The iPod nano is the first out of the gate in Apple’s newly revamped line of music players. Available in 4GB ($149) and 8GB ($199) versions (sadly, no 16GB model) and five different colors, the new nano looks pretty funky in its new wide-bodied form factor. The biggest news is the addition of video playback, a bigger and brighter screen, and a revamped interface, but there are plenty of other nice touches too. It’s definitely an awesome new iPod, but is it worth it to upgrade from your old nano?
Design
The most striking thing about the new nano is its shape: Although it’s just about the same volume as the second-gen model, it’s been squashed vertically and now measures 2.75 by 2.1 by .25 inches (the image above is the actual size… at least, it is on my 15-inch MacBook Pro — ymmv). That’s crazy thin, but it feels pretty sturdy and still sits well in my hand. The front is anodized aluminum in a matte finish and has slightly rounded edges. The back of the casing has reverted to the first-gen nano’s polished stainless steel — invaluable for getting the poppy seeds out of your teeth while you’re headed out to work or play.
The screen is larger than the previous generation by half an inch (diagonally), bringing it within spitting distance of the 5G iPod video’s 2.5-inch screen. And its pixels are packed 204 to the inch, which is even tighter than on the iPod touch (163) or iPhone (160), making for a very sharp picture. The new nano screen is also 65 percent brighter than its predecessor, making it very easy to see even in broad daylight. And thankfully, the screen is covered in a hard coating that makes it very resistant to scratches.
The click wheel hasn’t changed, though the hold switch is now located on the bottom edge, and the button is round instead of oblong. Also, the button matches the color of your iPod — silver, teal, black, green, or Product(RED) red.
One smart change Apple made was to center the dock connector instead of having it off to the side like on previous models. That means the new nano doesn’t look so idiotic sitting off-kilter in speaker docks. It’s also worth noting that the headphone jack is set into the curved lower right edge, exposing part of the headphone plug, though this hasn’t caused any problems yet.
Menus
Apple made much better use of the 2-inch screen’s real estate by splitting the screen between text menus and graphics. In the main menu, you get text on the left and album art (or photo previews) animated with the Ken Burns pan-and-zoom effect. The Settings menu makes even better use of this feature, giving you information or a description about whatever setting is highlighted. Both the Main and Music menus are customizable as well, and you can look for specific content via the handy search feature.
I love the new screen saver, which shows a large clock, play mode, and battery life. Unfortunately, it only comes up when the display’s backlight goes out; I hope Apple fixes this soon and gives you the option to see the screen saver or large album art.
My two favorite interface enhancements have to do with music browsing: In song and album mode, you can now see the artist name in smaller text underneath the album or song name. These browsing modes were virtually useless to me before this change. Also, there’s now an automatic playlist for recently added music and video, so you can quickly find new stuff on your iPod. Combined with the artist name in small text under each song, this addresses a major issue I had with music browsing on iPods.
Much has been made of the addition of CoverFlow to the interface, which lets you browse through album covers, much like on the iPhone. Aside from the fact that half the music I have doesn’t seem to match up to album art in Apple’s database, I don’t find it a particularly useful feature on the iPod nano, given the other more efficient options. Also, the album covers don’t glide like a Rolex as they do on the iPhone, and you need to let the iPod’s processor catch its breath for a moment before you start scrolling like mad.
Finally, I like that you don’t have to hold the play/pause button as long as you used to when you want to turn the player off.
Music
Music sounds fine on the iPod nano, with no audible system noise. I tested for a few minutes with the included earbuds, but since those are worthless, especially for higher-quality MP3s or even Apple Lossless files, I swapped them out for my Etymotic ER4P’s to make absolutely sure the sound is good, and it is.
One huge benefit of the new split-screen interface is that when you’re browsing the iPod’s built-in equalizer presets, you get a graphical representation of what each preset does to the sound. Unfortunately, there’s still no custom EQ option. A nice bonus: Repeatedly pressing the center select button while music is playing brings you to a contextual menu that lets you shuffle songs or albums without having to dig back into the Settings menu.
File format support is the same as ever: AAC, protected AAC, WAV, AIFF, Apple Lossless, and MP3. The battery life hasn’t improved for audio playback; it’s still at a pretty solid 24 hours.
Video
I watched Terminator 2, some SNL sketches, and an episode of Chappelle’s Show on the 320 by 240-pixel screen, and all of the videos were adequately smooth. Full-length movies are watchable, but not quite comfortably so, while half-hour TV shows are actually very doable.
There’s a Full Screen option in the Settings menu when you’re browsing videos; this is definitely a good idea to enable for both TV shows and letterboxed movies. It would be nice if you could access that setting while a video is playing, though at least you can adjust brightness without going into the menus. Also, since the headphone jack is on the bottom, you can’t really prop the nano up against anything to watch video without holding it in your hand. Strangely, Apple disabled the TV output feature, even though it’s available in the menus. That’s presumably so Apple can have more control over video-related accessories.
The battery lasts for a very respectable 5 hours of video, but don’t watch them all at once or you’ll go blind! Supported video formats include H.264 (m4v), MPEG-4 (mp4), and QuickTime (mov); video files generally takes up about 1 hour per gigabyte, depending on size and quality.
Photos and album art
Still images look great on the high-res screen, but despite album art automatically doing the Ken Burns pan-and-zoom effect in split-screen mode, you still can’t enlarge photos on the iPod. CoverFlow would be really handy in photo mode, too, instead of tiny thumbnails.
Extras
Preloaded games include iQuiz, Vortex, Klondike, all of which are pretty lame, though it’s cool that you can save your games if you get interrupted. At the time of this writing, none of the iPod games in the iTunes Music Store work work with current-gen iPods, but Sudoku, Tetris, and Ms. Pac-Man (and hopefully Texas Hold ‘Em) are on their way to the nano by the end of September.
I had no trouble using the new nano with any of the existing speaker/docks crowding my apartment. It also works fine with the Apple Radio Remote and Belkin’s TuneTalk Stereo voice recording adapter.
To Upgrade, Or Not to Upgrade?
If you can unload your old nano for some decent cash on eBay or Craigslist, the new nano will definitely not disappoint you for your efforts. My only serious gripe is that there’s no 16GB version at the moment, but that will very likely change, possibly even in time for the holidays. It’s just a huge shame that you can’t get the new interface on older (5G) iPods, but Apple’s gotta sell the new models somehow, right?
Amazing! The new nano dynamically sizes itself to match the PPI of your monitor!
Just picked one up today and must say I am similarly blown away by the screen (videos are absolutely awesome) and credit card -like size.
I certainly do not find myself squinting – and middle aged eyes here for sure! The form factor is also great – easily can be controlled with one hand. Despite all the attention given the Touch, this little gem may well be an incredible star come the holidays.
sup
sorry wrong name’
If they had introduced a 16GB version, I’d finally upgrade my trusty 6GB Mini. However, going from 6 to 8GB just isn’t enough of a jump, especially if I’m going to start putting videos on the iPod, so I’ll wait.
I think the disassembly photos show why the 16GB was not introduced. There is only room for a single flash chip on the board and currently, you can get a single 8GB chip, but I don’t know that the 16GB chips are out yet, either in volume or at all. Once those are available, a 16GB Nano most likely appear almost instantly as it’s just a chip-swap.
I just wish they’d hurry…
I just received mine in the mail today and it is AWESOME. The screen clarity is amazing.
Using H.264 and VisualHub, I compressed a 90 minute movie into 200MB. With this, you could probably fit 40 movies on my 8GB Product RED nano. Pretty amazing, huh?
And, on my monitor, the real nano is smaller than the pic…
I’d definitely recommend the new nano. It is the most beautiful looking iPod ever. And it looks JUST thinner than my old iPod nano.
How is the quality of the 90 min video on ipod. Does it run smoothly
oh this is soo horrible! i got my new ipod today opened it tried to hook it to my apple imac or whatever and i have to download a new softweare to put it through ot a big deal right i have tried damn near everything and the version of Mac i need is not compatable to my coomputer no matter how hard ive tried :( i miss my old ipod this one is ugly and i cant to anything with it !! :( :( what kind of iidiots make and apple product that doesnt work for apples…peice of ***
I gonna get 1 soon. Free 1 tho hahaha.. seems like awesome I think I gonna love it!
I don’t like where the new hold button is, but the ipod is awesome. Perfect for watching sports vids like snowboarding and skateboarding on
I cant decide which colour to buy but the features are so cool and im 100% going to buy it. I am not getting black and silver because they are too plain and my friend has black.
P.S do they ship the product[red] to Malaysia? Because I know they don’t sell it here and it looks really nice, I love maroon!
I bought a Ipod 3G nano for my daugther 13th years birthday and the LCD is spoilt within 6 days with figure mark defect. I can only say she don’t know how to handle an Ipod. Is she too young to handle and Ipod? Maybe! I will advice my friend to think twice before buying an Ipod for their children unless there is clear instruction how to protect the LCD screen.
Disppointed father
i am in love w/ the new nanos. i cant wait to get one!!! i’ve been looking around on different reviews, and most of them look pretty good. :) yay!
had my nano(8gb)a week now and its amazing ^.^
no quibble bout it and i use it continuously.
works on my computer no problem and no screen defect lol.
very very happy customer ^^
got mine for my 13th birthday and its awesome!!
the screens got a bit dirty, but a good polish fixed it.
hey there. im getting one for christmas but im kinda worried because a couple of the places i looked said that there was some problems with it freezing etc all of the time… how much of a problem has that been for other people?
not much it dont freeze that much
I bought the ipod nano (4GB).
In itunes it says the capacity is only 3,63 GB.
Is this normal?
i believe the rest of the memory is take up by software installed on your ipod. just like a pc when you install windows
Yes, it is.
yes this is normal
i bought the same ipod
it is just the games and menus and other files that are keeping the iPod on that are taking up the space
My iPod Is Now Working. All I Had To Do Was Register It. On http://www.itunes.com The Registration Numbers Should Be On The Case. You Also Have To Download The Newest Version Of iTunes. x
I have the same one and it sayys that for me too idk why
The iPod nano is fantastic, how ever for those giving to young people or people that dont yet know or understand how to look after electronic equipment, put a screen protector on it and then put it into a hard protector, such as the Berklin one, this also has a protector for the wheel. As for size, this relates to actural bits, not usable, for a 8GB you will get around 7.5GB.
Video is fantastic, if you convert from Divx or Xvid you can just point and click with Acala DivX to iPod, most movies will be around the 200 MB mark. The games are really sweet, but they will chew up the battery as much as the video. All in all.. the little baby is sweet, does not even look like you have one in your pocket. A must buy, better then then Zen and dont bother about the big iPod, as they are really just a brick. If you can manage to plug a cable into your iPod and can use iTunes, then this is great. It will hold approx. 60 Albums and 10 – 15 movies, if you really need to carry more then that.. think more about your music .. Any how.. my two cents worth.. it is FANTASTIC..
please could anyone tell me if i can use the photos ive stored on my new ipod nano as background, and if so how do i do this, or as screen saver?
iPod Nano 3G: ***** (5 Stars)
Hey. I recieved one of these for my Christmas and for the most part, I am very impressed. Apple have done such and great job to fit a screen that big into a player that small. I have no problem with coverflow – I don’t really make much use of it as most of the time I use the artist list. Photos are great and equally is video playback (though I’m not sure I could sit through a full-lengh film no matter what the clarity of the screen is. It’s still 2.5″. Though music videos and TV shows are perfect for it. Music playback is as good as ever. I also love iTunes
However, despite the amazing screen and thickness I have 1 major complaint.
When the 2nd Gen. Nano came out everyone though. Yes! They have ridden themselves of the scrached-within-three-minutes-out-the-box chrome, shiny, mirrored effect backing. But it has returned and sure enough – if you don’t have a skin or case to protect your iPod nano it will becom scratched and ugly very quickly. My guess to why they have brought back the chrome backing is for marketing reasons which I can’t be bothered explaining.
Apart from this major step back the rest of it is great. The shape is no problem. The screen: emacualte! User interface: Genuis!
Apple have proven to us that they never fail to deliver high-quailty products everytime.
i had an 8gb nano bought for christmas and can find no faults at all. the picture quality is awesome and have no problems with memory size. i have compressed 2hr movies to 450-500mb and they play great. i have about 20 albums, 4 movies and 600photos on at moment and only half the memory is gone, WOW. i did find the back started scratching easily so i just bought a case, problem solved. what a product
hey, i got my ipod nano 8gb for xmas
ive had no problems with it,
but when on itunes it says i need 2 register my ipo before i can delete stufff
but i have registerd it and it still dont work
anyone have the same problem or know how to fix it?
thanx
im getting the pink ipod nano but i dont know where is the best place to get it from is the anywhere that sells it cheaper than £129 ? ?
i got my nano 3g for christmas 12-25-07. It decided to STOP WORKING COMLPETELY on 4-30-08…… Ive read MANY complaints about these nanos doing this. And the reset didnt work on mine. The screen wont turn on and the buttons dont make noises when compressed…
P.O.S.
never buying another apple product… ever…
all u had 2 do was hold the center button and the top button
WHAT IS THIS SH!T
nerds!!!!!!!!!!!
This ipod is really good. I love the way the screen can turn around when you move it around and the range of colours are much better than the original ipod nano.
I think the usability side of it is much better, as it turns off quicker than the old nano.The hold button is in a different place- at the bottom which makes it easier to use. It is more symmetrical than the older ipods as the screen is split in two and the charger holei is in the middle rather than the side. It cna hold so many pictures and the quality of then are very advanced and sharp. I like putting so many videos on, too, as I can easily watch them on my bus if I am bored!
Overall, I love this new ipod, andI would reccommend it to any=one who wants to upgrade or just get a new one. get green.
thats the 4th gen
i also wants to buy this i apple i pod.but i m scared,what should i
why are you scared ?
this ipod is soooooooo cool im getting one today!!!!!
thank u jessica u understand what i do
Behold all you dumb ass bitches thee brand new ipod touch yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
fuk u ho
these nanos are soooooooooooooooooooooooo kool….i jst ordered 1 off ebay on monday and it should be here next week or this week end…. =)
it is an awesome gadget i have ever bought.
using it from last one week,, got impressed with the screen resolution.
dont miss it guys,,,
it is better than the 4th gen ipod,,,
small and very cute!!!!!!!! u will love it!
y did they discontinue this ipod what they get a new idea and now nano 3rd gen is dead………………………stupid apple i hope they bring it back