Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon
This should make iPod Touch more attractive to me as a PDA. However, I want Bluetooth, so an unactivated iPhone at eBay prices (i.e. $150-$200) might become more attractive, who knows...
I don't want another phone -- but I'd like a powerful pocket computer that's running a near clone of a desktop operating system (MacOS X), capable of doing videos and photos with the good pinch-zoom manoever, able to run ports of 3D games, connecting to Bluetooth keyboards, doubling as a handwriting notepad, etc.
At $200 (predicted 2008 price), the iPhone/iPod Touch should make a real KICK-ASS pocket PDA computer... Great 3D chip, great resolution, great widescreen iPod, fast ARM processor, great graphics API's. The specs TOTALLY BLOW AWAY ALL IPAQ'S (except maybe Dell Axim X51v, but it's much more fun to program for a Mac platform anyway)
And possibly a new skillset for my computer programming skills; as I currently earn a living programming for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile. I, for one, look forward to expanding my skills. [and maybe increasing my salary  ]. Probably fairly easy, if you have some Linux and/or Mac knowledge -- because you can simply telnet to the iPod and develop directly on-device using gdb or choose your favourite IDE, etc. -- since MacOS is just essentially a UNIX flavour nowadays). Or Xcode is rather nice in many ways, mind you, and for those Microsoft Visual Studio users, can always write a plugin. Visual Studio can now be used as a shell for any programming language -- you can write your own plug-in debugger for any programming language of your choice these days. We even have a BlackBerry plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio now! Plenty of development choice.
I'll still hang onto my Blackberry for email and everything else, though.
But I gotta have me one of these as a second device, come February! |
Let's give some credit where credit is due, eh? MacOS
IS FreeBSD with some Apple tweaks. For those unaware, Jordan K. Hubbard, primary founder of FreeBSD project, was hired by Apple, initially as Engineering Manager of the BSD Technology group, and then promoted to Director of UNIX Technology circa 2005. The BSD License allows them to use the code anyway but by hiring JKH they were getting "the man" himself and a nice insurance policy with the community at large to boot.
