Apple iPod Touch

The ‘touch’ looks quite similar to the iPhone, has just about all the features, and even features an almost duplicate multi-touch interface, but doesn’t have a the “phone” part. The unit uses a 802.11b/g WiFi signal instead of the 2G At&t network for all its communication needs. Just like the iPhone, the iPod Touch has a Safari browser with built in Google/Yahoo search. Plus while connected to a hotspot or home network, the ‘touch’ allows browsing and playing YouTube content and even purchasing and downloading new songs on the go with the new fully fledged iTunes WiFi music store. The iPod Touch sports a 3.5-inch widescreen display for music, photos, videos, album art, coverflow, web browsing, and features an accelerometer to detect the unit’s upright or landscape orientation. With an ambient light sensor, battery life is conserved by adjusting the brightness to the unit’s surroundings, in result offering 22 hours of music and 5 hours of video playback. The iPod Touch will be available later this month (no exact date set just yet) in capacities of 8GB and 16GB priced at $299 and $399 respectively.

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Nokia Tube 5800

At the annual Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in Redwood City, California, Nokia executives at the CTIA show announced the arrival of a major touchscreen product by year’s end. Nokia, VP Tom Libretto, code-named the device “Tube.”

According to the rumors, the device is likely to be called Nokia Tube 5800 and would support Haptic technology.

Haptic technology refers to technology which interfaces the user via the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations and/or motions to the user, but it should not to be confused with touch or tactile sensors that measure the pressure or force exerted by the user to the interface.

Nokia Tube 5800

Apple’s on-screen keyboard has a major drawback as it lacks “haptic response.” In other words, users cannot feel the keys as there is no pressure back on the finger when a virtual key is released. Haptic technology allows users to use a touchscreen and receive feedback like they are pressing on real buttons through vibration technology.

Nokia has licensed ‘haptics’ technology from Immersion Corporation that will enable it to incorporate a wide range of tactile feedback in it cellphones: for example specific vibrations associated with different ringtones and with different touch-screen-press commands.

The phone would run on Nokia’s Symbian S60 Operating System - the leading OS in the ’smart mobile device’ market. Statistics published in February 2008 by Canalys data showed that Symbian OS had a 65% share of the ’smart mobile device’ market, ahead of Microsoft on 12%, RIM on 11%, Apple on 7%, and Linux at 5%.

Apple and Nokia are very close competitors. Nokia’s announcement coincided with Apple’s plans to release the next version of a 3G iPhone that could allow Apple to gain more market share in the U.S. and Europe.

Dubbed as ‘iPhone killer,’ Nokia Tube is expected to include an auto-focus 3.2 megapixel camera with GPS, and a 3.2-inch LCD touchscreen display with 16 million colors.

The handset would be compatible with 3G HSDPA connectivity, and would include support for Java (which Apple has been reluctant to do with iPhone), Bluetooth, WiFi, GPRS, as well as DVB-H technology (mobile TV standard for Europe).

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Fring is a new native application launched today as a ‘pre-release’ version, that provides (WiFi) VOIP and IM capabilities on the iPhone. The app will work with, and grab your contact lists from: Skype, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ, Twitter, Yahoo, and AIM.

The Fring service - as a whole, not just the iPhone piece - is described as:

… a mobile internet community and service that enables its users to talk, chat and interact with other fringsters and their internet communities from their mobile phones.

It’s also completely free - no subscription costs or anything like that - it just makes use of whatever other VOIP services you have setup via Skype or other providers.
Watch the video demo after the jump:


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