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9-10-08ipodtouch

Usually product teardowns are only interesting for the raw, visceral thrill of seeing chipsets and circuit boards splayed wide open, but iFixit’s disassembly of the new iPod touch revealed something rather more interesting: a Broadcom BCM4325 Bluetooth 2.1+EDR chip. (That’s the silver rectangle in the middle of the top circuit board there.) That’s got a lot of people all atwitter, but there’s an obvious explanation for it: Nike+, built into the new touch, is based on a proprietary low-power 2.4GHz communications protocol called ANT — not quite the standard Bluetooth frequency, but awful close. Yep, sorry, it’s for technojogging, not secret A2DP — although we’d welcome actual Bluetooth support in the touch with open arms. Hit the read link for the complete breakdown.

Update: Just to be totally accurate, the BCM4325 also does WiFi — and Nike+iPod has been called a “proprietary 802.11 protocol” in the past, so it’s even less likely that it’s there for actual Bluetooth usage.

9-10-08-nokia-5310-cwm

We put “free” in quotes for a reason, and now it seems the dark, nasty truth could be upon us. While pre-order prices on a retailer’s website should be taken as pure speculation and nothing more, a couple of notable examples reveal £70 to £85 premiums on the Comes with Music version of two phones. For instance, Expansys offers up Nokia’s N95 8GB for £394.99, but the CwM edition is a stiff £479.99. It’s hard to say if the prices are jacked up by Nokia’s directive, but again, we aren’t getting too riled up until these things launch for real.

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Oh, come on, you know there’s a part of you that wants it. A big part, even. The Touch Diamond is the first new HTC piece to get teed up for Sprint, but the Touch Pro is hot on its heels a few weeks later — and with a QWERTY keyboard, it’s hard to ignore. Question is, is it worth the extra wait? Well, ease your troubled mind for just a second and take a gander at our gallery on Engadget Mobile — we’re not saying it’s going to make your decision any easier, we’re just saying everyone likes pretty pictures.

9-10-08-sony-xel_1-wireless

What’s better than a (cheap) XEL-1? How’s about a wireless, battery-powered XEL-1? Sony has recently shown off a completely cordless OLED TV with the same ultrathin chassis as used in the aforementioned 11-incher. Bulking things up a bit is the integrated HDTV tuner, and of course, it’s wall-mountable for midgets who live in a Little Tikes playhouse. Unfortunately, there’s no real mention of specs (aside from the whole “3-millimeter thin” part), and even worse, there’s no telling how long we’ll have to wait before we see it hit shelves (let alone grow to a size that’s actually useful). Anywho, tap the read link for a plethora of images.

9-10-08-a-pool-deluze

Two things: first off, craptastic pool cue Wiimote accessories are already widely available, and secondly, couldn’t you just duct tape a controller to your favorite real cue and achieve almost the same thing? Terrible ideas aside, RealMotion has just revealed that it will be shipping a RealMotion Pool Cue companion accessory for its upcoming title, American Pool Deluxe. Reportedly, the unit is a “meticulously crafted cue built specifically to take advantage of the Wii remote’s accelerometer technology for real precision and fun,” but we’ll have to envision it until the company gets smart enough to distribute a photo. Or is it really that embarrassing?

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While the DevTeam rightly asserts that Apple can’t undo the bug exploited by PwnageTool via firmware update alone, it’s still subject to the whims of iTunes connectivity. In fact, iTunes 8 seems to detect jailbroken devices jailbreaking attempts and then stomps its feet and refuses to play nice. While the DevTeam says that fixes are in the works, the growing list of useful applications in the AppStore coupled with the global retail availability of the iPhone (and lack of a 3G unlock) makes PwnageTool less and less relevant with each passing day.

Update: The problem seems to occur when you try to restore to an iPwned ipsw from a non-iPwned device. Syncing to an already Pwned device works fine.

Editor’s note: The sentence above which states that the Dev Team’s efforts are becoming “less relevant” is not an opinion which is endorsed by Engadget. Quite the contrary — many of the editors here are die-hard fans of PwnageTool and the Team’s work, and believe that their contributions to the iPhone community are hugely important. Thomas — who lives in The Netherlands — has a point in regards to users who previously had no access to the phone and were forced to import and unlock, or more casual users who likely find the App Store more approachable. Personally? I don’t update my phone until the Dev Team has worked their magic, and they have Engadget’s full support and respect. – ed.

epson-photo-viewer-review

We hear quite a bit about these storage / viewing devices for photogs, so how ’bout a proper review in the run-up to the big Photokina show now just days away? If nothing else, PhotographyBlog’s review of the Epson P-7000 describes how an $800 device can replace a laptop for serious, in-the-field photography. While recommending a second battery for heavy shooters, the easy to use P-7000 with that “stellar” 4-inch LTPS LCD comes away with high marks (4.5 of 5These Weblogs › Create New Post — WordPress stars) dressed in the opinion that it “far exceeds any other similar device” used by the reviewer. Now hit that read link for the full revie

9-10-08-rb2-bass

Previously, the ship dates for Rock Band 2 instruments ranged from “sometime within the next few months” to “sometime.” Now, however, we’re hearing that the standalone wireless drums ($90) and guitar ($70) will begin to ship out next week (at least for the Xbox 360). Additionally, Mad Catz’s Fender P-Bass wireless guitar controller ($70) and the wired ION Drum Rocker set ($300) should clutter up floor space around the same time. RB2 party to celebrate the Q3 close? Sign us up.

ninja-tivo

TiVo and RIM are getting all friendly on us, teaming up to build software for the BlackBerry that could strike fear in the hearts of Slingbox and Orb. Right now it’s pretty innocuous, utilizing the phone to check listings and schedule recordings, but in the future the two are looking to “further simplify mobile access to video content” — which means streaming video straight off the TiVo to a BlackBerry’s ever-expanding screen, if we had to guess. Everything’s pretty preliminary at the moment, the two are just announcing the partnership, and say to expect the first software from the duo later this year.