Considering the battery-sucking potential of the iPod Touch with its bright screen, built-in speaker and energy consumed which moving and touching it, an external battery pack is certainly useful. Especially if you plan to play a lot of games on the go.

The Mophie Juice Pack – a fancy name for a rechargeable battery device – tries to offer not only doubled battery life but also a convenient mini-USB connection port. The battery portion works wonderfully. Unfortunately, it’s the second part of the device that gave me issues.

System: iPod TouchPrice: $229 (8GB), $299 (16GB) and $399 (32GB)Release Date: September 2008 (2nd generation)Publisher (Developer): ApplePros: Incredible audio support and very accurate touchscreen and accelerometer (motion) controls. Lots of games to choose from including standard casual, card and puzzle games, as well as several system-only and online games. External speakers.Cons: No manual game buttons and a naked iPod is a bit slippery to hold. Home button slip exits the game without pause. No external media slot.Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 88; B+; * * * 1/2 out of five.

Apple has been promoting the crud out of the iPod Touch as being “the funnest iPod ever” with commercials that show a bunch of motion-controlled games.

While certainly not a Nintendo DS killer, the iPod Touch does offer some rather decent motion and touchscreen controls as well as all the iPhone’s main features sans the phone and microphone. There are a few small concerns for touch-only games but, otherwise, it performs well above most phones as a gaming device…

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