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I received an early Christmas present this year due to some funds that came unexpectedly. I have the new 8gig Apple iPod Touch. I have to say this device is almost beyond words. Words like intuitive, fluid, easy, beautiful, elegant come to mind as I hold the device in my hand but they do not describe it well enough. There is so much to love about this device. I feel free from my computer for the first time. Free to email, watch YouTube, post to my blog, play gameboy games, manage & track my gas consumption in my vehicle, shell into the web server.Oh wait. It doesn’t do that out of the box. No, you have to immediately void the warranty and Jailbreak it. But I’ll get back to that.

First I have to say it has a very sleek design. The classic Apple touch (no pun intended) with the glossy black screen and the highly polished stainless steal back. It screams “I’m an Apple!”. As soon as you pick it up it feels right in your hand. Sure it is very thin and feels somewhat fragile at first. But the weight of the device offsets any worries of breaking it while handling it. The screen is bright and vibrant. You wish your TV looked this good. Controls are intuitive and unlike a PDA the touch sensitive technology actually works. You can get up to speed very quickly with using the keyboard - even if you have pudgy fingers - you will find yourself flying along with little to no mistakes (poor typing notwithstanding).

The basic features of the device is pretty much a stripped down iPhone. You do not get any of the basic applications that the iPhone offers. You get iTunes, YouTube, Calendar, Safari, Settings, Calculator, Contacts, Photo, and Video. All of these features work well. The ability to surf using the devices onboard wireless works well on home networks or your local coffee shack hot-spot. The “cool” factor of getting the album view by flipping it sideways is neat. Video is clear and the sound is great. Safari is quick and loads all pages correctly (that I visited). iTunes allows you to purchase music on the device itself. You can sync your Outlook Contacts and Calendar to the iPod also by using iTunes.

But you find yourself wanting more. You see the iPhone and go “I want what it has”. I want Google Maps. I want Email. I want more. Because the device literally screams “I CAN DO SO MUCH MORE THAN THIS!” So the public cried and the open source folks answered with Jailbreak. The ability to “hack” your iPod allowing you to install all those nifty iPhone applications and much much more. From customizing and theming it to your liking, to getting applications, games, and tools. I now have a device that I can use day to day that just happens to play music and videos.

But… there is always a but. You do pay a price. Your dealing with unapproved third-party software vendors essentially. They aren’t working from a SDK from Apple. They hacked it. So you end up getting a hacker’s work. Which means you have issues to deal with. The device will start flaking out on you for no apparent reason. Instead of the familiar blue screens with windows, applications just disapear for no reason. You are forced to reboot the device often. Although you can still use the device as it is intended for. You do take a hit on stability. Please don’t blame the developers who provided the hack though. Apparently this being a 1rst Gen device you have to be aware of what you are getting into.

I love my new iPod and can’t imagine life without it. I truly have a portable device that handles everything I need it for, and it looks good doing it. Even if I did have to void the warranty. I’d say if your looking for a PDA replacement - this is the ideal solution. Of course it does not have the Phone feature - but then again I don’t have to shell out 70/mo to AT&T for that privilege now do I?