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iPod touch What's the point?????

T

theman

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 26, 2007
738
0
I don't have a touch yet, but I just don't see the value of having these apps...

1. Stocks... can't you just go to a stocks website?
2. weather... can't you just go to a weather website?
3. maps... can't you just go to a maps website?
4. mail... can't you just go to your mail website?
5. notes... I mean, i guess if you are a very forgetful person...

and with webclips, it will be incredibly easy to get to all these webpages.

it's basically $20 for absolutely nothing.

unless someone can explain to me why not?
 
so that means you basically just get 5 new webclips as well as the ability to create them yourself for $20. wow.
 
There's a difference between webclips and applications. Mail, Weather, Stocks, Notes, and Maps are applications. For instance, instead of going to AOL.com to get my mail, I can easily do it in the app without having to load several pages. It's more efficient and quick. You could make webclips for all of these, but the apps make it easier to e-mail, get weather, etc., quickly.
 
theman said:
I don't have a touch yet, but I just don't see the value of having these apps...

1. Stocks... can't you just go to a stocks website?
2. weather... can't you just go to a weather website?
3. maps... can't you just go to a maps website?
4. mail... can't you just go to your mail website?
5. notes... I mean, i guess if you are a very forgetful person...

and with webclips, it will be incredibly easy to get to all these webpages.

it's basically $20 for absolutely nothing.

unless someone can explain to me why not?
Click to expand...

1 & 2 are a bit gimicky I agree, but
3) The maps interface is way better in the maps app than on a website (think pinch and tap zooming)
4) Offline access to messages. Springboard notification of new messages. 'Nuff said.
5) You must have an amazing memory if you never forget anything, ever. :rolleyes:
 
theman said:
I don't have a touch yet, but I just don't see the value of having these apps...

1. Stocks... can't you just go to a stocks website?
2. weather... can't you just go to a weather website?
3. maps... can't you just go to a maps website?
4. mail... can't you just go to your mail website?
5. notes... I mean, i guess if you are a very forgetful person...
Click to expand...

i have all those on my jailbroke touch, for free.
 
hierobryan said:
what's the point of having two guitars in one like your avatar? we only have two hands.
Click to expand...

haha, good point, you got me there! lol.


mrgreen4242 said:
1 & 2 are a bit gimicky I agree, but
3) The maps interface is way better in the maps app than on a website (think pinch and tap zooming)
4) Offline access to messages. Springboard notification of new messages. 'Nuff said.
5) You must have an amazing memory if you never forget anything, ever. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

ok, there's answer! ok, I can see how the maps thing could be a big advantage. and offline access to mail is ok, but what's the point in reading emails if you can't send them. at least, I hardly ever open my emails unless i need to send something, or respond to another email. i don't just read them for fun. maybe some people do... that's fair.

hehe, I don't forget the IMPORTANT things... besides, it's good not always to use a crutch for your brain... you need to exercise it. what happens if your Touch breaks and you realize you have completely lost your memory??? :D
 
theman said:
and offline access to mail is ok, but what's the point in reading emails if you can't send them. at least, I hardly ever open my emails unless i need to send something, or respond to another email. i don't just read them for fun. maybe some people do... that's fair.
Click to expand...

Well, what about people like me who live in third-world countries where free, public wifi is unavailable? A webmail interface would be absolutely worthless to me, but being able to read my mail offline and compose new messages offline is a big deal - when I press send, my messages are stored in the Outbox, and are sent as soon as I get home (since my home is a tiny little pocket of civilization) ...

So, while offline access to email might not be a big deal to you, it's huge to me. Not every country in the world has free wifi around every corner. ;)
 
mavis said:
Well, what about people like me who live in third-world countries where free, public wifi is unavailable? A webmail interface would be absolutely worthless to me, but being able to read my mail offline and compose new messages offline is a big deal - when I press send, my messages are stored in the Outbox, and are sent as soon as I get home (since my home is a tiny little pocket of civilization) ...

So, while offline access to email might not be a big deal to you, it's huge to me. Not every country in the world has free wifi around every corner. ;)
Click to expand...

So, you're saying that Japan is a third-world country? If you truly feel that way, why do you stay here?
 
mail is worth the $20 alone. it was a pain, at least for me, to access and reply to email through the browser. with mail, i just look at the ipod screen and you see if you have mail. the iPod Touch has new life as far as i'm concerned. i'm in love with it all over again. and there's more to come!!

maps are cool too.
 
You're all forgetting that he hasn't bought one yet, and he'll get those apps with the touch with no extra payment at all.

X
 
theman said:
ok, there's answer! ok, I can see how the maps thing could be a big advantage. and offline access to mail is ok, but what's the point in reading emails if you can't send them. at least, I hardly ever open my emails unless i need to send something, or respond to another email. i don't just read them for fun. maybe some people do... that's fair.

hehe, I don't forget the IMPORTANT things... besides, it's good not always to use a crutch for your brain... you need to exercise it. what happens if your Touch breaks and you realize you have completely lost your memory??? :D
Click to expand...

Offline email access is important for business user especially to be able to pull up information that someone has sent you without connecting to the internet. It's also a handy way to make a grocery list (type it up at home/work and email it to yourself so you can then quickly pull it up on your touch at the store).

Offline composing emails is handy while traveling. Quickly sync up emails at a hotspot in an airport or Starbucks, etc on the way somewhere, read and reply to them while on the plane, in a cab, whatever, and have them go out when you get to the hotel or back to the office or whatever.

I think you're just not the demographic of person who would use a PDA, which is clearly what these apps are aimed at. As for "using a crutch for your brain", we had a saying in the Army: "a dull pencil is better than a sharp mind".
 
Stocks are better online for me. I can track, forecast, trend, etc. Weather I use just for the hell of it and to see how much colder my buddies are. ;) I always use maps now, it is amazing and has gotten me out of a bind or two with traffic. Finally notes, I jot notes down at red lights often when I see something or recall something that I want to remember after I get home. While I appreciate that you have a memory that never forgets, often I am so busy I tend to space on the little things. Things in my notes appear to be insignificant at best, but they're things I wanted to remember. An artist on the radio, a photographer's studio I drove past, the name of housing track that I want to check prices on etc.
Mail...well if you have to ask then maybe it's not for you. ;)
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A93 Safari/419.3)

When you buy your Touch, you'll get them for free. I shelled out the $20 and I feel the Mail app alone was worth that. Where my touch was once just a gadget, now I use it all the time when I want to check emails without booting up my MBP.
 
I couldn't agree more about the mail being worth the upgrade fee alone. As far as offline access, to echo what was said above and add to it, I sent myself an HTML version of some chapters of a maniscript I was reading through. They downloaded from gmail and I laid in bed last night reading 50 pages or so of text very comfortably. The touch so fat makes a pretty good text reader as well... Here's to hoping for preview in the next update.
 
well, i definitely see your points. i'm just a student so i don't have all sorts of business deals and things to keep track of, and I don't need to email 100s of people per day. i guess i'll just see how it goes when i get one.

"a dull pencil is better than a sharp mind" I can see how that would be pretty critical in the military... but being just a student, i've never had trouble remembering my ridiculous amount of homework...i just need something that will punch me in the face if I keep procrastinating! :D Will that be a new add-on? I'd buy it.
 
Well I'm a student and I email people all the time. I am constantly getting mail from professors and from work that I have totally enjoyed the mail so for the last 6 hours I have had it. I cannot even use It on campus because we have a cisco VPN to use our network but it is great to see fronlm the home screen that I have mail when in my apartment or at a friends place. Men... Sorry for the rant I'm a bit drunk and typed this on my touch. Its great not to have my MBP scalding my lap while I do this =)
 
Wirelessly posted (iTouch 1.1.2 (JB'd): Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/3B48b Safari/419.3)

japanime said:
mavis said:
Well, what about people like me who live in third-world countries where free, public wifi is unavailable? A webmail interface would be absolutely worthless to me, but being able to read my mail offline and compose new messages offline is a big deal - when I press send, my messages are stored in the Outbox, and are sent as soon as I get home (since my home is a tiny little pocket of civilization) ...

So, while offline access to email might not be a big deal to you, it's huge to me. Not every country in the world has free wifi around every corner. ;)
Click to expand...

So, you're saying that Japan is a third-world country? If you truly feel that way, why do you stay here?
Click to expand...

Well, it's a long story, but I have my reasons ;) Doesn't change the fact that Japan really is like a third-world country in many respects (filthy, decrepit schools, hospitals, and public buildings, run-down shacks that people call houses, etc)

Just my opinion. ;) And quite frankly, the fact that I have found maybe one or two free wifi spots in central Tokyo (I've checked in/around Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Tokyo station) doesn't make me think too highly of this place either.
 
kevinbal said:
I couldn't agree more about the mail being worth the upgrade fee alone. As far as offline access, to echo what was said above and add to it, I sent myself an HTML version of some chapters of a maniscript I was reading through. They downloaded from gmail and I laid in bed last night reading 50 pages or so of text very comfortably. The touch so fat makes a pretty good text reader as well... Here's to hoping for preview in the next update.
Click to expand...

Another good use of offline mail... which leads me to point out dailylit.com where you can have chapters of books, both free public domain and paid for newer ones, emailed to you on a daily (or whatever custom schedule) basis. Very cool service.
 
wow, I was just wondering if it would be possible to get books onto the touch... does that actually work? how many books do they have for free??? that looks awesome!
 
theman said:
wow, I was just wondering if it would be possible to get books onto the touch... does that actually work? how many books do they have for free??? that looks awesome!
Click to expand...

Sure, just have them emailed to you and you can read them that way. There's also an ebook reader app in installer if you can get the book in one of the formats it recognizes.

Dailylit.com is pretty decent in terms of selection. There's several hundred free titles. They're all in the public domain, typically meaning they're very old, but with books that's often a good thing. :p
 
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