Speak up iPod Touch owners!

[CoryB23]

On May 5th, I upgraded my 5-year-old 4 Gig iPod Mini to an 8 gig iPod Touch. I've been using iPod's since my sister bought a first generation iPod shortly after they launched, and have owned the Mini (still have it), a first generation Shuffle (given away as a gift), and now the Touch. I have to say, the Touch is by far and away one of the coolest portable electronic devices I've ever used. Sure, it isn't quite as functional as the iPhone, lacking Bluetooth and of course phone/Edge/Data connectivity, but it's one hell of a multitasker.

Who else owns one (MadB, speak up)? What do you use yours for? What WebApps do you use/recommend? I'm looking for some good iPod Touch discussion from my favorite forum. Don't dissapoint me PGL'ers.



I've found a few cool apps that make the Touch even more functional and will share them soon.

[Wondermonkey]

I have the iPhone, but from what I hear, the Touch is going to get some pretty amazing apps when 2.0 hits as well. The SDK release in June is going to be huge for phone the Touch and the iPhone.

One thing I will say is that the best instant messaging program I've ever used is BeeJive. Check it out on the touch: BeeJive :: JiveTalk mobile messenger - instant messaging to go



Free for the iPhone/Touch, pay for the blackberry and such.

[CoryB23]

Thanks for the point WM2K. I'll definitely look in to that one. Looks pretty sweet. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what kinds of applications will be made available come June. I'd like to have a game or two on the Touch, in the event that I need something to do on a plane, besides watching a movie or listening to some tunes.

[Wondermonkey]

This looks fun...



Coming in the new SDK from what I hear.

[Crippler]

Just Jailbreak it and run all the apps you want/ My boss has one and he is running all kinds of useless crap. His recent app is a P2P app. He also has one where he can basically stream shit over the net from his home PC to his Touch. Cool shit. But it's still too small capacity wise for me. I'll need to upgrade to a 80GB Zune soon. I don't like the touch screen either. Too slow.

[Wondermonkey]

As much as I advocate doing whatever Crippler says, don't jailbreak it before June. Wait until the new Firmware comes out. Not only are the new apps going to be more stable than the jailbroken apps, but they're going to be better.

If the new SDK doesn't prove anything worth downloading, then I'd jailbreak it and throw whatever you want on it, although most webapps do things like streaming music & live TV already.

I've never used a Touch, is the screen glass like the iPhone or is it plastic?

[CoryB23]

I'm not a racing fan, but Rolling Thunder's use of the accelerometer is pretty cool.

And Crip, I hear you on the capacity. Though I jumped from 4 to 8 gig, 8 gig is still tiny when video is brought in to the equation. I bought it mostly to have a mobile device with wi-fi access as I decided to drop the data plan on my cell for the time being. I'm debating jail-breaking it. The NES emulator is pretty tempting.

[CoryB23]

I'm not 100% sure on the screen Wonder. It feels like plastic, but I'll have to look into that. Now I'm curious. Also, I signed in to my AOL account with JiveTalk and sent you a message to see how it works. Don't mind my pestering

[KEEZY]

Yes, I'd wait at least until June/July to Jailbreak it. There really are some awesome things you can do with the jailbroken version, but it may be unnecessary come June.

I can't wait to be able to play games on it when I am somewhere that doesn't get any signal.

[Nuklhed]

I just bought the 16 gig iTouch and love it. I really dont know how to ut and use different applications on it, but for music, videos and planner, it is great.

[Crippler]

My bud has the NES emulator also. It's not very playable. Once you add up the controller and shit. The actual area for gameplay is crap. Like playing on a cellphone.

[CoryB23]

I'm definitely waiting to see what developers were able to do come the initial SDK apps release in June. I'm finding enough useful things, like the JiveTalk that Wonder posted, to keep me busy in the mean time.

[Crippler]

What kind of limitations come with this SDK though? And will these apps come at a price? With Jailbreak shit, it's basically a free-for-all.

[CoryB23]

Originally Posted by Crippler

What kind of limitations come with this SDK though? And will these apps come at a price? With Jailbreak shit, it's basically a free-for-all.

I'm curious as to the limitations myself, though I know that a number of the apps will be free. I believe it is up to the developers to set the pricing, though I'm sure the pricing has to be approved by Apple or abide by their guidelines - though even those have changed recently.

I also like knowing that I'm not going to mess up my iPod by jailbreaking it. I tend not to bend those rules for fear of malfunction

[Wondermonkey]

I think we'll see pricing similar to that of current Macware pricing. The vast majority of it is free, and they sometimes ask for donations. The few apps that I've seen running (AIM, Delicious Library & Flickr uploader) look to be free, but I'm guessing there will be plenty at a .99 price point through the iTunes store.

iPhone 2.0 adds a screenshot utilty and I've seen the Flickr uploader application uploading the screenshots to Flickr and it's sleek as shit. I'm excited about all the stuff.

I've also heard there's a Google Reader application in the works too, where it works like the mail program.

[CoryB23]

Here are some of my favorite sites/apps for the iPod Touch/iPhone.

hsicon - Allows you to create your own icons for use on the Home screen. This is most handy for sites not built specifically for the iPod Touch or iPhone. You provide the image, url, and select a background color and hsicon creates the homescreen image for you. It's pretty slick. I'll post pictures of some of my own creations later.

Gno - A quirky web-based game that makes you rely on your connection to the internet to find answers to questions/clues.

iSudoku - A web-based version of the popular Sudoku. Amy loves this, which is the primary reason it's on the Touch.

Solitaire - Your standard game of solitaire. It works fairly well with the multitouch interface, though the landscape view doesn't provide much more screen real estate, which is dissapointing.

I of course have a link to my Google Calendar and their other mobile apps. I wish you could sync your Google Calendar to the Touch, just as you can one from Outlook. Here's hoping someone provides this in June (Are you listening Google?). I have a link to LinkedIn via their mobile access which is really handy. Of course I have a link to PGL, an infamous HT website, Wikipedia Mobile, The Weather Channel widget, an aggregator of local gas prices (sad, huh?), and Woot!, just for the hell of it.

I also have a link to Yahoo! Mobile, though I don't use it much since the Touch already aggregates my Yahoo mail.