Having used an iPod touch now since Saturday, I can categorically say this is the best device I’ve ever owned.
In fact, the only problem I have with the iPod touch is that it doesn’t have wireless other than WiFi. If it had even just GPRS then I’d be happy. This would have been tremendously useful the last couple of days as I’ve been househunting. Thankfully my bank is willing to give me a large mortgage so my options for buying a house with her-indoors have been increased considerably. Finding houses has been a challenge however and being able to look up areas on Google Maps would have been killer. Luckily Maps on the hacked iPod touch does some aggressive caching and so you have some records of where you’ve looked. One thing that is depserately missing from MobileSafari is the option to “cache” web pages a bit like Mac OS X can save them as a zip or PDF. It would be very handy to have cached versions, maybe with a little date field?
Looking at the network options in Northern Ireland it seems we have good GSM coverage, fair GRPS coverage and poor EDGE coverage.
In terms of data:
| Technology | Max download (kbyte/s) | Max Upload (kbyte/s) | |
| GSM Data | 1-2 | 1-2 | SLOW |
| GPRS | 8-10 | 3-5 | Like Dialup |
| EDGE | 20-60? | 8-12? | Like slow broadband |
My S-E K800i allegedly has UMTS support as well as GPRS, it’s allegedly a 3G phone. Maybe….the few moments when I can get coverage. It’s like the old TVs with the indoor antennae. Hold it this way and you get 2K/s. Hold it this way and you get 30K/s. Just. Don’t. Move.
But it’s not just the download speed. I’ve browsed the web using my phone and it’s a torture of minimalist interfaces. Connecting over Bluetooth to my Macbook Pro makes a difference and at least I can find some lofty perch to set my phone on so I can get a good connection.
Considering the Cloud has opened at least 2 hotspots in the Province (one in Esporta in Holywood, the other I’ve seen is in Castlecourt in Belfast) and considering that iPhone gets the Cloud for free (or £3.99 a month for iPod touch users), it might be getting to the point where wireless is ubiquitous. Registering with FON might also help as BTOpenZone is doing a deal with FON so that every FON user gets free OpenZone access. Neat, huh?
So what’s my worry?
Well, firstly, I have an existing Orange contract. I’m not happy with it and am quickly coming to realise that the £45 contract with O2 would better suit my needs as I’m tending to consume more data than make calls. My base contract with O2 is about £23 a month but with data etc I end up paying more than £60 some months…
I’ve been debating this over the last few days with some friends and her-indoors.
You’re going to buy one. Why are we even debating this?
Matt – just tell yourself whatever lies you need to justify the purchase and move on.
Are you going to keep debating this even as the guy hands you your receipt on Friday?
So…
Yeah okay.