iPod Touch vs. iPod: Is the Touch Good Enough?

Kevin Purdy at Lifehacker says Forget the iPhone--The iPod Touch is Good Enough:

Back in June 2007, I couldn't convince my wife that checking my email in grocery lines was worth $1,320—the cost of an original iPhone and one year of the cheapest plan. These days, the trend-setting phone costs even more money over its life, and it's more than a little restrictive and even a bit buggy. So I'm amazed at how little love the iPod touch gets. It's a slimmer iPhone with almost all its features, it requires no contract, and when you can't get a Wi-Fi signal, your plain, humble cellphone can step up to take its place. Here's why anyone considering the iPhone should opt for its oft-ignored sibling—the iPod touch—instead.

I don’t need an iPhone.  No, really, I don’t.

I’m working hard to convince myself of this, and of Purdy’s iPod Touch rationalization as well, because picking up an iPhone when I’ve already got a company phone would be expensive, and would require I carry two devices—the very problem the iPhone was arguably invented to solve.  Yet still, I consider the option. 

It calls to me, siren like, you see.  While it may be true, as Purdy says, that 90% of the apps in the App Store will work on an iPhone, the real question is how many of them work better on an iPhone.  I travel almost every week, and much of the utility I see in the iPhone appealing is the power of its always-on-the-internet connection.  While I can get free open WiFi at home, at the office, and at many client sites, it’s less common in airports, in restaurants, on the tarmac, or in a cab.

Fortunately, I’m heading out of the country for the first couple of weeks in September.  During this period Apple is expected to refresh their iPod line, which may help inform my decision.  The appearance of a 32 GB Touch, for example, might help push me in that direction.  Unfortunately, while the Shuffle and Nano are rumored to be getting capacity bumps, I haven’t heard anything similar about the Touch.  So we shall see.