AT A GLANCE
- 1.54-inch 240 x 240 capacitive multitouch LCD display
- Weighs roughly 21grams
- Only 3 hard buttons and no clickwheel
I've been in the market for an upgrade in the MP3 player/iPod department for a while now, and I was super excited when I finally got the chance to give this dinky little thing a try.
The iPod Nano has never been smaller. It is a tiny, shiny little square with a miniature 1.54 inch 240 x 240 capacitive multitouch LCD display. This is the same sort of touchscreen as my iPhone. The outside casing is the same coloured aluminium that we've grown accustomed to, but around the back it now sports a built in clip. My first reaction to the clip was pretty much along the lines of 'What the hell???', but I have to tell you it's one of their best ideas yet. It's sturdy and unobtrusive and clips on really tightly (originally I was petrified that I'd lose it), plus it makes carrying the iPod along with you completely effortless.
While the previous versions of the Nano boasted a video camera, Apple decided to ditch it in this latest version and return to the original plan of 'simplicity'. With the new nano you can pretty much listen to audio and look at photos, but let's face it......if you're buying an iPod it's all about the music, so personally I'm in favour of this change.
The new Nano has only 3 hard buttons. One larger power/sleep button on the top right and 2 smaller buttons on the top left to control the volume. No more clickwheel and having to lock the iPod. To access anything on the touchscreen you simply have to push the power/sleep button, and the volume buttons work even when the iPod is playing in sleep mode. Because of the incredible size of this little gadget it weighs in at a mere 21grams (yes, I weighed it). It's so light that once I'd started my jog with the iPod clipped to my tights I completely forgot it was there.
The one thing that I was slightly concerned about was that once the novelty wore off I'd get annoyed with the screen, simply because it is so small. But to my surprise I found that despite its size it is not hard to navigate once you get used to where more or less all the 'buttons' are. To be honest, navigating from one place to another is much faster and easier on the new nano than on the older versions. To navigate your way around you pretty much flip through pages of iPhone-like icons. To return to the 'home' page you can simply hold your finger in the middle of the screen and moving forwards and backwards through menus is a simple matter of swiping your finger either to the left or to the right.
You can use the multitouch to rotate the screen to suit your needs. This came in particularly handy when I went jogging and had the iPod clipped to my tights. I was able to rotate the screen in such a way that the general location of everything made perfect sense to me, making it possible for me to do it all by touch without looking down and skipping a beat.
The Nano comes with a FM radio, voice recorder and special fitness functions which were quite a lot of fun to play with. It enables you to record how far you've walked, how many steps you've taken, etc. A feature that I really enjoyed was the fact that I could set the default lock screen to an analog clock. Watch brooch anyone?
I was quite interested to see if the sound quality of the Nano had improved. While I'm no expert on all the technicalities of sound, there is one thing in life that I understand well and know a lot about (apart from numbers that is), and that is music. Apple makes no mention of improved sound anywhere, but my personal opinion is that the sound quality is definitely fuller and therefore better.
All in all my experience has been a VERY pleasant one. And in all honesty the only complaint I can come up with is that because it is so tiny it seems to easily get lost in my handbag. This was however solved by simply putting the iPod along with the earphones in a little bag, which was slightly larger than the iPod and easier to find amongst the other junk.
I'm definitely considering adding this dinky darling to my wishlist.
Turn ons
- Tiny, shiny little square - totally cute and gorgeous
- Rotate and lock the screen orientation to whatever suits you
- Super lightweight, you forget it's there
Turn offs:
- Not a single one!
