Years of Palmhood

[From Ben Weber, Roselle Park, NJ USA] Well, after much deliberation and years of Palmhood (I had the original model of the palmpilot), I’ve become yet another jumper. That is, I’ve hung up my TX and gone the Ipod Touch route. It was a tough choice…years accumulating Palm software, using the Palm as second nature…it was part of my life. But the power button on my TX was failing and I really had to evaluate where continuing with Palm would go vs. something else. I didn’t need any sophisticated phone (my calls tend to be of the “Hi, hon, I’m on the way home” nature), nor did I want to pay monthly internet fees to a wireless carrier. Besides, I’m near a computer 80% of the day. So, having a low end Ipod, I decided to go with the Ipod Touch 2G. Absolutely no regrets. As a video, music, ebook and game platform (train commuting can get boring), it’s unsurpassed. It’s web browser actually works (though it’s lack of Flash support drove me crazy when looking for restaurants in another city this weekend, and every restaurant seemed to be a flash site). Offline RSS reading, important to me on the Palm, has equally good counterparts on the Ipod Touch. SplashID has an Iphone/Ipod Touch version, so I didn’t miss a beat there. The only weak points, really, are the basic PDA integrated Calendar/Contact/Notes apps, which are OK but no Agendus. But developers are working on this (one of the big Windows mobile apps, Pocket Informant, is supposed to be available in about a month. Hopefully, Agendus will make the trip, too). So, once I got over the differences in the way things work between the Ipod and the Palm, it feels as natural as the Palm (almost…why can’t they have a tabbed launcher!?).

I hope Palm hits a home run with the new system they’re introducing soon…I would certainly consider moving back. It’s Palm’s last chance. But until then, I gotta say…the Ipod touch has been great so far!