Comments on: iPod Touch as a PDA and Entertainer

By: Bruce Keener

Bruce Keener — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:33:19 +0000

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.

By: michelle

michelle — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:36:24 +0000

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.

By: michelle

michelle — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:29:15 +0000

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

By: Bruce Keener

Bruce Keener — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:40:44 +0000

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).

By: michelle

michelle — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:20:29 +0000

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.

By: Bruce Keener

Bruce Keener — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:23:29 +0000

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 “

By: Lowrie

Lowrie — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:12:15 +0000

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

By: Philip

Philip — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:45:04 +0000

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.

By: Bruce Keener

Bruce Keener — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:12:36 +0000

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

By: Lowrie

Lowrie — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 01:06:22 +0000

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