I’ve been doing really well.
I still haven’t got a gumstix , I’m #1 on Google for ‘pootooth’ (which I’m thinking of putting on my CV) , and last week I decided I definitely wasn’t getting conned by apple.
My girl got an ipod mini last month for her birthday – 6Gb for 155 quid.
I had a 512Mb shuffle as part of a deal from audible at the same time.
I knew that new ipods were imminent, so thought I’d ebay the shuffle (while it wasn’t quite obsolete) and spend the cash on a mobiblu. Colour features, open interface, nicely dinky, etc.
Then his Jobsness tells me what I really want is an ipod mini, only
- 2/3 the storage
- with no accessories
- in only two colours
- unproven. Apple hardware in my experience is less than reliable (bad ibook experience at a formative age)
- with a colour screen I’ll never see that will piss horrible chemicals into my groin when it cracks
- that’s brittle and I’ll forget is in my back pocket – until I sit down
for 20 pounds more. Oh, and just to help me make up my mind, you can’t get minis anymore. Cheers.
But today I read the ArsTechnica review ( involves throwing it out of a car at 50mph, then driving over it, and it still working) . And I’ve had a rethink:
- these things are bulletproof. Might even be todder proof…
- white is a nice colour and they do nanotubes (ipod condoms) if you really want a snot green ipod
- there are already hacks out there to use the colour screen
- it’s dinky
- there are OSS apps that speak ipodian
- 165 pounds is very cheap for a 4Gb flash player – a 1gb mobiblu is 130 quid, and that’s a choke hazard
Still think I’ll procrastinate a bit longer though:
- some analysts reckon sales figures aren’t as awesome as they could be, so a price drop might be on the horizon.
- I have a lot of crisp packets
- the refurb store (no url, it’s a secret) opens tomorrow; if the minis are cheap enough I’ll get a few
- I really need some shoes.