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iPod touch School Tool?

ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Original poster
Nov 26, 2007
9,710
6,304
I'm thinking about what computer I want for school next year...

and... I got the idea... what about the iPod Touch? I've never seen anyone else in my school use one for the purpose of taking notes or anything but I thought, why the hell not?

Numerous things I thought about...

1.) It's very compact and light and easy to carry.
2.) It's relatively cheap.
3.) It has a full keyboard.
4.) It's got an internet connection... and the school has free wi-fi.
5.) With the SDK being released this summer, I'm hoping for some cheap and useful programs.
6.) It's also an iPod. Funny how that's the last thing I think about...

But uh... more on #5. What programs are available? Can it replace my TI-84? I really hate that thing's piss-pore screen that's hard to read. I imagine the iPod Touch's much higher resolution, colored, touch screen would be much easier to understand graphs on. Oh, and it'd be easier to change the view in (rather than going to the window menu... I can pinch and drag my way around the graph.) And I could probably sell my TI for $50 at least on ebay.

And what about note taking? Is there some full note taking program where I can draw diagrams, take and organize notes... voice memos?

Oh, and how about printing the notes? Is there an easy way to print them out later if I decide it's necessary for whatever reason?

Well... hopefully I've given some programmers ideas if these programs don't already exist. Maybe someone from Apple will read it. And maybe I've given some other students ideas. And hopefully someone will answer and tell me I'm not crazy for thinking an iPod Touch could replace a lap top at school.

(Oh, and I'll probably carry a small binder and other normal stuff for incase I encounter a task the iPod Touch can't accomplish.)

Oh! I just remembered... what about Keynote? Is there some kind of slide show program available for the iPod Touch? Or at least a way to watch them on an iPod Touch? How would I connect the iPod Touch to a projector/TV? I think that's it now...
 
i don't think this will be your solution....
I think a palm pilot and fold out keyboard is what you want....
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A93 Safari/419.3)

you are going to have some cramped hands trying to type on the iPod for long lengths of time... Get sompthing with a full keyboard, mabey a pb 12 in?
 
You know, I love my iPod Touch, but there's no way it could serve as a replacement for a laptop. No. Way.

First of all, the keyboard. Sure, it's got a full keyboard but if you can show me someone who can type more than about 8 words a minute on it, I'd be surprised.

The touch screen is also cool, but not really built to be used as a diagramming tool or anything of that sort. Perhaps if someone came out with iGloves that had nice fine-tipped nubs on the fingers that worked with the touch screen it would be more helpful, but as it is the response isn't exact enough.

Once the SDK is out, then perhaps we'll see some nice applications such as the calculator/graphing one you mention. Wouldn't be that difficult to implement, I wouldn't think, but right now you have to hack the iPod to install the apps, which I'm guessing you may not want to do.

As for the presentation stuff, there is one available for converting presentations for the iPod so that they can be shown from the Touch... iPresent It 2.3
 
PMB said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A93 Safari/419.3)

you are going to have some cramped hands trying to type on the iPod for long lengths of time... Get sompthing with a full keyboard, mabey a pb 12 in?
Click to expand...

I was hoping for something more compact than a full laptop.

But... man... I just found one on ebay. While it's no speed demon... there's nothing wrong with it and it's only $100 with 22 hours left. I'm going to keep my eye on it... odd how few views it has. Oh well, I don't mind. I'll take it!

Edit: Although... I'm not so sure they know what they're talking about. I don't recall Apple ever making a dual core Power Book.
 
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ArtOfWarfare said:
PMB said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A93 Safari/419.3)

you are going to have some cramped hands trying to type on the iPod for long lengths of time... Get sompthing with a full keyboard, mabey a pb 12 in?
Click to expand...

I was hoping for something more compact than a full laptop.

But... man... I just found one on ebay. While it's no speed demon... there's nothing wrong with it and it's only $100 with 22 hours left. I'm going to keep my eye on it... odd how few views it has. Oh well, I don't mind. I'll take it!

Edit: Although... I'm not so sure they know what they're talking about. I don't recall Apple ever making a dual core Power Book.
Click to expand...

no, they didnt (they may, wikipedia it, but I'm pretty shure they didnt) and if you want a sub notebook, there is the Eee. It can be a hackontosh
 
emw said:
You know, I love my iPod Touch, but there's no way it could serve as a replacement for a laptop. No. Way.

First of all, the keyboard. Sure, it's got a full keyboard but if you can show me someone who can type more than about 8 words a minute on it, I'd be surprised.[/URL]
Click to expand...

I can type faster than that, and don't be a drama queen, one can type very quick on the touch or iphone. I send over 450 texts a day, it takes a second to do
 
Remember that its quite difficult to type without looking at the screen, unlike on a laptop.
 
touchyphone said:
I send over 450 texts a day, it takes a second to do
Click to expand...

Perhaps if his class notes are limited to "LOL cu tmw" then he'll be in good shape.

However, trying whipping out a something a little more detailed, especially if you need numbers and special characters, and you'll find it to be not quite so useful. Certainly 8 words per minute is an exaggeration, but not by much, and you cannot type effectively without concentrating on the screen, which is a severe limitation.

"Drama queen." Cute.
 
psychofreak said:
Remember that its quite difficult to type without looking at the screen, unlike on a laptop.
Click to expand...

This doesn't sound bad seeing as it's incredibly difficult to write with a pencil without looking at my paper. (I've tried it but it typically is very difficult to read.)

Edit: And that laptop I found is 3 hours closer to closing and the number of views only went up 2... for whatever reason other people aren't viewing it... man, I might just end up with a decent Power Book here in a few hours for only $100+$25 shipping. (I don't need a very powerful computer... I already got my iMac for higher end stuff like Art Of Illusion, games, and movie editing.)
 
ArtOfWarfare said:
This doesn't sound bad seeing as it's incredibly difficult to write with a pencil without looking at my paper. (I've tried it but it typically is very difficult to read.)

Edit: And that laptop I found is 3 hours closer to closing and the number of views only went up 2... for whatever reason other people aren't viewing it... man, I might just end up with a decent Power Book here in a few hours for only $100+$25 shipping. (I don't need a very powerful computer... I already got my iMac for higher end stuff like Art Of Illusion, games, and movie editing.)
Click to expand...

ha good point!


i have tried this whole ipod touch note taking...it really only works as a good planner
 
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