iPod Touch the new Newton?

[superspiffy]

My jaw dropped when I heard the iPod Touch has un-crippled wifi and Safari. Seeing that it's one of the three main features of the iPhone, Apple would be insane to put it in the new iPod. I guess I would've loss that bed but thrilled that I did. I guess Apple never ceases to amaze!

With OS X, the iPod Touch is basically a mini mini computer. But will it ever be a full fledge PDA with eventual incorporation of Mail, Notes, maybe some other office programs? Is it open for 3rd party apps?

[AlphaRob]

Everything you mentioned it already has. It has a Notes application, which I'm assuming is identical to the iPhone's, meaning you can take notes as well as read ones from your computer at home. Also, since it has full internet support, you can check your Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, or AOL Mail from anywhere with WiFi, and you can use Google Docs+Spreadsheets as an office client on the go. It's really quite astonishing what we can put in our pockets these days...

[kornchild2002]

As previously stated, it can already view most (if not all) e-mail clients via the Safari web browser. The only thing is that they haven't included a little icon on the desktop but that is alright. As for other office programs, I think it would be nice but we are probably a generation ahead in terms of thinking. Wait a couple of years when Apple really steps up the specs for the iPod touch when they release a new generation.

Apple put wi-fi internet browsing in the iPod touch because it was needed. The iPhone is for a totally different market than the iPod lines. Apple is not taking away from the iPhone by making a internet browsing iPod. The iPhone is for people who want a all-in-one cellphone while the iPod touch is for people who want a media player.

[superspiffy]

As for other office programs, I think it would be nice but we are probably a generation ahead in terms of thinking. Wait a couple of years when Apple really steps up the specs for the iPod touch when they release a new generation.


But how hard is it to write 3rd apps for the iPod Touch just like the iPhone if they both have the same flavor of OS X?

[iPod Dance]

Wait, so it is confirmed that the iPod touch has notes? The application sucks apparently on the iPhone, but I do NOT see the notes app on the home screen:

http://images.apple.com/ipodtouch/gallery/images/03_large20070905.jpg
sorry for angled pic

[jhollington]

Well, the WiFi in the iPod touch is obviously intended to support media consumption methods such as YouTube and the iTunes WiFi Store. The browser was a necessary requirement to enable ubiquitous WiFi access, since most public WiFi hotspots require that you sign-on via a browser. Putting in a crippled browser would have just negatively impacted people's ability to get online, so Apple pretty much had to go for the full browser experience.

The iPod touch does not appear to have a Notes function at this point as far as I can tell. It's conspicuously absent from any of the screen shots. Further the Mail application that was on the iPhone is a lot more than a web-based mail app, as it actually downloads your mail over IMAP and is therefore usable offline.... You can read your mail even when you're away from an WiFi access point, and compose messages for later sending.

[madmaxmedia]

Even if it's not included, I'm sure people will hack the Touch so you can install Notes and Mail, as well as the 3rd party apps.

I am also looking forward to using the Touch as a PDA. We're only at just the beginning of app development for the iPhone and hopefully Touch as well.