This Should Work

So I’ve been doing my homework on this iPhone 3G vs. new iPod Touch thing that’s been going on in my head for about three weeks now and I think I’ve got a possible solution: get the old iPhone.

I’ll be able to get the cheaper data plan (unlimited data plan $20 per month including text messages), I won’t have 3G where I’m moving to in Ohio, I’ll still get all the iPhone updates, and I can probably buy one for relatively cheap on eBay or some other site.

Who knows, with the iPhone 3G going on sale Friday morning, maybe some will give there old ones away in some sort of contest.

Ever since my iPod Touch cracked last month I’ve been trying to decide whether to just replace it with another iPod Touch or to take the plunge and get the new 3G iPhone. I have some very good reasons for taking the plunge:

• Need a new iPod, and want a new phone- which makes the iPhone a perfect choice. I hate having to keep track of two devices everywhere I go, and I’m more likely to forget my cell phone than my iPod. If I had an iPhone, I’d have both in one device.
• Access to the Internet anywhere- I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a restaurant or parking lot and wanted to look something up on the Internet. I was out at lunch with my wife the other day debating about some small fact and said to her “if I had an iPhone, I could look this up. But there’s no Wi-Fi here so my Touch doesn’t work”
• My brother-in-law helps every time he talks with my wife- At least two times since my iPod Touch broke has my brother asked if I’ve made a decision, reminding her that there’s a 30-day return policy on the AT&T network.

And yet, there are a reasons to not buy the iPhone and stick with the Touch:

• No 3G in my soon-to-be area- In Mt.Vernon, Ohio there is no 3G network, it’s the basic AT&T network. In fact, the nearest 3G network is an hour away (in Columbus). While my current carries, Verizon, has their 3G network up and running in the area. I got full EVDO strength in some very remote places. While AT&T’s other data network (EDGE) will work, part of the point of the new iPhone is that it works on 3G.
• iPhone pricing plans are horrible-It looks like the cheapest plan for the iPhone starts at $60 dollars a month with 500 minutes, unlimited data, but no Text messages. If you want text messages (and I do) there’s a $5 add on change for 200 messages or $20 for unlimited messages. So that’s $80 per month for a useful iPhone, and that’s before taxes and fees. This price also does not include the Exchange feature (push email and calendars), that’s an extra $15. And none of that includes the $36 one-time activation fee.
• My brother-in-law doesn’t help every time he talks with my wife-He’s on the AT&T network and every time they talk, the call inevitably drops at least once if not more. And he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where there should be a solid network. Every time after she gets off the phone she says “I’m not sure about being on the AT&T network.” Me too.

If the iPhone were available on the Verizon network it would be a slam dunk. But it’s not. And I’m not sure if it’s worth the steep price to break our Verizon contract, switch to a different carrier, and pay an large monthly fee (one that almost rivals our price for two phones on Verizon) all just for one phone.

Plus I think my wife will pay for the 16GB version.

While Lily may have scratched my iPod Touch screen, my wife was able to do one better. Last night as we were going to bed, my wife tried to save me a trip downstairs and bring my iPod Touch upstairs to place at my bedside (I use it as a backup alarm, and it keeps me occupied if I’m walking Lily around the house at night).

Unfortunately, as my wife was heading up the stairs, my iPod decided to slip out of its case and head down the stairs. It went smack and crack the touch screen pretty badly. My wife says “…and I want you to know I’m getting you a new iPod Touch,” then showed me the damage. A large crack down the center of the screen.

Strangely enough it still works!

My wife is leaning toward buying another iPod Touch instead of an iPhone (the AT&T network is not great, and it’s really bad where we’ll be living in Ohio). but one can dream…

Here are some other things I’ve discovered about my iPod:

It’s a great baby-rocking web browser- there are plenty of times where Lily has trouble sleeping and I’m upstairs either rocking her or holding her until she falls into a deep sleep. This device is an awesome way to rock and surf the web (in fact, I’m writing this with Lily in my arms now).

Bright screen= emergency flashlight- the power went out on campus yesterday, and it was completely dark in my windowless office. My officemate asked where the emergency flashlight was located. I had an idea where it was, but needed some light to find the exact location. I pulled my iPod Touch from my pocket and brought up a picture with a bright background using the light from the touch screen to find the flashlight (which had dead batteries).

iPod touch web browser is not the same as the iPhone browser-I was really excited about checking out “iPhone friendly” web apps like digg and google calendar. But some web pages are formatted for the iPhone browser only. Basically, the iPhone browser notifies websites that it’s an iPhone and the website formats the page to fit an iPhone screen. The iPod Touch notifies websites that it’s a regular web browser and does not format the page to fit the screen.

For about a month and half I’ve wanted a new digital camera. The one we had (a Canon Powershot SD100) was about four years old and the picture quality was never great (especially in low light or if things were moving in the picture).

Last week we finally bought a new camera-the Canon Powershot 850 IS. The big thing about this camera is the image stablization feature that allows for better picutres even if the subject (in this case our daughter) is moving around.

So there are some new picutres of our daughter on my flickr page for you to check out.

I’ve had my iPod for only a short time, but I’ve got to say it’s awesome.

I came home for lunch today to check out my new toy and start configuring my iPod Touch. While I was downloading the latest version of iTunes, I took the device out of box and showed it to my wife who called it “elegant.” I took the device out of it’s packaging, plugged it in and started the setup process.

I bought the lower end version of the iPod touch (only 8GB) and knew that all my media would not fit on the device. Trying to decide which albums, photos and videos I want on my iPod is something I’ve never had to worry about before, and was trying to find a way to create lists and folder that would sync with my iPod Touch. To that end, I created a bunch of smart folders for my music and photos. The result is a great group of music and photos that will now automatically update on demand. One example is I’ve created an “oldies but goodies” smart folder that includes music that has star ratings of 4-5 and that I have not played in the last three months. And this folder will keep updating/changing because the songs in this folder are based on a criteria.

All the features of the iPod Touch work as advertised. Using one’s finger to scroll through albums and photos. “Pinching” photos to zoom in and out and “flicking” to move through a slideshow. Turning the device horizontally to view things in landscape mode. Wi-Fi internet browsing works very well (but it’s a little slow). Sampling, purchasing, and re-syncing songs purchased from the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store to one’s PC/Mac is flawless.

There are only two downsides to this device so far:

1. The touch screen needs to be cleaned quite frequently because fingerprints and smears get the screen messy really fast.

2.EVERYONE thinks it the iPhone. Then I need to explain what this device does, why it’s different, and why I did not get the iPhone.

My wife just called to inform me that my iPod Touch arrived on our doorstep this morning! I’m going home at lunch to check it out!

Just found out that my iPod Touch shipped from China this morning! It should be on coming home soon!

When the iPhone arrived back in June my wife asked what I thought about it.

“I would buy an iPhone without the phone,” I said, “I’m not about to break our Verizon contract, then spend $500 on a device then pay an even larger monthly cellphone bill.”

Well on Wednesday, Apple announced the iPod Touch, which is essentially an iPhone without the phone. After watching the Apple keynote, I-like many other Apple lemmings- too the plunge and pre-ordered the iPodTouch. Even though it won’t ship until the end of this month, I’ve got a warm, giddy feeling inside knowing I’ll receive mine by the first week of October.

There is another big ticket item that comes out later this month, Halo 3. This is THE GAME of the fall/holiday season for pretty much every XBox360 owner. So I-like many other XBox360 owners-took the plunge and pre-ordered Halo 3.

Needless to say, I’ve spent alot of money and have nothing to show for it, yet. But the end of this September/beginning of October I’ll be a happy camper.

I’ve been here for years….

Ah, forget it.

My site had been down for a while and I did not have time to fix the server in my office, so I broke down and got a hosting site so I don’t have to worry about server stuff anymore.

I’ve placed my site on godaddy.com and after a couple of days transferring information and setup, I’m back. Not sure about this Wordpress look, but it’s different from the regular theme. I’ve still got a lot of other things to move to this new site, but I’m hoping to start posting more in the future as well.