# Rubik's Touch Cube - One of "Hottest Holiday Toys"



## PCwizCube (Oct 13, 2009)

I was looking at some stuff on Yahoo and I came across this....
http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/272/hottest-holiday-toys/



> Hottest Holiday Toys
> With budgets tight, families will be loading up on low-priced fashion dolls, action figures and fake pets.
> By Tom Van Riper
> 
> ...



One of the hottest toys XD I mean seriously? Who would buy this toy for $150, when you can get something very similar for like $10.


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## elcarc (Oct 13, 2009)

149 for an electronic cube
10 dollars for an awesome speedcube

just milking the brand name is all i see


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## IamWEB (Oct 13, 2009)

I'm sorry touch cube, but 1-move hints won't do. How about throwing in a 'G perm c, AUF' vocal command? I'm talking algorithms, after I finish OLL I'm not sure how the R face glowing is going to help me. =/


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## phases (Oct 13, 2009)

1) Half the people I know thinks I'll love that and send me every link on it they come across since I love the cube and am in IT (therefore into everything electronic), yet I have zero desire for it.

2) My lord that carousel of videos on the cube's website sucks - was driving me NUTS trying to pick videos to watch.


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## rjohnson_8ball (Oct 13, 2009)

Like I said once before, it would be nice if I could push the scramble button, memorize the cube, push a "BLD" button to turn off the lights, then touch solve it. When solved it should say "TA-DAH! Wow, you DID it! It took you xx:xx to memorize and xx:xx to execute, for a total of xx:xx! That's just 12 seconds more than your personal best, Bob!"


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## Edmund (Oct 13, 2009)

Is it Rubik's? Because the box looked like it said that but I did not see anything on rubiks.com.


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## PCwizCube (Oct 13, 2009)

Edmund said:


> Is it Rubik's? Because the box looked like it said that but I did not see anything on rubiks.com.


It's by Techno Source, they made the Rubik's Revolution too. Rubik's actually isn't a manufacturing company, just really a brand name. The Rubik's Cube is made from Winning Moves and 7 Towns I think.


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## Edmund (Oct 13, 2009)

Rubik's Cube Fan said:


> Edmund said:
> 
> 
> > Is it Rubik's? Because the box looked like it said that but I did not see anything on rubiks.com.
> ...



Thanks. Do you know if Rubik's will sell this through their website like they did with the revolution?


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## Muesli (Oct 13, 2009)

Am I the only person who can't think of anything much more pointless than this?


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## mr.onehanded (Oct 13, 2009)

This is what I thought the Rubik's Revolution would be like.

EDIT: I would buy this one before I bought the Rubik's brand. http://www.firebox.com/product/2200/Magic-Cube#reviews_h

This might be nice for a plane ride or something else where you are around people in a quiet environment--assuming that beeping can be turned off.


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## Edmund (Oct 13, 2009)

Musli4brekkies said:


> Am I the only person who can't think of anything much more pointless than this?



The Rubik's Revolution kthxby


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## elcarc (Oct 13, 2009)

Edmund said:


> Musli4brekkies said:
> 
> 
> > Am I the only person who can't think of anything much more pointless than this?
> ...



ummm, keychain revolution anyone?


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## Gollum999 (Oct 13, 2009)

lol, when I first saw the Rubik's Revolution I thought it was a void cube. 

But yeah, $150 is wayyyy too expensive. Plus, I've heard that it is pretty glitchy. I've also heard that it only senses the top face, which is why it has the built-in accelerometer. In the videos it looks really slow too. 

What they should have done is have screens instead of LEDs, so you could do bigger cubes. It would also be pretty cool if you could connect it to your computer and add images to make it a supercube.


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## Muesli (Oct 13, 2009)

Gollum999 said:


> lol, when I first saw the Rubik's Revolution I thought it was a void cube.
> 
> But yeah, $150 is wayyyy too expensive. Plus, I've heard that it is pretty glitchy. I've also heard that it only senses the top face, which is why it has the built-in accelerometer. In the videos it looks really slow too.
> 
> What they should have done is have screens instead of LEDs, so you could do bigger cubes. It would also be pretty cool if you could connect it to your computer and add images to make it a supercube.



Great ideas! Those additions may have given me a reason to accept it's existance!


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## Lucas Garron (Oct 14, 2009)

rjohnson_8ball said:


> Like I said once before, it would be nice if I could push the scramble button, memorize the cube, push a "BLD" button to turn off the lights, then touch solve it.





Gollum999 said:


> Plus, I've heard that it is pretty glitchy. I've also heard that it only senses the top face, which is why it has the built-in accelerometer.



"Glitchy" is an understatement. Unless you practice quite a bit to give it just the right swipe, it's miserable. Imagine typing on an iPhone that doesn't recognize 50% of your keystrokes, and gets a further 20% wrong. That's how it feels at first, and I don't think I should need to blame myself for being unable to handle it.

In contrast, the accelerometer actually works quite well. It is a rather cool thing, and I'd love to have won one, but seriously, I expect more before it fulfills its claims.


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## DavidWoner (Oct 14, 2009)

I didn't have any problems turning it.


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## HowSuneIsNow (Oct 14, 2009)

the charm of the cube is it's elegance and simplicity. this thing is expensive and completely losses the bulk of what makes a 10 dollar toy wonderful. there is a reason


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## Lorenzo (Oct 14, 2009)

Wouldn't some noncubers think that you hacked the touchcube when you are solving it?


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## Lucas Garron (Oct 14, 2009)

DavidWoner said:


> I didn't have any problems turning it.


Did you try speedsolves?
Even experienced people like Stefan, when I saw them, had only about 80% getting any particular turn recognized correct.

(It also gets worse when you try a U' or U swipe. I suppose I'd need to avoid those to get fast.)


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## jazzthief81 (Oct 14, 2009)

I absolutely hate it. I think this is a perfect example of new technology being used in a very bad way.

Long live the original Rubik's Cube! Nothing will ever beat it!


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## Tim Major (Oct 14, 2009)

jazzthief81 said:


> I absolutely hate it. I think this is a perfect example of new technology being used in a very bad way.
> 
> Long live the original Rubik's Cube! Nothing will ever beat it!



What about a DIY? Lol.


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## Muesli (Oct 14, 2009)

HowSuneIsNow said:


> the charm of the cube is it's elegance and simplicity. this thing is expensive and completely *losses the bulk of what makes a 10 dollar toy* wonderful. there is a reason



You do realise is that it is bigger than the normal 3x3x3 by quite a bit.


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## elcarc (Oct 14, 2009)

jazzthief81 said:


> I absolutely hate it. I think this is a perfect example of new technology being used in a very bad way.
> 
> Long live the original Rubik's Cube! Nothing will ever beat it!



+ .5
although the original, mechanical versions of the ol' rubik's is the best, this electronic version isnt bad, just expensive. its a better successor than the rubik's revo' could ever be.


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## DavidWoner (Oct 14, 2009)

Lucas Garron said:


> DavidWoner said:
> 
> 
> > I didn't have any problems turning it.
> ...



Yes I did. I didn't time them, but they were pretty fast I think (one had antisune-Uperm for LL).


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## Tim Reynolds (Oct 15, 2009)

I quite enjoyed using it during Worlds. Once you get used to it, it works reasonably well (but still could work quite a bit better). I got into a reasonably good rhythm and could do all my algs (except G perm, gah) and didn't mess up much, after about my third solve.


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## Nukoca (Oct 15, 2009)

jazzthief81 said:


> Long live the original Rubik's Cube! Nothing will ever beat it!



DIY anybody?


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## teller (Oct 15, 2009)

NEVER!!!

You cannot do fingertricks with some electronic gizmo. :fp


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## fundash (Oct 15, 2009)

teller said:


> NEVER!!!
> 
> You cannot do fingertricks with some electronic gizmo. :fp


+1


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## jazzthief81 (Oct 15, 2009)

ZB_FTW!!! said:


> jazzthief81 said:
> 
> 
> > Long live the original Rubik's Cube! Nothing will ever beat it!
> ...





Nukoca said:


> jazzthief81 said:
> 
> 
> > Long live the original Rubik's Cube! Nothing will ever beat it!
> ...



Wrong topic:
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1665


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## Lord Voldemort (Oct 16, 2009)

I actually think that looks kind of cool.
However, $150 is a bit much for something like that... 
My money is better spent on other puzzles.


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## MichaelP. (Oct 16, 2009)

Can you do little letter turns? f, r, u... ext.


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## i4sci (Oct 16, 2009)

that is pretty cool but speedcubing with/ it isn't very practicel. Then there is price, it probably will cost between 100 to 200 dollars, who will by that when there is a better cube for under ten bucks?


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## hawkmp4 (Oct 18, 2009)

In my opinion, it's a novelty. Where the novelty part of it is marginal and the cost is 15 times the original, but nothing is added.


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## Edmund (Oct 18, 2009)

It's on the Rubik's site now, I believe.


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## Muesli (Oct 18, 2009)

MichaelP. said:


> Can you do little letter turns? f, r, u... ext.



To my knowledge you can't even do U turns, you have to turn the cube on it's side as the top face is the only active one at one time.


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## Lucas Garron (Oct 18, 2009)

Musli4brekkies said:


> MichaelP. said:
> 
> 
> > Can you do little letter turns? f, r, u... ext.
> ...


U turns are possible, just bad.


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## Gollum999 (Oct 19, 2009)

Musli4brekkies said:


> MichaelP. said:
> 
> 
> > Can you do little letter turns? f, r, u... ext.
> ...



From what I've read you can do U turns; you have to make an "L" shaped swipe on the top. As far as "little letter turns", I think you would have to do two turns, so r would be M' R


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