As I was upgrading my iPod Touch to version 3.0 last night, I tweeted that it was the best PDA I have ever owned. That prompted Barbara Baily (HRGuruBarb) to tweet back asking me how it functions as a PDA. There is no way I could fit that response into 140 characters.Twitter does have its limitations.
First, a little background. I was a dedicated Franklin Planner user for many years. I loved it literally took it everywhere, but hated how bulky it was and how it literally turned me into the one-armed man. I finally scraped together enough cash to buy a Palm Pilot V. Even though I bought the folding keyboard, I found I couldn’t enter things into it fast enough for me to want to replace the planner. Besides that, the task manager was bad. After that, I dabbled with PDA after PDA, searching for the right one that would do everything I wanted fast enough to give up paper and pen. Don’t ask my wife how much I have spent on PDAs – it will only depress her.
Over the past two years, I have adopted the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology into my productivity lifestyle. I have tried task manager after task manager. I’ll write another post about all the different ones I have used and abandoned. Currently, I am using Toodledo, an online tool that also prints out a handy booklet I fold up and put in my pocket.
Rewind to last February. The iPod that I have used since 2004, fell out of my pocket onto the tile floor. I held my breath, scared that it was toast. I got the infamous click of death. For the first time in 5 years, I was without an iPod and a musical emotional wreck. I needed my music with me. Over the next couple months (I was out of discretionary funds for a few months), I investigated and drooled over the Apple website. I bugged friends over which to buy. I finally settled on the iPod Touch because it could play movies, didn’t have a cursed hard drive and was the latest in chic. What I hadn’t planned on was how quickly the application feature of the Touch was going to take over my life.
First, I discovered that it would import all my contacts from Gmail. Cool. I like having those with me all the time. Go ahead and down load those. Hey! It syncs with Google Calendars, too? Sweet! Now I have my family and work appointments on my iPod. It was about a month into using it I discovered Toodledo had an application for the iPhone that would also work on the Touch. Awesome!
The Touch application not only presents all the tasks, but stores them on the iPod, syncing them automatically whenever whenever an Internet connection is available. This little application quickly became the heart of my task management. That really became apparent the night the Toodledo died.
A couple of weeks ago, Toodledo had a server crash and was down overnight. My wife, whom I have converted to all things online as well, was beside herself. She was frustrated that she couldn’t get to her task lists. I was blissfully sitting next to her, flipping through my task list on the iPod and doing my weekly review, knowing that nothing was going to get lost or have to be reentered. That made her even more frustrated. She had been just about ready to print out a new booklet when the site died, so she had nothing. That is the danger of having things all online. And I wasn’t winning points. (note: I will probably have to buy her a Touch soon.)
So, slowly, app after app, I have been moving things to the iPod. I love to read. There are several book reader applications. The latest application I have discovered came this morning as I was playing with the new 3.0 update. They now include a voice memo recording application. Frankly, Quick Voice has more features, but both do that final thing I have wanted – record voice notes while I’m driving.
The more I move things onto my iPod, the less I use the Windows Mobile phone from my company. Now, I only use it for work related email. I could move my work email onto the iPod as well, but the policy requires I password protect it first. I’m not willing to have to type in a password, so I still carry it. Since it is a phone, I don’t mind. Could I get an iPhone? Yes, but the company won’t pay for it and I’m not going to pay for it on my own.
What makes the Touch the ultimate PDA for me? Apple did the interface right. For the same reason the iPod has commanded the protable music player market, it will dominate the PDA market soon. It is the easiest to use and definitely the most extendable. I didn’t think I would ever say that about Apple. They finally figured out how to turn loose the hoards of developers out there to do the heavy lifting of customization. For very little money, I have outfitted my Touch with the applications I use every day to make my world run. When Mindjet creates a version of MindManager for the iPhone/Touch, I may sell my laptop. (Not really. I still type faster on a real keyboard.) Everything I use for productivity would then run in the palm of my hand, wherever I may roam. Life is sweet.
