Newer Technology's NuTouch Gloves are a warm way to use your mobile devices

Going outside to get some exercise doesn't necessarily mean I leave my techie toys at home. In fact, I take my iPhone 4S with me everywhere so that I can keep track of how many steps I'm taking, the distance I'm walking, and so on. In the winter, I need a way to keep my hands warm and still be able to use the iPhone without taking the gloves off, and that's where the NuTouch Gloves (US$19.99) from Newer Technology might come in handy (no pun intended).

These gloves are made of a dark gray cotton/Spandex mix that gives them a light feel and a lot of flexibility. Since cotton isn't conductive itself, the gloves have a conductive fiber woven into all 10 fingertips so that you can continue to use multi-touch gestures even while wearing them. NuTouch Gloves come in four sizes, so you can get a glove that fits perfectly on your hands.

The gloves are warm enough for some brisk days, but won't work on their own in extremely cold weather. That's fine -- they're thin enough that they'll work as a liner inside full cold weather gloves.

How do they work? Perfectly. My previous "iPhone gloves" were made by Freehands, and feature folding fingertips that reveal your thumb and forefinger when you need to touch the screen. The only problem is that this exposes your fingers to the cold during those moments when you're using the device. Not so with the NuTouch gloves, which keep those fingertips and hands warm even when you're dialing your iPhone in the freezing cold.

There are other gloves of this type: TUAW blogger Michael Grothaus reviewed a similar pair of gloves from Mujjo a few weeks ago and was quite happy with them. However, the Mujjo gloves cost about $32 and don't appear to be much different from the much less expensive NuTouch Gloves.

I had only one complaint about the NuTouch Gloves -- the pair I was sent for review had a rip atop the right thumb. Despite that cosmetic flaw, the gloves worked wonderfully in testing on the iPhone 4S. I've even worn them on cold days in my house, since they work great with the Magic Trackpad.

I'm giving the NuTouch Gloves a warm two thumbs-up!