[Kirok]

In common with many parents I survive on hand-me-downs! From my backpack which I use for work (not strong enough to carry all my son's schoolbooks) and my lunchbox (My daughter's Winnie The Poo box from primary school) to my phone, which is my wife's old Motorola KRZR, I survive on my family's cast-offs!

Its not too bad, they get the job done and it gives me an excuse for being indulgent towards my kids. Its my son's birthday coming up and I think he's forgotten that he asked for an iPod Touch a few months ago, so I'm shopping around for a good deal - I might get him the 2nd Gen with as much memory as I can get. Given my d'ruthers I'd go for a HP Touch with the Google OS but he's been indoctrinated by his sister who lives on her iPhone

Part of the reason I'm doing it is that I can see him getting either a new Touch or an iPhone next year and I'm angling to get this a hand-me-down when he does!

But that leaves me in a bit of a void right now. I had a great iPaq from work which I used to watch videos and read eBooks but I recently lost it, on the train I think. The videos I can catch with at home, or on my new Linux eee PC ("Mini Me") and I've got a pretty good mp3 stick player for podcasts, audio drama and music but I really miss the convenience of firing up an eBook in a second and a calender/schedule that I can sync with Outlook at work.

I'm debating whether to resurrect some of the old hardware I still have lying around - a Palm iii xe or an eBookman - or watch eBay for something else at a good price.

I loved the old iPaq but the stylus was a pain and wifi would have made it even better ... and a camera and Phone would have made it unnecessary for me to carry anything else! Any suggestions about what I can do to get the most out of the Palm or eBookman? I'll score points for witty answers but anatomically impossible ones will be moderated!

Cheers

K

[paulinem]

I would if I could Kirok, but it's all double dutch to me

[sevnson_71]

http://crave.cnet.co...49303754,00.htm

My honest counterpoint as a decidedly unapologetic non-fan of Apple, who irony of ironies owns an idiotPhone^TM.

The best I can figure with the author of the article is they have exceeded that age where the hearing is the first thing to go. I am not an old man, but I'm not a twenty something either. I also have pharmaceutically induced tinnitus. These bits aside, I can hear a caller just fine on any given call. As for the earbuds the sound quality is fine, rather good in fact. Sadly I have found that their overall build quality rather sucks, less than a month in and both the earbuds have come apart due to cracks in the plastic housings, rendering one nonfunctional. Not so great considering the OEM replacements are a typically Apple overprice of $18 US.

It's the network, stupid...
As far as dropped calls/weak signal goes, I'm on AT&T, who is notorious enough so I need not say more. That said the signal I have on this phone is really NO WORSE than my Motorola, and in fact in some parts of my hometown which is renowned for sketchy signal because of the hilly terrain it is actually BETTER. Thing you have to remember is your antenna is in the back of the phone, and human flesh is really quite good at absorbing radio signals(try this on an external wifi card if you think I am kidding).

As far as the battery life goes, if you use it constantly it lunches quicker, just like any other battery op device. No great shock there. Also, like any phone the harder it has work to boost and maintain the signal the shorter the battery life. This also goes for data networking for email, apps, and updates etc. which the iPhone accesses regularly via "push notifications". There are means of stretching it. One way is to go into the settings and change the rate at which it accesses the data network(default is for it to "fetch" data every 15 minutes, if you don't use the email feature or live in an area with cruddy service, just set it to manual. Then just check the mail when you hit a public wifi source when you are out or at home and need to check your mail. Also it runs an LED screen as a primary interface, which of course uses power. Set the autolock to one minute, then the screen shuts off. The only time I have ever seen a call not go through is when I was in an area with NO service, like in the basement of a steel building or something.

Another consideration when browsing is the fact the more stuff you have on the phone the less room there is for the browser to run. Remember it is by design a handheld computer, albeit one that you can make a phone call from. As such it has a finite amount of resources, and an OS that demands it's share of them. So long story short, if you have a ton of apps and pics etc on it, don't blame the device when the browser crashes or if it locks up.
The Verdict
Phone features/foibles aside, even that article ceded that it is a kickass little handheld despite Apple's tendency to want to control EVERYTHING (you have to use their Safari browser, and they have a rule in the developer contract against creating an app that competes with one of theirs). It has a ridiculous number and variety of apps in spite of this. But for your stated purposes I would have to say that it would fit well. I personally have the Kindle app on mine, which I swear by. The fact I can also load MP3's is a bonus. The email setup is seamless. There are many times when I am on my laptop and have an email come in I'll grab the mobile to check the mail just because it loads quicker than on my browser or mail client, and it reads many documents natively. They also have apps in the store that allow you to read and edit Office docs now. The touch screen, and I have had a chance to see the Palm Pre and play with it, is far superior on the Apple, so kudos there. It is also a way better alternative to dubbing around with a stylus. So the idiotPhone is by no means perfect, but it is the best bang for the buck which is unusual as hell for an Apple product. If it were me spending the money, I would wait and get the iPhone or iPod touch. Hope it helped

[Kirok]

sevnson_71, on 27 November 2009 - 11:36 PM, said:

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39029453,49303754,00.htm
... If it were me spending the money, I would wait and get the iPhone or iPod touch. Hope it helped

In a 'round about way I'm taking your advice.

Today we bought the heir to the family curse a 2G 8GB iPod Touch for his birthday (this Thursday). We considered getting him an iPhone until we saw the difference in price - its over three times as much just to add the phone capapability to the Touch! Luckily he has said that he would prefer a Touch since he doesn't use his phone much but would definately use the aps. Looks like the'll be spending a lot more time hanging about McDonalds to use their WiFi!

For my part, I'm going to work on the eeePC to get the most out of that. First off, I am trying to instal VLC player on it, in place of the native mPlayer which doesn't have the codecs for mp4s and a dozen other formats. Its like decoding alien transmissions trying to use Linux, though!

K