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At Apple’s last event, Steve Jobs called the iPod touch the company’s “most popular iPod,” and it’s easy to understand why. In just a few short years, the iPhone-with-no-phone has kept in lockstep with Cupertino’s halo device, benefitting from the same kind of constant hardware and software updating that has helped turned the iPhone into an iconic gadget. The touch has been right alongside the iPhone’s meteoric rise in popularity, becoming the go-to second-pocket slab for millions. There are good reasons, too. Apple boasts about gaming on the device — claiming it beats out both Nintendo’s and Sony’s offerings in sales… combined. While we can’t concede that the device is a dedicated game console, it most definitely games. And it’s still an iPod, an internet device, and a thousand other things thanks to Apple’s vastly populous App Store. Now the player has once again reaped the rewards of iPhone updates, boasting a new Retina Display, the A4 CPU, two cameras which allow for FaceTime calling and 720p video recording, and all the new features of the company’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 4.1. But despite all of the plusses, we still have to ask: is the little do-everything box still worth the premium price tag? We took a deep dive on the latest model and have the verdict, so read on to find out.

Continue reading iPod touch review (2010)

iPod touch review (2010) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that iriver Story Touch Edition e-reader we spied last month? Well, iriver is showing it off at IFA this week, with plans to release the little 6-inch touchscreen device in Europe and Korea in the next week or so. We played around with it a bit, and while the 800 x 600 E Ink screen resolution is a little disappointing, and the resistive touchscreen layer impacts readability in a small but noticeable way, the software is certainly pleasant, and iriver is up to its usual standard in hardware design. There’s a small included stylus that slots in at the top of the screen (or the bottom, the screen auto-flips vertically based on how you hold the device) but while the stylus is fun for drawing notes, all you really need is a light tap or swipe with your fingers to operate the device. With 2GB of storage, a €229-ish pricetag for the WiFi-free version (there’s another WiFi version coming with an email app and a lightweight browser), and that low resolution screen, iriver probably wouldn’t have much luck going up against the Kindle and its ilk in the US, but they’re hoping to carve out a niche in Europe and Asia, and we can’t begrudge them that.

iriver Story Touch Edition preview originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here it is, the new (and completely redesigned) iPod nano. Super thin, super light, and really, the capacitive multitouch works very well. The screen is crisp and top menu navigation is smooth, but can’t say we have great feel for moving back out of sub menus (via swipe or holding down the screen). We’re going back for seconds and thirds, peep the initial gallery below!

Update: Okay, we’ve gotten much more quality time with the nano, and we’ll admit that after some brief practice, the menu navigation is nice both going in and out of menus — holding the middle will take some getting used to, if only because you gotta avoid any other on-screen items that beckon for your digits. Probably due to the small size of the screen, there is no pinch-to-zoom for photos. Instead, we’re using a simple double-tap motion to a fixed zoom in / zoom out distance.

The clock app has a very easy-to-read analog style to it, and swiping across the screen will give you a stopwatch and timer. There is no alarm clock, however, which as the Apple rep explained to us was a design decision given its lack of an external speaker. Bummer, as it’s the perfect size to strap on a band and use as a wristwatch — a fitting thought, too, given one of the settings will let us see the time every time we wake up the screen. Check out our video tour after the break.

Continue reading iPod nano (2010) first hands-on! (update: video!)

iPod nano (2010) first hands-on! (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After the overt teasing, leaking, and then more leaking, Microsoft’s finally ready to spit out the details on its Arc Touch Mouse, which at the end of the day is really just… a mouse. As we’ve seen, the peripheral has an incredibly unique design — the flat device arches its back to click into a mountain shape, which actually ends up powering the little rodent up. So, where does the whole “touch” factor come into play? Well, very similarly to the Mad Catz Eclipse mouse, the Arc Touch has a capacitive touch strip with sensor pads between the mouse buttons that can be used for scrolling and customizable shortcuts. We’ve got you covered with some hands-on impressions and video after the break, but that’s about all you’ll be getting for a while since the press release below says the $69.95 mouse won’t hit the market until December. Yep, December! That’s a bit odd to us, but they’ll be taking pre-orders today so hit the break to finally see this thing push the cursor around.

Continue reading Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse seriously, finally, officially announced, doesn’t ship until December

Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse seriously, finally, officially announced, doesn’t ship until December originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re but a few days away from Apple’s music-related “special event,” and naturally the bloody rumors are being tossed into the water, frothing up into quite a feeding frenzy. Last week came talk of new iPod touch and nano models, and now we have even more cases and accessories that seem to back up the belief that there’s a fourth-generation touch and a sixth-generation nano coming. The nano is rumored to have a 3 x 3cm touchscreen (presumably this one) and room on the bottom for a proper dock connector, ensuring compatibility with the millions of iPod cradles and whatnot out there. The new cases we’re seeing certainly back up that idea, with a dock-sized cut-out along with room for what’s said to be a headphone jack, volume controls, a hold button, and a clip ’round the back. At the moment we know rather less about the new touch, but we can hazard a guess as to what it’ll look like.

[Thanks, Hobbsy101]

Next-generation iPod touch and nano accessories and rumors continue to surface originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/microsoft/Microsoft_s_Arc_Touch_revealed’;

Microsoft’s Arc Touch Mouse revealed? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia has just revealed its X3-02 handset, which does the unthinkable and marries a relatively standard 16-button keypad with a 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreen. Now, we might have our reservations about Nokia’s S40 OS being able to translate to a touch-friendly UI, but the beauty of this phone is that touch comes as essentially a free extra rather than the fundamental navigation paradigm. It’s augmented with 3G, 802.11n WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, and the whole thing is wrapped within a 9.6mm-thin brushed aluminum shell. All that, and the X3-02 will only cost €125 (before sales taxes and subsidies, as usual) when it launches later this quarter. See it on video after the break.

Update: Nokia has informed us the X3-02 uses a resistive touchscreen, no real surprise given its price.

Continue reading Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type puts a touchscreen on your Series 40 featurephone

Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type puts a touchscreen on your Series 40 featurephone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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E Ink Holdings, the company behind the power-sipping screens contained within Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Readers, is keeping to its schedule for the biggest overhaul of its display technology yet. Color panels are reportedly now sampling out to device vendors and China-based Hanvon has already answered the call — it promises to deliver color E Ink readers by the end of this year. Two varieties of touchscreens are also being prepared: the first is a capacitive panel to sate the kids’ need to flick and swipe everywhere, while the second will include a pen-friendly digitizer that should make annotations a doddle (or should that be a doodle?). Better response times and reflectivity are also being touted, though the big question is obviously when this good stuff will make its way into mainstream devices like the Kindle. If you believe Jeff Bezos, that won’t be any time soon.

E Ink begins sampling color and capacitive touch displays, on track for late 2010 launch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 04:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Time for us to admit another entrant into the hall of unnecessary, but cool inventions. Installed at Tokyo’s Shinagawa Station yesterday, this latest spin on the vending machine dispenses with those silly windows unto what you’re buying and furnishes its user with a 47-inch touch panel from which to make his (or her) selection. An embedded camera will recognize your gender and age, allowing the machine to recommend a beverage suitable to whatever stereotype is attached to your particular circumstances. And don’t worry, it’ll store your purchasing history too, so you can be freaked out by tailored ads every time you use it. 500 more of these WiMAX-equipped units are planned to be installed in and around Tokyo over the next two years, with operating company JR East expecting them to tally up 30 percent more sales than their analog brethren. More bling equals higher revenue? Sounds about right.

[Thanks, Kyle]

Japan takes vending machines to their logical, 47-inch touchscreen extreme originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fool us once, shame on us. Fool us twice? Fuhgetaboutit. Apple has a thing for introducing new iPods each fall, and given that the existing touch is being given away gratis with a new student computer (not to mention how long in the tooth it is), we’re guessing the tradition will continue in 2010. We’d heard earlier on in the year that Apple may toss FaceTime over to the iPod line whenever it finally gained a front-facing camera, and now the evidence is nearly too strong to ignore. In the latest iOS 4.1 beta (numero three, if you’re keeping count), there’s an option to connect to a contact via FaceTime by ringing their digits or by pinging their email address. We’re guessing that the latter is there mostly for iPod touch users (the ones without Apple Peel 520s, anyway), and it’s the most glaring sign yet that the next generation touch will flippin’ finally boast a camera (or just a way around that SMS-based activation?). Still, we wouldn’t get our hopes up too high — falling ain’t no fun, you know?

Email-based FaceTime support surfaces in iOS 4.1 beta 3 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Aug 2010 14:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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