The iPod nano is back and, boy is it back in style. While the new design was met with some scepticism when it was first unveiled, there is no doubt that this “fatty” is anything but unattractive.
The iPod nano has come a long way from its very first iteration as a replacement to the popular iPod mini line up. The latest nano brings about a few new enhancements that will certainly light up the eyes of music fans and iPod owners alike.
The design
If you are expecting the nano to be little more than a refurbished version of the previous nano, you are in for a surprise.
The most obvious change you is the new look. We have to admit; even we was sceptical about the new stubbier, wider look the new iPod nano has taken on.
Certainly it looks like it has taken one too many burgers, but you can’t judge a person (or in this case an MP3 player) by looks alone.
While it looks wider now as compared to its lanky stick thin predecessor, the new nano actually does not lose out in terms of being one the thinnest and most pocketable music player around.
Measuring 69.8 x 52.3 x 6.5mm and weighing only 49.2g, we could easily pocket the nano in our shirt pocket and even forget that we was even carrying it.
On the front, the old all-plastic facade found on the previous generation has been replaced with an anodised-aluminium faceplate that closely resembles those found on the iPod classic.
One major gripe we have with the new nano’s design is that it inherits the fingerprint-attracting chrome cover found on other iPods.
It is also all too easy to smudge or leave a permanent scratch on the nano’s screen if you leave it exposed without a proper cover. Still, despite looking frail and taking on a few scratches, the nano is a pretty hardy device that can survive a few knocks and falls.
Changes and improvements
There are a few improvements to the new nano – the most obvious being a 2in display screen for watching videos. The 320 x 240-pixel resolution screen is pretty bright and offers lots of space to display song titles and pictures.
Possibly one of the major improvements made to the nano is the overhaul of the user interface.
The main menu now sports a fresh and vibrant-looking display with one half of the screen dedicated to display random pictures related to the selection you have made – be it your music playlist, personal pictures or videos.
The sleek Cover Flow album art browser prominently featured in the Apple iPhone has also made its way over to the small screen.
However, having seen Cover Flow on other Apple devices, we was disappointed to note that the new nano’s version performs a little slower in comparison with the iPod touch.
It still works and does a serviceable job mind you, but it does not move as smoothly as you would expect it to.
Music to your ears
When it comes to music, the nano does not disappoint. Simply said, it is like a your personal jukebox. Loading your iPod with music is pretty easy – just sync your music to the nano via PC or Mac and you’re good to go.
It is worth noting at this point that you are going to need iTunes 7.4 or later to manage your music files, so be sure to check whether your computer is capable of handling the software.
We know lots of people seem to dislike the standard headphones that come along with iPods, but we find them just fine if not clearer than my pair of regular headphones.
The sound quality is pretty decent and clear and there’s a good mix of treble and bass for the most part.
Even if you are not happy with the way things sound, you can always play around the equaliser settings.
Finding music on the nano is made easy thanks to a number of options open to you.
If you want a more visual experience, use Cover Flow to flip through your albums or you could use the handy search option to narrow your songs down by song title or artiste.
Plays video too
As you probably would’ve guessed by now, the best new feature to grace the third-generation nano is its support for video playback.
While it may not sound that big a deal, video playback on a tiny player like the nano clearly puts the littlest iPod on equal footing, in terms of features, with its bigger brothers the classic and touch.
The overall video presentation on the nano is rather impressive for a device with a tiny 2 inch display, considering that the nano shares the same 320 x 240-pixel resolution of classic.
The nano is also capable of playing 640 x 480-pixel video files and supports H.26 or MPEG4 video in numerous file formats such as .MOV, .MP4 or M4V.
We played an episode of Heroes on the nano and was very impressed at how crisp and smooth the video played on such a small screen. The only problem with the video is that the black levels (the level of brightness at the darkest part of the screen) were not strong, often resulting in videos with dark backgrounds to appear grey.
You can choose to have images stretched to fit the screen or shown at their original aspect ratio, though we found videos displayed in their letterbox format to be too tiny and we often had squint to see images.
The audio quality of the videos is very much dependent on the source video so higher quality videos will give you better sound. Still, the audio from videos sound good even if you were to plug the nano to set of external speakers.
In terms of battery life, we were able to squeeze about three days of use out of the nano with regular music listening and video playback. Overall, the it good media player to have while on the go.
Extras
If listening to music and watching music isn’t enough, the nano also comes with a three games: iPod Quiz, a question based game that tests your music knowledge; Vortex, a fast paced arcade game where you need to bounce a metal ball down a cylinder and Klondike, which is actually a game of Solitaire.
Other extras include applications to view different time zones, calendars, contact, alarms and stopwatch.
The verdict
If you are looking to own your first iPod, there’s no better time than now. The iPod nano is great if you are looking for a portable media player that’s capable of playing music, videos and games.
The inclusion of video playback is a great addition to the nano’s growing number of features, and more or less makes it a full-fledged iPod like the rest of the family (except the shuffle).
Pros: Larger 2 inch display screen; long battery life; plays videos.
Cons: Chrome back panel is easy to smudge and scratch, Cover Flow is not silky smooth.
IPOD NANO 3RD GENERATION
Supported audio formats: AAC, MP3, AIFF, Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV
Supported video formats: H.264, M4V, MP4, MOV
Storage: 8GB
Interface: USB2.0
Battery: Built-in lithium-ion
Other features: Pictures, games, stopwatch, calendar, notes, voice memos
Bundled accessories: Earphones, USB cable, dock adaptor
Dimensions: 69.8 x 52.3 x 6.5 mm
Weight: 49.2 grams
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