Okay I have to post on the subject of phones and ipods because we seem to keep going around and around on this subject :
Pre-paid phones : Pre paid phones are completely TRACEABLE with only one slight difference - they will ping off of any providers tower. The reason people choose pre paid phones are either 1. They do not have a credit score to enter into a contract with a company. 2. They want to make sure they do not "go over" in their minutes.
Pre paid phones typically have all the functions of a regular phone (texting, IM, video, photos, etc.) It was stated a couple threads ago that a prepaid phone may not have a camera - but I can tell you that a cell phone without a camera IS VERY VERY hard to find (including pre paids).
Ipod Touch - This website outlines the features of an ipod touch
http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/features/ . I think the easiest way to think of it is as a mini laptop. It can do pretty much anything a lap top does - but it cannot make direct phone calls (unless you are using Skype - which is a video call software). It can use ANY app that the iphone has and can connect to just about any website (including facebook, ms, etc.) . You connect over any wifi - business or open personal. There is no monthly cost involved. You'd be surprised who has open wifi's. Pretty much all our businesses here do and many of our neighbors.... my daughter was connected via Lube Stops wifi the other day. I live in a rural area and SIX wifi connections show in my home - three of them open.
Ipod Touch has apps that are very popular with the teen groups. I'm sure it varies by area but OMEGLE is very popular here. Basically it immediately connects you with a random person and via text or video you can speak with them. They can be anywhere in the world. There are some real FREAKS on Omegle.
HD posted in Nov 2009 that she got an ipod touch for Christmas. I have to say that I take this to mean a TRUE ipod touch. Kids differentiate between real ones and fake ones. She would have known a "knock off" and probably wouldn't have posted that she got an ipod touch. IMO .
PLUS we know she was posting to her facebook and it was saying "posted with my iphone" (which is what it says when using an ipod touch).
A note about "knock off" ipod touches - there are brands (posted upthread) that are very good knock offs and have all the capabilities of the itouch. It's also easy to get a TRUE ipod touch "FAKE" from overseas via online ordering. No matter WHICH of these you use, the application you install from facebook is the iphone application and it will post as if you have an iphone.
As a side note : People hack their ipods / iphones / knock offs all the time. They figure out ways to MAKE them work even when they "shouldn't" or shouldn't be able to do something.
Hope that clears some things up