It took me a while, but I finally updated my iPod Touch to the new 3.0 update. I liked the idea of copy and paste, and the Spotlight search was nice, but I did it entirely because I wanted to enable Bluetooth on my Touch, so I could use it for wireless music and for VoIP.
The update was clean, and took a good half hour. The download was about 15 minutes, and the actual update process was another 15. Then for the next 15 minutes, my iPod backed itself up. Yes, I paid for the update, and I'm glad I did. Piracy is not something I condone at any level. Be honest in your dealings. If you don't want to pay $10 for a software upgrade, try installing Linux on your iPod (yes, there is currently a project for it).
Once it was finished, the first thing I tried to do was pair my Plantronics Voyager 510 headset I purchased several years ago with my iPod. Bluetooth was easy to find on the iPod Touch in Settings, under General. I enabled it, set my iPod in discovery mode, and then set up my headset in discovery mode. And...nothing. My iPod wouldn't even see it.
Puzzled, and concerned that perhaps the chip was dead on my iPod that I bought a long time ago, I thought I would check out the boards and see if anyone else was experiencing the same issue. Report after report came of people either not able to pair their non-stereo headset, or the mic not working on a paired stereo headset.
So this told me two things: The headset needs to be an SD2P stereo headset (good thing I didn't buy a headset for my wife quite yet), and the mic wasn't working for those out there that already had it set up. My heart sank, because this was the main reason why I wanted Bluetooth for my iPod Touch. I want a WiFi phone that is easy to carry around, doesn't ring when I don't want it to, and let's me access my voicemail on my own time.
But the reports of the bluetooth mic were made primarily in conjunction with Skype, and when I opened Skype on my iPod, I got an incompatible OS Version error. The app seemed to work just fine, but I wondered if the mic functionality was only being tested on an app that may not support it, instead of a limitation in the OS.
More searching brought up some discussions of the mic not working at all, even for Voice Memos, so my guess is the bluetooth mic support is not built into the OS update. Perhaps it will be added in another minor update (one would hope), because the convenience would make owning the iPod Touch that much more of a benefit.
With regard to the other features, it is nice to have copy and paste now, though it took me a few seconds to figure out how to use it. The Calendar update is something I have wanted for a long time (CalDAV supported at last!), but since I'm using Exchange at work, I can't have other calendars set up. Spotlight is really nice, because it finds anything on the iPod. I had wondered how someone with many pages of apps would find the app they wanted. Spotlight takes care of that.
I had wondered when the shake to shuffle functionality would come to the iPhone and iPod Touch when it was added to the iPod Nano, though I don't think it would be ideal for joggers. In fact I have already heard of joggers and mountain bikers recommending the feature be turned off before starting. The Parental Controls are a welcome feature. That alone makes the $10.00 upgrade worth it!
I like the idea of syncing the Notes, though I still need to find the location to which they are copied. I like the idea because it allows for spontaneous fits of writing to my iPod, and then I can copy the results to an app at another time.
Lastly, Safari. I had high hopes for this update, hoping that it would include full Java applet support, and not just Javascript. Why? Because I hold office hours in Wimba, which requires Java to run properly for many of it's functions. I didn't necessarily want everything to work, but at least chat should I be on the road and need to attend office hours on the go.
So, while I was disappointed with the Bluetooth headset failure, I still think the update is worth the $10.63 (with tax) for the other features. If anyone has any more information on bluetooth headsets and using VoIP, I would be very interested in hearing about it!
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