iPod Touch Questions. Sway me here people.

ferrigan101

So my birthday is coming up and the OH has asked what I would like. I'm thinking on a new mp3/4 player but then got thinking about a touch. Had a good look around the interwebs and I'm 99% sure I want one. So anyone got any pros or cons for me?
Is it basically an iPhone without the call features?
Can I view word, excel, pdfs etc on it?
Quite interested in all the apps and stuff, anyone got favourites?
How much does the average movie/tv show cost on the iStore?

Sorry, lot's of questions here that are just poping into my head!

Anyway, thanks in advance.

JoeA3

ferrigan101 wrote: »

So my birthday is coming up and the OH has asked what I would like. I'm thinking on a new mp3/4 player but then got thinking about a touch. Had a good look around the interwebs and I'm 99% sure I want one. So anyone got any pros or cons for me?
Is it basically an iPhone without the call features?
Can I view word, excel, pdfs etc on it?
Quite interested in all the apps and stuff, anyone got favourites?
How much does the average movie/tv show cost on the iStore?

Sorry, lot's of questions here that are just poping into my head!

Anyway, thanks in advance.

It's a brilliant device, and yeah, its basically an iPhone without the phone (and the camera).

Some of the pre-installed apps are my favs, such as YouTube, Email (you can configure it to use Gmail for example), Google maps.

I installed EirText on mine lately, which will allow you send text messages (assuming you are in a wi-fi area) using your free online text allocation. Very handy. Also installed a Sky news and BBC news apps, which allow you watch the news headlines in video! Class... the App store is so easy to use, everything is a doddle, which is one of the huge attractions to iPods / iPhones I guess.

Dodge

Here's my screens (to take a picture of your screen hold the power button (top) and click the home button)

http://img25.yfrog.com/i/vzq.jpg/

Bejewelled is the only app I paid for but I was/am obsessed with that game. The two that are bookmarks and not apps are livescore and betfair
http://iphone.livescore.com
https://iphone.betfair.com

http://img25.yfrog.com/i/89w.jpg/
Top 4 are all bookmarks but they come up automatically as mobile sites. All the apps are free. Newstalk one is great

http://img20.yfrog.com/i/13944682.jpg/
All free. US Open is golf, Wimbledon one is for next week. They has a Masters one too. Very handy

http://img8.yfrog.com/i/uc7.jpg/
All games bar the ipity thing (which I find hilarious). The football one was a couple of quid, the rest all free

I absolutely love it, but it wouldn't be half as useful if I didn't have wifi

ferrigan101

Thanks for the replies guys, iv got a wifi network set up in my appartment so no problem there! The missus is hooked on bejewled so that could be a problem if she finds out about it!

murrayp4

It's the best piece of technology I've ever had. Have it over a year now and it can still wow me

ferrigan101

Ok, so going to go ahead and get one! Now should I take the missus to a bricks and mortar store (where in Dublin does them?), or should I just order from apple.ie?

Gumbo

ferrigan101 wrote: »

Ok, so going to go ahead and get one! Now should I take the missus to a bricks and mortar store (where in Dublin does them?), or should I just order from apple.ie?

apple.ie if you want a nice little engraving put on for no extra cost but may hinder it if you upgrade and try sell on in the future.

bricks and mortar shops are all the same price so no point shopping around.

if you know anybody in the states or visiting the states get it there or maybe up in newry.

argos newry - 282 stg = approx 329e
argos dublin - 369e
apple.ie - 369e
www.dabs.ie - 334e plus shipping
www.pixmania.ie - 349e plus shipping
apple.com (USA) - $399 = approx 289e

so best price is apple store in states, but after that i would in shop in dublin as the saving for going up north would be lost on the fuel used to travel up unless your up there anyway with work or another arrangement.

hope this helps OP.

tbh

yes - it's a brilliant device, and I'm delighted with it, but beware it's plummet in usefulness when you leave your wifi. Games and music etc are fine, but you have a load of gorgeous looking icons for applications you can't use when you're on a plane, for example. Also, can you get movies from the itunes store? didn't know that. The coversion process from avi can be a pain.

Having said all that, if I lost or broke mine, I'd have bought a replacement in a week - not many gadgets I could say that about.

ferrigan101

kceire wrote: »

apple.ie if you want a nice little engraving put on for no extra cost but may hinder it if you upgrade and try sell on in the future.

bricks and mortar shops are all the same price so no point shopping around.

if you know anybody in the states or visiting the states get it there or maybe up in newry.

argos newry - 282 stg = approx 329e
argos dublin - 369e
apple.ie - 369e
www.dabs.ie - 334e plus shipping
www.pixmania.ie - 349e plus shipping
apple.com (USA) - $399 = approx 289e

so best price is apple store in states, but after that i would in shop in dublin as the saving for going up north would be lost on the fuel used to travel up unless your up there anyway with work or another arrangement.

hope this helps OP.

Thanks for that dude, hadn't even thought about the north! Might be heading up that way soon so could be happy days>

tbh wrote: »

yes - it's a brilliant device, and I'm delighted with it, but beware it's plummet in usefulness when you leave your wifi. Games and music etc are fine, but you have a load of gorgeous looking icons for applications you can't use when you're on a plane, for example. Also, can you get movies from the itunes store? didn't know that. The coversion process from avi can be a pain.

Having said all that, if I lost or broke mine, I'd have bought a replacement in a week - not many gadgets I could say that about.

From looking at the apple website, you can download movies, tv shows etc. But having just looked on iTunes store it looks like you can only download music videos? Am I right? If thats right why?

Gumbo

ferrigan101 wrote: »

Thanks for that dude, hadn't even thought about the north! Might be heading up that way soon so could be happy days>



From looking at the apple website, you can download movies, tv shows etc. But having just looked on iTunes store it looks like you can only download music videos? Am I right? If thats right why?

if you open a US iTunes account also, seemly you can rent, buy and download movies, TV shows etc etc. i havent done it myself so dont know the ins and outs of it.

maggy_thatcher

ferrigan101 wrote: »

From looking at the apple website, you can download movies, tv shows etc. But having just looked on iTunes store it looks like you can only download music videos? Am I right? If thats right why?

iTunes Ireland don't do movies or tv shows; they only do those in "larger" markets (the US, the UK, etc.). Also, despite it being perfectly legal to buy DVD's in the UK and watch them here, Apple won't let you purchase things from the iTunes UK store without a UK credit card

ferrigan101

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

iTunes Ireland don't do movies or tv shows; they only do those in "larger" markets (the US, the UK, etc.). Also, despite it being perfectly legal to buy DVD's in the UK and watch them here, Apple won't let you purchase things from the iTunes UK store without a UK credit card

Oh dear, my whole thinking behind getting one was so I could leave my psp at home when going away! Is it possible to convert video files that would be playable on the touch?* Have done this numerous times for the psp* etc so wouldn't find it that much of hassle tbh. Just would have been easier to click BUY and then SYNC. Is there any hope on the horizon of apple doing movies etc in Ireland in the future?


*Just to clarify I have done this all leagally and would intend to do it within the law here too.:D

tbh

ferrigan101 wrote: »

! Is it possible to convert video files that would be playable on the touch?*

yeah, but it's as much of a pain on the ipod as it is for the psp plus you lose quality every time you convert. Best bet would be to re-rip from your DVDs (that's just my experience, probably someone can tell you how to do it better)

apple reckon the b/b infrastructure here isn't ready for video downloads

Gumbo

use videora

http://www.videora.com/

Eire Go Brach

The only problem about getting an iPod Touch is. It will make you want an iPhone:)

ferrigan101

tbh wrote: »

yeah, but it's as much of a pain on the ipod as it is for the psp plus you lose quality every time you convert. Best bet would be to re-rip from your DVDs (that's just my experience, probably someone can tell you how to do it better)

apple reckon the b/b infrastructure here isn't ready for video downloads

How can the bb infrastrucure not be ready!? Surely thats just bs? (Am I getting drawn off topic on my own thread here?):pac:

kceire wrote: »

use videora

http://www.videora.com/

I tend to use this http://winff.org/html_new/ find it alot easier for converting just about anything to anything else.

Eire Go Brach wrote: »

The only problem about getting an iPod Touch is. It will make you want an iPhone:)

Nah, the camera on my c905 is just too good! If I wasn't such a gadget freak I probably wouldn't even need to think about the touch! But I just love my gadgets!:P

watna

maggy_thatcher wrote: »

iTunes Ireland don't do movies or tv shows; they only do those in "larger" markets (the US, the UK, etc.). Also, despite it being perfectly legal to buy DVD's in the UK and watch them here, Apple won't let you purchase things from the iTunes UK store without a UK credit card

Really? I can buy films from iTunes New Zealand. Theyre $25 though for new releases which is a bit expensive for me. The population of NZ is similar to Ireland so why can you not buy films in Ireland? It does only have fims though, not tv shows. I've just noticed the movie rental part. Its $7 to rent a movie. How does that work? Do they no work after a certain amount of days?

Eire Go Brach wrote: »

The only problem about getting an iPod Touch is. It will make you want an iPhone:)

So true!

luckat

Incidentally, I got on to Apple Support again about my half-broken iPhone (bits are gradually stopping working), and it turns out that you have to give them

over €300

to hold from your credit card when you're using the iPhone they've sent you. This is in case you don't send your old one back by courier to them.

Nonsense!

tbh

ferrigan101 wrote: »

How can the bb infrastrucure not be ready!? Surely thats just bs? (Am I getting drawn off topic on my own thread here?):pac:

not my contention! I believe their feeling is that in sub ten meg environments, people will be so frustrated trying to download movies that in the long run it's better not to offer it at all until a 'decent' experience can be offered.

Dodge

tbh wrote: »

not my contention! I believe their feeling is that in sub ten meg environments, people will be so frustrated trying to download movies that in the long run it's better not to offer it at all until a 'decent' experience can be offered.

Good job nobody in Ireland downloads movies then...

Dman001

I reckon we will be the next to get Movies in the iTunes Store as all the major countries now have the video store (USA, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, UK, New Zealand).

tbh

given xbox live are offering video downloads, you'd have to assume it's sooner rather than later.

ferrigan101

tbh wrote: »

given xbox live are offering video downloads, you'd have to assume it's sooner rather than later.

Well we can hope!

ferrigan101

OK so you all talked me into getting one! Now, the missus is heading across the water for a few days, should I just get her to buy one over there or should I try and get one second hand (adverts.ie, ebay etc)?
If I go second hand, how can I tell the memory size, firmware, if it's 1st or 2nd gen etc without plugging it into a pc?
I've never really used an ipod before but I'm kind of assuming you can just go into an options menu or somthing to check all this?

Again, many noob q's here but I appreciate any answers given.

Gumbo

ferrigan101 wrote: »

OK so you all talked me into getting one! Now, the missus is heading across the water for a few days, should I just get her to buy one over there or should I try and get one second hand (adverts.ie, ebay etc)?
If I go second hand, how can I tell the memory size, firmware, if it's 1st or 2nd gen etc without plugging it into a pc?
I've never really used an ipod before but I'm kind of assuming you can just go into an options menu or somthing to check all this?

Again, many noob q's here but I appreciate any answers given.

the memory size of the ipod is wrote on the back of it ie. 8gb, 16gb or 32gb.
in regards to the 1st gen or 2gen, the 2nd gen has 2 buttons on the side of the ipod to enable you to afjust the volume while in use and keylocked. the first gen has no buttons on the side.

http://freshgear.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/apple-ipod-touch.jpg

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1353

TinCool

Eire Go Brach wrote: »

The only problem about getting an iPod Touch is. It will make you want an iPhone:)

How true that is. I ended up doing exactly that. My iPod Touch is now my mp3 player hooked up to my car stereo. The iPhone is an amasing piece of technology. I'm so glad I got one. I use it all the time for doing all sorts of things. I recently found a really cool app that allows me to read comic books on it. Great for when you're having an iPoo in work.

I was thinking of getting one of the iToilets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph79vPIiWbM

.

ferrigan101

kceire wrote: »

the memory size of the ipod is wrote on the back of it ie. 8gb, 16gb or 32gb.
in regards to the 1st gen or 2gen, the 2nd gen has 2 buttons on the side of the ipod to enable you to afjust the volume while in use and keylocked. the first gen has no buttons on the side.

http://freshgear.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/apple-ipod-touch.jpg

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1353

Thanks dude.

TinCool wrote: »

How true that is. I ended up doing exactly that. My iPod Touch is now my mp3 player hooked up to my car stereo. The iPhone is an amasing piece of technology. I'm so glad I got one. I use it all the time for doing all sorts of things. I recently found a really cool app that allows me to read comic books on it. Great for when you're having an iPoo in work.

I was thinking of getting one of the iToilets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph79vPIiWbM

.

Having an iPoo! :eek:
ROFL! :pac:

Gumbo

TinCool wrote: »

How true that is. I ended up doing exactly that. My iPod Touch is now my mp3 player hooked up to my car stereo. The iPhone is an amasing piece of technology. I'm so glad I got one. I use it all the time for doing all sorts of things. I recently found a really cool app that allows me to read comic books on it. Great for when you're having an iPoo in work.

LOL