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iPod != PDA

Rower_CPU

Rower_CPU

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Here's my response to all the PDA rumor-mongering that's been going on lately.

Apple created a world class MP3 player in the iPod. It does everything an MP3 player should do and does it well. It holds a lot of music. It transfers data quickly to and from your Mac. It can keep playlists, and EQ settings for your songs. And to top it off, sports a super-easy to use interface.

To those of you who say that all Apple needs to do is update the firmware and add some UI features (stylus, keyboard): you are missing the whole point of the iPod. By glomming on these things you take a simple, easy to use device that did one thing very well, and you have made it a complex, difficult to use device that does nothing well.

The iPod is the near epitome of what an MP3 player should be. Apple will not ruin it by trying to turn it into a PDA. I can see how you might get the wrong impression by the addition of the Contacts feature, but a PDA is more than an electronic address book.
 
......and here i was, ready to gasp, get out the monkey-poop, and scold you.... 😛


Yes, the iPod is a wonderful piece of kit, doing exactly what it was designed for. Let's not bastardise the beauty of it, by trying to make it into something it's not.
 
It is a PDA !

It can hold text and play games. Possibly more if Apple releases a master copy of its os. And add a very extensive MP3 catalog plus a fast external hard drive. Thats 4 handheld gadgets in one all it needs is the abilty to play quicktime movies and pictures in b&w and it will be one of the best handheld devices on the market. Sure theres no internet, phone, or color capabilties but thats what a 1 inch thick super powerful laptop is for.
 
Originally posted by spuncan
all it needs is the abilty to play quicktime movies and pictures in b&w and it will be one of the best handheld devices on the market.
Click to expand...

No offense, but I think that viewing pictures and/or movies in black and white in just two inches of screen seems a bit tight. And the iPod only does one black display color, which can be adjusted by contrast.

I would rather see Apple use the iPod as a basic handheld accessory instead of something that is supposed to have/do it all. Otherwise, if you try and incorporate more pixels and more blacks (or even more color) and all of these things while keeping the style of the current iPod you are bound to jack the price up. And I feel that $400 is enough for an mp3 player/Hard Drive.

When I first showed my dad the iPod in a magazine so he could get it for me he was like "JC it's four hundred dollars!" IMO the iPod needs to stay basic, in other words, the way it is now, with maybe a few minor add-ons.
__________________

Fear the King.
 
Re: It is a PDA !

Originally posted by spuncan
It can hold text and play games. Possibly more if Apple releases a master copy of its os. And add a very extensive MP3 catalog plus a fast external hard drive. Thats 4 handheld gadgets in one all it needs is the abilty to play quicktime movies and pictures in b&w and it will be one of the best handheld devices on the market. Sure theres no internet, phone, or color capabilties but thats what a 1 inch thick super powerful laptop is for.
Click to expand...

Like I said in my post above, a PDA does more than just store names and numbers.

Breakout (or Brickout, depending on who you ask) is an "Easter egg"...it's a hidden feature that's just kind of nice to have. They don't advertise it. They don't market it.

My main quarrel is with the UI deformation that would have to take place.

Would they make it a touch sensitive screen and everything driven by a stylus?
Ew.

Would they add a mini keyboard?
Double ew.

An Apple PDA would have to be designed from the ground up to be a PDA. As SJ himself once said: "Let each element be true to itself".
 
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