One of the most impressive aspects of the iPod Touch is the way it utilizes the mobile Internet.  Phones and mobile devices have been accessing the Internet for over ten years now, but the iPod Touch/iPhone is the first mobile browser to really unleash the power of the full Internet on your mobile device.  From Safari to the Cloud, this was the first mobile device I have ever used which integrated the online experience into your everyday use of the device.

Safari: Let’s start with Safari since this is the browser that kicked off the latest mobile Internet revolution.  Sure, the mobile Internet existed before Safari.  But back then, although we knew we were not getting a great online experience, we tolerated what we were given because we had no idea how good it could have been. 

Safari took what had been a frustrating and underutilized experience, and made it useful…enjoyable.  How did they do this?  Well, the multi-touch technology plays a big part in things.  Safari allows you to view full sized websites on your mobile device by using the pinch motion.  Just pinch or spread two fingers to zoom in and out.  This means you can scan the site, find the information you need, and zoom in to read.  Nice and easy. 

One of my favorite features in Safari is that you can add any webpage to your home screen.  Just tap, “Add to Home Screen” (obviously).  This is a fantastic feature, which I wish Windows Mobile would have implemented long ago.  As you can see, above, it allows you to make your most important favorites (like JAMM) immediately accessible from your home page.  Sure there are some programs that can mimic this functionality on Windows Mobile(Pocket Plus from Spb, and Vito’s Winterface, for example). But none of these programs make it as easy as Safari does, with a simple one step button.

Additionally, unlike most Windows Mobile browsers, you can view YouTube videos from the iPod Touch (such as this video I found of the classic Donkey Kong video game.)  Oddly, though, streaming video cannot be displayed within Safari.  There is a separate application which must be opened in order to watch these videos.  While this worked fine, it was a bit of an annoyance, because the end result was to close Safari while watching the video.  Hope you weren’t in the middle of something.  Nonetheless, the Youtube program does work well, and even allows you to email videos directly from your iPod Touch/iPhone.

Of course, as far ahead of the field as Safari may have started a year ago, Windows Mobile developers have been hard at work.  Creative approaches to mobile browsing, such as SkyFire and the new Opera Mobile 9.5 are really starting to approach the incredibly high bar which Safari set for mobile browsing.  It appears as though Safari kicked the mobile browsing wars into high gear, and it will be interesting to follow along and see where the final battle lines will be drawn.

Mail and Messaging: I was extremely impressed with mail program on the iPod Touch.  This is the interface I had always hoped Windows Mobile would offer.  They have come close, but I really think Apple just about nailed it.  One oddity I did find, however, was that while you can add your first account from the Mail program, all subsequent accounts must be added through the settings menu.

Other than that, I found the mail program to be spectacular.  Unlike the native Windows Mobile mail program, when you tap the update button, all of your accounts will be updated at once.  From here, you are just a few simple finger taps from reading and replying to all of your important messages.

I was a little disappointed not to find an Instant Messenger included with the iPod Touch.  Of course, Windows Mobile includes the Windows Live package.  While I would not have expected that, I did expect to find Google chat or something similar.  Still, the fantastic Palringo messenger is available as a free download from the App Store.

Other Apps: One of the interesting discoveries I made when I started exploring the iTunes App Store was how many of the included applications rely on the Internet.  Even those which were not explicitly Internet applications still relied upon The Cloud, which we have talked so much about lately.  Many of my new favorite applications (such as ToDo (above) and weather apps like FizzWeather) either store or sync your data online.  So, you had better make sure you have a good connection.

Connectivity: And while we are talking about the connection, how will you access all of these fantastic online and Internet gems?  The iPod Touch is not an iPhone.  There is no phone included and no data plan of which to speak.  Additionally, there is no card slot or other opportunity to add a modem.  So, what to do?  Well, the one thing the iPod Touch does offer is wifi.  I am not usually a fan of Wifi, but it really worked well with the iPod Touch.  The only problem I had was that I do not have a wireless network in my house or at work.  So, what am I to do?  This thing is not going to be much good to me with a bunch of Internet apps and no Internet.  Well, not to worry.  Thankfully, I found a fantastic application for my Mogul, called WMWifiRouter.  Well take a closer look at this fantastic program in abit.  For now, though, what it basically did was use the Wifi and phone on my Mogul to turn it into a Wifi router.  My iPod was then able to connect via Wifi and access the Internet.  Perfect!  I am now a walking Wifi router.

Overall, I was very impressed by the iPod Touch’s ability to access the Internet.  It did a great job of identifying and utilizing nearby networks.  The speeds via Wifi were also extremely impressive.  I felt that accessing the Internet via Wifi on the iPod Touch was even faster than accessing the Internet on my Sprint Mogul’s EVDO Rev-A network using Pocket Internet Explorer.

Conclusion: Before I purchased the iPod Touch, I had heard rumors about the Safari browser and how revolutionary the web browsing experience was on this device.  I never believed those rumors until I had a chance to actually try it for myself.  But I have to say, like many aspects of the iPhone/iPod Touch, the Safari browser really did advance the field in ways that had been previously unimaginable.  They left an ever growing field of Windows Mobile applications quickly playing catch up with this one, and only time will tell what the ultimate outcome will be.

Other articles in this series:

Part 1: Unboxing, Hardware and Controls

Part 2: Its a Portable Media Player

Part 3: Its a Portable Computer

Still to Come:

Part 5: iTunes, Memory, Battery, and other Miscellaneous Issues

Related posts:

1. The iPod Touch Review. Part 2: The Touch is a Portable Media Player
2. Review: Apple iPod Touch 16 GB. Part 5: iTunes and Conclusion
3. The 16 GB iPod Touch Review Part 3: Its a Portable Computer
4. Rumor Central: Will The New iPod Touch Include A Camera And Mic?
5. Review: WMWifiRouter. Or, How I Connected To The Internet Without An Internet Connection