iPod Touch New Apps - Worth it?

I had a sudden attack of fanboy last week and shelled out the £12.99 for the iPod Touch January Software Upgrade which adds five new applications to the Touch and some additional functionality. The big question, of course, is whether it's worth the cash. Here's a run down of my thoughts on the new apps:

The new Mail application allows you to set up a number of email accounts via the settings icon. Yahoo, Google .Mac and AOL are all given automatic setup buttons but there is an "Other" selection which allows you to configure it for other services. It supports IMAP, POP and Exchange services. Once set up your accounts are accessed via the Mail icon which also shows the number of unread emails when there are some. You can set it to check for email and download it periodically or only when you go into the mail app and, obviously, you need to have access to WiFi for all communications with your mail service but all the other email management can be done offline. The layout is typical iPod Touch / iPhone (which is pretty nice IMHO) but doesn't support landscape mode as far as I can see which, whilst you do lose some screen real estate for the keyboard, would make typing easier. The application supports all the standard folders and user created ones on your service but only downloads a configurable number of emails at a time. It also supposedly allows you to view MS Word and Adobe PDF email attachments but I've had problems getting these to download so far. Emails display fine with the .html ones rending nicely too. Now, of course, if your mail service has a web interface you can do all this stuff via Safari for nothing but I've found trying to operate mine that way has been pretty painful and that the Mail app is a huge improvement over that approach. So accepting the limitations of the WiFi baseline I have been pretty pleased with Mail and found it very useful and certainly worth paying for.

The Maps application is a specific implementation of Google Maps for the iPod and iPhone. It allows you to view maps, "satellite" and hybrid images as with the normal online application along with getting directions between locations. Obviously the iPod implementation doesn't have the same flexibility as the iPhone one as it is dependent on WiFi only - so, for example, it couldn't identify my location at home. However, it can get directions and store both the directions and relevant maps for use when you are out of WiFi range. Of course if you deviate from your preplanned route it can't adapt but given the limitations it is still useful. It is also nicely linked with the contacts application, although some of the Google address information is inaccurate which will result in some locations not being found. I think it's a little more limited that Mail but still a useful app.

Notes is a simple note taking application. I would have preferred a full to-do list implementation but the note taker does what it says and is a useful way of capturing information on the Touch.

I do use it but not as much as either Mail or Maps but unlike those it doesn't lose much in the way of functionality when out of WiFi range (not least 'cos there isn't a lot). Having said all that I do like it but on its own it wouldn't have justified the asking price.

Weather is a pretty simple widget which allows you to see a brief 5 day forecast for specified locations. It is very similar to the weather widget available on OS X but strangely didn't support my home location even though the OS X one does.

The biggest drawback of this app is that it is totally WiFi dependent. It doesn't seem to keep any of the data and so if you launch it out of WiFi range it doesn't give you much.

Not a complete waste of time but pretty limited I'm afraid.

Stocks is another widget like Weather. It allows you to select a number of stocks, monitor the changes in price and graph it over a specified period.

Unfortunately, as with Weather it is pretty WiFi dependent. It will retain the stock prices and movements along with the date of the last update but it won't manage any graphs.

Since I don't have much of a stock portfolio it's not something that interested me much anyway - so it wasn't much of a disappointment!

The main additional extra is the ability to customise your home screen by moving icons around and adding web clip icons. Obviously the latter are only available via Safari but it's a quicker way of selecting your favourites without having to enter Safari and select a bookmark. When you have WiFi it makes most web apps feel a little more native but just remember they won't be there when you're on the move. I like the ability to customise the home screen as I can now put my most used icons where I want. It's nice but not essential though.

Overall I think the package of apps is worth the amount Apple are charging. Just don't ask me why they're charging for them as the Sarbanes Oxley argument just doesn't work for me. As to whether they'll be worth it for you - well that'll depend on which ones you might actually use.