THE iSUBSTITUTE

How you can make believe that the iPod Touch 2.0 player is the iPhone
The new iPhone 3G released last weekend, but we in India are still far from getting one in our hands. I have a solution. And it’s not a clone or another so-called iPhone beater. It’s the new iPod Touch 2.0.

I know it’s not a phone, but it does everything that the iPhone does—other than call, of course. The iPod Touch 2.0 has in-built Wi-Fi, an email client, Safari web browser, capability of using mobile ME, applications, a cool version of Google Earth, Contact Search, Multiple Calendar Support, Push Email with MS Exchange Capability, Web clips, and improved attachment viewing. Now that’s a lot in a music player.

The Wi-fi makes this a better buy than other MP3 players because you can not only view YouTube videos directly online—without having to first download them to your PC and then sync them to your iPod—but you can also buy/download music directly to your iPod.

The Email client means that if you are sick and tired of lugging around that laptop at home, you have a smart substitute that lets you send/receive emails, maybe check the stock index, all while catching the show on television.

The screen is large, and is sensitive to gravity (turn it around for landscape in landscape mode, portrait in the straight up mode, etc).

You can use Google Earth to locate your house or to browse the streets of your city now that everything is mapped, and you can use the search on it for some directions (though this is admittedly not always precise) as long as you have Wi-fi connectivity.

The Notes application is interesting—I could pen down my MITs (Most Important Things) without any headache. Its capability to render PDF Files, and open Word and Excel files was something that was totally gratifying.

Safari works well, is fast and precise, though with e-banking sites requiring Internet Explorer, this device may not be the best to access your account details.

The music handling is great, and the switch from album art to lyrics was something that a lot of the people I showed the new iPod Touch to found interesting. Video rendition is brilliant, though YouTube was still jerky, thanks to slow broadband speeds in India. On a long road trip, I was listening to music for more than 10 hours, so when Apple claims 22 hours of battery time, I believe them.

The tie in with Mobile ME meant I could synchronise my address book from my Mac laptop with my Windows desktop and the iPod easily.

There were some interesting applications at the newly opened Web Apps store, but I did not test many of these. What I found engrossing was the one that turns your iPod Touch, or your iPhone, into a piano. Nice. With more applications now being developed both for the iPhone and the Ipod Touch, this goes from being a mere musical device to a more intriguing machine capable of lots of things.

The price ranges from Rs 15,000 for an 8 GB version to Rs 25,000 for a 32 GB version.
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The above article appeared in the The Indian Express, on Sunday July 20th, 2008