Rubik's TouchCube

by Techno Source

Product Features

• The first completely electronic, solvable Rubik's Cube
• All six sides utilize cutting edge, easy to use touch sensor technology
• Effortlessly slide the lighted squares with your finger from any side or direction
• The colors pulsate, fade, and change while the TouchCube recharges in its stand
• Includes easy-to-set volume control for playing anytime

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 6 x 6 x 6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B002BH3N0O
• Item model number: 0300
• Manufacturer recommended age: 5 years and up
• Batteries: 3 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,014 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
  • #77 in Toys & Games > Puzzles > Brain Teasers > Maze & Sequential Puzzles
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Following up the 2008 TIA Toy Of The Year Game of the Year Rubik’s Revolution, the Rubik’s TouchCube seamlessly blends cutting edge technology with the world’s #1 puzzle to create the first completely electronic, solvable Rubik’s Cube. Featuring touch sensor technology on all 6 sides and lights in every square, slide the lights with a simple swipe of your finger to mimic the moves of the original Cube. To eliminate false inputs or moves, the TouchCube uses a motion-detecting accelerometer to determine which side is facing up and active. The Rubik’s TouchCube also includes a built-in solver, so now anyone can easily get a hint or learn how to solve the Cube step by step.

Product Description

Rubik's cube fun with modern touch screen technology! Touch sensors on all six sides and led lights in every square. Move squares with a swipe of a finger. Includes a built-in solver. With rechargeable battery. 3" X 3" X 3". For ages 8 and up.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun and Competent Modern Update to the Ultimate 1980's Toy, October 28, 2009

By 

Neil Dewitte (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Rubik's TouchCube (Toy)

Technosource's Rubik's TouchCube answers a question that probably no one asked, but it is so much fun we probably shouldn't mind. Overall the TouchCube is fairly easy to use and by being electronic adds enough on top of the classic cube to make a decent argument for its existence.

First I would like to provide product description clarifications:
1. The top face is the only face that you can directly move - the toy contains an orientation sensor so you are not accidentally rotating the sides or bottom with your hands while you hold it.
2. This 3 inch cube comes in a 6 inch box (for reference the original Rubik's cube was a 2.25 inch cube)
3. The cube weights 13 ounces, not quite a pound, but much more than the 3.5 ounce original cube
4. The toy may very well contain 3 AA batteries, but you cannot access or change them - they recharge through an included base

Pros:
1. Lots of cool features - including hint, auto-solve, undo, a volume controller (9-level, 2-mode), on-off button, and a scramble button - 6 features in all, each accessed by pressing twice or holding down the center square of a given face.
2. The colors are very vibrant and lots of fun - they are brighter than the pictures
3. The auto-solve feature uses a common set of steps to solve the green face first, then the sides and finally the blue face. Note this may not be the fewest moves to solve the cube, but it is a reliable, reproducible and easy way to learn how to solve any 3x3 cube. The solver can be stopped at any point if you wish to continue yourself.
4. Easy to charge with a fun to watch "screensaver" mode
5. Falls to sleep after a period of non-use and saves your progress to conserve batteries.

Cons:
1. The hint mode seems to abandon the common steps mentioned in #3 above and use the shortest number of steps to solve the cube. This means the cube appears to be a jumble with no apparent progress until voila - it is solved at the last moment.
2. Expensive - this product is A LOT of money
3. Difficult to rotate the top face about the z-axis. It is easier to simply rotate the whole cube and then turn along the x or y axis.
4. Can only rotate the top face - most top rotations would affect the bottom faces, but occasionally you have to reorient the cube to turn a face near the bottom. At first this is not intuitive, but easy to pick up and will force you to visualize the cube in a mentally engaging way.

Toss-ups:
1. Rotating the cube takes a deliberate finger swipe - not exactly easy, but not difficult either
2. The cube gets a little warm, not hot though. This is kind of odd, but no big deal.

Overall the electronic Rubik's Cube is a good toy, albeit expensive. It capitalizes on the "apparent simplicity" of many other popular electronics by offering not too many easy-to-use features. This cube is a must-have for any die-hard 80's enthusiast.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A step forward in tech, a step backwards in practicality., December 14, 2009

By 

Scott Platkus "Densha Otaku" (Bolingbrook, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Rubik's TouchCube (Toy)

I was given one of these recently as an early holiday present from my family. After a week or so of owning an using it, I have to say that I feel it's a great little toy and an excellent gift for the cube or puzzle adict in the house (which would be me), BUT one that's not without its quirks.

First, the positives - the TouchCube has a lot going for it. It's mysterious, bearing all white faces when off, becoming instantly recognizable as a Rubik's cube as soon as its turned on. The whole "touch" thing is something that everyone loves... that whole "manipulating something with no visible buttons or switches" thing never gets old. It's very bright, especially when used in the dark, and the colors are accurate to those classic cube colors. It works like a traditional cube so it's solved like a traditional cube. The extra features that being computerized provides though will help some users out quite a lot. The "hint" feature is cool but I'd say it's hard to really learn from. The old solution guide that comes with the current regular cubes is a lot more helpful. Being able to have the computer solve the cube is nice for someone that just wants to start over. In this sense, the TC may help more people get into the cube again because it seems less "impossible" than before.

Negatives - High price. When a regular cube is [...] at Target, charging [...] is a bit steep, but the technology in this little guy does warrant the price... there's a decent CPU in there handling the solutions, 6 color LED panels, 9 per side, an accelerometer to determine orientation... I do understand that it's a very sophisticated little guy, but that price will scare some people away. The only other big problem is actually solving the thing. Because you have to manipulate the top face, and only the top face (all other faces have their touch surface disabled), this can cause a lot of disorientation if you're used to solving the cube a different way. It only took a day to adjust, but my solve times on the touch cube are about 20 minutes, vs about 2 1/2 for a regular cube thanks to a combination of having to re-think some moves and the fact that you have to rotate the whole cube instead of just turning it from the bottom. Isn't technology supposed to make things more efficient/better/faster? Finally - dead spots. There are some parts of my particular TC that just don't respond well to swipes. Sometimes 2 or 3 swipes are needed or sometimes it'll flip the cube the wrong way... if you don't notice it go the wrong way this can undo a lot of your solution work, forcing you to re-do a bunch of steps. If you DO notice it though, and haven't progressed too far, the "UNDO" feature is a boon. These seem to be getting better with use though, so it's hard to say if the dead spots will be a permanent problem.

So in short, it's not 100% perfect, but the TouchCube is a great conversation piece and for those that just like the Rubik's cube enough to overcome the high price, it's worth it. I would recommend a regular cube first though, if you're shopping for someone that doesn't already have one. That way, if they just don't enjoy it, you're only out 1/15th the cost.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great idea, terrible execution, June 9, 2010

By 

E. Tam (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:2.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Rubik's TouchCube (Toy)

For the price, you would expect a great build and ingenious programming. Instead, you get a product made from plastic you would expect from a bargain bin toy and programming that makes no sense whatsoever.

So much is wrong with it that it far outweighs the pros of the thing.

Pros:
+Nice packaging, obviously ripped off from apples old iPod box designs.
+Bright LEDs make for a brilliant display.

Negatives:
-CHEAP PLASTIC. At this price, I would think they would have used tempered glass, or at least a nice quality acrylic.
-Only one side--the side facing up is interactive at one time. This means tedious movements for simple algorithms.
-You need to wait for the rotation animation to finish before you make the next swipe which means algorithms which should take less than a second end up taking much longer because each swipe takes at least a second to register, animate and finish.
-Rotation of the top row is terrible. Two corners rotate the top row clockwise while the other two rotate it counterclockwise. Corresponding rotations are parallel to each-other. Why you cannot use every corner to turn both ways is beyond me. The top it off, the swipes are usually not registered regardless of how accurate you swipe.
-Display mode on the stand, a strong point of the product ONLY GOES FOR A COUPLE MINUTES before automatically shutting off despite the manual indicating that its display should go for 15 minutes . It auto-scrambles itself (while keeping your personal save data) and then solves on its own. It's pointless decor considering you need to press the buttons on the sides to reactivate display mode.
-Display mode uses battery instead of running off the stand's power. If it runs out of battery before the display mode automatically shuts off, it will flash red (signaling that it is out of battery) and beeps obnoxiously until it powers off. Keep in mind this is while it is supposedly charging. I've never heard of anything running out of battery while it's docked and charging.
-BATTERY LIFE - each charge lasts maybe 15 minutes. Forget about taking it out of the house and to top it off, it takes about an hour for a full charge.

There you have it. What could have been a brilliant interactive display piece is basically ruined by poor engineering, build quality and programming idiocy. Seriously, how hard would it have been to program the thing to have a display mode that doesn't shut off on its own?