Palm TX). I am trying to figure out a way to ‘type’ my contact in with the computer in lieu of using the touch keyboard – which is a little difficult. (~: Is there a way to do this. I was thinking of the idea to set up a “Google” account and then type in the contact and then somehow (not for sure how to do it) sync the Google account with JUST my contacts. i would only use it for the contacts and never email or any other things. Is this at all possible? Maybe there is a different way to get my contacts into my touch by being able to type them in with the computer and be able to sync them. What do ya all think? Remember I am new to all of this – so sorry if this is a weird question.
(~: Thanks –
Hi Linda,
You caught me just as I was heading to bed for the evening, and my mind is not at it’s freshest, but I’ll try to give you some help.
Basically the Touch will sync with “just about anything” you want to type your contact info into, be that a desktop application (Outlook on Windows or Address Book on the Mac), and syncs with lots of cloud-based apps, too (Google Contacts or Yahoo or Apple’s MobileMe and on and on). If you want to set up a Google account and use just the Contacts, you can do that. When you set it up, it will give you an option of syncing to email and/OR calendar and/OR contacts, so you can just select the contacts and go from there).
If you previously synced your Palm with Outlook, your contact data is already to sync with the Touch … just follow the instructions to sync with Outlook (you can set it up to sync only with the contacts in Outlook, if desired). If the data is in Palm’s application, you can probably export it to a text file that can be imported into Outlook (and/or maybe even into Google apps) … you can just do a web search for instructions on how to do this … it’s been a long, long time since I’ve used Palm and exported its data to something else, but I remember it being pretty straightforward.
Let us know if you need anything else.
Bruce
Thanks Bruce – I will give it a try – sorry for the lateness of the reply – I didn’t get notified of your answer in my email and I just came to the webpage. I’ll let you know how it works. Right now it appears that Outlook doesn’t seem to want to work with ITUNES 10 – it just flashes on and then closed down. Haven’t figured that out yet – so probably will go with Google. I never used Outlook to sync my contacts anyway. I’ll start fresh. Thanks again.
My iPod has been pretty disappointing. The variety of apps is fun, but honestly I don’t end up using 90% of them. Mainly I’m using it for the calendar and address book. And there, I find the iCal to be incredibly unwieldy compared to the Pocket PC version. You can’t copy and paste events, it takes tons of extra “clicks” to set times and spin the stupid wheel to the desired time, you can’t set repeating events to “3rd Friday of every month”, etc. And the keyboard is incredibly frustrating — it won’t work with a stylus, and my aim with my fingers (and I have small ones!) is terrible. The caps key only works for one letter at a time, so you may as well scrap typing anything in all-caps. The iPod is beautiful, but definitely sacrifices function for form. If you’re looking for something efficient and practical, and aren’t into all the apps, then a traditional PDA is definitely the way to go.
If you double-tap on the caps-lock key, it will stay locked so you can type ALL IN UPPERCASE quite easily if you like. I much prefer the touch screen interface of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad than I ever did with the stylus on my old Palm PDA. I could never get used to that Graffiti hand writing recognition either.
I also played around with an Android device at Costco yesterday and I tell you, it’s no iPhone that’s for sure. The UI is clunky and feels stiff to me. Unlike the iPhone’s smooth and consistent interface.
As for the calendar, ya, I think Apple could improve that a bit. I don’t know why they don’t have the option for repeating events on the “3rd Friday of every month”, because they certainly have that ability in the Mac iCal desktop application.
Brendan
Hi Sally,
Of course all systems have their pros and cons. The Pocket PC does very well as a PDA because it was designed as a PDA, one that was focused around Outlook. (Outlook and Exchange Server are the key reasons that Microsoft still dominates the corporate world.)
I do at times miss the handwriting recognition of the Pocket PC. But, one can speak into the Touch and have it translated, avoiding use of the keyboard altogether. I don’t miss the battery life of the Pocket PC … I always had to order an extended battery because the factory batteries were never adequate. Even the extended batteries would barely get me through the day, and I seldom passed up an opportunity to charge them.
It would be nice if Apple beefed up its Calendar app a bit, but I interface it to my Google Calendar, which has basically everything that Outlook has (plus I don’t have to have Windows), and the Touch calendar app inherits Gcal’s abilities, letting you do the 3rd Friday of every month sort of thing.
The nice thing about the Touch/iPhone: they’re here to stay, whereas Dell gave up on the Pocket PC. As the world increasingly turns toward use of the Cloud, reliance on Outlook will diminish and the one advantage the Pocket PC has (of having a mini Outlook built in) will become irrelevant.
Anyway, thanks much for the comment. I can remember being a Pocket PC “fanatic” (not that you are … I was), and I know it can be difficult to switch from one type of device to another.
I am considering the iPod Touch as a PDA but I have a couple questions. 1. I have a gmail acount and a comcast account for e-mail, will I be able to get both on the touch? 2. I use msft OneNote a lot. Is there a way to get OneNote for the touch and will it sync with my laptop wirelessly? 3. I use Outlook on my PC but I am not connected to an Exchange server, will my Outlook calendar sync with the Touch?
Great review and is really causing me to lean towards the Touch as my new PDA.
Brad
Hi Brad,
You should be able to get the gmail on the Touch, for sure, as I do. I haven’t tried Comcast, but I suspect it would work, too. I know that BellSouth is not listed in one of the “easy setup” emails within the settings, but I set it up through the “Other” settings, pretty easily, just following directions.
As far as I know you are out of luck on the OneNote syncing. There are several other Notes programs available for the Touch (and iPhone and iPad), but not OneNote. I used OneNote for a while myself, and recall being frustrated that it wouldn’t sync with my Pocket PC. Of course, in time, Microsoft made Pocket PC syncing possible, but I doubt that they will ever do so for an Apple product.
Yes, you can sync your Outlook calendar with the Touch, although I do not know if it can be done wirelessly or not. I know that you can sync to Outlook through iTunes on Windows, because I have done that. It syncs the calendar, contacts, and even notes. More info on syncing with Outlook is at the following Apple support page: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1296 (there may be other related articles, too).
Depending on your reliance on OneNote, sounds like you have some real studying to do. If you can lessen your reliance on OneNote, I suspect you’d love the Touch. Otherwise, a device that supports syncing to OneNote may be what you need.
Bruce,
Thanks for the additioanl information. I’m sold. I did do a little more research and came across this product, MobileNoter and wondered if you’ve heard of it or have any experience with it? I think I’m going to give it a try. If it does what the site says it will it should work for me just fine.
Thanks again,
Brad
Brad,
That MobileNoter does look nice. I’m amazed at the capabilities of some of the apps … I just read that there are over 300,000 iOS apps available now.
I haven’t used MobileNoter … I no longer use OneNote, now that I use a Mac about 98% of the time. If I were still on a PC regularly, I’d be going for it though.
Just as info, I use a couple of older notes apps: WritePad and Evernote … both were available early on in the app store and have been more than adequate for my meager note needs.
Take care,
Bruce
Brad – I read my Comcast email on my iPod Touch. You set up a Mail account on the device, enter your Comcast email address, and use mail.comcast.net as your hostname for incoming email and smtp.comcast.net for your SMTP server.
I set my Advanced settings to Never Delete from Server (so that I can download and archive all my email on my desktop), Server Port to 110, SSL Off, and use password authentication.
HTH,
Dan
Daniel,
Super helpful advice. I know that Brad and lots of folks will find the Comcast setup help useful.
Thanks for helping out,
Bruce
Bruce, first of all, I am so glad I found you. I have a quick question before I buy an itouch. Do you have to be connected to wifi to work with the calendar or contacts?
Hi Leslie,
I’m very pleased that this post, and all the comments, is useful to you.
No, you don’t have to be connected to WiFi to use the Calendar and Contacts. The data is stored locally on the device. When you do connect to WiFi, then syncing can take place. Generally the WiFi (or 3G syncing for the iPhone) is very, very quick. For example, I can make changes to the calendar on my iPhone, iPad, Touch, or computer (Google calendar), and syncing is almost instantaneous. If I make the change on the Touch, by the time I open up my iPhone or iPad, they are there as well. (That’s syncing via Google’s Exchange Server setup.)
Take care
Bruce
Bruce, are you familiar with Mobile Me by Apple? If you are, what do you think of it?
Leslie,
I used Mobile Me for a couple of years after getting my Mac (have had it almost 4 years now), and it worked very well for me. But, then I moved to using Google Calendar and Contacts, because they fulfilled my needs at no cost. I’ve been thinking of going back to Mobile Me, as some apps now sync through it, and it does have disk storage and so forth (although I’m pretty happy with Dropbox).
Apple offers a 60-day free trial of MobileMe, which I would recommend you give a try. If it doesn’t suit you, you can always drop it.
Take care
Bruce
I know this probably goes against the whole point of the PDA being portable but for those occasions when I am sitting somewhere…. is anyone aware of an external keyboard for the iTouch? I used to have a really cool folding keyboard for my old Palm 105 for those times when typing was a little more extensive than a quick note. The Palm just docked with it and I could type away.
Thanks in advance,
Brad
Hi Brad,
I don’t have an answer for you, except to tell you that the regular Apple Wireless Keyboard does Not connect to my iPhone. (I haven’t tried it on my Touch, but with it being first generation, I wouldn’t expect it to work either). I got the keyboard for my iPad, and it works great with it, but not with the iPhone.
Perhaps someone else can share a positive experience of wireless keyboard connection to the Touch.
My keyboard is not collapsable, and I recall how nice it was to have Palm’s collapsable keyboard for travel … it worked well with my Palm TX (and earlier models) and also worked on my Pocket PC.
This seems to be an area where Apple could improve the experience for Touch and iPhone users. I know as Thomas mentioned in one of the earlier comments on this post, Apple has data showing that most people use the Touch and iPhone as consumption devices, and not as content-generation devices. Hence, they probably do not consider there to be a market for wireless connection (bluetooth) of a keyboard to the Touch or iPhone. It’s clearly doable, though, as they make it available for the iPad. Looks like it would be easy to make it available on the Touch and iPhone, and I don’t see why they don’t go ahead and do it. (Again, I’m making it sound like there is no connectivity, based on my limited experience … hopefully others can share that it does work on certain generations of the Touch.)
Bruce
I am reluctantly moving from my Palm Tungsten E2 to a brand new Ipod Touch (4G). It sure is fun to work with, but I’m very frustrated trying to find a calendar option that will allow me to print a month’s calendar to post on the fridge! Palm does it nicely; Google calendar does not word wrap events in printing, so you only get the time and one or two words about the event – not enough! Evidently users have complained for several years about this, but Google hasn’t responded.
Thunderbird has a calendar option, but it doesn’t word wrap in print either. Any ideas out there? I do not have Outlook and don’t want to buy it.
The lack of a good print feature also impacts some other web apps: tasks, for example. I think that Toodledo now supports a good printing option for tasks, but they might be alone in doing so.
You might want to try out MobileMe, which currently has a 2-months for free trial option. They’ve just completed a rework of the Calendar to add lots of features to it. A discussion of it is here: http://goo.gl/ULLJ
I cannot tell from the existing write-ups, found in googling, whether this new version supports printing of monthly calendars or whether it has the same problems that Google Calendar does. But, given that the trial is free, you might want to check it out. I’ve thought about signing back up with MobileMe myself, but am currently considering switching to Verizon (and possibly an Android phone), and I doubt that there is a MobileMe app for that. It wouldn’t make sense for me to have MobileMe just for iPad and not for my phone, too, so I am in a hold pattern until I decide if I want to switch (of course, if I put it off long enough, Verizon will have an iPhone, so I could just stick with that).
Sorry I don’t have a tried-and-true app to recommend to you. Perhaps someone else knows of one. Just trying to be helpful.
A slight update: here is Mossberg’s review of MobileMe: http://goo.gl/YxTx
His review is a bit dated, in that some of the problems he mentions have been addressed, but it’s an interesting review nonetheless.
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Much appreciate the article. My wire and I are moving to iPod Touches after years as PALM users, and are most interested in syncing the calendar and notes. Are there any options on Windows other than Outlook? Will, for example, Evolution for Windows sync with an iPod Touch?
Outlook’s OK, but I don’t love it, don’t currently use it at home, and would just as soon find an open source alternative if possible. I’m going to have two iPod Touches for two users syncing with the home PC, and one will also sync with the office PC (Outlook / Exchange), so I’m looking for a good solution for the home PC that will fit with this range of operations.
Hi Dave,
You got my curiosity up, so I double-checked the Apple support site, which says that the calendar works with Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft Outlook, iCal, MobileMe, and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync for enterprise. No mention of Evolution. I was not surprised by that, but a bit surprised that it list the Windows Calendar app.
Anyway, each Touch can sync with multiple calendars, and then you can view the combined set by selecting “All Calendars.” Hence, you can sync with your Outlook (Exchange) setup at work and then sync with whatever home calendar option you settle in on. I personally use Google Calendar, which has an Exchange setup, and it works great. I would use Outlook if there were a suitable version available for the Mac, because, despite all the criticism of Outlook, it really is a nice all-in-one PIM interface if you are willing to work with it. (I have checked out the new Office for Mac software yet … it might have a decent Outlook version … I don’t know).
If you settle on Outlook, I would read up on multiple-user account settings if I were you. Probably no problems, but I have never personally tried to use Outlook for two accounts (self and wife). Shouldn’t be a problem with Google Calendar, of course, and probably not for Outlook, but I’d read up on it before committing.
Not sure if I really answered your question. Let me know if I missed a critical point. Maybe others will chime in with additional info.
Bruce,
Thanks for the follow up info. We now have a pair of 4G Touches. The device itself is wonderful, and the screen is absolutely gorgeous. I’m having lots of fun (e.g., looking up an unknown author over the bookstore WiFi to decide if my wife needs those books). Gradually getting all of the pieces in place. Things are starting out pretty well, although we’re still in the growing pains portion of the transition from PALM to Touch. Annoyingly, MS removed Windows Calendar from Win 7 so that option isn’t available. I’ve set the wife up with Outlook, but am still figuring out my calendar solution (which may change anyway if my company transitions to Google Apps next year).
We’re both heavy users of the PALM notes feature, which Outlook handles very badly (no categories), so I’ve got to figure out a new approach for that. Apple’s Notes on the Touch looks similarly simplistic. I’m considering MobileNoter, which will sync with MS OneNote. That looks like a very powerful solution, but means learning new apps on two platforms as we haven’t played with OneNote previously. I have heard and read very complimentary things about OneNote, though, so maybe worth it in the long run. Need to make sure I understand the file syncing issues with two Touches (this is now a general theme in my life).
You suggested “read[ing] up on multiple-user account settings”: do you have a pointer for that? And were you referring to Outlook, iTunes, or something else/more? Right now I’m leaning toward creating a separate Windows user account for my Touch info to help keep my and my wife’s info cleanly separated. Ideally, I’d like one media pool but separate contacts / calendars / photos / etc. PALM desktop handles multiple users very simply, but it’s not clear to me whether iTunes can really handle that under a single Windows user account (e.g., it sees my device as unique, but operates under my wife’s AppleID when syncing the Touch to iTunes, then grumbles about apps that weren’t purchased using her AppleID). Exploring and hopefully solving the multi-user problems is definitely in my holiday vacation plans, but if anyone’s dealt with a setup like this I’d appreciate learning from their experience. Probably need to do some forum searching: anyone got iPhone / iPod Touch forums to recommend?
Dave
Bruce,
Thanks for the great review. I have been looking at the Ipod Touch for a few months now, as a potential PDA replacement. I have an Ipaq 210, which is a very capable device in itself, and I think the best PDA I have ever owned. Nice large screeen and good expansion options. However, as I see some of the Windows Mobile apps I depend on, start to become available on the IOS platform, I am thinking more of switching; for the added benefit of being able to explore the many other apps available, and the great interface Apple has provided. Also having a Mac at home is helping to bolster the argument.
One thing that concerns me about the current version of IOS 4 however is reports of total power loss overnight which seem to be occurring. I have dealt with this in the PDA world before, and absolutely need a device I can rely on to be there when I need it. The pace of Apple’s software development seems to be a double edged sword in that regard. Though frequent updates are great, that may come at the expense of some nasty bugs. I’m likely going to wait this out, perhaps until next September, to see if the software has been fixed and what the 5th gen device may bring to the table. The Ipaq will have the legs to get me there at least. The convenience of a device of this form factor is hard to beat. Eventually the Ipod will shave about half the weight off my current device.
Thanks again for the review. It’s the best I’ve seen on this interesting topic.
Thank you for the compliment, Phil … makes me feel really good.
The iPaq 210 is certainly a great device. A friend of mine counts on his for everything, and I’ve always felt that the HP Pocket PCs were the best. I almost got a 210, but decided to just keep my Axim x51v until it dies, and it hasn’t yet. (I really don’t use it anymore, though, except to charge it occasionally and play with it for 10 minutes or so).
I haven’t had any issues with the iOS 4+ updates, and have even used the beta versions on my iPhone 3GS and iPad (my first gen iPod Touch won’t upgrade to iOS 4). But, you are in a good position to wait until you feel comfortable with Apple’s mods. I suspect the 5th Gen Touches will be unbelievably great.
Thanks for the comment,
Bruce
Hi Bruce and all,
Been reading all your reviews and it does help me to a certain extend. I am not a tech person, so please bear with me.
I used to have all my contacts details, dates, appointments, passwords and notes in my Sony Clie for 4 yrs. It died on me last year. The battery runs out and I could not retrieve all information:(
I am using a Blackberry 8120 mobile phone without internet features/connection. Don’t need it. I am looking for a PDA. Would you recommend IPod? I am using MacBook Pro. Please me more abt IPod. Apart from the price cost, what else am I paying monthly? What about the applications? Do I need to have them for the above simple things I’m doing?
Thanks for reading:)
Fauz
Hi Fauz,
My original motivation for getting a Touch was that my first generation iPod died (well, it was near death, with a battery that only lasted a few hours). I had a separate PDA at the time in my Dell Axim x51v Pocket PC. After I got the Touch, I then learned that I could also use it as a PDA. It eventually overtook my Pocket PC, because I have a philosophy of “why use two devices when one will do?”
If you just want a PDA, the Touch certainly has competition. I’ve always been a fan of Pocket PCs, at least for Windows users, and the HP 210 is, from what I’ve read, a fine Pocket PC. The downside is that Microsoft has now moved its resources to Windows Mobile 7, its smartphone platform, and its support of previous Pocket PC platforms is probably going to be close to nil. You can also find very inexpensive Palms (like the Zire) that function well as a PDA. However, support for those devices is pretty much non-existent, too.
Moreover, given that you are a MacBook Pro user, you would find that you needed extra software to sync with the Mac, for either the Pocket PC or Palm.
Hence, in your case, the Touch could well be the best choice for a PDA. There are no extra monthly fees involved. You could sync directly with iCal and Address Book. As for ToDo lists, you would have to use an online service, like Toodledo, or you could go with the more robust Mac apps Things or OmniFocus (which also have apps for the Touch, and sync over Bonjour).
If you were looking for a device that could be both a phone and a PDA, of course the iPhone would be an option, but many of the Android devices would serve well as a PDA, too. I’ve played around a bit with one, and it marries up nicely with Google Calendar and Contacts and there are ToDo apps that sync with the cloud (such as Toodledo). In fact, when I switch to Verizon about mid next year, when my AT&T contract expires, I’ll have to do some serious thinking about whether to go Android or go with Verizon’s iPhone. I personally prefer the iPhone (and Touch) interface, but Android is becoming better all the time.
But, again, given that you are not looking for a smartphone solution, I’d say the Touch would be hard for you to beat. It truly functions well as a PDA, and you get a few hundred thousand other apps that you can choose from to tinker with, too. I hate to recommend an fairly expensive device to someone, though, if a less expensive one will work well for them. Hence, you might want to scour ebay for Pocket PC and Palm deals (and Touch deals, too). But, if the cost isn’t a big deal to you (and the Touch prices have come down), you will find the quality of experience hard to beat.
Good luck
Bruce
Update: one more thought, Fauz: the Touch beats all other PDAs hands-down when it comes to battery life. When I traveled a few years ago, before getting the Touch (and before retiring), I was always annoyed at how often I had to charge my Pocket PC or Palm. I sometimes used a Palm even though I had a preference for Pocket PCs, because the Palm had a better battery life … but neither come close to having the battery life of the Touch.
Hi Dave Lemire
Congratulations on the new Touches! Sorry that WIndows 7 removed Windows Calendar … I didn’t realize that, since I still use Vista (I don’t use it enough to justify an upgrade, at least yet).
I also disliked how Outlook handled notes, by not having a category option for them (Actually I think there is one, but it just doesn’t sync with any devices.) I’d say that going with OneNote sounds like a good choice … I have an old version of OneNote (2003, I think), but never really used it enough to master it. But from what little I did with it, it seemed to me to be incredibly useful and well thought-out.
I do not have a suggested source on multiple-user account settings. I was actually referring to both iTunes and Outlook. This seems to me to be a problem that a lot of folks would have, so I assumed the Apple support center and other forums would have some answers. But, not having had to deal with it myself, I do not know of specific sources and would just start out by googling it. I would say, though, that your approach of setting up separate accounts on Windows is the best way to go. I do not know how you would go about having a common media folder, but Windows does have Folder Sharing capabilities, and I suppose that tinkering with that would get you what you want. Another option would be to use a common DropBox account for storing media.
Let me know if I have only made this more confusing.
Take care
Bruce
I went the separate Windows user account route and have one important bit of advice for anyone doing this: set up the separate accounts first, before you ever link either iPod Touch to iTunes. This will save heartburn and headache in the long run. I moved my Touch to the new account and was unsurprised when iTunes wanted to “erase the device” (which is actually slightly inaccurate wording) and resync. I was *completely* surprised when my wife’s Touch, which was the first one synced to the original account, got the same treatment when I hadn’t changed what user account it was operating with. I still can’t explain why that happened. I think things have settled down now but I want another week or so of smooth operations before I declare victory.
The device is *NOT* erased in the sense of cleaned out back to factory settings, but all of the reorganization and/or grouping of apps is lost, and on my wife’s Touch the Audible audiobooks she had loaded *were* erased. Overall it looks like apps aren’t erased but content is in this scenario (she didn’t have any music, videos, or photos loaded so I can’t be sure about that).
Impressions overall so far: love the Touch but miss the simplicity of the PALM. Apple’s assumption / limitation of syncing to a single user account on a single computer is rather limiting, and separate Windows user accounts is way more complicated than the “which user am I now?” pull-down in the PALM desktop.
I’m also struggling WRT replacing the PALM memos feature. MobileNoter + OneNote looks great: for a single user. I don’t think my wife and I can both use that and have separate sync configurations. And I’m having trouble with syncing iPod Notes to Outlook Notes because apparently iTunes syncs to the *first* Notes folder in a mail account and the process created a new notes folder above my standard “Notes” folder and started syncing with that. Still trying to clear that one up so that my 500+ notes can be synced with my Touch. Organizing them later is an exercise for the reader.
David,
I appreciate you sharing your experience, in that it will no doubt help others who need to a family setup instead of just an individual one. Thank you! I would not have thought about the importance of setting up the Windows account settings first, before the iTunes and Touch settings.
I had forgotten how friendly Palms were about dual account settings. When my late wife and I used Palms, all we had to do was select which name we wanted from the dropdown menu in Palm desktop. In fact, I still have her settings (her directory) (and mine) saved as a sort of sentiment. (I’m bad about not throwing things away.) At one time, we were “on the cutting edge” by Palm users. My how things change. Palm sure had a lot of things right, though.
I understand the frustration with the Notes. One thing you might consider is setting up an account with Toodledo (toodledo.com) into which you can import your existing notes. (Note that I have not tried importing notes, only tasks, but their import facility seems very capable.) Then, if you get their inexpensive Touch (and iPhone) app you can access those notes from your Touch. You can also organize the notes by folder (category). This feature is available even in their free use settings (no pro account needed to have notes). This would at least let you have access to your notes until you settle in what you want for a long-term solution. (You could well decide to just use Toodledo … I used them for a couple of years, with no incidents, but recently closed my account after exporting all the data and then copying and pasting it into OmniFocus, because OmniFocus for the Mac and iPhone is awesome for implementing GTD. Plus, I decided I wanted to get away from having all my data in the cloud, although I still use Google Calendar and Contacts.) Plus, you and your wife could both sync to the Toodledo notes.
I was never a heavy Notes user, having only twenty or thirty at most at a time. My brother had over 600 notes at one time on his Palm. I’ll check with him as to whether he transitioned those to his iPhone / iPad.
Please keep us posted on anything else you discover in this interesting transition.
Best wishes
Bruc
I’m starting nursing school. Most of my fellow students have iPhones or the iPod Touch. Some of us have Windows desktops at home and others have Macs. We need a shared calendar containing all of our due dates accessible on all of our devices. We all have .edu email accounts through our school, which we access at http://www.outlook.com as a cloud app. We cannot assume that all of us have Outlook 2010 (or other version) on our desktops.
What do you recommend we use as a shared calendaring solution? What about using a Facebook group?
Hi John,
I have not attempted to use the Online Outlook solution, and so I do not know how viewable it would be on the Touch/iPhone. It may very well have a mobile view, and, if so, that would make it an attractive solution, since you all have an account anyway. (Even if it doesn’t have a special view for mobile devices, it might still be okay … one would just have to try it out.)
I have not used the Facebook calendaring feature, although I use the Facebook app on my iPhone as my normal method of connecting to Facebook. The app is great, very well designed, and I suspect it would work well for calendaring. I had already set up to use Google Calendar, which syncs perfectly with the Touch/iPhone calendar app (you can see how to set it up here), so there was no need for me to experiment with the Facebook calendaring feature.
I just did some searching to see if Outlook Live supports a mobile format, and it appears that it does. You can see here for specific instructions related to the Touch/iPhone.
BTW, there is such a huge nursing shortage so good for you on going into nursing!
What a totally great thread! I just moved from Palm to iTouch last week, and have been going through the expected agonies (being well past 60 don’t help, I’m afraid), but just about have it worked out–contacts, Notes and Calendar moved–the latter was a true ordeal, but hopefully in the past. But I have learned more on this thread in the last two hours than in days of searching elsewhere, so thanks so much.
But one recurring theme in the thread has been the lack of Calendar Search capability of the iTouch. Here’s the way it seems to be, after lots of searching, myself: The iTouch will only search its calendar for one year from the current date, in each direction. Since I have events from the early 1990′s transferred from my Palm, this is really weak and annoying. So I’m asking, not I confess with a great deal of hope: Has anyone found an app that will search all of iTouch’s calendar? I’d pay big bucks for such at this point!
Hi Lowrie,
I’ve held off on replying, hoping that somebody would mention such an app, but it could be a while before they do (and it could be that there is not one). I was going to suggest that you email Steve Jobs directly on this, since several folks have mentioned that they would like this feature, but I see that he has gone on medical leave of absence, and I’m sure that email is not high on his list right now. (I’m certainly wishing well for him.)
Take care
Bruce
Amen on Jobs. I’m very much afraid he will not be back. Thanks for responding; surely this is such a useful and obvious addition, someone will write something; goodness there are enough apps out there of dubious utility that someone found incentive to create!
Bruce,
Thanks for this great and helpful thread!
I have also been thinking about going to the Touch as a pda. Been using Palm since the Palm 3. I’m tire of the syncing issues with my Centro and need something more useful that will also allow me to use my new Mac apps such as Things and Bento, which can been used on the Touch. What I’m not sure of is what size memory I really need if I’m just using primarily as a pda, rather than lots of music and video? What would you suggest? I’ve heard 8g should be fine.
Steve
Hi Steve,
8GB will work fine for PDA use, with plenty of room to spare. Even with several hundred tunes and some movies, I’m only using 4GB, with my personal data accounting for only a small fraction of that. I personally always like to get more than I need, though, and, if the cost differential is not very much, you might want to consider at least going to 16Gb, in case you do decide to have several movies downloaded to your device. But, again, you won’t need more than 8Gb for PDA purposes.
Thanks again Bruce. I thought of going with 16gb but apparently Apple skipped 16gb going next to 32 and 64. Probably because that way more people would just go up to the 32.
Also, you mentioned above that you sync through google for you contacts and calender. Does that mean it would sync also with address book and ical on a mac as well? Or should I set that all up through a mobile me account with mac?
Steve
Steve,
I hadn’t noticed that Apple had dropped the 16GB line … thanks for pointing it out.
I use BusySync on my Mac to sync Google Calendar to iCal. (The Mac Address Book has a setting within its preferences that will sync to Google Contacts, so there’s no need of a third-party app for those.) I used MobileMe for a couple of years, and may go back to it, as I dislike some of what I’m reading about Google these days (nothing related to their Calendar product, but to the overall company). Of course, with MobileMe, there is no need for any third-party software, as it will sync with iCal, Address Book, and the iPhone (and iPad and any other iOS products you may add to your gadget collection).
BTW, even though I use BusySync to sync Google Calendar to iCal, I really don’t need to, since I almost never use iCal (I just use the Google Calendar directly, or, more often, the calendar app on my iPhone and iPad). The only reason I sync to iCal is just for “completeness,” but that is a completely arbitrary thing for me. Before you start marrying up lots of calendars, you might want to think through what you really want (and need). Of course, it’s better to be safe than sorry, but one can get carried away with syncing this-to-that-to-that-to-this.
Take care
Bruce
From your article I was under the impression that the iPod Touch was a fantastic PDA. Frankly, this is the worst PDA I have had (I haven’t had too many, but I have been spoiled by an excellant one in the past). I am extremely disappointed. I think the technology of the hardware is fantastic, but Palm really is elite when planning life. As a mom juggling 5 different schedules it would be great if I could color code items, repeat events by specific days of the months, not dates, tasks that work with the calendar, contacts that work with the calendar and has a user friendly interface. I have yet to see an application that does this and I am a little surprised since the ipod touch has been around for 4 generations that there aren’t better options. Have you seen any that I haven’t seemed to come across?
Hi Megan,
First off, I am sorry for your disappointment. I know the iPhone works great for me as a PDA (the Touch would, too, but I use the iPhone since it also has a phone), and I know that it does for several executives I still stay in touch with. During my almost 35-year professional career of managing highly complex technical projects, with meetings in almost every US state and in many countries, I have never needed the capabilities you mentioned (color-coded calendar, etc.) Yet, they say being a mom is the hardest job of all (and I believe it), and I can see where having the capabilities you mentioned would be nice.
I am unaware of an app that will get you what you are looking for. Maybe someone else can make a recommendation. But, I am sure glad you posted, because it adds information about what the Touch doesn’t do, and this information may be important for other readers who want the same functionality you do. As you noted, though, there really aren’t any better options (at least none that I’m aware of).
Thanks for the comment
Bruce
Megan,
Though I am a complete newbie to the world of iTouch, my experience thus far may help you some. What I have found is that most of the features you (and I) find missing on the Touch are available in Yahoo Calendar, and (probably) in Google Calendar as well; and it’s quite feasible to sync Yahoo Calendar with the iTouch iCal.
So I went to Yahoo Calendar and created several calendars there–more or less by accident; but you could do the same thing deliberately, for each of the five schedules you are maintaining. Each of these schedules then appears on the Yahoo month in a different color; better still, they sync to the iTouch also in different colors; or, you can choose which ones to see, which ones to hide, on your iCal.
Yahoo calendar is friendly towards date settings, too; I’ve got one that appears only every three months, others that occur on the third Thursday, etc.–and those settings seem to transfer over to the iCal just fine.
Remember, I’m brand new to this thing, and some of what I’ve written above may not be precisely accurate; but it should be close enough to encourage you to explore. I’m a 20 year Palm user, so this hasn’t been easy for me, either!
Regards,
Lowrie
Great input, Lowrie. Thank you very much!
Hi Bruce!
I just came across this thread, and I have to tell you that I’m very impressed by the fact that you are still replying to every post after all this time and you do so in a very courteous, respectful, and helpful way. In fact, everyone has been cordial and more than willing to help others. That is rare in these kinds of discussions and very much appreciated. Kudos to all of you!
I’m new to the Apple family and very excited to start setting up my iPod Touch 4G this weekend. I’m switching from a paper-based planner to a PDA for the first time, and as you can imagine, I have a lot of questions.
My most pressing question is whether I will be able to sync my calendar, contacts, and tasks from Yahoo to the pre-installed apps on my Touch. Something I read made it sound as if I may have to use Google if I want to use one source for all of these applications. I hope that is not the case, as I use Yahoo exclusively.
Also, is anyone familiar with the Intuition App for moms? Specifically, I’d like to know if it will sync directly with Yahoo, and if not, will it perhaps sync with the pre-installed Touch calendar, contacts, etc. once I have synced them with Yahoo? In other words … Is an “indirect” sync possible from Intuition to Touch to Yahoo and vice-versa?
I hope my questions make sense. This is all new to me, and I am not familiar with the correct terminology. :~)
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
~Coni
Hi Coni,
Thank you much for the nice compliments.
The Touch calendar can sync with Yahoo’s calendar, and you can also sync with Yahoo contacts. (For the latter, here is an article I found from a quick search: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/contacts/basics/contactsbasics-11.html ).
Of course, not being a mom, I’ll have to pass on the intuition app, but perhaps someone else can comment on it.
Bruce
Hi,
I guess I’m too “untecky” to understand some of what I’m reading. I went from an actual notebook to a palm Z22. Which, I really enjoy. Now I’ve inherited the newest Ipod touch. I work at home and only need to sync to my computer as a back up. (We have an hp at this point.) Here are the things that I need from the touch, if I can get them.
1) Like above, as a mom, I want my calender color coded with certain colors. I was told at the Apple store that I could do that if I opened a mobileme account. Is that accurate? And if I close the account will my colors stay the same on my ipod touch. I’ve used the same color coding system for over 20 years, so I’d really like to have “my” colors.
2) My palm has my contacts in lists. Can I do that with a mobileme account? Or is there another app. that would help me out? I don’t mind paying for an app if it really helps my organization.
3) I like having the my notes organized by topic as well. Would something like Pocket informant help me.
4) I need to be able to enter things in calender, notes, contacts (everything I guess) on my touch….without having to have wifi. I only need the back up so I don’t loose all of the information. For me…. it’s like using pad and paper. I have to be able to do it on the go without wifi.
I have to say that your information here has been wonderful, I just am not good with the jargon and don’t quite understand all of what I’m reading. I don’t use any online or computer calender, so this is all new to me.
Thanks so much for your time.
Hi Trina,
As to whether MobileMe will give you the colors you want, I do not know. I haven’t used MM in a few years, and didn’t use multiple calendars with it when I did. I suspect the Apple folks are telling it to you like it is, though. Apple is pretty well-respected for having employees who know their stuff. In fact, if you live close enough to an Apple store, I would encourage you to go there and walk through some of your concerns with them.
It sounds to me like you could use a notepad sort of application to keep up with your contacts, organizing them into different lists. The Touch has a built-in Notepad app which can sync with Outlook notes. And there are countless other notepad apps with various features. I use SimpleNote, which lets me tag notes by topic.
You do not have to be connected to wifi to add or modify entries in the calendar, notes, or contacts.
I hope that is at least somewhat helpful.
Bruce
Thank you so much for your quick response. I’m very impressed. You must be very passionate about your topic.
Again. Thanks!
Thanks, Bruce!
The link you posted was most helpful. I’m so glad to have found your website, and I’ll be checking in often.
~Coni
Hi Trina!
I think Yahoo might serve your purposes, and it’s completely free. I set it up directly from my iPod Touch, and the only problem I had was that my contacts didn’t transfer. I had to log into iTunes to do that, but it was really easy.
I’m using the apps that came pre-installed on my Touch, and they all work very well. I’m able to view and edit my contacts, notes, and calendars WITHOUT a wi-fi connection. I can even read my previously read email offline! I still need a wi-fi connection to read new email and also to send email, but the fact that I can access my ‘read’ messages while offline is great.
Like you, I color-code events on my calendar. I have multiple color-coded calendars set up on my Yahoo account, and they all synced perfectly. The iPod Touch gives me the option of viewing all calendars/events at once or only the categories that I choose to look at.
I’m not sure whether notes can be organized by topic. If not, perhaps you can try one of the apps that Bruce mentioned.
I hope you find this post helpful!
~Coni
Hello again,
I thought that maybe what I learned may help others. I haven’t work with the apps alot, but I’ve found a few apps that I think will work very well for me.
For contacts I found WorldCard Contacts. You can pick a color for each entry, and then as far as I can tell the contacts go directly into the regular contacts for the Itouch or Iphone. It does everything that my Palm Z22 did for me. I know a basic machine, but it was my very first electronic PDA. I’ve always been the pen and paper type.
For the Calender, I found Week Calender. You can pick a color for each entry. I like the monthly view, but it has daily and weekly views as well. As the name suggests, I believe they focus on the weekly calender. I’ve just entered a few items so far, but it seems to be a fine program that will meet my needs.
I found Awesome Note (I’m trying the light versions to see how it works, and it will take some time for me to learn what all it does, but again, it seems like an app that will work for my needs.
The first two apps, I paid for, but they weren’t expensive. The last one I got the light version to see if it will meet my needs. Then if it seems to work as well as it look like it might, then I’ll pay for the full version.
As far as I can tell the apps will work without me having to be on wifi all of the time. I hope this helps others who are looking for the things I was going to miss from my palm.
Now, I’ve got to go and figure out how to set up a google account.
Sorry, I put the color comment in the contact section. The colors are only for the calendar. Sorry for the error. :/
Coni and Trina,
Thank you very much! I love it when readers share tips and recommend apps. We all benefit from that.
Note that most apps will work without continuous wifi. For example, when i sync with Google Calendar, wifi is needed only for the initial sync and for any catch-up syncs thereafter: I do not need wifi to read the calendar, since the initial sync downloads the calendar data and stores it on the Touch (or iPhone or iPad). I can read calendar entries without wifi, add new entries, change existing ones, and so on. Then, when I do connect with wifi, any changes I make on the Touch are synced back to Google Calendar’s servers. Same sort of thing with the various ToDo apps I have used. There may be a few apps that require you to actually connect to wifi before you can get any use out of them, but most apps I’ve tried download data to the device.
Thanks for a GREAT thread. I’ve been using a Palm Tungsten E2 since 2006, and it will only sync completely with my old XP OS. Incomplete sync with newer OS, even in Palm desktop software, no calendar sync with Outlook at all, so I’m keeping my old computer running just to back up! Like many here, I am used to syncing at work and home, with my PDA for in between.
Trina’s information on the “week calendar” app may just be my tipping point toward the IPOD touch. It looks like it has the ability to do the color-codings that I’ve come to rely on… Blue for classes and office hours, gold for meetings, green for personal appts, etc.
Newbie question: So if I have that “week calendar” app on an IPOD touch, would the calendar be backed up to my computer (PC) through itunes?
Thanks for everyone’s contributions to this thread!
Donna, iTunes backs up all the data on the Touch/iPhone/iPad when you sync through it.
Bruce
I have a new itouch and have been loving the calendar until today – went into it and all of my events are gone! Any ideas on how this happened and can they be restored?
Justine,
There’s a chance you still have your data. When you open your calendar on the Touch, tap the Calendars button at the top left of the screen and check to see if any of your calendars are hidden. It’s possible to accidentally hit this every once i a while, thereby hiding your calendar entries. If your calendar entries have not been wiped out (and I do not know of anything that would wipe them out), selecting “Show All Calendars” should do the trick for you.
If the calendar really has been wiped out, you can recover it from an iTunes backup. The downside is that it will not have any of the entries that you have put in since your last back. When you hook your Touch up to the computer and the sync with iTunes starts, stop the sync and then select Restore. But, before doing this, I would also backup my desktop calendar application if I were you. If you’re using iCal, it has a backup feature. And, if I recall correctly, Outlook (Windows) also has a backup feature.
Thank you for this info. I found out that the issue had something to do with it being a Yahoo calendar which my son set up for me when he was home from college break (he thought it was the way to go – I am thinking differently!). The guys at Apple said that sometimes things can get deleted or messed up in the process of data transferring via wireless from my iMac to the iTouch – somewhat of a fluke. I was able to sync my iTouch and the Yahoo calendar suddenly reappeared on my iTouch with all of the data (recent stuff included). Apple suggesting using iCal and getting rid of the Yahoo calendar since I am only looking to have a calendar on the iTouch and not transfer the info to other calendars. I am afraid of losing the data in the Yahoo calendar and not sure how to make the switch over. Hope this makes sense.
Justine,
You might try exporting the Yahoo calendar to iCal. Yahoo’s instructions for this are here: export to iCal
I would first make a backup of my iCal data, though, before importing the resulting file into iCal. It could turn out that importing the Yahoo data into iCal might give you duplicates if you are already using iCal, too, so you may want to go back to where you were, and a backup of iCal would then come in handy.
The downside to using iCal instead of Yahoo, or any of the other popular online solutions (I use Google Calendar), is that you no longer sync wirelessly, so if you update you Touch, iCal is not updated until you use iTunes to sync (and vice versa if you make changes to iCal, they are not reflected on your Touch until you do an iTunes sync). This might not be a big deal for you, and it really isn’t a big deal for most people … I have just gotten accustomed to the convenience of a wireless sync, and I only use iTunes sync every couple of weeks (more for backup than anything else).
Sitting here, had an unsettling thought. My Contacts function on my iTouch; is it backed up anywhere? That is, worst case, I lost my iTouch, is there some other place I can find it being maintained? If not, can I arrange to do that, through Yahoo or Google? There’s probably a real simple answer; but if I knew it, I’ve forgotten.
Thanks for a great site and service; now if you could only solve my well-water problems…
Lowrie,
How did your contacts get into your Touch? If you synced them from Outlook, I presume they are still there (and sync whenever you sync your Touch). Same thing if they were originally in YaHoo or the Mac App Address Book. Not sure what you’re concern is.
Thanks again for maintaining this thread, Bruce. It gave me the information I needed to make my next decision. I went ahead and bought a Touch and I’m phasing out the PalmPilot.
I followed up on Trina’s suggestion and bought “Week Calendar.” It has every feature I liked on my PalmPilot (especially the ease of color-coding entries), so the transition is going well. It is taking me time to get used to tapping a touch keyboard, but hey, it took me time to get used to the funky graffiti-writing you needed for the older PalmPilot screens. Soon it will be second nature.
I wanted a *very* simple to-do list (just categories and lists), so I’m currently exploring one called “errands.” Still poking around and figuring it out, so the jury’s still out, but it looks promising…
Question: When I’m entering text on the Touch Keyboard, it seems I’m *always* needing to enter an acronym (i.e. AT&T)… Is there a way to make the shift key stay lit (on) while I type a sequence of capital letters?
Hi Donna,
Glad it’s going well for you. You’re going to love it.
I haven’t tried this, but you want to check out this article on setting up Caps Lock.
Thanks for the resource. Turned out it was just my inexperience in knowing I needed to tap the caps key twice quickly. It just takes time and experimenting… I figure out more every time I use it.
For the other Palm Pilot die-hard fans…
I’m pleased to report that the “week calendar” app has even more functionality than my dear old Palm Pilot. For example, it has an “all-day” row at the *top* of the week view.
I really appreciated it today when it allowed me to visualize two different conferences with their overlapping/conflicting dates, without filling up and cluttering each day’s section for hourly slots…
That app is only a few dollars, and worth the small fee.
Wow! Great place Bruce. I’m old school and I resisted the computre untill 2000, needless to say I’ve resisted the PDA and all the other toys,but! At the age of 54 I’m entering Nursing school in May,(having completed all core courses)so now I have purchased a 64GB (I like plenty of memory) 4th gen. IPod touch. I am going to use it to download medical programs from sites like Epocrates. I’m having a real fun time of learning how to use my new Touch. I just ran across your site tonight and it looks like I dropped into Touch heaven, at least with my manual and this site I may have a chance to figure this device out somewhat before May, 24. Thanks for taking the time to set this site up( and everyone who contributes) and keep it updated.
Bruce,
I purchased a book that has really helped me learn about my new iPod touch. Am I allowed to mention it here?
Coni
Sure Coni. It might help someone else, too.
Thanks,
Bruce
Thanks, Bruce!
The book I referred to above is “iPod touch for Dummies – 2nd Edition”. It was published earlier this year and pertains to the 4th generation device. (The first edition, which deals with previous generations, is also available.)
This book has been EXTREMELY useful in helping me to learn all about the iPod touch. It’s easy for an Apple newbie / non-techie such as myself to understand without being overly simplistic, and it contains many tips and tricks that aren’t found in the iPod touch instruction manual.
Hope this helps some of the others who are new to the iPod touch family!
Great, Coni … I’ve benefitted from several of the “dummies” books on several topics.
Anybody know how to migrate Agendus data from Palm to Touch? I have looked on the Agendus site and couldn’t find the information. Important because I have all my contacts for the last 12 years or so on there. I sure am going to miss the Palm.
Claudia
Way too long since I’ve used Palm, but it seems to me that Agendus Desktop had an export feature, and I know that the Palm Desktop had one (and of course you can also export from Outlook). So, I did a search using the search terms “agendus export data palm iphone” and came up with a pretty healthy list of articles. Perhaps you can give it a go with this and see if you find “just the right article.”
Best wishes
Bruce
Having lived with two iPod Touches in the family for 6-8 months now, I wanted to report on our experiences. Two important points to start:
1) My wife and I are former PALM users, and were very, very satisfied over more than a decade of PALM use. The inability to continue use our PALMs on our Win7 computer without a complicated and confusing virtual machine setup was our primary reason for moving to the iPods.
2) Our experience with the iPod is definitely flavored by our strong preference to NOT put our data in the cloud; we want to continue to follow the PALM model of syncing the device to a home computer. I’ll readily admit that many of the concerns I list below can probably be overcome with cloud-syncing apps; we just don’t want to work that way.
Bottom line: The PALM was a PDA which you could also use for entertainment. The iPod Touch is an entertainment device that you can also get some PDA functionality out of. I *like* my iPod, but I find it frustrating as a PALM replacement. The PALM emphasized functionality over “style”, while I think the iPod Touch does exactly the opposite.
Consequently, there are many little frustrations with the apps on the device; some examples:
* The Calendar insists on fixed vertical spacing to display a day’s events, so if you’ve got a breakfast meeting and an evening movie with nothing in-between, you’ll have to scroll the display in both directions to ensure that you see everything for that day. This is true across several different calendar apps I’ve tried. The PALM datebook, in constrast, would compact empty hours so that only very busy days exceeded a single screen. The iPod’s beautiful display should make that both possible and vastly more readable than on the PALM, but no luck.
* Calendar sync with MS Outlook on the desktop only syncs the most basic info, so you can’t easily get colors/categories, etc., in your calendar events.
* Event reminders ring once and show you the event title. That’s it. No way to snooze the alarm for a period, or open the event to edit it, without manually starting up the calendar app and finding the event in question to edit.
* Note functionality is vastly broken compared to the PALM: no categories, no “private” note feature, just a long string of notes displayed most recent first. No way to alphabetize the list. Admittedly, the iOS search feature helps, but it can be darn hard to find a particular note by scrolling through if you can’t come up with a suitable search term. The combo of MobileNoter and MS OneNote seems on the surface to provide a vastly superior notes capability, but it’s hard to set up, only supports a single user per computer, notes can be very hard to edit in MobileNoter, and the creation of new notes on the iPod is awkward because you’ll have to move them into the right notebook later on the PC.
* No built-in task list app at all. I have found many in the app store, and Errands does a good job, but there’s no desktop sync.
* Desktop sync, in general, is apparently severely limited by the fact that Apple doesn’t give developers the ability to create a proper sync conduit (which is surely part of why cloud-sync-based apps are much more common than USB-sync-based apps). So, the PALM-like experience apparently is pretty much ground-ruled out by the software environment.
I could go on, but the bottom line is that this device is very, very different from the PALM. It’s really cool, and I love many things about it: Facetime; web browsing, email, facebook, etc., in my hand; nifty games; a screen whose quality is simply amazing; excellent multimedia, etc., etc. But as a PDA, I miss the elegant effectiveness of my PALM.
And, for the record, I suspect that many of the same complaints would apply to a Droid phone, based on my modest experience playing with those. In particular, I’m guessing that the Droid is probably even more wedded to the cloud than the iPod (Google is, after all, almost the cloud personified). And some of the improvements promised for iOS 5 may address some of my complaints; I’ll just have to wait and see.
Just thought I’d share!
Thanks for providing a great forum for this sort of discussion.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for taking the time to remind me what a great device the Palm PDA was. Of course, it was designed as a PDA, rather than as an app device that can be used as a PDA, so one would expect it to shine in that area. I used Palms beginning in the 1990′s and as late as 2005 I had not completely given up on them, although the Palm TX almost seemed to be a step backwards rather than forwards.
As far as note apps goes, I use SimpleNote, although, as I will post on shortly, Evernote is probably going to be my notes app of choice.
iOS5 does add more PDA functionality … the Reminders app is really cool in that you can add a reminder and have it go off when you reach a specified address. The notifications panel is also very neat, given you an overview of your unread email, tweets, what the current weather is, info on the markets, and so on.
As I have noted before, I know many execs who use their iPhones as their PDAs and have zero complaints with it. Of course, most do not use an electronic tasks app and do not depend one, so they do not miss not having it. And, it works splendidly for me. Of course, I do a lot of stuff in the cloud, as I consider having to sync to my computer to be a pain in the ass. I personally look forward to iCloud, provided that Apple does it right.
Anyway, thanks again for input.
Bruce
Bruce, let me begin with a big thank you for your informative website. I am a long-term Palm user now with a dead PalmOne LifeDrive on my desk. I must admit that when I purchased, my new an iPod Touch ten days ago, I really didn’t understanding all of its strengths and weaknesses. The comments on this Blog have been most helpful in bringing me up to speed. I have already downloaded two Apps as a result of these comments, Week Calendar and MobileNoter. I will have more to say about MobilNoter later.
I would like to recommend Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a free App. It has good content and you can speak the word you are looking for and it opens up to the correct definition most of the time. This is GREAT for someone who is spelling challenged like me.
I followed Trina’s suggestion and downloaded Week Calendar. It works very well and I also like the colors. (Bruce, as an aside, I tried searching for “Week Calendar” on your Blog and got no hits, Hum!)
I discovered that Kindle and be downloaded to an iPod Touch for free. I spent $9.99 for “iPod Touch for Dummies.” Now I have plenty of help along with me all the time.
MobileNoter, how that was a challenge to setup! I hope that my comments will make life much easier for other visitors to the Blog who would like to use this App. I downloaded the App knowing what Dave Lemire had to say. “The combo of MobileNoter and MS OneNote seems on the surface to provide a vastly superior notes capability, but it’s hard to set up, only supports a single user per computer, notes can be very hard to edit in MobileNoter, and the creation of new notes on the iPod is awkward because you’ll have to move them into the right notebook later on the PC.”
The statement “hard to set up” was right on the mark. The downloading of the MobileNoter App was simple. Setting up the sync software on my Windows7 computer with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 took hours. I believe I can help you in spite of the circuitous route I followed to get the job done. Here are some steps to follow and some comments learned along the way.
1. The first step is to go to http://www.mobilenoter.com/download site and Register an account after you have downloaded the App from the ITunes website.
2. Install the MobileNoter Sync Client for Windows Click on [INSTALL Sync Client]. The download begins. I f you are lucky and get no error message, you are almost home free. Go down to Step 6. I wasn’t so lucky. Shortly after starting the sync download, I received the following message:
Error msg: System Update Request
Unable to install or run the application. The application requires that assembly Microsoft.Office.Interop.OneNote Version 12.0.0.0 be installed in the Global Assembly Cashe (GAC) first.
More information on this system update can be found by visiting the site [Here] [Ok]
Don’t follow this link.
3. Instead, go to http://www.mobilenoter.com/About and search down the list to “Windows Sync Client” and then select “I receive and error message: ‘Unable to install. . .”
4. Click on 2010: PIA 2010. I would have saved myself a lot of searching if I had recognized this to be a link. This link takes you to: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=3508 It took me hours of exploration to arrive here.
I think it is worth sharing some of my frustrating experiences. I Googled “MobileNoter Click-to-Run” and found my way to http://www.mobilenoter.com/blog/post/2011/01/17/OneNote-Click-to-Run-installation-problem-solution.aspx. The advice given here said, “If you cannot install the MobileNoter Windows Sync Client because you have the MS OneNote installed through the Click-To-Run technology, here is a solution how to reinstall OneNote in traditional way:” The first step said, “Uninstall the Click-to-Run version of Office 2010 from Control Panel.” No No No, I don’t want to do this!! was my first thought. Fortunately for me, I didn’t follow the instruction. Instead, I began a search to learn more about Click-To-Run. I couldn’t find anything on the Microsoft website that talked about uninstalling the Click-To-Run version and reinstalling a non-Click-To-Run Office application. I then stumbled upon the 2010: PIA 2010 link that I hadn’t recognized as a link.
5. Going back to step 4, at http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=3508, I found a free download called PIARedist.exe which is the missing Microsoft.Office.Interop.OneNote application. It is not necessary to uninstall Office!
6. After downloading this patch, if it is needed, I was able to go back and the MobileNoter download page (http://www.mobilenoter.com/download) and continue on with the sync procedure with no further problems.
This reply is getting long, I hope you will bear with me a little longer and I will share some of my experiences with MobileNoter and OneNote. My Palm was dead but I had backed up a few days earlier so I had almost everything on my Palm Desktop. I had never used OneNote, so I had to learn about its features. You can setup New Notebooks, New Sections and New Section Groups using left-side tabs and New Pages and New Subpages on the right-side tabs. I chose to use only new Pages. These tabs make it very easy to find your stuff on the iPod. I found that by narrowing the OneNote window, the lines of text that you enter will line-wrap and will better fit your iPod Touch screen. You will also be able to resize your pictures to better fit as well. The syncing works well in both directions. I’ve tried editing on the iPod but find it to be a challenge as indicated by Dave Lamire. I plan to do most of my editing from the OneNote side, which is very easy. But finding and using the data on the iPod is very easy. I began to cut and paste all of my Memos, Expenses and Contacts into OneNote. It took a few hours to get everything moved over and setup. OneNote isn’t as good as a PDA but it sure beats finger pocking everything into the iPod Notes App. Now I need to find a way to move my Contacts from OneNote into a real Contacts application. I don’t have Outlook.
Can I use Windows Mail? Your turn to help me.
Cal,
Wow! Thank you for the very helpful information! This can save MobilNote users from a lot of misery.
I’ll have to defer on your question of whether you can sync with Mail. I use a Mac about 99.9% of the time, although I did try my iPod out an Windows on my laptop to see that it basically did as advertised. From what I could tell, Apple had gone to great lengths to make the iPod work with Windows. This was no surprise to me, as I have used both Bootcamp and VMware Fusion to run Windows on my Mac, and Windows actually runs better (loads much faster) on my Mac than on my high-end laptop. With the experience I had with running Windows on my Mac, once I saw that the iPod worked well with Outlook, I did not spend any time checking it out with other software (such as Outlook Express and so on).
Apple does (or did at one time) advertise that the iPod will sync with Mail. I haven’t personally tried it, but maybe someone else here has and hopefully they will answer your question.
By the way, the reason your comment was not posted immediately is that any comment which contains two or more hyperlinks is sent to the moderation bin for me to approve/disapprove … reason being: a lot of comments that have multiple hyperlinks are spammy, and are just trying to drive traffic to spam sites. Clearly that is not the case with your very helpful comment, but I wanted you to know why your comment was not posted immediately.
Thanks again, Cal.
Bruce
Thanks for the info about MobileNoter. I think OneNote looks like a great program, although I don’t personally make any use of it. I saw a college lecture recently where the prof did all her “blackboard” presentation by writing on a tablet computer with a stylus in OneNote, all the while projecting it. I’m guessing that her “lecture notes” were probably on the campus network shortly after the class completed. There’s some cool stuff there. Unfortunately for us, that cool stuff doesn’t have the simple elegance of the PALM memos, which “just worked”.
I’m afraid I can’t answer about Windows Mail either, as I don’t use it and I do have Outlook so that’s my Contacts solution.
Dave
Hi Dave,
Just a heads-up. Although some have spoken well of Mobile Noter, I recently learned that it has some really, really bad reviews within the iTunes App Store. Might not be the way to go after all.
Bruce
Is anyone else having trouble keeping their 4th generation iPod touch charged? Mine worked just fine for about 2-3 weeks, and then it suddenly got really warm and the battery died within a few hours while in sleep mode. All of my settings are geared toward preserving battery life (dim screen, turn wi-fi off when not using, manual fetch, push set to off, etc.), and I always close all apps as soon as I finish using them.
When this happened with my first unit, I called Apple’s tech support, and the technician said he’d never heard of this issue. He suggested that I take it to the nearest Apple store so that they could replace it with a refurbished model. Refurbished? It was only 3 weeks old!
Not wanting a refurbished model, I exchanged it for a new one at the store where I bought it. I synced the new one with iTunes using the backup from my first unit, but the battery issue popped up again after a few weeks. Thinking that the backup from the first unit was somehow corrupt, I reset it to factory settings and set it up in iTunes as a completely new unit. It worked fine for about 2 weeks and then … you guessed it … it died again.
I Googled “iPod touch battery”, and it seems that there are many others who are having the same problem, and nearly everyone has a different solution. I’ve tried nearly all of them, and nothing has worked. I suspect there is some sort of bug in the iOS, but Apple hasn’t acknowledged it (at least not that I can find).
I love the iPod touch, but I’m about to give up on it. It’s not very useful if I have to be tethered to a computer or electrical outlet in order to use it.
Is anyone else having this problem since upgrading to 4.0 or later? And if so, were you able to remedy the problem?
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
Coni
Hi Coni,
I stayed away from answering this for a few days, hoping someone would come to your rescue. But, with it being a holiday weekend, not a lot of people are poking around on the web. Also, the solution would have to come from someone who has experienced the problem, and that is probably a relatively small percentage of the 4th Gen Touch users.
I have no solution. In fact it baffles me, because my battery life (1st gen Touch, 3GS iPhone) is super. It’s one of the things that has kept me from seriously experimenting with Android devices, because every such device I read about has horrible battery life, in comparison to the iOS devices.
I hope this gets fixed for you soon. Like you, I would not be willing to stick with a device that I had to keep plugged in most of the time. Defeats the purpose of a portable device, doesn’t it. I sure wish you the best of luck. I do hope that, if you find a solution, you post it here for the benefit of others.
Best of luck, Coni.
Bruce
My wife and I have both had occasional cycles where the iPod Touch 4G seems to run its battery down overnight for no apparent reason. I have not been able to puzzle out the whys and wherefores of this, but my suspicion is that it may have something to do with iOS 4′s multitasking. Maybe there’s a game app that’s still running in the background even though you’ve “closed” it. The notion of actually closing an app on the iPod Touch seems a bit vague at times.
My solution has been to reboot the iPod if it’s run the battery down and that seems to clear the problem, at least until the next time it randomly happens.
Wish I had more concrete advice to give.
Meanwhile, I’m getting suspicious that my home button isn’t nearly as reliable in operation as it ought to be.
Interesting that both you and Coni are seeing such crappy battery life, Dave. Although Apple’s multitasking is probably not responsible (they don’t do true multi-tasking … it’s more like apps retain in the background rather than run in the background, with a few exceptions), the PUSH settings might be a problem.
I’d give a look at the Push settings for each app and turn of Push from apps you really don’t need notifications from. I turn them off for most apps (Twitter, Facebook, NYtimes, etc.)
I wonder if, at night, your Touch is setting in an area where WiFi is weak, so that it keeps trying to establish/re-establish connection, and if that repeated “trying” is what is dragging the battery down? I don’t know if that even makes sense, just something you might check.
I am using a beta of iOS5 right now on my iPhone, and the first day with it, the battery performance was horrible. At night, freshly charged, it dropped from 100% to 65% while I slept … normally it would have remained in the 90+% range. What I found was that just about all apps had push notification and location services turned on by default. So I adjusted them to what I really wanted (turning of push and notifications for almost all apps, except mail, calendar, and a few others). That helped some, but not completely get my iPhone back to the battery performance it had. Then, I discovered that I was syncing to both Google Calendar and iCloud for my calendar settings … I turned off iCloud syncing for the calendar, and my battery performance is fine again. Now you aren’t going to see this with iOS4, because the iCloud syncing does not exist, but it still worth digging into the push and location services settings.
Let us know what you figure out on this. Could be a generic, unsolvable problem with the 4G Touches, I suppose, but looks like we would have heard a huge outcry if that were the case, and I haven’t heard any such outcry. Still, it could be a generic issue, nonetheless.
Bruce,
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I’ll be sure to post again if I figure out how to resolve the issue.
Coni
It’s not that I’m seeing crappy battery life in general, overall I’ve got no great complaint. What I’m seeing is that every once in a while my iPod Touch will churn through most of its battery capacity overnight for no apparent reason, after which it’ll be fine for weeks at a time. Multitasking was a hypothesis, but bottom line is that I really don’t know why this is happening.
Hi Dave,
Many thanks for the clarification. A puzzle to me, also.
Thanks again
Bruce
Hi Bruce, I wanted to stop by and give you a huge thank you.
For 3 years now I have been looking for practical solutions to help cope with a permanent brain injury. I have short term memory issues from an auto accident and would forget my head if it weren’t attached. I’ve struggled with finding solutions because I’m not a corporate exec – I’m just a stay at home mom trying to remember to clean the toilet each week and not burn my cookies (because I WILL forget why I put the timer on…)
I’ve done paper scheduling and organizing, but paper is so awkward to carry around all the time and remember to look at. I’ve tried using Outlook, but I’m not always at the computer. I had tried a regular PDA, but I couldn’t get it to work for my situation. I’ve done timers, etc. etc. So I’ve been floundering and unproductive for what seems like an eternity.
During my last wave of non-productivity frustration, I did some googling and found your article. Purchasing and using the iPod Touch to manage my brain injury has changed my life. I’ve been able to plug in the GTD and Covey quadrant principles that I used pre-accident to get my life back in my control and into productive mode. Thank you so much!
Janel,
You cannot imagine how good it makes me feel to hear that I have in some way helped you deal effectively with your tragedy. Thank you for sharing this with me. My very best wishes for you,
Bruce
Thank you, again, Bruce!
I thought I would add a bit about how I’m using the iPod in case anyone else has a similar need.
I’m running Windows 7 Home with MS Outlook 2010 and have an iPod Touch (4th gen) with the latest version of iTunes.
After reading the comments here, I was a bit apprehensive to see if everything would sync and play nicely together without the need to jump through hoops and use 3rd party software, like Google. Right from the start I’ve synced my calendars through iTunes (like you’re supposed to be able to) without so much as a hiccup. I’m ecstatic that it has been so easy!
I know some were struggling with color coding calendars. I created 3 separate calendars in Outlook 2010. iTunes gives me the option to sync any or all of them. It even pulls them into the calendar color coded. And I get the choice of which calendar I want to add a new event too when I add them to my iPod calendar.
I keep one calendar for anything that repeats: basic routines, tasks, meetings and homemaking chores. I set each entry with a timer alert to remind me to finish and change jobs. I keep a second calendar for random appointments and one time chores or honey dos so they don’t get lost in the sea of repeats. I keep a 3rd calendar for menu planning. I repeat each daily meal once a month and rearrange individual days to meet our outside schedule needs.
I thought I would need/want a task app, but I find the second calendar works just fine for my non-repeating tasks. This way, I didn’t have to buy another app, get it to sync, etc. I’m really happy about this! (BTW: If I have over lapping items from the routing calendar, I just delete them for the day.)
I keep misc notes I gather through the day in the iPod note app and transfer them when I get to the computer, then resync. I also use the Google Voice app with WiFi so my husband can text me his honey dos when he thinks of them.
For my plans and goals, I keep lists in Excel and transfer baby steps onto my planning calendar when I’m ready to work on them.
When my iPod beeps, I know I have 5 minutes to finish what I’m doing and move on to my next task. I love it. I don’t have to worry about forgetting anything. It’s changed my life.
Thanks again!
Janel,
It’s fantastic of you to share your imaginative and fruitful method of using the Calendar to address a variety of “appointments.” Also very good of you to provide other insights into your workflow. Thank you again, for both comments!
Bruce
It having been over six months since last I plaintively asked: Has anyone yet found a way to search all of the iTouch, including the entire calendar, which in my case covers over ten years? This is tres annoying; I have to open my Yahoo calendar and laboriously search through it, to find events; the Palm did this without any difficulty at all.
Hi Lowrie,
I suspect your interest in accessing calendar entries as old as 10 years (or anything more than a couple of years) is an interest that is not widely shared … that would explain the lack of a response.
That said, though, it should be possible to do so With Additional Software (apps). If you have a Mac, you might want to look at the database app Bento, which specifically advertises the feature of being able to sync to iCal and making the entire calendar accessible (and searchable) on the iPhone. I haven’t tried this, but see no reason why it wouldn’t work. It does look like you would have to purchase both the desktop and iPhone (Touch) versions of the app, though.
Similarly, if you have a PC with Windows and Outlook, you might want to look at HandBase, a database app that will work similarly to what I just stated for Bento. When I used a Pocket PC, and even when I used a Palm, I used HandBase for a variety of purposes. I even connected it to Outlook and did something similar to what we are discussing here (more for testing it purposes than for an actual need to have the calendar data searchable, as the Pocket PC Calendar did okay with that, if I recall correctly).
Both apps are also good for project management purposes.
Links for these:Bento and HandBase
Bruce,
Thanks for responding so quickly and thoroughly. I’ll look into Handbase (I’m a PC user). I use my calendar app almost like a diary: I go there to see what week I went to South Dakota in 2008, and who the folks were I stayed with. On the Palm that was very simple, I just entered the words I could remember, and instantly all such were displayed. The iCal does exactly the same–but only for six months either way from today; why did they want to limit it in such a fashion?!! Makes no sense; but I must be the odd duck, because as you say, no one seems to have written an App to do so.
Thanks,
Lowrie
Lowrie,
Glad to be of some help. BTW, we ALL have some needs that are “odd,” which contributes to our uniqueness.
When you are looking at Handbase, you might want to do some comparison with other dbase apps for the Touch. I mentioned HandBase because of my familiarity with it … there may be apps that will do a better job for you … I don’t know that there are, but there may be.
One more BTW: I just did a search within the calendar on my iPhone 3GS and it returned results as far back as Jan 2010, which is more than 6 months. Admittedly I am running a beta version of iOS5, which MIGHT have a better search, but I doubt that it does. The result seems consistent with what I’ve gotten on iOS4 and iOS3 when I did similar testing. Hence, you might want to double-check your preferences settings. If I remember right, Gcal only syncs back about 6 months as a default … you can set it to sync all the way back (which I have done). Not that your preferences are set wrong, but I just mention it as something to double-check.
Take care
Bruce
Bruce,
This will only highlight the depth of my ignorance regarding my iTouch, but–I’m not sure what you mean by Gcal; I’m syncing to my Yahoo Calendar, rather than Gmail, if that’s the divergence.
On my iTouch, under Settings/Calendars/Sync, I have selected “All Events,” as opposed to “Events 6 months back” or less. But when I seek an event by searching my Calendar, it does go back, I now see, a year, rather than six months: So I was wrong about how far it will “look” back; but a year is the limit: I just looked for a 2009 event that is clearly still in the iCal, but the search will not find it. That’s the capability it would seem to be so simple for Apple to permit, and so difficult for me to add on.
Lowrie
Lowrie,
My reference to Gcal was an abbreviation of Google Calendar, and probably not a widely accepted one. (Sorry about that.) Lots of similarities with Yahoo Calendar.
I agree with you that there’s no reason for Apple to not fix this. While most folks wouldn’t use that much, obviously you do, as I am sure do a lot of others …. there was a time when I would have used a far-back search, a lot, and did so with my Pocket PCs and Palms. I can see anyone who has a client-based business, as one example, might want to see all interactions with a client over a period of years. So, your point that Apple should make this possible is a good one.
Thank you much
Bruce
UPDATE: After I had closed comments on this blog, Lowrie emailed me that he had found an app that does just what he needs. I’m reprinting the email below so others can benefit from it.
“Bruce,
Discovered your previous blog was closed, and thought you might like to be updated on my long and arduous search for a way to search my entire iTouch calendar, rather than just a few months of same. I found a way; it’s not ideal–it cost me $1.99!–but it seems to be working, as of 3 hours’ experience: I went to iTunes and bought Week Calendar; it’s an alternative to the iTouch-provided calendar; looks much the same, and importantly, it instantly synced with the native calendar, and seems to stay that way. But the point for me is, you can specify any range to search for events: I chose 1980 to the present, and in a few seconds, it can find whatever I type in. The app does a lot of other things, things I will learn about in due course (maybe); but I’ve found what I was looking for.
Best regards,
Lowrie “
Bruce,
Good site and article on iPod touch. I like your idea on using the iPod touch as a PDA however I am not convinced yet that the Touch could replace a PDA. Some Apps are missing for me personally in order to be using it as a PDA.
I would like to see Apple bring back the Wifi Apps which they remove from the App store. With that said, I would like to see a Wifi signal strength App that give you a radar feel so you can see how far or near you are to an access point. Another App, a good handwriting App for the iPhone or Touch to jot notes or reminders. Finally, I would like an App similar to MobileMe but FREE instead of paying for the MobileMe service.
Thank you all so very much for the dedication that you have shown towards this site over the year. I was doing a search and stumbled upon you and I thank God for that.
I am a nursing student and I am about to graduate. I am my clinicals and I am in need of a device in order to store many nursing and medical apps to do calculation, Rxs, conversions, etc. I had no idea that the ipod touch could be used in this way!! I spent the last 3 hours reading each thread and taking notes from all the posts. I think that the touch may be good for me, however, I did not see one nursing student or nurse post any questions regarding the functionality for medical personnel. So with that said, can anyone tell me if it has been compatible in this way and if I will be able to use it for what I am needing. Also, I use AOL and there was not one mention of that as well.
BUT….everything else was so very informative that I am only 2 answers away from being sold. I am not computer savvy by any means and so I intend to save this site and refer to it often for support. I am also going to purchase the “dummies” book to get the most from the Touch. Thank you again….I could not be happier to have found you. Thank you in advance for the reply.
Hi Michell
I just took a look at the iTunes App Store for iPhone, and it lists dozens of medical apps, such as prescription drug databases, drug identifiers, various calculators, and so on. I assume most of these apps, if not all of them, would also run on the Touch (since most iPhone apps do run on the Touch).
The email settings for the Touch allows for quick setup using AOL (along with hotmail, gmail, Microsoft Exchange, and others).
Bruce, thank you so much for the quick response. I am SO happy that I have found you. I am sold!!! I am in my fourth term of nursing (1 more to go!) and I will eventually go into anesthesia. From what I have learned through your site I believe that this amazing electronic miracle will be my best friend. I cannot believe that this product did not cross my mind while looking for an electronic organizational tool. However, they do market it as an MP3 player and not so much more, which is what it is. I intend to come back and let you know how it has worked for me. You need a nursing student to promote this. I went through and read all 300+ responses on here and only saw where one nurse asked a question. Thanks again.
Michelle
Hey all..I am back.
So I received my Apple iPod Touch 4G 64MB with iOS5 today!!! I love the way it looks and it is so compact I am not even going to notice it in my scrubs. I am so excited!! Now for the bad news. I have no idea what to do with it. First of all I have an HTC phone and I was expecting something similar and that was my first mistake.LOL Anyway here are a few issues that I am sure you will be familiar with since the majority of you are very in tune to your devices and have used them for a long time.
1.) I would like my main screen (the one after unlock) to be blank. I do not want any icons on this page. Unfortunately apple has graciously provided me with all the apps that they think are helpful right there on the screen and locked them there for my enjoyment. I would like to move some of them completely out of view…hide them…and some I would like to move to page two. I have been looking for ways to do this and I am not sure that I would like to do this jailbreak thing that I am hearing about…sounds messy. Also there is a trick of placing one icon on each of the 11 pages and then filling page 11 with 15 apps and the 16 behind 15 thereby removing it to be hidden on page 12 until the iPod is shut down and it would appear again. Now as much as I would like to do that…I am afraid that my first page applications are stationary as are the 4 along the bottom. I have seen this method in demonstration and all the other iPods have a mobile bottom row…I do not. Any thoughts on a way for me to accomplish this?
2.) I do not have a horizontal screen when I turn the iPod to the side. My screen stays vertical no matter which application I deploy. Is there an app for that? LOL
3.) I need to download a considerable # of medical calculation apps and medical reference journal apps (as this is primarily what this purchase was for). Basically I will have ALL 1o pages full of useful tools for Nursing with 1 page available for such things as the camera, mail, notes, messaging, downloaded file managing tool, word document creator, security etc. That is the about the gist of my intent for this iPod. So having said that, I realize that I may need another, (and do want another) option for applications other than itunes. Where will I be able to go since I have been informed that apple has restrictions attached where these actions are concerned.
4.) Now…even after reading all that I have in this website..I am still not sure where to begin. This is purely out of intimidation of the device and my knowledge deficit. Please tell me what my first steps should be, (less the initial set up at itunes, I have accomplished that, as well as syncing my email and establishing internet connection) in order to get the most out of this device given the information I have provided for the way I intend to use it.
I am going to give you a brief overview of what a typical day will be like for me with my iPod so that you can accurately assess my needs:
*I will begin my day in a clinical setting where I will view several medications, patient condition, lab values; I will make notes to myself, send txt messages to ppl and then I will check my emails; I will occasionally check the weather, open a file to either read a book on my kindle during break or to view a study document that I have downloaded from home or thru my email as an attachment. I may take a pic or two on a nice day, watch a video on youtube that someone has said is funny, or I will write a short document in journal or doc form about a clinical experience to submit to my instructor. I may from time to time view ppt presentations from lecture, and even do some calculations using an advanced setting calculator.
WOW, that may not be all but that is a full day anyway and I will be lucky to get that in as it is.
I really hope that someone would be gracious enough to take the time to be my personal computer whiz here and develop me a step by step program in order to accomplish my goal and be able to utilize this fantastic piece of equipment that I have here. I am so excited to use it in the way I envision it…however, I am fearful of the thing itself because I do not know enough. I really do not want to go the routes that I have been hearing about (jailbreak..etc). The last thing i want to do is ruin it before I ever get a chance to enjoy it.
I just exhausted myself with all that. Sorry if i have done the same to you. Thank you to whomever takes on this task. I am so busy with school work that just taking the steps given will be an accomplishment, let alone having to research it for days in order to accomplish one WRONG step. I would like to take the appropriate steps in order to insure that it is done correctly. I do not want to be installing this when I should have installed that and now this is useless. Get me??!!! I don’t..
Thank you all again. I love this site. It’s nice to know there are real people on the other end that actually care.
Michelle,
Yes, that was a bit exhausting. The best way to move apps between screens is with iTunes. On the sidebar of iTunes, under the Apps section, will be a copy of each of your screens. You can simply drag and drop them between screens as you choose. Same applies to the four apps at the bottom of the screen. You can put whichever apps you prefer there. I do not think you can have an empty home screen, though, although I haven’t tried it. Not sure why you want that.
I recommend reading the manual that comes with the Touch. It’s brief, but really quiet informative.
As to getting apps that are not in the App Store, the only way to do that is to jailbreak the device, and I do not recommend it. I seriously, seriously doubt that there are any useful medical applications for the Touch that are not available in the App Store.
As to screen rotation, the setting for that is in the Settings “app,” which gives you the option of enabling or disabling automatic rotation.
Good luck, and enjoy your Touch. I am sure you’ll find it very useful … just give yourself some time to explore it.
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The apps I use to function the iPod as a Palm PDA … with some baseline criteria:
1. where possible simulate a Palm Desktop feature (PC best, web acceptable)
2. have ability to not be ‘cloud’ only dependent
3. have ability to secure or lock private data (for select data/information)
My list …
1. Toodledo – the complete idea, task, information and notes collector (web, iPod and see #2)
2. Task Unifier – the Palm Desktop ‘equivalent’ for Toodledo and tasks management and Memos
3. Go Tasks – KISS 10 minute todo manager for quick on the run tasks and reminders (syncs with Google Tasks)
4. Apple’s Contacts (although I wish I could secure / hide private contacts)
5. Simple Note (my replacement for Palm Memos with tags like categories) and Desktop (#6)
6. ResohNotes – Desktop equivalent for SimpleNote memos
7. IDoneThis – Event tracker (better than a ToDo Manager using completed tasks)
8. iXpenseit – Quicken Lite alternative
9. iPod Calculator
10. Keeper (private data / information encryption app) .. OK looking for better
11. (to be more fully explored) Daily Tracker – optional / additional task, notes, memos tool
… and others under review (playing with) – Voodo, TomorrowHD, Wunderlist/Wunderkit
Hope this provides some help for those looking for apps.