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IPod touch: Is it worth the money?

The IPod touch, dubbed the ITouch (whose false name has angered many faithful to the product), is what I’m talking about this week. Since the debut of the first IPod back in 2001, Apple has almost cornered the market in MP3 players. Now with the launch of the IPod Touch at a starting price of $229 dollars, is it worth switching to?

The touch, other than being your average music player, comes standard with email, web, YouTube, calculator, weather, stocks, calendar, contacts, clock, maps, notes, etc. The touch can do everything the IPhone can, except for phone and internet access anywhere. Only one
of these can be done on the touch. With WIFI and applications like Skype, you can make Voice-over IP calls to other Skype users for free or, to other phones if you have a Skype account.

Sorry to anyone with the first generation ITouch- you can not partake in this great venture. Wondering which generation you own? Simple, do you not need headphones and have a speaker? If the answer is yes, then you have the second generation.

You may be asking what is needed to have something as wonderful as this product. First you will need to make the purchase of the IPod touch. After that you need to buy the IPhone headphones with the built in microphone. Once you have both of those items, get a free
app- the ones I use are Fring and Nimbuzz (They also connect to your AIM account so you can instant message). The problems with the apps are that they do not run in the background. For example, if you instant message a friend and then close it to view the weather, then you’ve just signed out of the program. It is a minor flaw that hopefully someone will later correct.

Personally, if you have a regular phone then I would recommend the touch. I love it; it comes in handy especially if my phone is dying, if I forget my charger or if I want an extra backup of my schedule and calendar.

Electronics

Aaron Van Blarcom is our electronics writer. We’re excited to have him on board.

The Omnia has been in the shadows of the Blackberry Storm for some time now. Even though it debuted in December 2008, commercials are just now hitting television. Verizon put the Storm in the light for the holiday season. Verizon held back from the Omnia to push the trendier phone, even though the Omnia’s capabilities are quite outstanding. The Omnia is the only Verizon phone that has WIFI. This was a major selling point for me when I picked it up. The Omnia also has a 5-mega pixel camera which is one of the best that I have seen. Unlike the Storm which uses Blackberry OS, the Omnia uses Windows Mobile 6.1 which has MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. It can read and write these documents except for PowerPoint in which it can only read them. With a 3.2 inch touch screen it makes operating easy. A feature that is pretty handy is the stylus, (though it gets on my nerves at times). So if it might bother you too, don’t worry; You can use your finger for everything. The stylus ties on to the side, this being the only thing I hate on the whole phone. What I do like, however is a mode called “transcribe” which allows you to write on the screen and it will convert it to text. I can’t leave without discussing the track pad, which is a button that senses movement over it. This is perfect for anyone who ever owned a Blackberry with the trackball and had to have your provider replace it over and over again because of extended use. The track pad only moves when clicked otherwise it senses the slide of your finger. The Omnia now retails for $100 with a 2 year contract.

Electronics