itouch, how does it work

[qwertpoiuy]

In layman's terms please! i'm thinking of buying one for DH for christmas, but I'm having trouble understanding how it works. Apparently, you can access the internet, e-mail and Google Earth maps on it. Does it have to be connected to a phone line for all this? Does a certain plug come with it for that purpose?
If you own one, would you mind also mind informing me if it's been a worthwhile purchase?

you need wifi to connect to the Internet with them, so if you don't have this at home it won't be much use, except as a music player..

I have the iPhone not the iPod version and use it for web browsing all the time (eg right now!)

I bought one for DH for Christmas last year and he uses it a lot. I really went into the shop for an ipod nano, but fell in love with the itouch - wish I had one. You do need wifi to make it worth having.

Thank you both for your replies. I actally have wi-fi, I just found out! The Google map menu, will that work when you're away from wi-fi? I mean, can you use it the same way as SatNav? Never used satNav, so I'm not sure how it carries out it's good work! Sorry, I am technologically illiterate!

hi, no you couldn't use it as a satnav - it doesn't have a gps thingummy in it which is what it needs to pinpoint your location, it just uses wifi hotspots to work out your location and this is very vague.
(the iPhone however does have gps and can be used as a satnav)