Thursday, June 24, 2010

iOS4 for the iPod Touch 2G 8GB MC-Model

As the title clearly states, this is a personal reflection and review of iOS4 running on the iPod Touch 2nd Gen 8GB MC-Model.

For those that didn't know this is the current 8GB model that is available. It is virtually identical to a normal 2nd Gen model except for the bump to "MC" which is generally designated as a 3rd Gen device. However, Apple still view this as a 2nd Gen device despite the MC-model moniker.

In a previous post, I had mentioned that I had jailbreak my iPod Touch with the Spirit Jailbreak Tool. With the update to iOS4, this jailbreak was automatically uninstalled.

The download and installation of iOS4 was pretty smooth. There wasn't any issue with downloading from Apple's servers roughly an hour or two after it was released. The installation went smoothly (I presume since I was actually not there to physically monitor the installation process but there wasn't any error nor issues afterward). The re-installation of all my apps, files, settings, etc. went off without a hitch. It was a pretty smooth upgrade process.

iOS4 gained some notable improvement over iOS3.1.3. The first is the ability to have folders. For someone like me that have about 300 apps in iTune and generally having about 7 pages of apps, this was a God-send function. The second most important new function in my view was the new email app. The unified inbox is awesome and the ability to tweak your personal preference of archiving email or actually having the delete command equal to moving the email to the trash. This works out pretty well overall for my accounts synced with Gmail. An interesting new function was the ability to create notes on IMAP servers (like Gmail). Aside from these named new features there are quite a number of other ones that aren't named but those didn't quite standout as much.

Now the question is whether it was worth the upgrade, considering that my device is a generation old. I would have to say, Yes. The upgrade was definitely worthwhile, if not only for the ability to have folders or even just the unified inbox. An added bonus to the upgrade to iOS4 is the ability to use iBooks and its corresponding online book store from Apple. Although I have had previously been a devote user of Stanza as my ebook reader, I do not mind having another one that has a large online store behind it. Especially a store that stock more of the newer books.

Overall, the upgrade to iOS4 was worthwhile. So far there hasn't been any major issues with the new o/s. There has been occasional 'glitches' but I'm sure those will be work out in time.