My New Phone is an iPod Touch

My New Phone: Not a Phone!

I've had an LG Voyager for about a year, and I'm generally happy with it. It has a touch screen interface, as well as a full keyboard when you flip it open. (See my Voyager vs iPhone article.) Call quality is excellent, it can browse the web, take photos and videos.

So why get rid of it? I had two reasons. First, it doesn't have wifi. The Voyager can only go online via my Verizon data plan, which relies on the cellular signal. The $15/month is no biggie, but the signal is not always great, so sometimes browsing is slow. With a wifi-enabled phone, I could phone surf at high speeds at home, in Starbucks, or any place where there is a free wifi signal. And secondly, I wanted a bigger screen. The Voyager's is only 1.5 x 2.5 inches, which is a little cramped for most websites.

I was about ready to choose from the Samsung Omnia, the Samsung Saga, or the HTC Touch. They're all slick Verizon phones with wifi and have larger screens for web page viewing. But as I said, something happened on the way to the phone store. My wife had been suggesting that we get an iPod Touch to replace her ancient iPod Shuffle. So I bought one at the local Apple Store, and on the way out I realized that the iPod Touch is everything I wanted in a phone, but without the phone.

It's got wifi, web access, and a nice big 3.5 inch touchscreen. It provides easy access to iTunes, YouTube, maps, email, weather and thousands of other applications from the App Store. I've downloaded free games, a fitness tracker, and even the Kindle book reader for my Touch. In a nutshell, the iPod Touch is everything that's cool about the iPhone. So it can't make phone calls or take pictures. I already have a phone that I like, and it can do those things.

Why Not Just Get an iPhone?

Yes, I have to carry two gadgets around instead of one. And that seems to beg the question: why not just buy an iPhone, if you love the iTouch so much? The main reason is that iPhone users are locked into using AT&T. Their calling plan costs a minimum of $70/month, and that's for just 450 minutes and pay-as-you-go texting. (Unlimited text messaging costs $20/month extra.) You can move up to 900 minutes for $90/month, 1350 minutes for $110/month or get unlimited talk time for $130/month. And the Family Plan is no bargain either. It's double the price for the second line, and then you pay $10/month for additional lines.

I have five phones on a Verizon family plan, and using the iPhone on the Verizon network is simply not an option. It would cost me about $90/month EXTRA for the iPhone, to get a calling plan similar to the one I have now. Since I already have a phone, it would make more sense to hot-glue the iPod Touch to the back of my Voyager. I didn't actually do that, but it's an option.

Oh, and it turns out you actually CAN make phone calls from your ipod Touch! This Lifehacker article describes how to turn your iPod Touch into an iPhone and make phone calls. You don't have to be a hacker, and there's no soldering iron needed. Just a bit of VOIP software and a microphone that plugs into the sync/charge port. But of course you can only make phone calls where you have wifi internet access, and as far as I can tell, you cannot receive incoming calls. Also check out Jajah and TruPhone for options when it comes to making VOIP calls over wifi devices.

So for now I'm happy with my Verizon phone and the iPod Touch. This combo meets all my needs for calling, mobile web access, PDA functionality and even gaming. Of course, your comments are welcome...