Reply #13 Marsupial's post
Yes, you can use Skype with it, and not just over wifi, but over 3G too (ATT finally lifted the 3G restriction). That, actually, is the most interesting aspect to me (and ATT's data plan). It's $15 a month, no contract for 250MB or $30 for unlimited data. I don't make 250MB's worth of calls a month, so, if they offered the same in the next iPod Touch, there would be no need for a cell phone. As it is now, the iPod works great as a phone in Hong Kong where wifi is, but it would be nice to have phone service everywhere, like a cell phone. I refuse to pay more than $20 a month for a cellphone, and will not do a contract agreement. I've never had a cellphone, and have been just waiting for the inevitable transition that renders the traditional cell pricing system obsolete. SO, for someone like myself, this iPad announcement is as actually revolutionary, not because of the product, but because of the data plan and pricing. I mean, seriously, if someone told you last month that ATT was going to have $30 unlimited data plan, with no contract, would you have believed them?
And as for the original poster, of course you can browse the web while listening to your music. The iPhone/iPod/iPad limit background process to preserve battery, and allow developers to take full advantage of the hardware (when someone writes an app, they write it to take full use of the system, and don't have to worry about have much ram, or video memory it will have to function). You can run a hacked version that will allow you to keep apps running in the background, but this causes regular crashes of the apps, as other apps take their memory, etc. The iPhone has a much richer application platform as a result of its "sandboxing". As someone who owns an iPod touch, I've never been bothered by the "one app at a time" rule (with the exception of music, of course, which can play all the time). But, for those who aren't concerned about battery performance, just install the hacked OS (or buy a different product!). | |
