Our Quick Guide For New iPhone / iPod Touch Owners

Well what do ya' know... Turns out you weren't on the naughty list at all!

If you got an iPhone or iPod Touch this holiday season, we want to help you get up to speed with our superfast new owner guide.

First, welcome! When you get a new Mac, Apple has that cool intro screen with all the different languages. No such luck with the iPhone and iPod Touch, at least not yet...

1. Setup an iTunes account.

2. Grab these mainstream (and mostly free) apps: AIM, The Weather Channel, Facebook, and if you're into twitter, Tweetie. Speaking of twitter, follow @3WordAppReviews to get apps summed up in three tidy words. And if you'll be using AT&T, you'll want to pick up Mark The Spot as well. You shouldn't need it, but hey, it's not a perfect world.

3. Grab some apps to impress your friends: Yelp (use the Monocle feature!) iSpy Cameras, and Google Earth are good places to start.

4. Get some games to play: These will show off the range of the iPhone and iPod Touch for gaming: Spider, SkySmash, HomeRun Battle, Platypus, and Eliminate (free version).

5. Get a case: Before you get too excited playing with your new toy, you'll want to protect it. There are a ton of cases, many fall into  a few different styles. If you're looking for a soft protective case, try the iSkin Solo Fx, which has a bunch of color/pattern options. If you want something more rugged, it's hard to go wrong with a case from the folks at Otterbox.

6. Hook it up in the car: Many new cars have USB connectivity, or at least an audio input. If yours doesn't hopefully you have a cassette player, and can simply use a cassette adapter. If not, you'll have to pick an FM transmitter. None of them are great, so check those Amazon reviews carefully.

6. Get used to gift cards: Getting an iPod generally means relatives far and wide will start giving you iTunes giftcards. This is not a bad thing.

7. And you'll need a podcast, of course! If I may humbly suggest, (and manage to sneak in a plug) subscribing to DoubleTap through iTunes. In each episode we cover iPhone app, app store news and more.

8. Oh, and have fun! Happy holidays, everybody!

Pay for your iPhone By Buying 200 Pizzas

We know all too well that an iPhone is quite an investment. Fortunately though, there are apps slowly emerging that could help the iPhone (or iPod Touch) pay for itself. One of those apps is from Pizza Hut.

This free app allows you to order pizza for pickup or delivery (depending on your local Pizza Hut, of course) from your Pizza Hut. And, it saves you 20% while doing it. According to all of the comments on the app, apparently early adopters hit a few bumps in the road, but with three sample orders here, we did indeed save 20% over the posted internet price each time. It seems some of the pizza configurations are not available, and the app can sometimes be too cute for its own good: you shake the phone left or right to indicates which half and ingredient is intended for, and you drag and drop the ingredients onto the crust to create your pizza rather than simply checking a list of ingredients.

The TDL crew doesn't order from Pizza Hut too often, but for the more frequent buyer, this could be a great way to save money. Heck, you might as well get the 32GB iPhone, now!

(iTunes Link)

Any Future for Clickwheel Apps?

The graph says it all. With less than 50 total apps (almost all games) for the clickwheel iPods, while the app store just reached a billion downloads of over 28,000 different apps, you have to wonder if there's a future for clickwheel apps/games. Sure, it can be more difficult to write programs for the clickwheels; after all there's no readily available SDK for potential developers. It looks like that's just the way Apple wants it. There are millions of clickwheel iPods out there, but Apple's App Store works as a revenue engine that helps sell the newer, hipper, iPod Touch and iPhone.

Maybe some of those crafty people creating apps for the iPhone outside of the approved app store could find a lucrative market for clickwheel apps and games...

AngryCat for the iPhone and iPod Touch Video Review

Cats can get angry. And how will you react when cats get angry? Don't know? Sounds like you need an AngryCat simulator. Of course this particular cat isn't all that angry until you start poking at him and provoking him. So perhaps the moral to the story is, don't make cats angry. AngryCats claims to help you be prepared. Oh and Happy April Fool's Day. Enjoy:

Night Stand for iPhone and iPod Touch Video Review

When is a pretty face more than just a pretty face? Or in this case, is a pretty face enough? Night Stand offers a classy assortment of alarm clock eye candy to replace the built-in alarm functionality. But is that enough to justify its $1.99 price point? Well, that's in the eye of the beholder, but for most, the answer is probably no. The look of these faces, especially the default blue LCD is great. And if you have a set of docking speakers, having Night Stand on your iPhone will help class up the joint. 

However, there are only four of those classy looks to choose from. Maybe we could cut them more slack on the price with more included alarm faces. Also kudos on the refreshing new alarm sounds as well. If you're a stylish sleeper, and $1.99 won't keep you up at night, then give it a shot.