GADGET GEEKERY
Some Highlights from ION’s CES Showing
By Shaun Hatton - January 8th, 2010
Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch have made a significant impact on the mobile gaming market since their introduction a couple of years ago. With software developers large, small, experienced, and amateur alike rushing to create software for the devices it’s no wonder that the App Store is a beast to navigate through. I was checking through it the other day looking for synthesizer Apps and didn’t end up finding anything I liked despite spending a good chunk of time searching.
With these devices being so robust in terms of features, it’s no surprise there’s so much software available. What about the platform’s hardware possibilities? Until today, most hardware I’d seen for the iPhone and iPod Touch has been speaker docks or FM transmitters. ION, however, has just announced a few crazy peripherals for these devices.
The iDiscover Keyboard, shown above, is much more than a simple App. It’s an actual 25-key instrument that the iPhone or iPod Touch slides into and it offers users the opportunity to learn to and play music. It actually looks quite similar to comparable-sized MIDI controllers, such as M-Audio’s Axiom 25. The iDiscover Keyboard can also be used as a MIDI controller and features pitch and modulation wheels as well as trigger pads. It even includes 24 different sounds and has RCA and headphone outs. Cool stuff!
Another piece of Apple-related hardware ION announced is the iType, a laptop-sized keyboard that the iPhone and iPod Touch can slide into, effectively giving users the ability to write more efficiently on the go. While this looks kind of cool, I’ve been burned before on portable keyboards for small devices (i.e., Sony Clié’s folding keyboard), so am hesitant to try this, never mind that I already own a trusty netbook.
On the gaming side of things, ION will be releasing a variety of different joysticks and control pads but their gaming product that really caught my eye is the ION Power Stick, a PC controller that seems to want to be a Mad Catz Tournament Edition FightStick. Here’s hoping its face design isn’t final.
