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    • « Two Weeks In, One Wish Granted | Home | Late-adopting iPhone »

    Upgrading iPod Touch to 1.1.3

    By Dave Peterson | January 19, 2008

    Despite the standard stories of iPod Touches getting bricked by the new 1.1.3 firmware update, I decided to be brave and give it a try. I had been on the fence about the value (to me) of the new functionality included in the additional applications package, but I’m intrigued by the GPS alternative offered by the new Maps software. In the Touch, the system detects and triangulates on beacons from surrounding Wi-Fi hotspots. In the iPhone, those beacons are combined with signals from cell towers. Those signal maps are run against a database compiled by Skyhook Wireless to provide a surprisingly accurate position on a map. It definitely sounds like it would work better in a city than less heavily-signaled areas, but it’s an intriguing concept (particularly the dual signal iPhone version). Probably the biggest thing you get with the new firmware is the ability to run the new applications (for which you have to pay $20). Basically, if you don’t want the apps, the upgrade is probably not worth the risk of upsetting your iPod’s ecosystem.

    The download and upgrade to 1.1.3 were blessedly uneventful. I was amused that the upgrade’s first official action is to prompt iTunes to bring up the screen where you can purchase the new applications. Hint, hint. A quick check of files and functionality confirmed that I hadn’t lost either, so I continued on to the application installation.

    Getting the applications is so fast that I have to assume they are locked up in the 1.1.3 firmware and purchasing them merely does an unlock. So, on to the testing.

    Maps was the first thing I tried, and getting location was the first feature of Maps I was interested in. As I’m at home and I can only detect my network and those of a couple of neighbors, I wasn’t expecting much. Wow. It zoomed in immediately on exactly the correct location with a startling accuracy. Much faster than GPS, and with no need for a clear shot at the sky. My first impression is that this is a very promising technology.

    Notes is about what one would expect: A simple word processor with a timestamp, displayed on a background that looks like a yellow legal pad.

    Weather also holds few surprises, except that it initially seems to pine for home, bringing up a report on Cupertino, California (home of Apple). Additional cities are easily entered, and then you can easily move from one city’s report to another with a horizontally scrolling, which is a nice touch.

    Stocks gives a simple list view of whatever securities you want to follow. A nice fast glance at a portfolio, with easy toggling between the dollars-and-cents change and the percentage change, with a chart at the bottom of the page for whatever security is selected. The chart has period options ranging from one day to two years, and indicates when the markets are closed.

    Mail is a cool, if largely unremarkable, app. It’s pre-configured with server information for Yahoo Mail, Gmail, .mac, and AOL, and has the ability to load in any other system for which you know incoming and outgoing server names.

    All told, I’m fairly impressed by the new application bundle. To me, it seems worth the money, although I’m doing this review while sitting next to my wireless router. Obviously functionality away from an accessible Wi-Fi network will impair most of these apps, as everything except Notes relies on an Internet connection. So is this a sales ploy to encourage iPhone purchases among Touch users? If so, it might just work.

    Topics: Reviews |

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