Uh-oh! My Inner Geek Is in Love Again!

I’m afraid it’s true. Those of you who know me won’t be surprised, since it was love at first sight with the iPod Touch, and I soon was the proud owner of a 32 GB version. I never went for the iPhone; somehow it just never grabbed me, but the Touch has been my constant companion ever since I forked over the roughly $500 purchase price several years ago. Looking back, I’d say I got my money’s worth.

Fast forward to 2010: I had always liked the idea behind Amazon’s Kindle (and I’m sure I must be one of their best customers), but I was never much enamored of its gray-scale interface, though it was kind of cute. Seeing as how I’ve always been an eclectic reader (and part of my lumbar scoliosis is due no doubt to the fact that I always hauled tons of books home from school as a kid), the idea of being able to pack all the books and magazines I wanted to read in a little e-Book reader was appealing. I maintained that I would buy one when it came out with color, which it seems was not to be—or at least Apple beat them to it.

As with the Touch, it won’t be cheap, but it supposedly will go far beyond even the Touch’s capability and be useful in gaming or even at work. Available in 16-, 32-, and 64 GB interfaces with Blue Tooth wireless, it weighs in at 1.5 lb. I hear that’s a bit heavy if you plan on watching a 30-minute TV show, but it beats the socks off my 4 lb. laptop. Battery life for video is 10 hours (or a once monthly charge if you only read print), according to Steve Jobs (the best I ever got on my iPod Touch was 7 hours, and that was playing music with the display turned off—not playing video), and my Dell or HP laptops have never done better than 2.5 hours. Wi-Fi capability will cost you an additional $130 for the hardware, no matter which version you buy, but monthly plans (through AT&T only) will be $14.99 for up to 250 mg or $29.99 for unlimited usage. That seems reasonable enough for just about anybody, assuming they can afford the unit in the first place.

And to think I was considering upgrading to the 64 GB Touch. Now I don’t think so. The iPad is supposed to start shipping in March. I think I may need one.