The ipod has come a long way since it was first introduced in 2001. The first generation ipod was certainly new and exciting and challenged what we knew about technology, but in comparison to the capabilities of subsequent models was fairly basic. It had the ability to play music of course, as that is the premise of the machine, but was coupled with the ability to play games, like the hidden ‘easter egg’ brick game. Later versions of the original came with new games and features. It wasn’t until many generations later that Apple exponentially expanded the applications and abilities of the ipod. Around 2006 they expanded the applications available for the ipod through the itunes online store, though these still consisted mainly of games.
. It wasn’t until the development and subsequent release of the ipod touch that the technology really exploded. With the touch came infinite possibilities, which apple and independent developers have certainly tried to tap into.
As we often hear, “there’s an app for that”. The slogan helped us change what we expect from our media players forever. It became so famous, and integrated that even childrens television shows took notice. The point of it all is that there is an app for most things that you can imagine, from a nook app where you can read your favorite books to urban spoon which can save you the tough choice of where to eat tonight.
But regardless of the renown that apple and the ipodhave gained, and the upwards of 50 million units sold each year since the introduction of the touch, that still leaves a huge proportion of the world that does not have one and may not know how to use one. Which brings us to my presentation; Kind of a how to on getting and using an app. I chose kind of a ridiculous app, if only to demonstrate that there is indeed an app for everything. But lets get started. For those of you that don’t know, this is the ipod touch, or in this case the iphone. It is generally the same idea, the iphone having the ability to make phone calls and operate on a data plan as opposed to the ipod which requires an internet connection for app acquisition and in some cases function. But heres the basics.
We need to first unlock the phone. This is done by placing your finger on the grey arrow and simply sliding it to the right. If you have enabled password protection then you will here be asked to enter your password, if not then you will go to your home screen.
This is my phone we are looking at and I have a password, so lets do that now. Just touch the numbers in your password and youre good to go.
There we go, now were at the home screen. In order to find an app we have to first find the itunes mobile store. See it down there in the corner? Ok lets go ahead and just touch that with your finger.
Ok that brings us to the featured tab. Here we can see whats new, whats popular, or even what Genius recommends for us based on past purchases and usage. Neat huh? We can also look up apps by category. Go ahead and click on the categories tab at the bottom
There we go. Now here we can look at lists of just games or just entertainment apps or whatever category suits your needs. There is also a top 25 list. Click on that for me.
Ok so here we can look at the most popular apps by top paid, top free and top grossing. We are going to search for our app though. So go ahead and click the search tab.
. Ok now you just touch your finger to the white bar at the top of the screen and a keyboard will pop up. I have already searched for a talking app for app. There that’s the one. Lets click on the Talking Roby app.
. Here you can look at a short description of the app and if you scroll down there will be a few pictures of the app in action as well. I already checked it out and we are going to download this one. So to download an app you just have to find the tab in the top right of the page. It will be green and either say the price of the app or will say free. This one is a free app. So when you click that button it brings up another button in the same place that says download, and we can click that too.
Obviously I am assuming that you all have an itunes account, but if not sorry but I cant fit everything into this. You can start one on itunes.com. But im using mine so well jump ahead. Here itunes is gonna ask for your password, I’ll go ahead and enter that.
The app will start downloading automatically and you’ll jump to the home screen, and it will take you to your apps place. You can see a bar under the app that monitors the loading.
When the bar is finished your app is ready to use. There see, the app has brightened up. Ok lets go ahead and click that.
Well we have gotten started, searched and downloaded our app, now lets see what it can do. So this is Roby.
Roby will greet you when you open the app and bring you to this screen, your home screen in the app. As you can see there are buttons around the screen that will help you navigate the app. The little I on the right is your information screen. Clicking that will provide you with directions on using Roby, which we will look at in a minute. The camera on the left lets you record a video of your encounter with Roby, which we will see in use in a minute as well. The music note sends Roby into a dancing fit. The trumpet makes Roby blow his airhorn. Clicking in the white bar will bring up a keyboard, where you can type anything you want roby to say, just press the play button when you have finished typing. If using the iphone you can say what you want roby to say out loud and he will repeat it back to you, or if using an ipod simply use a microphone. The two buttons on the bottom right bring up options for pay additions, which we aren’t going to get into. The button at the top right brings up a screen of other talking apps, like talking t rex. Let’s click on the I and look at the further directions.
. I won’t read these out because youre as capable as I am at doing that but ill give you a minute to look. Instead lets skip ahead and see Roby in action.
So that’s pretty much it. You did it. Roby seems happy. (Video) I hope you now have a general grasp on how to get and use an app. Thanks for listening.
