I think the audio prompts are a great idea, but I have another reason I want them. I would like to have a way to have the iPod/iPhone announce the name & artist of the track currently playing. If the player is on shuffle, surely we've all had songs play that we didn't recongnized, but it wasn't worth digging out of our pocket or breaking our stride to read the display. How about pressing & holding the pause button would have the player read aloud the track info?

This hack will probably come... but really who will use it? What difference will it make? How many rental movies do you really want to keep forever and watch repeatedly?

How many movies have you chosen to watch more than twice?

This is a key difference between music & movies!

Here's another reason why Apple should put every possible feature into the Touch. MANY people have no use for an Iphone. They may be supplied a Nextel or Blackberry by their job, they may live somewhere without ATT coverage, they may not be allowed to carry a cameraphone, they may have 21 months left on their current contract... the list goes on.

You would think Apple would want everyone of these people to carry an Ipod Touch, as a companion to the phone, fully loaded with music, videos, contacts, appointments, Safari, and all the Apple goodness.

The inability to add appointments WOULD be a deal-breaker for me. I was proclaiming that the Touch would kill the PDA dead once and for all... not it looks like it falls a little short.

(also posted at TUAW)

Here's another reason why Apple should put every possible feature into the Touch. MANY people have no use for an Iphone. They may be supplied a Nextel or Blackberry by their job, they may live somewhere without ATT coverage, they may not be allowed to carry a cameraphone, they may have 21 months left on their current contract... the list goes on.

You would think Apple would want everyone of these people to carry an Ipod Touch, as a companion to the phone, fully loaded with music, videos, contacts, appointments, Safari, and all the Apple goodness.

The inability to add appointments WOULD be a deal-breaker for me. I was proclaiming that the Touch would kill the PDA dead once and for all... not it looks like it falls a little short.

Interface: 9.5
Look & Feel: 9
Software: 8
Does everything I need: 5.0

no sale yet.

I played with it in the store for 20 minutes. Absolutly loved it. However, for it to replace my Treo, it will need some new software, or I will have to change the way I work. (create & log tasks, store information, and generally run an office on the go)

I am confident that eventually the software & upgrades will come, and I will say goodbye to the Palm Treo. (Yes, Edge is a killer. I had to upgrade to EvDO before I could really use my Treo, because having calls go to voicemail whenever you are surfing or emailing or IM is unacceptable when you need to be in touch for business.)

The Iphone will kill them.

I am a longtime Palms user, currently Treo 700P. I thought to myself, if the Treo merely was thinner, had a little better battery life, and got rid of the annoying lag & slowness, it would be a nearly perfect smartphone.

Then I tried an Iphone. The bar has been raised.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I guess the revolutionary Hawkins hasn't heard of Ultralight FULL-FEATURED laptops, UMPCs, or seen the way people use Blackberries.

Ouch. I might have to get a Blackberry Curve.

As a longtime Treo user... this looks like what the Treo should

Longtime Palm & Hawkins fan here... and I will have absolutly ZERO interest in buying a standalone PDA/UMPC to carry along with my Treo. Do they think we wear cargo fatigues or a bat-belt? What kind of world do they live in where people walk around with $1000 worth of electronics on their body?

All I want is better Treos! (and the list of things they could do to improve them keeps getting longer, as the compitition keeps improving!)

This is horrible news. Regardless that some don't like the way the way they look, the may very well engineered laptops. Laying these people off to improve short-term profitability is a recipe for disaster.