Buying an iphone or ipod touch for traveling

Rachel,

While the IPod Touch is a very versatile "travel accessory", you'll have to determine whether it's worth the cost for your trip.

The IPod Touch does work reasonably well for Internet and E-mail use, however given the small screen and keyboard, I find that it's best for "light duty" use (ie: short E-mails without photos or other attachments).

One other option you might consider would be to pack along a Netbook. They're very compact and light and therefore easy to travel with, and the cost is about the same as a "high end" IPod Touch. The Netbook would provide not only a convenient method for storing photos, but also much more memory capacity as well as a larger display and keyboard to work with.

Another point to keep in mind is that many Hostels these days provide one or more computers for guests to use, and also free Wi-Fi. More travellers are packing along Netbooks and Laptops these days, so Hotels and Hostels especially are adding Wi-Fi to there "features".

I have an IPod Touch and will be taking that on my trip this year, as it's very convenient for music, the occasional movie, audio tours, etc. However, I'll be packing along a Netbook for the first time this year as well.

Happy travels!

Kelly,

If you're planning to use your IPhone in Europe, it would be a REALLY good idea to check with your network to determine the costs for data roaming. If you're planning to access the net or E-mail as you do at home, it will become VERY expensive, VERY quickly!

I believe AT&T offers some travel plans that mitigate the costs to some extent, but it will still be more expensive than at home.

You can avoid the data roaming charges by disabling the data portion of the phone BEFORE you arrive in Europe, and just using the Wi-Fi portion (where Hotspots are available).

For those that are planning to travel with an IPAD that's equipped with the 3G cellular interface, it would also be prudent to do some research on the data roaming charges if travelling with that in Europe!

Cheers!

Rachel,

Actually, some Netbooks are not too much more expensive than an IPod Touch.

For example, Future Shop currently have listings for Netbooks as low as $249. You could also check London Drugs or Staples.

I can appreciate the aspect of a budget, but wanted to suggest it anyway.

Cheers!

I'm a vote for the netbook Rachel. Not nearly as unwieldy as a laptop, and great ofr doing other things like downloading all your pictures (I assume you'll take lots in 11 weeks), updating via facebook, or a blog, journaling,etc. (Watching a movie on a bit larger screen when you need a day off!)

We use my sister's Acer Aspire One with the extended battery sells for about $300-350. Worked great, would take again any time.

PS - I'd still take your iPod, Rick's free tours are pretty amazing, and if you look in iTunes, you can find a whole host of free videos, tours, video tours, etc on most destinations in Europe. Worth it! :)

Using the new IPad give email a whole new experience compared to IPod Touch, or IPhone. Also allows you to access the 150,000 APS that help when traveling. Stop in at an Apple Store, or check out on line.

I will leave my laptop at home from now on.

Even though I never have used my iphone in Europe, I would never leave home without it. Some times when you use computers in Europe, the keyboard is slightly different. For instance, it took me an hour to figure where the @ key was. If you have your own "computer" this would not happen.

I used to travel with a high-end Dell Axim PDA. About the same size as an iphone/touch, and with the same features. At first it was neat that something the size of a calculator could do some many cool things, but after a while the small screen, and virtual keyboard got very annoying. I switched to a netbook and have been much happier.

Vote for Ipod Touch. I use mine daily at home so I'm used to the screen. After awhile, you'll get used to the typing. I woulnd't want to write a novel on it, but it's fine for anything short term. I now leave the netbook home.

In fact, I'm writing this from my Ipod Touch.

I forgot to add...put Skype on it and you can make cheap calls home.

Thank you all for your responses. I have no interest in buying a netbook, as I'm trying to stick to a budget and would just be getting the smallest (8 gig) ipod touch for $200. A netbook seems to be double that price!

I took my new iPhone with me last August to the UK and loved having it. I didn't use the phone part a lot, but I did use it some. I am sure I'll be looking at the new iPad at some point. It sure sounds and looks interesting. I'll be looking forward to hearing about the pioneers' experiences with it. Pam

Rachel - I can highly recommend taking an IPod Touch on your vacation. Last summer we were on a train from London to Inverness when there was an unexpected delay. My daughter was able to connect to the trains Wifi with her IPod Touch and send an email to our b&b in Inverness explaining the problem. It was a life saver.

I'm another ipod touch fan. Took it to Spain & Portugal last year. Can access all kinds of apps with wifi (including radio stations, Facebook, and newspapers from back home). I was able to send e-mails back home to family, saving me having to make phonecalls. Even in places without wifi, I could set it up and listen to music on the external speakers - the sound isn't spectacular that way, but it was nice when sitting on my hotel balcony. I've recently started downloading TV shows & movies to watch on it as well. For me, it was worth it.

Another vote for the iPod touch as a travel companion. Games and movies for the flight. Alarm clock. Train schedules, travel guide apps, email, maps, Skype, etc. And your entire iTunes library goes with you for those long train rides.

yet another vote for the Touch. The ONLY reason I could see for bringing a netbook or notebook would be if you needed to transfer files from camera or video recorder.

We needed it for our FlipHD we had no alterative to keeping video when it was full, and did use it to keep copies of photos from SD cards, we just missed bringing enough SD cards to not worry about that. As they are cheap and small, we had 5 4GB cards.
We used our iPod Touches for keeping in touch with people, mostly E-Mail and Facebook

Rachel, you asked this question a couple of days ago, stating that you would be leaving in about a week... a bit of caution, before you purchase, check out the "Best travel apps" on the Graffiti wall. If you don't see anything there that looks like you would use it, then forget getting an itouch now. You just don't have much time to get familiar with the touch in time to make it of much use to you. Be cautious because some apps only apply to the iphone. In my own case, I found Skype and an iphone headset to be of good use. I had to purchase the headset separately, adding $30 to the cost. Also instapaper and docs to go are good for saving travel information that you find on the internet or generate yourself on your PC before your trip. Good luck and I agree with the others that an Itouch is a great travel tool, just that you need to use it a bit before the trip to get maximum advantage.