# iPod Touch



## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Quick questions:

If you look up a location, with directions, with Google Maps on the iPod Touch, can you save said directions for reference when outside a Wi-Fi zone?

Secondly, has anyone found a good car mount for the Touch? (Which will also charge the touch? Not looking for a FM transmitter.)


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

If you look something up ( a map or whatever) as long as you keep that map loaded when you close the programme it will stay the same when you reopen it.

I use mapsoffline app you can save maps and directions etc. It requires you to jailbreak though.

Cheers


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Adrian. said:


> If you look something up ( a map or whatever) as long as you keep that map loaded when you close the programme it will stay the same when you reopen it.


Hmm, okay. Kind of useless if you can't save it, especially if you need to reference multiple maps and locations. The iPod Touch is no GPS, but it has hard drive space, so it would be nice if Apple allowed you to actually store data that didn't come from your iTunes library...

At least the app of 'mapsoffline' exists to remedy this issue. What does jail breaking the iPod Touch involve?


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## minnes (Aug 15, 2001)

Lars, I just bought an iPod Touch and loved it, but i found the ZiPhone kailbreak 3.0 very easy, just download and double click and start the proccess.
You can always reset to normal if you dont like it.
You can download it here
ZiPhone's Blog: ZiPhone !
My fave jailbroken app is iPhysics, so fun!


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

Lars said:


> Hmm, okay. Kind of useless if you can't save it, especially if you need to reference multiple maps and locations. The iPod Touch is no GPS, but it has hard drive space, so it would be nice if Apple allowed you to actually store data that didn't come from your iTunes library...
> 
> At least the app of 'mapsoffline' exists to remedy this issue. What does jail breaking the iPod Touch involve?


Hey

What the guy said above. ZiPhone will not harm the iTouch in any way. You click "jailbreak" and a whole bunch of code will flash by on your iPod screen, it will restart and voila you have a little app called "installer" on your home screen. In this app exists thousands of programmes to download to enhance your experience.

All the stupid things that Apple did like not allowing disk use option, not being able to "save" things on your iTouch and viewing pdfs and docs on your iTouch have been fixed by someone out there. You can customize the entire thing. For example my ipod touch background is the leaves desktop from leopard. Much nicer than the black screen Apple gives you..

Games and programmes galore will turn your ipod into a mini computer. I would say, besides the screen real estate and lack of flash it definitely competes with the macbook air.

cheers


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## jamesB (Jan 28, 2007)

Once your iPod has been jailbroken can you still use iTunes to sync things such as contacts and photos?

Borderline Hacker in the making,
jb.


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## fozy (Jul 18, 2006)

Yeah, everything syncs fine. The only thing you can't do automatically is update the software with iTunes. But once you figure out how to jailbreak your touch the first time it's easy to upgrade using the same process.


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## lreynolds (Dec 28, 2005)

I just wanted to add that if you load a set of directions, then step through all the points while you have wifi, it will still work without. So it does cache the maps somewhat.


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

Jailbreaking is almost as easy as syncing your ipod really.:clap: 


Yeah as I did say before as long as you don't load another map you can view what you had loaded. It does cache, yes.


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## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

lreynolds said:


> I just wanted to add that if you load a set of directions, then step through all the points while you have wifi, it will still work without. So it does cache the maps somewhat.


That's right! We've done this.


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## Moscool (Jun 8, 2003)

Hmm I have found that the Map app will behave randomly: sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't... Also it would be nice to be able to step back i.e. if it can't find your location, then it takes you back to the previous screen...

Same problem with the weather: it will try to load new data and immediately blank things out. Very frustrating. Stocks however stays on yesterday's prices. Now that's useful  Go figure...


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

It would be nice if they made iPod touches compatible just with the data networks so they could update without needing wifi. I guess that is exactly what the iPhones does...but I don't wanna phone in my iPod. Shucks!


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Jail breaking the iPod Touch it is. Map caching really isn't good enough, especially, like I said, if you need multiple directions. Good way to give up carrying printed out Google Maps in the car...

Now I just need _to get_ an iPod Touch.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Adrian -- how do you find the Touch's durability? Scratch easily or..? Any other thoughts on the product?


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## minnes (Aug 15, 2001)

Lars, the glass front of the touch is very durable and scratch resistant, but does get smudgy, if you don't clean it.
The aluminum back does scratch easily so either live with minor back scratches or get a case.

I watched local Furureshop sales til an 8Gb went down cheap enough.
I got mine for $259 plus tax for a new in unopened box.
Also, I love watching movies on this thing, and the Youtube button is very cool.
A couple years ago, I had a Palm TX and the Touch is about 1000 times better, except for built in MS Office App on Palms Docs To Go.
But I see in the installer app, there is a word/excel viewer app.


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## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

minnes said:


> Lars, the glass front of the touch is very durable and scratch resistant, but does get smudgy, if you don't clean it.


Which could be a full-time job if one festers over it.

The smudges only become an annoyance when watching a movie with many dark visual elements, and only then in certain lighting conditions/viewing angles. I haven't found it to be a big problem 

Of course, the beauty of the iPhone/iPod Touch can cause one to obsess over maintaining a pristine appearance.


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

Lars,

The Touch screen is notoriously durable. There are videos on youtube of people scratching keys, coins and other pocket type items without being able to scratch the screen. That said, my iTouch mysteriously developed a nick on the screen. It was only visible when the screen was turned off. Nevertheless, I will not advertise the screen as un-scratch-able. Luckily, my headphones jack came loose and Apple sent me a brand new one. 

I would invest ($13.00) in a Belkin screen film. I have one on mine now and it protects the screen beautifully; you can barely notice its there and itself does not get scratched. Just be careful with applying it; you do not want dust or fingerprints to get underneath of it. It will drive you bonkers.

The silver back does scratch the hell of a lot though so I would strongly suggest some sort of cover for the entire ipod itself.

Hope this helps!

Cheers


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Thanks for all the comments.

With movie/show watching: Do the shows need to be converted to MPEG-4/H.264 and loaded into iTunes in order to get them onto the Touch like every other iPod? (Blah...)


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## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

Lars said:


> Thanks for all the comments.
> 
> With movie/show watching: Do the shows need to be converted to MPEG-4/H.264 and loaded into iTunes in order to get them onto the Touch like every other iPod? (Blah...)


Yes. Use the usual suspects such as Handbrake or Visualhub.


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## minnes (Aug 15, 2001)

Handbreak works fine for DVD to iPod viewing, and apps like TubeTV work fine for converting YouTube videos to M4V files which work well on iPods as well.


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## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

Lars said:


> Now I just need _to get_ an iPod Touch.


I got a 16GB on a local transaction through Craigslist for $280.00. The going used price these days is around $300 or a bit higher.


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