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iPod Touch: Good for writing?
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Sep 2000
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I've played around with the iPod Touch and the iPhone at The Apple Store, of course. But, I was wondering what the experienced owners of said devices opine on the effectiveness of the Touch/iPhone as a casual writing device. Let me give you some background: I often like to jot down some notes, or write a few short paragraphs while away from my MacBook. I could write in a paper notebook, but then that would mean rewriting it when I get home. I'd much rather directly input it digitally the first time.
Now, I used to do this when I owned a Palm PDA using Gaphiti and sometimes, a keyboard (I had a Treo 180 with a keyboard). I must admit, the experience wasn't stellar, and I've never been particularly good at working with little keyboards or even Graphiti. But, at least I could get it done. Now, my question: Is the Touch/iPhone at least as good, if not better, for writing than using Graphiti on a Palm PDA? Could this really serve me as a casual writing device? Or am I asking the wrong thing out of a Touch/iPhone?
BTW, I plan to get a Touch if anything, but I figure there are probably many more iPhone than Touch users, and the experience is directly transferable from one to the other. I also like the PDA-like features of the Touch, of course. But I want to know if it's really useful for jotting down some text as well.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Los Angeles
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I have never used Grafitti but I would say yes the touch is good for writing short amounts.
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Originally Posted by Big Mac 
I have never used Grafitti but I would say yes the touch is good for writing short amounts.
What would you recommend he write in? Notes? And then how would you suggest him to sync to his computer as he said he wanted to do?
No, as of now, I don't think the iPhone or iPod touch will do what you want very well. The answer may completely change in a month after the SDK brings some new apps (maybe something to do exactly what you're saying... shoot, I could use that app!). But as of now, no, I don't think you'd be satisfied using it for that purpose.
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Senior User
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Hollywood, Ca
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Taking notes is one of the ways I use my iPhone. I like to jot down thoughts throughout the day, and they usually consist of a few paragraphs. This device works very nicely for this task, especially once you get used to typing on it.
To get it backed up to your computer, you can e-mail a copy of the note to yourself.
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My Computer: MacBook Pro 2GHz, Mac OS X 10.4.5
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Suffolk, VA
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Speaking of taking notes and stuff... here's a serious thought and a serious question...
When the new updates come out in June or whenever, what are the chances of someone using the SDK software to (maybe Apple) port the notetaking and handwriting abilities of the Newton Messegepad over to the Touch and iPhone? I would shell out cash for that upgrade. 
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: planning a comeback !
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Does the iPod Touch via Bluetooth support those collapsable travel keyboards ?
Wait, does the iPod Touch even HAVE BT ?
How about the iPhone ? Does it support BT devices other than headsets ?
-t
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Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hutto Texas, or on the road
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I assume that the Touch is identical to the iPhone as far as Notes are concerned. If not, ignore what follows.
I am a science fiction writer and have been for many years, with more than a dozen novels completed and two out for sale (see amazon). Some were written on my Newton with attached keyboard purely for the mobility. I'm finding the iPhone even easier to use for writing at odd moments.
The basics: Write one or two chapters per note, and then sync to iTunes and use either the Uninovate script or MegaPhone to extract the note content and paste it into Word or whatever your Mac's writing program.
I've blogged about this here.
The advantages: Easy to use. After 55000 words on my latest novel, it's fast and relatively easy to type. I'm a one-finger guy myself.
The disadvantages: No Bold, underline or italic. Dialog is difficult, because of the contortions you go through to shift to symbols for quotemarks. Since I'm essentially writing a first draft, however, I am confident I'll fix all these in re-write. Anything more than about 5000 words and it gets difficult to scroll through the text to look for "what did I name that minor character back in chapter three?". Definitely split larger items into multiple notes. Since you will definitely want to copy your first draft text frequently to your main writing machine, don't bother with editing previous notes.
That's all for now.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Los Angeles
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Originally Posted by HenryMelton
Dialog is difficult, because of the contortions you go through to shift to symbols for quotemarks.
Do you use the symbol shortcut?
Instead of hitting .?123, then hitting quotes, you can touch .?123 then without lifting your finger, slide to the quotes and you're back to typing. I don't know if this is any easier.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Originally Posted by HenryMelton
Dialog is difficult, because of the contortions you go through to shift to symbols for quotemarks.
Do you use the symbol shortcut?
Instead of hitting .?123, then hitting quotes, you can touch .?123 then without lifting your finger, slide to the quotes and you're back to typing. I don't know if this is any easier.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Body in London, mind elsewhere
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Originally Posted by jayzen
Do you use the symbol shortcut?
Instead of hitting .?123, then hitting quotes, you can touch .?123 then without lifting your finger, slide to the quotes and you're back to typing. I don't know if this is any easier.
Never knew that.
It also flicks back to the qwerty keyboard from symbols if you press the space bar.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Calgary
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It would have to be really short notes. If Apple enabled the Notes apps to work when then Touch is horizontally oriented, then it would be much better for my. When the Touch is vertical, my hands are simply too large to be able to type using both thumbs (BBerry style), which is much faster than typing using one finger.
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Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hutto Texas, or on the road
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Originally Posted by jayzen
Do you use the symbol shortcut?
Instead of hitting .?123, then hitting quotes, you can touch .?123 then without lifting your finger, slide to the quotes and you're back to typing. I don't know if this is any easier.
Yes, my daughter taught me the shortcut, but consider what it takes to quote a sentence:
shortcut slide to "
shift button (because autocaps don't work after a quote)
type the sentence
double space to get the period
backspace
shortcut slide to "
It's a little complicated for a very common sequence.
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