Santa was pretty good to Mr. Shoo this year and left enough Best Buy gift cards and cash to be able to get an iPod Touch. The Touch is very similar to the iPhone except that it’s not a phone, doesn’t have an external speaker, and doesn’t have bluetooth capability. What it does have is Wifi, photo slideshow, a web browser, about 8GB of storage, and it’s thinner than an iPhone. Not too shabby.
First thoughts:
Unlike Dave and his iPhone, I can manually manage my music, videos, and play directly from the iPod. Dave, something I did find out is that there is a 3rd party utility to copy your music from an iPod to your iTunes library if you use the Jailbreak hack (more on that later).
One of the first things I tried out was the web browser. Just unbelievable how easy it is to use. The browser allows for full page viewing of websites as well as modified mobile versions. Google has some iPhone/touch optimized pages for gmail, search, and calendar. With a double tap of the finger one can easily zoom in and check out a portion of a webpage. Of course, I checked out http://m.spfldbloggers.com first - and of course, I found out I need to fix a few features.
A neat thing that I can do from my touch since I am connected to the Internet via wifi is buy music from the iTunes library. Last night I bought my first album from iTunes while laying in bed half awake. It was way too easy. I clicked buy, entered my password and immediately after that I was automatically downloading new tracks to my iPod. The album also included some bonus features so as soon as I synced back with iTunes, iTunes started downloading new videos. All way too cool!
Jailbreak
Jailbreak is the method to get 3rd party apps installed on an iPhone / Touch. There are 100’s of tutorials out there so I thought I give one a shot. One of the first steps is to downgrade the firmware to 1.1.1. In 1.1.1 there is an exploit in the web browser to allow access to the root of the system so it’s possible to install applications. The Jailbreak software uses this exploit and then patches it right away. More info here.
CrunchGear has the easiest tutorial so far.
I gave it a shot tonight. Really easy to do. I installed a few apps under the 1.1.1 version, but when I went to upgrade to 1.1.2 I didn’t get the pre-installer for Jailbreak installed correctly so it reverted back to the factory settings. Eventually, I’ll try it again because it’s possible to get the same functionality from the iPhone of Google Maps and Email for the Touch that’s not currently included with the Touch.
So why didn’t you just get an iPhone?
Honestly, because I was worried about dropping a device that I would have so much invested interest into and having to pay for extra fees for mobile internet. You wouldn’t believe, but ol’ Shoo can be a bit clumsy at times. The rumor is that by June there will be a new 3G version of the iPhone and the current version will be out of date. And I guess the biggest reason why I didn’t get one was because somewhere in the iPhone contract there is small print that I must get a new puppy for GTG. Well, that’s what she keeps telling me.
Worth it?
Of course you could buy a Zune and be perfectly happy, but you wouldn’t have a kick ass UI (user interface) or a full internet browser. Yes, it’s worth it if you have the moola.
OMIGOD, Shoo … I got one from Mr. “Santa” ThirtyWhat … and it … is … amazing! I love the touch screen … I love my organizer … and the browser? It’s unbelievable!
My ONLY complaint … is that my old one (Photo iPod) held 60 gig … so I not only put every song and audio book known to man on it … I also used it as flash storage … AND I STLL HAD 15 GIG TO SPARE! So, with 16 gig, I’m having to be a little more … choosy … about what goes on him. But there’s something to be said for organization and a little bit of self restraint. haha
Thanks for the links!!!
I haven’t played with the 3rd party apps … but after reading your post … I’m going to be experimenting.
Merry MERRY Christmas, Shoo!
Awesome! Glad to hear that you can manually manage music on there. I really don’t have a clue why you can’t do that on the iPhone. Makes no sense.
I don’t plan on jailbreaking mine until I have a chance to see what sort of developer tools they come out with in February. There isn’t much I need to do with it that it can’t do already (other than my few documented complaints). But I can think of a ton of apps I’d love to make for various things (I’m thinking BeerDude 3).
Now if I can just find a way to delete the monthly fees…
30?: I’ve the 8 GB model, and my Nano before that had 4GB so I am use to being conservative on what I put on there. I am also in front of a computer 3/4 of the day so I can access my music from online or I’ve got a second copy. Yup, Santa was pretty good this year. Top app I want on my iPodT: NES Emulator.
Dave, Beerdude 3 would an instant classic.
Oh yeah … the NES Emulator would rock! I would love to have a “note” program … not word, obviously … but a wordpad type of app that would let me make a “to do” list.
Since you went from 4Gig to 8 Gig, you’ll have to be a little less conservative now … haha 
What kind of developer tools are they putting out in February? I read online somewhere that Apple is saying that they’re going to be opening it up for 3rd party apps at “the beginning of next year” … so I wonder what that means … hmmm …
Hey, Shoo … did you have to downgrade your firmware in order to jailbreak it? When I first plugged it into iTunes, I went ahead and ran the update … so I’m already running 1.1.2 … in order to AppSnap, I’d have to downgrade the firmware …
Not a huge thing … except my iPod is in “disk” mode where I manually manage the music. So, I don’t have a “home base” iTunes … and it would take a bit of work to re-build my stuff if I need to restore it …
SIGH … why can’t they make hacking a device more user friendly??? haha
I kid …
Yes, I had to downgrade. And yes, unfortunately you’re pretty much wiping out the disk and starting from fresh when you do it.
The Crunch Gear tutorial is the best one I came across.
Apple is suppose to come out with an official SDK (service development kit) by February. It will be a few months before Jailbreak apps become legit.
It’s not too bad. At least you’re not having to go into the registry and edit hex values.
Hmmm … so now that leaves me wondering … do I restore/downgrade and then Jailbreak … or do I wait around a few months and see what comes of their SDK? You’re right on the money, Shoo … the Jailbreak/AppSnap crack really isn’t that hard at all … especially if you consider that if things REALLY go wrong, you can always restore and be back at square one anyway.
Here’s my question … if they’re offering developers a way to make “official” 3rd party apps, they’re obviously talking about opening up a market of add-ons you can buy for your Touch. But … does that mean they’ll open up the phone to support free apps like the NES emulator? Or a Google Maps function?
Just thoughts … I think the Jailbreak thing sounds fun … and … well, I’m also cheap … and like free apps … haha
Well, if you want to talk about the legality of software then the NES Emulator is out of the picture because Nintendo still owns all the copyrights to the games.
I would really like to see Google Maps though. It’s one of the main reasons why I’ll attempt to Jailbreak my touch again. And email. What it comes down to, is that I want a PDA/iPod.
True … and then that’s the answer to the question. I might as well try Jailbreak because no matter how “open” they make it, they probably won’t support apps like emulators. Oh well … you guys know what I’M doing this weekend!
Hey, Shoo … I found the link to the NES app … do you have it on your Touch yet?
http://www.zdziarski.com/projects/nesapp/
I’m just wondering how well it works …
Shoo, I didn’t read any of the above posts because I’m pretty sure they were written in pig latin, which I’m not fluent in… But I just wanted to say hi, and tell you to wave next time you meet me at Westchester and Lindbergh!
Sorry Nattie. It was early morning. I don’t function in the morning.
30?: Looks like I am going to hold off on Jailbreak for a little while longer. One of the tech sites is reporting that the newest (still unreleased) firmware update breaks everything.
Apple is due to have a conference next month, so they might even throw some new features out there.
http://gizmodo.com/338948/
I just purchased a new mp3 player myself and so far I am very happy. It doesn’t have the WIFI capability, but I did not want that anyway so it’s no loss. (I hate surfing on small screens!) One of the greatest features is the touch screen capability and the fact that it’s not made by Apple (sorry Dave Heinzel!) Also, I paid at least $100 less for almost the same thing and I can use it with almost any service and don’t have to sync it up. BTW, this one has Bluetooth capability, Shoo. Here’s a link to a fair review. I agree with most of what the reviewer says, but I disagree with the comments about the touch screen: It took me all of 5 minutes to master it. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an mp3 player other than an iPod.
http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/samsung-yp-p2-8gb/4505-6490_7-32588459.html
Thank GOD you wrote that response, Shoo …
I always have my iPod (or at least my old one) in Disk mode … and set to manually update … so that I can plug my iPod into anyone’s computer and “borrow” their music … should they offer to share. Which, works AMAZINGLY well … um … until the drive goes out. At which point you no longer have a “home base” iTunes database to go back to.
So, since I’d already imported most of my music onto my new Touch … I went ahead and worked all weekend on creating the perfect iTunes database on my laptop to use as home base. I was JUST about to restore it and try Jailbreak … thank GOD I came here first to get the link you posted! LOL
I guess I’ll just wait until February … see what the new software release adds to it …
Man, that’s really a bummer though … I wanted to try that NES emulator.