I have a 160GB Classic, as I thought I needed it. But with a 32GB iPhone, I end up leaving my iPod at home, even when traveling. I once had a fantasy that I'd sync a ton of video to it, to serve up. That fantasy was never realized, though, because these days it easy to just plug your laptop into a TV. I like having an iPod Touch in the house, however, because when my kid wants to watch videos, I'd rather give her that than my own phone. Besides, some apps like Sonos' controller and Apple's Remote are better suited to a device that lives in the living room. An iPod Touch with a camera makes sense, getting a step closer to the iPhone; it's an equally intuitive device for people who want to keep clear of AT&T.

Put a camera in the Nano, and the opposite occurs: It becomes a mystery object, something unlike all other products in the universe, and not in a good way. It would be something to learn, with even more buried mystery functions than it has right now.

Let's be honest, the Nano is built to play music. Video playback on that tiny screen is a joke, accelerometer or not, and I have never met a soul who actually stores calendars and contacts, or uses any other mini-app or game. Putting still more tech into the Nano is a mistake that companies other than Apple would make—sure, it will be "neat," but it's impractical and a waste of development.

The Classic is a different story, one of diminishing demand. Hard drive players are almost nowhere to be found, and there's discussion of late that the 1.8" hard drive is headed for extinction, because flash memory is finally cheap. I think Apple will still sell a Classic, at least until they can pop out 64GB flash iPod Touches for under $400, but I don't think they'll do anything to modify the current Classic in any meaningful way, and they certainly aren't going to go all the way to 240GB, even though it's possible.

If the Classic is justifiable for music library owners like me, but mostly a non-starter, the Nano's raison d'etre is being a "value" option. It's cheaper than the iPod Touch, which hovers at the $230 only to distance itself from the 16GB Nano, at $200. If Apple dipped that iTouch to $199, they'd sell fewer Nanos than they are selling now.

Screw the camera—what Apple should do is lower the Nano price even more. Samsung and SanDisk sell 8GB players for less than $100 now, and you can even find a few 16GB players in the $130 range. That's $50 to $70 lower than what Apple charges, and nowadays, most of those devices will play anything you buy from iTunes—little or no manipulation required. Meanwhile, almost all PMP development from other companies is geared to building a cheap iTouch replacement, not a Nano clone.

As Apple itself declared during their earnings call, "We expect traditional MP3 players to decline over time as we cannibalize ourselves" with iPhone and iPod Touch. They readily admit that iPod Touches sell like hotcakes while demand for clickwheel iPods has slackened. It's just a puzzle that when these devices should be on life-support, Apple seems to be want to push them further. [iPod/iTunes]

It's almost hard to believe that the Hyundai MB400 even exists, but it's actually on display at MWC right now. What do we know about it? Practically nothing, except for the fact that it looks like a knockoff iPod classic, makes calls, play music, and has a touchscreen that requires a stylus. Sales, I'm guessing, will be limited to places where patent law doesn't really exist. Release info is nonexistent for the time being, but my guess: the MB400 will soon be available, strictly in trade for food or ammunition, in Guangzhou, Mogadishu, and the internet. [Pocketlint]

Multimedia player
1GB memory
MicroSD slot
Bluetooth
DMB
2 Megapixel camera

All this is a whopping $537. You could probably get Richard Clayderman to play something smoove in your home for less. [Akihabara News]

Sounds like it's a little bit of a battery hog since it burns through three AA batteries after 18 hours of continuous play. Still, if you have either the first- or second- generation nano and often find yourself poolside (and with people who share your taste in music), the iceBar might help get through the summer—that is, if developer Atlantic didn't have plans for their speaker case to be released this holiday season. The iceBar should cost around $70. [iLounge]

While most of it sounds fairly cosmetic, the idea of a touchpad that glows brighter with more pressure, follows around tactile input by the user, and changes color sounds pretty damn cool to us, and helps make things more intuitive on the user's end. The 34 page patent outlines the plans which sound like anything from an LCD touchscreen to a traditional touchpad backlit with LEDs. From the patent:

By way of example, it may be desirable to provide visual stimuli at the touch pad so that a user can better operate the touch pad. For example, the visual stimuli may be used (among others) to alert a user when the touch pad is registering a touch, alert a user where the touch is occurring on the touch pad, provide feedback related to the touch event, indicate the state of the touch pad, and/or the like.

But that's not the most interesting feature. The most interesting feature is the iPod-like virtual clickwheel which allows you to "scroll" like you would an iPod. Simply swirl your thumb in a circle over the number keys and you get a similar effect. The phone's on sale now in Taiwan for 15,000 Taiwan dollars ($455).

– Jason Chen

OKWAP S868 Pocket PC Phone [IT Tech News via Mobile Mag]

These lawsuits raise the obvious question: Does Apple feed off other's ideas, or are other companies just out to hurt Apple where they prosper, the wallet? It isn't too hard to imagine either case. –Travis Hudson

Apple sued over Click Wheel touch sensor technology [iLounge]