So in my travels lately I have been keeping an eye out for free Wi-Fi connections so I can use one of the features of the iPod touch that I can’t use at home. In the Denver Airport on Wednesday I was able to connect to the free connection.
A couple things I noticed as I browsed the internet, some of which will be a limiting factor if you are planning to use the iPod touch for mobile learning (m-learning).
One: using the wi-fi feature cuts the battery charge significantly. So if you’re using it with out a charger or a way to plug it into your computer, the actually amount of use you can get out of the touch is limited. I know I went from full to half in an hour or so. For shorter smaller modules this is fine. If its going to be something longer, you may not want to rely on the user going through wifi to access content.
Two: As of right now the actually types of content you can view on the iPod touch through the Safari browser is limited. No flash content. Images of most types seem to work fine. Videos- really I think I’ve only seen YouTube videos that play on YouTube. Even the YouTube video I posted recently only plays on the touch from the YouTube page.
Three: The ability to type and add content quickly from the iPod Touch. While I really like the touch keyboard, I am not yet proficient, and not fast at all. I still make mistakes. Granted I’ve only been using it for two months, I think that the keyboard is going to be ideal at all for writing or entering much information.
Four: At least for now, I don’t have a good application for note taking, organizing, or accessing other documents. I was checking my work e-mail through the web (which is a great and easy way to see wants going on, unless a response is needed ASAP), but I can’t even begin to look at attachments that come in. So again a limit on the formats that can be viewed and accessed.
I’m not trying to be negative, because I do really like my iPod touch – wow screen video looks so nice! I also want to be realistic about what it can and can’t do right now.
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March 9, 2008 at 5:15 am
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compared to other mobile devices, the browser is light years ahead. I realize the lack of flash is a concern, but Apple has said that it is working on a flash plugin that will be available later on as a software update. And the keyboard takes some getting used to, but once you are familiar with it, it is almost as fast as an ordinary qwerty keyboard.