iPod touch Some basic newbie questions

[jbrown]

Hi,
New to iPods so I'm now tempted by the touch.

- What it the battery life ?

- Can you email from them?

- There's no built in speaker is there?

- Could you list any down sides, or obvious lack of features?

- One thing that puts me off is the capacity - is this likely to be increased in the near future ( ie - should I wait )?

thanks all

 

[FJ218700]

many of the answers can be found here

 

[RumMunkey]

Hi,
New to iPods so I'm now tempted by the touch.

- What it the battery life ?

- Can you email from them?

- There's no built in speaker is there?

- Could you list any down sides, or obvious lack of features?

- One thing that puts me off is the capacity - is this likely to be increased in the near future ( ie - should I wait )?

thanks all

First, you can learn a lot about the touch by reading Apple's site.

Some quickie answers:

1) Apple claims 22 hours audio & 5 hours video, under their controlled conditions.

2) Yes. There is no native mail app like on the iPhone, but web-based email works just fine (.Mac, Yahoo, or Gmail). I highly recommend the Gmail Mobile interface (http://gmail.com/app) for it's larger buttons and smaller interface for mobile devices but you can log into the regular Gmail page too.

3) Yes, but not one you can listen to music through. Like the 5G iPod, it's only for the bleeps of alarms or a confirmation bleep when you plug it into a dock.

4) More apps would be nice, and is a definite possibility in the future. Other than that I'm very pleased. Oh, the iPhone's scratch-resistant back would be nice too I guess.

5) It's hard to adjust from 30GB to 16, but it's all about using playlists. Personally I wanted the touch interface and the larger screen so bad I didn't mind trading off the capacity.

 

[awmazz]

4) More apps would be nice, and is a definite possibility in the future.

Why do you say 'definite'? I would say 'hopeful' at best.

It certainly has potential for new apps, but it has that potential right now which isn't being fulfilled - deliberately - ie, no appointment input, no notes, no mail etc which are readily available on the current iPhone. So what will change in the future? Based on it's current potential for additional apps being zero, the future potential is also currently zero (from Apple). If Apple do release any apps, they will likely be solely for the iPhone, not the Touch, as evidenced by the current situation.

As far as 3rd party apps, Apple has only ever talked about web apps and nothing else as far as I'm aware.

 

[125037]

Why do you say 'definite'? I would say 'hopeful' at best.

It certainly has potential for new apps, but it has that potential right now which isn't being fulfilled - deliberately - ie, no appointment input, no notes, no mail etc which are readily available on the current iPhone. So what will change in the future? Based on it's current potential for additional apps being zero, the future potential is also currently zero (from Apple). If Apple do release any apps, they will likely be solely for the iPhone, not the Touch, as evidenced by the current situation.

As far as 3rd party apps, Apple has only ever talked about web apps and nothing else as far as I'm aware.

I wasn't "aware" this was a grammar lesson, who cares wha he said.

 

[awmazz]

I wasn't "aware" this was a grammar lesson, who cares wha he said.

Grammar lesson?

 

[wfuggle]

First, you can learn a lot about the touch by reading Apple's site.

Some quickie answers:

2) Yes. There is no native mail app like on the iPhone, but web-based email works just fine (.Mac, Yahoo, or Gmail). I highly recommend the Gmail Mobile interface (http://gmail.com/app) for it's larger buttons and smaller interface for mobile devices but you can log into the regular Gmail page too.

Sorry to disappoint but Apple's own .mac web email is one that doesn't work (or hardly at all). This is because you cannot scroll within the 3 or 2 sub-windows of the web interface. So you have 50 emails in your inbox but only the first 8 show in 3 window mode. In 2 window mode you cannot double click and see email properly. -10 points to Apple.

Gmail works okay provided you stick to plain text mode rather than html.

 

[Rogzilla]

Why do you say 'definite'? I would say 'hopeful' at best.

It certainly has potential for new apps, but it has that potential right now which isn't being fulfilled - deliberately - ie, no appointment input, no notes, no mail etc which are readily available on the current iPhone. So what will change in the future? Based on it's current potential for additional apps being zero, the future potential is also currently zero (from Apple). If Apple do release any apps, they will likely be solely for the iPhone, not the Touch, as evidenced by the current situation.

As far as 3rd party apps, Apple has only ever talked about web apps and nothing else as far as I'm aware.

There is no real evidence to support your position either. Yes, they focused the iPod touch on being a media player instead of a PDA like the iPhone. Yet this doesn't mean that they WONT. Maybe they thought that people wanted an iPod, not an Apple PDA? So who knows? Maybe they will release, via iTunes, apps to make it more like a PDA? Maybe a bundle of apps? Perhaps for $20 you will get update abilities for the cal, a notes program, a special mail program design for the touch (one that automatically checks when you enter a familiar wifi hotspot as opposed to constant updates via EDGE) so on and so forth.

OR, since there is a noticeable aesthetic change in the dock which reminds me of Leopard (a program that comes out quite soon after its release, as opposed to the several months from the release of the iPhone) then maybe Apple is waiting to release these apps for the touch. Leopard will include new Mail and iCal apps. I really hope I don't have to make it any clearer.

Is there any evidence to support these? Nope. But there is no evidence to the contrary either. We will just have to wait and see. I prefer to be an optimist. Pessimism is too depressing.

 

[Four20]

If you want an Apple PDA then wait until the Newton II comes out. . .yes, it's coming. . .

 

[RumMunkey]

Why do you say 'definite'? I would say 'hopeful' at best.

It certainly has potential for new apps, but it has that potential right now which isn't being fulfilled - deliberately - ie, no appointment input, no notes, no mail etc which are readily available on the current iPhone. So what will change in the future? Based on it's current potential for additional apps being zero, the future potential is also currently zero (from Apple). If Apple do release any apps, they will likely be solely for the iPhone, not the Touch, as evidenced by the current situation.

As far as 3rd party apps, Apple has only ever talked about web apps and nothing else as far as I'm aware.

Um, you completely misunderstood me.

I said more apps coming to the touch is "a definite possibility". That means it can certainly be done ("definite") and possibly will ("possibility").

I didn't say more apps was "definitely going to happen".

And to be clear, I don't see communications-type apps coming. If Apple wanted to / could do, they would have been on the touch at shipping (I have this suspicion Apple's contract with AT&T won't allow stuff on the iPod that infringe on the iPhone, but that's just a guess).

I can imagine some games coming, maybe a direct Quicktime app (like You Tube) that shows movie trailers (see tv).