Stupid questions from an "on the fence" guy

[blue2noise]

Hey everyone. I am a Samsung Blackjack user and I am contemplating swicthing to the iPhone so I do not have to carry my Blackjack for phone/data, my Zune for music and my PSP for larger sreen movies. I have a few questions before I take the plunge...

1. I listen to MP3 radio shows that are sometimes 5-6 hours. Would I be able to bookmark my place in an MP3 after some listening and go back to it after listening to other things? I see there is a "podcast" feature, is there a way to designate these as podcasts so they can be bookmarked?

2. I have been hearing the browser is slow. Is this over blown and simply edge network slow, or will it take unbearably long to load pages?

3. Is there an RSS reader on the phone? I searched this forum for "RSS' and didn't find much.

4. How bad is the glare when watching movies? The finish seems so glassy I was wondering it if causes problems.

5. Is there any other way to get push email besides Yahoo push? I know it doesnt to Outlook ActiveSync but it does sync the contacts and calendar. I use Mail2Web for push capabilities currently.

That's all for now. If these items work out, i will be joining all of you very soon!

Rob

[bobb-mini]

1. Podcasts and Audiobook have that feature. However, if your shows are straight MP3 then u have to convert them, which after a while, it's a drag.

2. Good enuff using WIFI, slow on EDGE. Up to a few minutes for a typical page, according to reports.

3. Most RSS feeds should have a podcast versions by now, look harder.

[jhollington]

1. Actually, bobb-mini's comments are not entirely correct. This was how things worked in older versions of iTunes, but as of iTunes 6 you can set any file in iTunes to "Remember Playback Position" (even a music track), and this will be respected by all Apple devices (the iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV, and iTunes itself). In fact, this playback position will even transfer between devices (so you could listen to part of an audiobook or podcast on your iPhone and then pick up where you left off back on your computer).

2. The browser is blazingly fast compared to any other mobile device I've used. Performance issues are due to EDGE network speeds rather than any limitations in the browser itself. Over WiFi it works quite well. It is important to keep in mind, however, that it's a full browser, so it may seem slow compared to a WAP browser (which renders only text) or a "lite" HTML browser such as those found on the older Blackberries (which omit high-resolution graphics and most style sheets).

3. Yes and no. There is no RSS reader built-in, but RSS feeds accessed through the Safari browser redirect you to a Web 2.0 reader page. For all intents and purposes, this works just as well as the RSS Reader built-in to Safari, and I've been quite happy with it. The downside is that you don't get any OFFLINE reading, since these are being rendered via a web page.

4. Unless you're in direct lighting, there are no glare issues that I've personally noticed. In bright lighting (like fluorescent office lighting), you might need to turn the brightness up a bit, but otherwise it's quite good.

5. No, there is no mail push besides Yahoo. It can poll an IMAP-based account at 15-minute intervals, which is often good enough for most people. Contacts and Calendar are not synced wirelessly, but only via iTunes from a cabled connection to the desktop, via Outlook 2003.

[bobb-mini]

iTunes to "Remember Playback Position" (even a music track)
Are u saying ALL tracks are remembered? That is, one listens to mp3#1, pause then start to listen to mp3#2, pause again go back to mp3#1 and it resumes where it left off on mp3#1?

[jhollington]

Yes, if you have "Remember Playback Position" enabled for those particular tracks.

By default, music tracks do not have this setting enabled, whereas podcasts, audiobooks, and video tracks do. You can toggle the option for any track, however, either individually or as a group.

So if you wanted, you could do a "Select All" in iTunes, choose File, Get Info and enable this option for every track in your library, and any MP3 or AAC file would remember its playback position, and sync it between all of your devices.