Apple iPod Nano 6G
Finger tapping good?
Review Apple can’t seem to make up its mind about the iPod Nano. The new model that Steve Jobs unveiled recently is the 6th generation version of the Nano, and it seems as though each new generation has undergone a fairly major redesign. In fact, I’ve seen something similar before in the 3rd generation ‘phat’ Nano, which also had a compact, rectangular lozenge design – and, apparently, was one of the less successful incarnations of this series.
Round six: Apple's iPod Nano
However, this new model has an ace up its sleeve in the form of the ‘multi-touch’, screen that replaces the Nano’s traditional scroll wheel. The new Nano measures just 1.48 x 1.6in, and the touch-sensitive display takes up almost the entire front panel. There’s a chunky black border around the edge of the screen, but the visible screen area is 1.54in diagonally, as claimed on Apple’s spec sheets.
The screen is square, with a 240 x 240 resolution that produces an attractively sharp and colourful image. As you might expect, the interface is similar to that of the iPhone and iPod Touch, with a series of icons that you tap to in order to browse by album, song or artist, or to activate features such as the built-in FM radio.
The size of the screen means that there’s only room for four icons on screen at a time, so the various icons are arranged on four successive screens that you can swipe through with a quick flick of your finger.
Musical palette
Like the iPhone/iPod Touch, the Nano allows you to customize the layout of the icons by entering ‘jiggle mode’ – which is just as well, as the main music-related features are oddly separated and placed on the first and third screens by default. However, you can’t download and instal any of the third-party iOS apps that run on the iPhone or iPod Touch.
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COMMENTS
Don't get it
It's only a piffling amount cheaper than the ipod touch, why would you get one of these over one of them?
Hits all the wrong notes
Been looking around for a replacement for my old 2g nano whose battery is getting tired and could do with some more space on it too (16-32gb for preference) This will not be it though, some extended testing with a friends Touch has quickly shown how pointless a touch screen interface is for use in a music player (I've got absolutely no interest in watching video while on the go) The touch is particularly badly named as the last thing you can do is work it by feel. Most of my listening is done while reading on the train, driving, walking or at the gym. The last thing I want to have to do while doing any of these things is have to break concentration to look for the track skip button nor am I really interested at looking at the album art while I'm at it.
Think I'll save some cash and get a Sansa Clip+ and a micro sd instead.
Prove you wrong?
You didn't make a statement, you asked a question. So why would you expect anyone to prove you wrong?
The answer is yes, by the way.
Why on earth
would you want to rotate the image on a square screen ?
rhetorical
That was a rhetorical question, which is a kind of statement. Gosh we're a snippy bunch round here.
