I have an AOL account, which I can access through Safari on my MacBook. It seems reasonable that I should be able to send and receive e-mail using the iPod Touch. I don't think there is a user manual available, yet, so I was wondering if anyone could answer this.

The Safari browser on the iPod touch is supposed to be identical to the one found on the iPhone. There shouldn't be any reason why you cannot access just about ay web site using the iPod touch browser as long as you're in range of a WiFi access point....

I'm almost positive that this is possible. The only thing that the iPod Touch's browser can't do is display flash, and last time I checked AOL doesn't use flash in their mail system. So I'm positive that anyone should be able to go to an access point, take out their iPod Touch, and check your Gmail, AOL, Yahoo!, or Hotmail from anywhere while listening to your favorite songs on that same device.

That's quite a selling point for me.

Although I believe Gmail uses flash, they also have a standard HTML client. Most e-mail services that use flash also have a optional HTML client that you can use so you won't be locked out of your e-mail accounts. The only thing I don't like is that YouTube uses flash videos and the iPod touch can play flash videos via the YouTube app but they haven't written it into the Safari browser. Hopefully that will come with a firmware update later down the line.

Quote: (Originally Posted by kornchild2002)
Although I believe Gmail uses flash, they also have a standard HTML client. Most e-mail services that use flash also have a optional HTML client that you can use so you won't be locked out of your e-mail accounts. The only thing I don't like is that YouTube uses flash videos and the iPod touch can play flash videos via the YouTube app but they haven't written it into the Safari browser. Hopefully that will come with a firmware update later down the line.

Actually YouTube is currently in the process of re-converting all of their videos to H264, Apple's favorite codec. The only videos you can find from Youtube on the iPhone and iPod Touch are those that have already been converted to H264. It doesn't play flash, possibly because Adobe didn't give them a license or something.

Gmail doesn't use flash, but I think it may use java which is not supported on the iPhone.

However, Gmail switches to a regular HTML version if you're on an old browser, so it SHOULD work at some level

Actually, GMail is more AJAX than Java/Javascript at this point. The iPhone does support Javascript of course, and also Ajax.

The bottom line is that the GMail experience on the iPhone is virtually identical to what you get on the desktop, with a much smaller screen, of course.

Any chances of a photos or two of how Gmail renders in Safari?

Lack of mail is really the only thing holding me back.

Well, there's really no point in a screenshot.... It basically looks identical to how it does on a normal computer screen -- just smaller. Of course, as with any page on the iPhone, you can zoom in and zoom out fairly easily.

Viewing the emails via safari is one thing, my big Q is when attempting to compose or reply will the qwerty kb be accessible. That would be a large oversight, if not on purpose.

As far as we've been able to tell, the Safari browser on the iPod touch is identical in just about every regard to the one found on the iPhone, with the only really notable exception being the lack of the "Share" button when viewing a URL (since there's no e-mail client to share it from).

Text-entry fields, whether they be at a WiFi sign-on screen or an e-mail compose window will still require the keyboard to be filled in. There's not only no reason for there to be a limitation for this in regards to e-mail, but it would actually be very hard to implement.... For the most part, a text-entry field is a text-entry field.

Quote: (Originally Posted by jhollington)
As far as we've been able to tell, the Safari browser on the iPod touch is identical in just about every regard to the one found on the iPhone, with the only really notable exception being the lack of the "Share" button when viewing a URL (since there's no e-mail client to share it from).

Text-entry fields, whether they be at a WiFi sign-on screen or an e-mail compose window will still require the keyboard to be filled in. There's not only no reason for there to be a limitation for this in regards to e-mail, but it would actually be very hard to implement.... For the most part, a text-entry field is a text-entry field.

That's reassuring, being someone who has not had the opportunity to play around with an iphone it was a concern of mine. Thanks for the reply.

Quote: (Originally Posted by jhollington)
Actually, GMail is more AJAX than Java/Javascript at this point. The iPhone does support Javascript of course, and also Ajax.

The bottom line is that the GMail experience on the iPhone is virtually identical to what you get on the desktop, with a much smaller screen, of course.

AJAX is Javascript. AJAX is not a separate technology from Javascript so any sites that use AJAX will render perfectly on the Safari browser. AJAX is just an acronym for using Javascript to make server calls from the browser rather than having to refresh an entire page in the browser.

I can confirm that GMail and Microsoft Outlook Web Access both work fine from the touch =)

Quote: (Originally Posted by fedge)
AJAX is Javascript. AJAX is not a separate technology from Javascript so any sites that use AJAX will render perfectly on the Safari browser. AJAX is just an acronym for using Javascript to make server calls from the browser rather than having to refresh an entire page in the browser.

Good call, fedge. I was just about to post the same thing.

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