[nabs-l] iPod Touch

Thu Dec 16 18:58:20 UTC 2010

Joe,

I don't have answers to all your questions, but I think I can offer some 
helpful comments on a few of them.  I've never even held an iPod Touch, but 
I've been a user of the iPhone since early July 2009.

2. I know bigger is always better, but on average, how many gigs are you
using to handle your main apps?  Can you expand memory through micro SD for
music and such?

As of today, my apps take up 3.3 Gb of space on my 16 Gb iPhone.  I could 
reduce this if I really wanted to; there are quite a few apps that I never 
use, but I'm not in desperate need of space right now.  Rather than putting 
on 10 Gb of music, only a tiny fraction of which you will ever listen to, I 
tend to only sync playlists.  This frees up more room for apps.  There is 
currently no way to expand memory through a micro SD card, though something 
could always be introduced in a future incarnation of the iPod Touch, which 
doesn't really help you if you want to get one sooner rather than later.

3. How well has the iPod Touch worked as a business device?  Can e-mail be
easily synched for exchange accounts?  Is there a sufficient number of
business-oriented apps that work on the iPod?  Are most apps built for the
iPhone available for use in the iPod where possible?

I don't really know enough about exchange accounts.  If you are willing to 
pay the approximately $100 per year subscription for Apple's MobileMe, then 
syncing mail, calendar appointments, notes, and contacts is supposed to be 
very easy across PCs, Macs, and portable devices.  I haven't signed up for 
this service yet, but I'm planning to.  One set of productivity apps that is 
not available on iPhone/iPod, but which is available on the iPad, is the 
iWork suite.  This includes Pages, the Word equivalent, Numbers, the Excel 
equivalent, and Keynote, the Powerpoint equivalent.  However, many have been 
asking Apple to bring out iPhone/Ipod versions, so who knows.  There are 
apps that will allow you to create text documents and have them uploaded 
directly to Dropbox, which can be very useful.  As far as I can tell, most 
apps are available on both devices, except in cases where the iPhone has 
some feature needed to efficiently run the app, see response to question 5.

4. Is there a dummy guide for people like me who'd need a crash course on
touch typing, gestures and such?

Simply in terms of learning the basics, I think Apple's voiceover guide is 
sufficient.  It really doesn't go much beyond the basics, but it gives 
enough info to learn the various gestures.  There is also a place in 
Settings, General, Accessibility, Voiceover where you can practice the 
gestures, something like keyboard help.  If you search for Apple Vis, you 
can find a useful site with tutorials, reviews, and so on.  I'm on the 
Googlegroups list, which can be very useful, but also gets a huge amount of 
totally useless traffic.  Anytime I have a question about something, I find 
it helpful to go to the Googlegroups viphone site and do a search through 
the archives.  So you don't actually have to sign up to the list and receive 
the 100 messages a day in order to take advantage of the collective 
knowledge.

5. Has anyone heard anything suggesting future GPS inclusion in the iPod?

This seems to me unlikely because GPS only makes sense on a device that can 
make use of cellular signals.  The Touch only uses wifi.  If we got to a 
time when most major cities had free wifi throughout the entire city, then 
GPS might make sense, but right now, I don't think GPS is coming to the 
Touch.

There is one final point I will make that I can speak to only because I've 
had the device for so long.  With every major update, there have been 
significant improvements to voiceover.  For me, this is very important. 
Voiceover is clearly not just an add on.  It's an aspect of the operating 
system that they are intent on improving.  I'm sure it's not a top priority, 
but I've been very impressed with how much voiceover has improved since I 
first got the phone.  And of course I haven't had to pay anything for those 
upgrades.

I hope that is helpful.

Best,

Marc
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
To: "'Discussion list for NABS,National Alliance of Blind Students.'" 
<nabs at acb.org>; "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 11:01 AM
Subject: [nabs-l] iPod Touch

> Okay, I confess to feeling intrigued by this Apple mania.  I'm not willing
> to change phone carriers to experience mobile devices, so unless I buy an
> unlocked phone after Verizon picks it up, I'm thinking of picking up an 
> iPod
> Touch.  A few questions for you loyal Apple fanatics:
>
> 1. Is my assumption correct that if Verizon picks up the iPhone as it is
> expected, I could buy an unlocked iPhone and use it on Sprint given 
> they're
> both on a CDMA network?
>
> 2. I know bigger is always better, but on average, how many gigs are you
> using to handle your main apps?  Can you expand memory through micro SD 
> for
> music and such?
>
> 3. How well has the iPod Touch worked as a business device?  Can e-mail be
> easily synched for exchange accounts?  Is there a sufficient number of
> business-oriented apps that work on the iPod?  Are most apps built for the
> iPhone available for use in the iPod where possible?
>
> 4. Is there a dummy guide for people like me who'd need a crash course on
> touch typing, gestures and such?
>
> 5. Has anyone heard anything suggesting future GPS inclusion in the iPod?
>
> and finally,
>
> 6. How well does the FaceTime app work?  Or, how well has the Google Voice
> app worked to communicate with people using 3G or wi-fi networks?
>
> Thanks in advance for entertaining my million questions!
>
> Joe
>
> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
>
>
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