Sponsor me?
The Apple i-touch, like many other Apple inventions, is an amazing piece of hardware. I’m borrowing one for the next twenty days and have become an apple accessory convert in the five days I’ve had an i-touch on the road. Here is why it is the ideal travel accessory:
- Lightweight and compact, yet versatile. For a traveler, the biggest constraints are weight and space. The Apple i-touch weighs less than a pound and fits in the palm of your hand. Meanwhile, it can access wireless when available, and has all of the major applications of a regular computer.
Unit converter. This makes traveling through multiple countries and handling several currencies much easier. Meanwhile, this helps when talking with people who do not know the conversions for metric to imperial measurements or Celsius and Fahrenheit.
Programmable world clock. With friends and family all over the world, this handy tool tells me what time it is in every major city where I have contacts. I’ll never wake up grandma at 2:00am again!
Notepad. For the travel blogger, the notepad on the i-touch helps me organize and retain quick thoughts for blog posts or other ideas. I also use it as a reminder for things. Reminder- do not drink local water.
Weather. This is useful in the morning when deciding what to wear for the day, its also just fun to watch in the desert as it escalates into the hundreds (Fahrenheit).
Games. For the by-ground traveler the game applications (downloadable) on the i-touch are an amazing way to pass time. I’m especially fond of ‘Brick 3D’ and the ‘Flags’ applications. I’ve learned every flag from every country in the world on this trip thanks to the later game, beware bar trivia, here I come!
Organization. The i-touch also had a calendar, for planning your next move or keeping track of when each visa expires. It can also store upcoming birthdays, holidays and other events so the far-wandering traveler isn’t missing little Timmy’s birthday back home or planning to visit a mosque on a Muslim holiday.
Music and Pictures. While these two drain the battery quickly, its nice to have music in the palm of your hand as well as pictures of family and friends to browse through when feeling homesick.
Calculator. Traveling through multiple countries means multiple languages. When buying things its essential to have a calculator if you are not fluent. The calculator on the i-touch is quick to launch and easy to use, on the down side if you flash hardware as nifty as this people will assume you have cash to burn.
Email. With its wireless capabilities, the i-touch can access your email as soon as it detects a connection. This is quicker and easier than logging into a computer or waiting, god forbid, for Vista to start just to see if you have any high-priority emails.
- Seriously, sponsor me!
In all, this handy little gadget rates a 9.5 on my electronics scale, of which everything else ranks about a 6.0. The only down side is that the battery drains quickly, which is not great for a traveler who often has long stretches between outlets. However, the fact that it can charge from the laptop is a nice bonus.
I have decided to acquire an i-touch. If anyone at Apple is reading this and wants to sponsor me with an i-touch for blogging, I’d be happy to accept! I’d also like an apple laptop someday, but that’s another story all together.
I started using an Apple (hesitantly & defensively) at work and am now in LOVE! It is really great. I hope to fully convert someday. There are still communication applications that do not interface with the non-mac user when it comes to how things look on a poster or schedule for print if they do not have the same application, but usually converting it to a pdf fixes that… Anywho – miss you guys and thought that you deserve to have a sponsor from Apple whom you can help toot their horn.
I am happy to announce that I now own an Apple i-touch, courtesy of my dad! He already loaded it with apps, including the Family Guy clips, world weather, level, converters and other useful travel tools! I’m so happy!!!!!