Apple iPod touch 8 GB review

With the birthday money I got I wanted to spend it on something special, something that I would use a lot and wouldn’t just stick it in the cupboard at the end of the day. My younger sister’s birthday is 2 weeks after mine, and she wanted to buy an IPod, so I decided to give her mine for a little bit of money, and then buy this. She now is buying her own, new IPod so I’ve lost a little bit of money but I still brought this.

Purchasing

I purchased my IPod touch pretty quickly, I found a deal on Curry’s website which meant I had to pick up the IPod within a few hours, but it was worth it for the deal I got. I was willing to pay the £165 that you will pay for this item, but I wanted something else, something that made it worth spending the £165. Luckily the one and only day I checked the currys website, they had a deal on. If you Reserved and Collected the item, then you’d get a free Itunes Gift Card. This deal is still on till the 29th July, so if you’re reading this before this date, go check it out.

About the IPod Touch

I’m sure that almost all of you have heard of IPod’s now. Developed by Apple Inc back in 2001, whom are possibly one of the biggest names in music technology, they have now released many different types of IPod’s, all of which are suited to a specific user.
An IPod is a portable media player, it doesn’t run off AA or AAA batteries like MP3 players, it has a built in battery which you charge up using a number of different ways.

The IPod Touch released in 2007 is a not only just a portable media player, it’s also a personal digital assistant. It is the only IPod or anything of its kind really to have Wi Fi installed within the IPod itself. With the addition of Wi Fi it allows you to control Itunes on your IPod instead of on your computer as well, it also allows you access to the App Store, which allows you to download many different applications for your enjoyment.

Design/Look

When you get your IPod, you should get it in quite a small box. This small box contains everything you need, from a USB cable, headphones and IPod Dock adapter for the IPod Touch, as well as a very small and compact instruction manual. When you take out your IPod you’ll see it’s in a plastic casing. Once this is out, I have to say I was shocked at how thin it was, I had seen them demonstrate it to me, but really hadn’t looked at it.

The IPod is only 8mm thick, which is usual for most IPod’s but considering how much this IPod does I have to say I was expecting something a little bit more thicker. I am glad they kept it small and thin though.
The screen is 3.5” LCD colour display. The rest of the IPod at the IPod on the front is a very strong black, until you get your muggy finger prints on it. There is only 1 button on the front of the IPod, this button is the button you press to bring you back to the home page each time you need to. There is only four buttons on the whole IPod, the button on the front of the IPod, the on/off switch on the top of the IPod, and then, the volume buttons at the side of the IPod. They have kept the number of buttons very small, which is brilliant.

The back of the IPod is just like every other IPod I’ve ever seen, well other than the IPod shuffle. It’s a nice silver colour and is almost like a mirror, which is great for us girls, and even boys. However, one of the problems I found with my old IPod was finger prints and scratches on the back of the IPod and this IPod is no different. I’ve had it only a few days now and it’s covered in finger marks and already has a few scratch marks forming.

Touch Technology/Interface

This is what makes this IPod different from any of the other IPod’s that have been released. I remember when I went shopping for my phone, those hounds at Phones For You, were trying to get the most amount of money out of me that they could (which still makes me laugh considering I came out with a £50 phone) but they kept on showing me touch phones. I tried and tried but just couldn’t get along with the interface.

This is why I was a little worried with the IPod Touch, however as soon as I began playing on the IPod I noticed that the phones I looked at sucked, because this is true touch technology. It is just brilliant and so easy to get along with. With my fingers being a little bit on the big side, when you have to use the keypad on screen, it does take a bit longer to get used to, but after awhile you should be completely fine.

Pre Installed Applications

One of the best things that I have found out about on the IPod is the applications that you get. When you first get the IPod you will have about 14 applications installed, these are all the basic applications that you would usually find on a phone, well if the phone had access to the internet. Here is my opinion on some of the applications that are pre-installed:

Safari

I have yet to really use this application, because I have also got a google application installed onto the IPod. Safari is an internet browser, which works pretty much works just like IE or Firefox. It’s a great little addition, however to use it you do need to access WiFi to use it, or it’s a waste of time.

App Store

The App Store requires you accessing a WiFi connection again, however it is just brilliant. It allows you to access the application store that Itunes provide. It allows you to search through all of the applications that they have come up with, paid or free applications.

Youtube

This is pretty self explanatory in my opinion, everyone has heard of YouTube and again as long as you have WiFi access you will be able to access YouTube all the time, without even turning on the computer.

The Four C’s

I didn’t want to spread these out, as I really think it’s a waste of your and my time by writing about each one individually here as they are pretty much self explanatory. You have a calendar installed onto the IPod, you also have a calculator and clock, and then as well as that you have contacts. This allows you to store all of your contacts within your IPod, which is a lovely little addition.

Mail

This allows you to access and manage your internet account, however again you do need WiFi to access this.

Added Applications

There are thousands of applications that you are able to have access to, some you will have to pay for, I think the cheapest that they are able to charge is 59p to about £2.99 for an application. I have yet to ‘pay’ for an application, as I’m not a huge fan of games, and get bored very easily of games, so paying for it seems a waste of time.
No I’m not cheating the system here, the App store on Itunes, provides free applications as well. Most of the time, these are just little teasers to get the user to buy a version, however I have got a lot of ones which are Free which are just brilliant, here is just a few:

Google/Hotmail/Facebook

You can download all three of these applications onto your IPod for free. Just go to the app store and search for them and tad a. All three require you to have wifi access however if you do, it’s so nice just to jump onto facebook and check your messages on there.

Wikipanion

Yes, this is Wikipedia. Even though I would have probably been killed if I had dared to use this at college, I still love it. I’m actually on it at the moment on my IPod. As long as you know how to use it reliabily, then this is a great application and will help you loads.

Google Earth

Again pretty self explanatory, this was the first extra application that I downloaded and I was amazed at the graphics that you got from this, the pictures are a little old now, considering that the picture was taken when the people next door but one lived there (trampoline in the garden, an old couple lives there now). It is still brilliant to check out, especially cause it’s free.

Other Apps

Some of the best games in my opinion that are provided are the following:
Waterslide- Makes great use of the technology provided, nothing great but it’s fun to play.

Tap Tap- If you’ve played guitar hero, then the game is pretty much played the same way but you tap instead. Not brilliant but good.
Unblock Me Free- One of the best games I’ve found. If you like puzzles then you’ll love this.

Dots Free- We’ve always called this squares, nothing special but great for a free game.
Knots- Play twister with your fingers. A lot of fun.

FS5 Hockey- Table hockey with your fingers, fun to play.
Bubblewrap- At my party this was the one game everyone loved, all you do is try and pop as many of the bubbles on the bubblewrap in a certain amount of time.

iReversi- This is Othello with a different name. Very enjoyable.
Deleting Apps
To delete any of the applications, all you have to do, is keep your finger on the app you want to delete until it begins to shake. Once it does shake it should come up with a X at the side and you just click that and it’ll be deleted.

Music

This is pretty much the same as you get on other IPod’s however you have the touch technology as well. When you click on music which is always at the bottom of the home page along with three other applications, you get taken to another page. Then you will find five different buttons at the bottom, these allows you to look through your playlists, artists, songs, albums or more. Just like you usually would get.
The touch technology is brilliant when you play music, the pause, play, back, forward buttons are all accessible just by one touch of the finger. You control the volume not only at the side of the IPod but also on the screen by scrolling it across.

The great addition that the second generation provides is the speakers installed within the IPod, they are not fantastic, but they do allow you to play your music out loud without using an IPod dock or anything like that.

Videos

I gave blood again today, and usually I have quite a hard time. Instead of 10 minutes it takes about 30-45 minutes to get blood out of me, so I took my IPod and lay down and turned on an episode of Bones. I so far only have 2 videos on my IPod, not only do they take up a lot of room, but they are a little bit more expensive than I really want to pay.

Pictures

Over the years I have taken millions of pictures, my wall is covered in pictures of family and friends, however with my old IPod because it was quite a small size at just 4GB I only had a small handful of pictures, however with this IPod so far I have included about 50 pictures and I’ve only had it a few days. It barely takes up any room on the IPod; well as long as you don’t have really large sized pictures then you should be fine. The picture quality on the IPod is just fantastic, which makes viewing your pictures just lovely.

ITunes

For about 2 years whilst I had my old IPod I completely boycotted Itunes. I didn’t like the idea of it for some reason, however just a few weeks before getting the IPod touch, I actually realised why people loved Itunes. With the IPod Touch or any IPod you need to download Itunes to allow yourself to put any music onto the IPod. It’s a free software, and doesn’t take much space up on your computer. It is just brilliant.

With the IPod Touch however, you not only need to download Itunes onto your computer, you will also find that you have Itunes pre installed onto the IPod itself. This means when you are in range of a wifi network point, you will be able to download music, videos, apps etc, all from Itunes, without even turning your computer on.
8 GB- storage space
When I said I was buying an IPod Touch, someone said get the 16 GB one, because I will find myself becoming addicted to downloading things onto it. I laughed him off, because I had coped with not even putting a real dent into my 4GB IPod for 2 years now, however I’ve had this IPod only a few days now, and I have already taken up 5GB worth of space.

8GB would usually be fine for me, it is a great amount of space, however you really do have to take into account, how much easily do you get addicted to downloading games, especially cause a lot of them are free, and how much music you will find yourself putting on in the future. I have only 500 songs on my IPod at the moment, two 1 hour videos, 32 applications and 50 pictures on it. This has taken up 5GB of space, if you think you’ll go over that by quite a bit then maybe the 8GB one will be a little too small for you and it might be worth investing in a more expensive but double the size IPod.

Speakers

This is a new feature for the second generation IPod touch, and it may not have the most fantastic sound quality or the best speakers in the world, but they are situated within a 8mm sized item. Unlike on phones, where they put speakers you get little holes allowing the sound to come through, Apple have not allowed that to happen with their items, and have just put almost a little black sticker on the back, which I believe covers the speakers.

For the best sound quality, put you IPod facing up on a hard surface, the sound becomes a lot louder than if you just hold it in your hand.

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Acer plays the Ace card again!

First thing I need to say about it is Linux, what a joke with its limited functions and the hassle you need to go through to add new features. I wanted DivX support so I could watch movies at night but after a few hours looking for a suitable program and drivers I gave up. Linux isn't as straightforward as Windows and in many cases you have to open up a console and type commands when you want to install or make changes to an installation. I gave up and Installed Xp pro. If you are purchasing a Netbook with Linux and all you want to do is surf the net, listen to music and write documents or chat then this will be adequate for you. Linux is easy to use and the version on this Netbook is icon driven making it easy to get to what you want. Linux comes pre-installed and there is a copy supplied on disc.

Installing Windows XP

Another reviewer said it was "a challenge" to install XP but didn't furnish us with info on how he done it. If you're thinking of installing Vista or even Windows 7 then don't bother. First of all they are more demanding and the memory in the Netbook isn't sufficient enough. The Acer doesn't have an internal CD drive so you will need to purchase an external one. You can get them for as little as £30 and they are sold in many places. I bought one in Tesco's because they had the best price.
To install XP, power up the drive, plug the USB cable into the computer, eject the tray and insert the disc. Press the power button on the computer and wait for the message, "Press any key to boot from CD...." and press any key. First of all your computer will be inspected to see if its capable of handling XP then installation will begin. All you need to do is follow any prompts on the screen and installation should be complete in around 40 min. If you're not confident then get someone to help but watch them doing it so you can learn.

Once finished you will not be able to access the internet using the wireless connection because you will need the appropriate driver. Connect an Ethernet cable and go directly to the Acer website and search for the A150 and download the XP drivers. Please be sure to install your virus checker as soon as possible. Once all drivers are installed, continue to install everything you need and unplug the external CD drive.

Features

Contrary to some previous reviews I have to say the A150 is quite a performer. Others may be trying to compare it with a £1000 laptop or their desktop computer which is just plain stupid. It isn't designed to be a powebook, its name depicts its intended function, "Netbook". If you want more then don't buy a Netbook and complain you can't edit video on it or something as crazy.

Installed memory is 1GB and the Hard drive is 120GB. There are different variations of this Netbook but the best value for money is the one I'm reviewing.
The A150 comes equipped with 3 USB ports, two on the right side and one on the left. There is a card reader which reads most flash cards including the newer high speed ones, in my case the XD "H" type. There's a VGA port for hooking up to an external monitor. Other ports include, microphone and external speakers/headphone socket and a separate SD card slot on the left which is for expanding storage memory, NOT to boost your RAM. With this particular A150 having a 120 GB HDD, I'm not sure you will ever need this extra function considering 8 GB being the maximum it can support. This expansion port is intended for the 8 GB solid state model. There's an Ethernet port for connecting directly to a modem or router.

Portability is the main selling point and the 8.9" widescreen is adequate for almost any task. Battery life is around 2 hours depending on usage and less if you constantly use the wireless connection. You can turn of the wireless adapter if not needed by sliding a little switch on the front of the keyboard. The screen will dim a little to conserve power when running on batteries. You can dim even more by using the "FN" key with the appropriate blue highlighted function key.
The screen has a maximum resolution of 1024x600 and it's very clear and easy on the eyes.

A webcam is integrated on the top middle of the frame surrounding the screen. Maximum resolution is 600x400 but is a very clear result.
The screen flickers ever so slightly when running on battery power but its hardly noticeable and an acceptable trade off in my opinion. Using the power adapter, this goes away. The keyboard small but well laid out. It's easy enough to use and I've not had any more typo's than on my standard keyboard. The keys are quite soft with no noisy clicking. The touchpad is a little more fiddly than your usual laptop but again, you get used to it. It's probably better to get a notebook USB mouse if you have large or shaky hands. It comes supplied with a leatherette cover but I'd recommend a suitable laptop skin or bag for better protection when using out of the house.

Performance

Performance wise, its above average for its size and its hardware. I have installed lots of music, DivX and MP4 movies and all play smoothly even with other apps running in the background. A previous reviewer said its not for gaming, well that depends on the games. Obviously you know its not for games when you buy it but I gave it a go just to see how it coped. The first game I installed was Return to Castle Wolfenstein with all graphics options at max. I even played it online with the wireless connection. It handled this with ease. Other games I tested were Vice City, Need for speed underground. If you know your games then you know what will play or not play from these examples. All of these games were played on my 42" HD TV using the VGA port at their maximum resolution and the A150 didn't even flinch.

Using the large TV I set the resolution to 1920x1080 and ran multiple applications like Internet Explorer, word, played a movie and had messenger open. Not a single hint of sluggishness. Playing a DivX movie on the large screen looked great.
The Acer is very quiet in operation, just a slight whirring from the fan even when playing games or multi-tasking. It doesn't get too hot on your lap but make sure you don't block the vents for the processor as they are on the bottom left side.
Upgrading

The only upgrades possible would be to the hard drive and the memory. The hard drive would be pretty straightforward to do but wouldn't be cost effective due to the price of the miniature drives. As for the memory, well it's entirely up to you. The memory just now is cheap but the procedure and the way the current memory is installed may put you off. Although 1GB is installed, its actually 2 x 512 MB. One chip is installed in the only slot and the other is permanently soldered to the board. The maximum memory supported in the slot is 1 GB. So the maximum memory would be 1.5 GB. The process of installing more memory isn't as easy as a conventional laptop as you have to take the keyboard off and remove the hard drive. There are many videos on Youtube showing this. Is it worth all the hassle for only 512 MB while in the process wasting another 512 MB? That would be up to you.

In Conclusion

For a portable netbook the Acer A150 performs very well and should rightfully always be regarded as a netbook. Other reviews seem to slate its performance only because the reviewers are comparing it to something more powerful or expecting more. For me, installing XP was the right thing to do as I can install all my usual programs which isn't possible with Linux. As the performance was more than I was expecting I can't fault it and considering the hardware installed and the price paid I was not expecting such a performance. The battery life for some may not be enough but as its only intended for browsing, checking mail and the like, it's good enough for me. Other batteries are available from around £60 and will extend usage to 6 hours. It's better to buy Acer branded ones.

On a recent cruise the A150 was a dream to have for keeping in touch with the kids back home and being so small you hardly even know you're carrying it. The ability to play some older games was a bonus I wasn't expecting and hooking it up to a 42" TV with no graphic problems was another surprise.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone needing something portable without much of a compromise on power and personally I'd recommend installing XP or purchasing the XP version, whichever suits your budget the best.

I have seen this model for as little as £120 on www.ebuyer.com which may have been a sale price.
Thanks for reading.

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Factors in learning for students

All students are limited in what they can learn by the stage to which body, mind, and emotions have developed. At any stage , there are limits to what we can learn to do, even with the best teaching and practice and interest. Then with the continued maturations and experience, or limits expand, our people’s potency broadens.

If the students enrolled by chronological age, all the students in class are close to the same age, especially in lower grades, and it would be easy to assume that they should be able to learn about the same things. But chronological age may be poor indicator of development age.

Motivation in learning is surely needed for transforming knowledge. In the simplest way, motivation is what lies behind our behavior. Motivation has the important part in learning activities.. Motivation is one way to make the students to motivate in learning the subject if they felt the materials needed for their life. If there is not natural motivation in their students themselves, so the students have to support their motivation for learning the materials. It is depend on the students themselves to support their motivation, because there are various ways to motivate us.

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Types of Learning Style

Learning style can be categorized into three categories. They are as follows: (1) cognitive styles, (2) affective styles, and (3) physiological styles.

Cognitive Styles

This style includes the aspect of brains which perceive meaning and interact with the world. It is often used to predict student achievement and to help students understand their cognitive strength and weaknesses. There are some characteristics of cognitive styles. They are as follows:

a. Analytical skill: identify simple figure hidden in a simple complex field: use the critical element of a problem in different way.

b. Spatial skill: recognize and create objects mentally.

c. Discrimination skill: give more attention on important things and are able to avoid distractions in a question.

d. Categorization skill: understand and form quickly information which is accurate, complete, and organized.

e. Sequential processing skill: understand more information presented by the teacher in a step-by-step.

f. Simultaneous processing skill: make their own conclusion about the materials.

g. Memory skill: detect and remember easily the difficult things in the lesson.

Affective styles

Affective styles of learning are a style of learning by-product of personality, cultural environment, parental and peer pressures and school influences. There are some characteristics of affective styles. They are as follows.

a. Persistence orientation: willingness to work at a task until completion.

b. Verbal risk orientation: willingness to express opinions, speak out.

c. Grouping preference: preference for whole class, large group, small group or dyadic grouping.

d. Verbal-Spatial preference: preference for verbal or non verbal activities.

e. Manipulative preference: preference for “hands-on” activities.

Physiological styles

This style includes perceptual modes and environmental factors that effect learning perceptual response portion of the inventory describes the initial response to information as a visual or emotive response. There are some characteristics of physiological styles. They are as follows.

a. Perceptual response: to initial reaction to information is visual, auditory or emotive.

b. Study time preference: preference for study time in early morning, late morning, afternoon or evening.

c. Posture preference: preference for formal or informal study arrangement.

d. Mobility preference: preference for moving about and taking breaks or working until finished.

e. Sound preference: preference for quite study o background sound.

f. Lighting preference: preference for brighter or dimmer study areas.

g. Temperature preference: preference for studying in a cooler or warmer environmental.

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Concept of learning style

All people learn differently, in the field of language learning, people differently shape the way they learn. In other words, language learner uses different language styles. At school students apply different learning styles and so do in learning English. Learning English as a foreign language of course needs certain learning strategies.

Teachers of English at school should know their student’s learning styles and continually observe the learning styles that are applied or used by their students so that they can adjust to their student’s learning styles. As a result, the teachers can apply accurate English teaching strategies and also motivate the students to learn English well.

Students can understand lesson easily if a teacher’s teaching method can accommodate student’s learning styles. By having their own learning styles, students know subconsciously how to learn English more effectively and also they can decide their own way in which they can learn best and more efficiently.

Students learn in a typical way, w cannot do much to change that fact but we can help them learn to capitalize on their strength as well as cope their weaknesses. As a professional teacher, she / he should be able to facilitate the student to learn. For that, we have to know about their learning styles. Learning style describes the way we learn and how we deal with ideas day-to-day situations in our life.

There are only a few teachers who care to try to find out the learning styles that are used by the students. This can be seen from the fact that teachers tend to only prepare their administrative work in teaching rather than get to know student’s difficulties, let alone student’s learning styles. This case indicates that leaning styles is not many known by the teacher yet.

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