New toy

I earn a small amount of money as a carer for a couple hours each week and recently saved enough money to buy myself a new toy.  My old Dell Axim pda recently began to look quite dated and my search for a suitable replacement wasn’t particularly satisfactory because they really don’t make much in the way of an actual pda now. Almost everything involves a phone and that wasn’t really required since I have a prepaid one that gets used very infrequently. After looking at alternate options I eventually decided to get an iPod Touch. So now I have my new machine that keeps my calendar, address book and my ebooks.

I’ve already downloaded several applications, mostly for entertainment purposes:

• Stanza-This is a popular ebook reader for this machine. I’d been using eReader on my pda for a few years now and was satisfied with it. This one seems to have far more options than eReader. But the part I like best is being able to download books directly instead of having to transfer them from my computer. I’ve already downloaded several titles for my collection.
• eReader-I downloaded this to compare to Stanza but find I don’t use this one as much. I will likely give a better look one of these days because it’s far better than the version on my pda. This one also allows me to download books directly from certain websites.
• Traditional board games such as backgammon, reversi, mah jongg/shanghai, and mancala. There are several free versions available, many of which are cut down versions of paid applications. For my needs, most seem quite fine.
• Scramble-I play this on Facebook and this was free so I added it. This version plays well enough except that sometimes I have to tap the screen more than once to hit the right letter. I think I’m getting better at it with more experience though.
• My Shopping Lists Lite-A basic shopping list maker
• Period Plus-A program to track my periods. The paid version has far more features that probably would be little benefit to me since I don’t have any interest if getting pregnant again. But I like having some record of my cycles, especially as I move closer to menopause.
• I’ve found a few puzzle games to try. Several are versions of ones I’ve played in the past but they are still quite enjoyable.

It’s taken a bit of time but I’m getting more used to using my fingers as a control. I still find this a bit weird for some actions like typing in names. I made quite a few mistakes earlier on but those don’t seem quite as common as the first week I used it. I’ve also found the case isn’t quite what I expected on this. I had a nice closed in case for my pda but the case I bought only really covers the back. The screen is protected only by a screen protector. I’ve not seen any cases that are enclosed for protection while being carried though.

My one  actual complaint is that I bought this a few weeks ago and found I had to pay for an OS update straight away if I wanted to be up to date. Apple really should have provided an update free to those recently purchasing the product. Otherwise I’ve been quite happy with it and find it more useful than my pda. I’ve been listening to music while using our exercise bike. I also can read or play games during the warm up or cool down periods if I like.  I’ve also used the Google maps application to get directions before leaving the house recently. It will be interesting to see what other applications come along as time goes on. So far it’s been far more useful than my old pda.