iPod touch Apple Cripples iPod Touch Calendar

[CalBoy]

Fair do's. But there is clearly a line drawn between the touch and the phone, touch is an ipod through and through, im not sure why people suddenly expected it to inherit PDA functionality.

PDA functionality is somewhat required in a smartphone, so the iphone has it, the touch is clearly just an ipod and does not.

Funny then, that the Touch has a web browser.

When the Touch was first announced, it was made to seem as if it had the ability to serve as a PDA. Apple probably realized the potential conflict it would create and decided to create a larger gap between the Touch and the iPhone. If this is the case, then Apple owes everyone an apology, and the opportunity to cancel their orders. Fraud is never ok.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Can't say that I'm surprised by this move. No other iPod has the ability to input into the calendar, so this move keeps that consistant through the iPod line.

 

[zelman]

I can't believe some people would think apple is above crippling their devices. It has been a staple of their computer market strategy for a long time. The simplest example off the top of my head is the fact that consumer macs couldn't do screen spanning without a hack which enabled a feature of the GPU that apple had disabled. I think this may have since changed, but it's their general MO.

 

[The Stig]

If you can't put in calendar appointments from your touch then forget. It is useless to me. I'm already not buying one because it doesn't have notes. I'm really not buying one if this is try. Waste of my time and money.

The Stig

 

[propropro]

The problem as I see it: there is not enough price difference between Touch and iPhone to justify its poor capabilities and crippled features. I think that's the point.

 

[sushi]

I think one could safely say that Apple is testing the waters with the Touch before deciding is it going to be an iPod or a PDA.

My guess if it sells well then they will probably continue to develop it to the point it may become a PDA.

Being a Newton user I found changing the icons at the bottom (dock) interesting. Some other UI items reminded me of the Newton as well. Who knows, this may be Apple's back door into the PDA market.

 

[balamw]

If Apple was seriously positioning the iPod Touch as a PDA/ultra-portable computer, I'd be all over it. However it seems very clear that they are not. So, I just bought the 3G nano as my next iPod. Even the iPhone is very lacking as a PDA/smartphone. The lack of a filesystem or copy/paste are significant limitations.

That said, I think there's a key feature missing in the iPod Touch as a WiFi enabled iPod that I haven't seen mentioned in any threads I've read.

TV-like streaming from nearby libraries.

Just think of it. If I could stream any of the tracks from my PC or Mac to the iPod Touch while at home (or work, or on the road with my laptop) it would greatly offset the need for larger flash memory or a HDD.

B

 

[Jarbo]

very disappointing

Even the calendar on the iphone needs much improvement.

The idea of removing an already feature-lacking application is shameful.

They should be adding fixing the features that are missing or not working.

 

[ejrizo]

If Apple was seriously positioning the iPod Touch as a PDA/ultra-portable computer, I'd be all over it. However it seems very clear that they are not. So, I just bought the 3G nano as my next iPod. Even the iPhone is very lacking as a PDA/smartphone. The lack of a filesystem or copy/paste are significant limitations.

That said, I think there's a key feature missing in the iPod Touch as a WiFi enabled iPod that I haven't seen mentioned in any threads I've read.

TV-like streaming from nearby libraries.

Just think of it. If I could stream any of the tracks from my PC or Mac to the iPod Touch while at home (or work, or on the road with my laptop) it would greatly offset the need for larger flash memory or a HDD.

B

this is what i have been hopeing for on my iphone

 

[awmazz]

I think one could safely say that Apple is testing the waters with the Touch before deciding is it going to be an iPod or a PDA.

My guess if it sells well then they will probably continue to develop it to the point it may become a PDA.

Being a Newton user I found changing the icons at the bottom (dock) interesting. Some other UI items reminded me of the Newton as well. Who knows, this may be Apple's back door into the PDA market.

Ditto here re the Newton. I've even coined the term iSaac for it (as a tribute to the Newton while keeping the 'i' theme. )

I predict it will outsell the iPhone by Christmas and Apple will revitalize and dominate a whole new PDA market just as they did with the mp3 player market. But only if they release the SDK with Leopard.

 

[ndheah]

F*** it, they've changed it on the Australian Apple store too.

Can Apple cripple an advertised spec after receiving the orders? Do they have small print that says "specs may change without notice before shipping"?

I'm no expert but I believe that's illegal here, and is called bait and switch.

I ordered an iPod touch which can enter calendar events as advertised, so that's what I'm expecting. Oherwise I assume they have to cancel my order and ask me to resubmit a new order. I assume they at least have to let me know the specs have changed and ask if I want to keep the order intact.

Read the Terms of Agreement when you first signed up for an apple account. You can still cancel your order you know. Problem solved.

 

[awmazz]

Read the Terms of Agreement when you first signed up for an apple account. You can still cancel your order you know. Problem solved.

Assume I'm not a member of Macrumors forum so I'm unaware of the specs being changed before shipping. It's beholden of them to inform me.

I'm getting it anyway. I've been waiting for a Newton for 10 years, crippled or no, so I'll take what they got. And the news of the potential SDK in Leopard makes this whole discussion moot anyway, if it's true.

 

[Seth VIII]

Looks like the two big arguments here are:

1- it's just an iPod. No need to edit Calendar events;

2- It's an iPhone just without the phone capabilities, but where is my Calendar "add" button?

Apple has been doing this kind of business since it first launched the MacBook. If you wanted the black one, you had to waste significantly more money on it.
Now Apple did it by spliting the features we always wanted in ONE iPod into two iPods (read classic and touch).

I don't like this way of doing things and I'm sure none of you do too.

 

[blaaat]

Read the Terms of Agreement when you first signed up for an apple account. You can still cancel your order you know. Problem solved.

like everyone is constantly reading the apple website, and look for differences, they should at least give all customers information that the specs have changed, so everybody can choose if they want to cancel, and not just wait till the product arrives.

I didn't liked the fact that there was no mail on the iPod touch, but i could use webmail (using mail without internet makes no sense), so i pre-ordered a touch. using calendar without mail makes sense, so i don't like this fact.

I'm trusting on hacks, but i hoped that wasn't necessary (no problems with updates etc).

 

[miketcool]

Just a guess...

If the iPod touch is experienceing issues entering in information (software) Apple would have to pull the specs until the bugs are worked out. This wouldn't be the first time Apple has pulled a feature because it wasn't 100% go, only to reissue it later on. Don't have a cow yet, you'll have plenty more opportunities to give raise to a herd.

 

[clevin]

for people who are satisfied with iPod Touch in its current form(crippled 4-5 apps, 8/16G without any expansion slot).

adding more features will NOT in anyway prevent you from enjoying it as you expected, so rather than defending apple's market strategy, profit, why not defending other users' benefit?

Its not like apple is dying and desperately poor....

 

[Buschmaster]

I've used my calendar on iCal for about a year now. I really like the way it works on my MacBook and love the way it flows easily and seemlessly onto my 5G iPod.

Chances are in real world experience this won't hurt that many people that often at all.

Sure it would've been a nice feature but I'm guessing most of you charge your device daily or at least every other day, correct? And so you could probably dock it that often. So if you're going to be on your computer that often and really want all those calendar events on your iPod Touch, well, you still can.

 

[queshy]

There better be a change/fix for this, or I'll be pretty angry. Otherwise they are just begging for a ton of cancelled orders. They shouldn't convince all these people to order by promising a product they can't even deliver.

 

[balamw]

Chances are in real world experience this won't hurt that many people that often at all.

I stopped syncing my calendar/contacts to a PDA a few years back and have used my 5G iPod, and plan to shift it to my new 3G nano. It's a great way to carry your schedule with you for quick checks.

However, the big issue is that the one way sync from the PC/Mac to the iPod is very limiting. To update your schedule, you need to make a note of an appointment elsewhere (on a scrap of paper) update your main calendar and
then sync again.

There's no technological reason that the iPod Touch can't do this since the iPhone already does.

B

 

[mrgreen4242]

I am very shocked at Apple for doing this, if indeed it does end up being the cae. Personally I think apple will ship it with full features and eventually open it up allowing us to install apps as we please.
Doesn't really affect me as I am going to use my touch for browsing web, Music and Video.....So my order is staying

ShadoW

Wow Apple is turning into Microsoft. Why the hell wouldn't they allow people to edit a calender, if the the capability is there then why take it away. Whats next you can only go to pre-bookmarked sites on safari and they eliminate the keyboard function therefore one cant use google to search??? At first I was thinking maybe I won't hack the Touch, maybe I would just leave it be but now I am not sure I can do that, with no calender and no NOTES feature WTF.

All I know is I haven't pre-ordered this baby yet and I am reconsidering a purchase, maybe I will wait until hackers make it into a proper non crippled device.

Why is this surprising to anyone? Apple has been crippling hardware to protect sales of more expensive devices for a long time. My favorite example is the Superdrive in the mini... you can only get it if you upgrade to the more expensive model that has a bigger HDD and faster CPU, even all you want is a DVD burner.

It's same thing: want basic PDA functions? Well, cough up the extra $100 and the monthly fee (which Apple gets a cut of). I'm waiting for the next version of the touch to push the price of the current 16gb down to $250 or so refurbished. By that point I'm hoping hackers have taken care of most of the features I think are vital but missing from the Touch. If not, well, my 5G Video is pretty darn good as it is.

 

[Loge]

However, the big issue is that the one way sync from the PC/Mac to the iPod is very limiting. To update your schedule, you need to make a note of an appointment elsewhere (on a scrap of paper) update your main calendar and
then sync again.

You could always use the Notes app.

They should at least be using a different icon for the "read-only" calendar. It just looks like an ill-thought out last minute decision.

 

[Evangelion]

for people who are satisfied with iPod Touch in its current form(crippled 4-5 apps, 8/16G without any expansion slot).

adding more features will NOT in anyway prevent you from enjoying it as you expected, so rather than defending apple's market strategy, profit, why not defending other users' benefit?

Its not like apple is dying and desperately poor....

Well, if you want the missing functionality, maybe you should get a product that has that particular feature? And if touch is crippled, what does that make regural iPod in to? touch is still a lot more versatile and capable than classic or nano is, are those two "crippled"?

Would I like the touch to have editable calendar? Absolutely! But I cant get my panties in a bunch over this, since this just seems like a issue that COULD be different, yet isn't. Why aren't people getting annoyedeven though iPod doesn't have user-adjustable EQ? Where are the comments that say "I want to use this device to it's maximun potential!"?

 

[Evangelion]

Why?? They used the old bait and switch on us. I dont use it so I dont care, but they better not do the same to cooler features.

No, this isn't bait and switch. It's not like they sold you one device, and delivered something else. First of all, editable calendar was never the major feature on the device, it was just mentioned in a passing in some website. Second: Even if you had ordered your touch the moment it became available, you would still be long way off from actually getting it.

So the errenous feature was mentioned in a passing for few days, until it was removed from the website. And it was removed long before the device actually became availabe.

 

[macjonny1]

I stopped syncing my calendar/contacts to a PDA a few years back and have used my 5G iPod, and plan to shift it to my new 3G nano. It's a great way to carry your schedule with you for quick checks.

However, the big issue is that the one way sync from the PC/Mac to the iPod is very limiting. To update your schedule, you need to make a note of an appointment elsewhere (on a scrap of paper) update your main calendar and
then sync again.

There's no technological reason that the iPod Touch can't do this since the iPhone already does.

B

OK I'm going to give you all the solution you have been waiting for. Try SPANNING SYNC! It syncs your gmail calendar with ical. You can update your calendar in real time on your gcal, and then when you get home to your mac you can sync your ical with it. Like magic, any gcal appts that you added during the day are on ical. I work with a PC during the day and use that as my calendar app, and then sync my mac at home! It works really really well.

Not as nice as having a real ical on the ipod touch....but it works.

 

[Ninden]

Wow, talk about a buzz kill.

I know I'm still going to get one, as I want it mainly for video watching... but damn I admit this move pisses me off a bit. Lets face it, this isn't the first time Apple has pulled info from the websites after people saw something and started talking. Like the supposed Leopard feature of fast Mac/Win switching without rebooting. They axed that off the site pretty quick after WWDC.

I feel that one thing needs to be pointed out to the "it's an iPod not PDA, so it's not crippled" folks. The truth of the matter is it is being crippled.
It is the iPhone hardware. From there they are stepping it down by removing bluetooth, the phone, the camera, the speakers, etc. This is only to be expected however. It's an iPod, not an iPhone.

The core system hardware is looking to be very similar, however. Which means the programs running on the touch could also be identical to the iPhone. Naturally some will get axed as they are for phone or constant wi-fi connectivity.
To this end, it's understandable that even the email app is not there, as you would not always be in a hotspot for the mail app to check your mail.

However, the calendar and the contacts could easily be the exact same programs as on the iPhone. There is no reason to modify them, as they are not hardware dependent. The argument of "well earlier iPod's couldn't edit the calendar so this one shouldn't either" fails the logic test. Because you couldn't edit contacts on an iPod either, but you can on the touch (For now anyway ). Therefore there is no good explanation for why this program is being, yes I'm saying it, crippled. That is precisely what they are doing, and it sucks.

I'm also just straight up confused by the notes application. Even older iPods have the ability to view notes (but not edit naturally). Now it seems as the entire option is gone. So that, blows the "earlier iPod" precedence right out of the water.

In the end, I guess I'm just stuck saying that I want it to at least do what prior iPods could do, and since it's been a few years, maybe even a little bit more. There is no doubt that it certainly hits that mark, and I will still get one the day it comes out. I'm just sad that they would go out of their way to make it worse.