News tagged ‘microphone’

Apple's newest iPod Touch does not include a motor for vibration. TouchFans apparently mis-identified a microphone for a vibration motor on the FCC photographs. Meanwhile, Apple has changed the text on the iPod Touch's Facetime page to remove the vibration reference.

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CNet shows the new iPod Nano 6th generation:

The good: The iPod Nano (sixth generation) is nearly half the size of the previous model, uses unique multitouch screen navigation, and includes a built-in clip.

The bad: Many features have disappeared, including video playback, camcorder, microphone, speaker, games, calendar, contacts, notes, and alarm clock. The touch-screen interface is overkill, requiring more attention than the time-tested click wheel design without delivering many practical benefits.

The bottom line: The sixth generation of the iPod Nano is the smallest yet, but it comes at the expense of valuable features and practical controls.

Watch the video:

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CNet shows the new iPod Touch 4th generation and compares it with other iPod Touches and iPhones.

The good: The fourth generation of Apple's iPod Touch offers nothing but improvements, including an HD camcorder, front-facing camera, integrated microphone, FaceTime video calling, Retina Display, gyroscope sensor, and a slimmer, lighter design.

The bad: Photo quality doesn't hold up to the iPhone 4's; there's no GPS, and no option for 3G data service.

The bottom line: The iPod Touch is the best iPod yet, offering all the fun of the iPhone experience without a carrier contract or monthly bill.

Watch the video:

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A well-known company, Panasonic has released its headphones HJC120 and HSC200, certified for the popular iPhone and iPod devices from Apple. Both models feature a built-in microphone and remote control for complete control of your iPod or iPhone, and provide an opportunity to get access to the VoiceOver feature in the iPod shuffle. Remote control for both models is also waterproof, preventing the possible incidental sweat or rain penetration. HJC120 are traditional headphones with an ergonomic design and high quality OctaRib speaker, and HSC200 headphones offer waterproof speaker with large 12.4 mm speakers, which provide dynamic sound.

Apple’s Special Event kicks off tomorrow, on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. This annual media event usually focuses on the iPod line, but recent rumors suggest that there might be other topics covered as well. Let’s see a brief summary of what we might expect tomorrow.

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The iPod touch 4G is most probably going to change its shape. The back of the device will be neither flat glass, like for the iPhone 4, nor is it going to be a curved surface, like a dome.

The anonymous source claims that the shape is going to be

Familiar. Think of the top of a MacBook Pro, only smaller, which is to say flat rather than curved at the center—closer to the look of the first-generation iPod touch’s back, only with modifications. The rear camera is there, but there is still some question as to whether what’s next to it will be a LED flash like the one in the iPhone 4, or a microphone like the one next to the video camera of the iPod nano. We’ve been told to expect a microphone rather than a flash, with a continuation of the bottom-mounted headphone port and Dock Connector port.

The new iPod touch is going to be announced at the Special Event on September 1^st.

There have been a lot of trouble reports from new iPhone 4 owners, especially regarding the signal loss issue. However, there are some other minor factory defects which are less widespread, and it means that in this case you can exchange your phone. Here is a list of what you just might encounter:

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Few days ago Tidbits made a test of Apple's iPad's Camera Connection Kit. It was  found that the kit works fine with almost any USB microphone, headset or headphone. That means you can listen to music or even make VoIP-calls. It is reported that the quality of such calls is "terrific".

The Unofficial Apple Weblog also tested the kit and found USB keyboards to work pretty good. Well, this was expected because of official iPad Keyboard Dock support. The only problem is that USB keyboards don't have a dock so it is inconvenient to use with iPad.

As you see from the video below the kit allows you to import photos from the memory card and delete it. iPad can import not only usual images, but also RAW files from high-end cameras. Moreover, photos will be copied at full resolution and with EXIF metadata. Video may be also imported and processed with a simple editor. But note that any video clip that is larger than 640x480 and 5 megabytes will be shrunk.

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Today we will take a look at an interesting accessory - external microphone for iPods and iPhones. As for the iPod everything it is quite simple - in order to record something you need an external mic. iPhone has it's own internal microphone. However the quality of the recording would be better with external one.

We performed a simple test: recorded the iTunes radio using Voice Memo application on the iPhone. First we used internal microphone and later we attached the external one. The quality of the external is slightly better. It is more sensible and the level of noise is lower which is good. Here are the sample recordings (m4a format): Internal, External.

This external microphone is compatible with:
- iPhone 3G/3GS
- iPod Touch 2G/3G (you need to download and install some recording application from AppStore)
- iPod Nano 4G/5G (with pre-installed software)
- iPod Classic 120G (with pre-installed software)

You can buy one for $3.12 at BudgetGadgets. They have free shipping worldwide. Use the coupon name VM5OFF5 during checkout, it will give you additional 5% discount.

More photos:

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Since only one month remains to iPad's launch, such hardware manufacturers as SDI Technologies, Gelaskins Inc., Sanho Corp. and Griffin Technology gear up their production of chargers, sticker covers and other accessories for a new device. And it is not surprising - according to Poper Jaffray & Co, overall sales of iPod and iPhone accessories in 2009 were about $3.7 billion.

But while these companies want to release their products as soon as possible, some other accessory manufacturers are taking a wait-and-see approach. Jonathan von Rentzell, a representative for Blue Microphones commented on this:

"If you're making it for a product, you want to make sure there's a market."

Steve Jobs already showed 2 key accessories for the iPad - a case and a keyboard dock with charging function. Both of them are created by Apple and will be sold separately with iPad.

Box.net finally presented its services to iPhone users, Other World Computing created the fastest SSD on the market, HyperMac offers a new line of batteries for Apple devices, and Blue Mikey Microphone is a new recording sound solution for iPhone.

Box.net presented an iPhone app that connects to their services and allows quick accessing to all your stored files. Now you can also connect to the Box.net service with QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite (US 9.99$). We can only imagine how comfortable it will be to use on iPad.

Other World Computing presented a few of their new products – USB 3.0 drive, new portable RAID array and (attention!) the fastest SSD on the market! It’s called OWC Mercury Extreme Enterprise SSD and loads Adobe CS4 applications in seconds, which looks really amazing compared to slow 5400 rpm hard disks.

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Apple's finally announced the iPad (Apple Tablet). It is perfect for tasks like browsing, email, photos, e-books and videos. It's a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds (680g), with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display and it's running a custom 1GHz Apple "A4" chip developed by the P.A. Semi team. The 10-hour battery life and a month of standby is quite exciting.

There will be devices with 16, 32 and 64GB. All iPads will get a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, 802.11n WiFi and optional 3G, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. There's also a keyboard dock, which connects underneath in the portrait orientation. iPad supports up to 1024x768 VGA out and 480p composite out through dock adapter cables. There is a camera attachment kit that lets you import photos from your camera over USB or directly through an SD reader.

The device is managed by iTunes, just like the iPhone and iPod Touch. iPad can run iPhone apps: either pixel-for-pixel in a window, or pixel-doubled fullscreen. Developers can also target the new screen size using the updated iPhone OS SDK, which is available today.

The 3G version runs on AT&T and comes with new data plans: 250MB for $14.99 and an unlimited plan for $29.99 a month contract-free. Activations are handled on the iPad, so you can activate and cancel whenever you want. Every iPad is unlocked (!) and comes with a GSM "micro-SIM".

The price starts at $499 for 16GB, 32GB for $599, and $699 64GB. Adding 3G costs a $130 per model, so the most expensive model (64GB / 3G) is $829. The WiFi-only model will ship in 60 days, and the 3G models will come in 90.

UPDATE: The 3G version will also have A-GPS.

This is the first video hands-on of Nexus One, best known as the first Google Phone to be released in early 2010. In the movie we can see the Android Market, the speed of the processor, quite functional browser, the ability to open documents, and even Google Maps Widget.

Here are some characteristics of the device:

• OLED display with capacitive touchscreen
• Home Screen renovated with the possibility of using an animated background
• Two microphones to reduce background noise during a conversation
• The new version 2.1 operating system,
• Snapdragon processor
• Supports GSM networks
• WiFi
• Great camera
• Virtual keyboard on the screen, but there is ability to use voice to dictate the words

Here is a side-by-side photo of Nexus One and iPhone:

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MediaMemo reports on claims from music industry sources that Apple is planning a keynote event for the week of September 7th. Rumors say that some expected topics are Snow Leopard , iTunes 9 and new iPod Touch with camera and microphone.

Apple has traditionally held media-focused keynote event each September to introduce new iTunes features and iPod updates:

• 2008: "Let's Rock" - iTunes 8 and new iPod touch, nano, and shuffle models.
• 2007: "The Beat Goes On" - original iPod touch, updates to the iPod line, iTunes 7.4 update, iPhone price drops.
• 2006: "It's Showtime" - iTunes 7 and iPod updates, Apple TV.
• 2005: "Here We Go Again" - Motorola ROKR mobile phone with iTunes support, the release of iTunes 5, introduction of the original iPod nano to replace the iPod mini.

via ispazio and macrumors

Brando has just opened its new sales of the Mini Microphone Capsule for iPhone. This is a small accessory, to be entered into the headphone jack, which allows you to record sounds 10 better than the internal microphone. As you can see in the image, the microphone is flexible and adjustable, improves the sound by 25 dB and also works on iPod Nano 4G and iPod Touch 2G. The accessory costs $14. Here is a link to the manufacturer.