Apple’s verdict to evolution from the third-generation iPod nano to the new sylph like fourth-generation iPod nano must have been an easy one.
The latest version has the same size screen, the same 8 and 16GB storage and the same video support as before, but adds a much more comfortable (sorta) oval shape, a curved screen, an accelerometer and most importantly, a much improved user interface that aims to solve some of the limits the Click wheel has in comparison to the iPod Touch and iPhone UIs. This development succeeds wonderfully, even if it’s relatively small.
The hardware:
The very first thing I observed was how much better the arched aluminum body felt in my hands, even compared to the very similarly shaped 2g nano. The polished metal feels great, looks great, and is much less scratch-prone than the glossy silver backing in the previous one. It’s also slimmer, because it tapers off to the sides, but it’s as thick at its thickest point as the entire body of the previous generation.There’s slightly more glare from the screen because it’s arched to be flush with the surface.
An additional accelerometer also brings some iTouch/iPhone functionality to their little sister, which is well incorporated where it makes sense.Rotating to landscape mode is as quick as it is on the iTouch/iPhone, and the subsequent Cover Flow view is very smooth. The "shake to shuffle" feature selects a random song when you shake the nano, but does not not skip tracks if the screen is off or if the hold switch is on. You can of course disable the thing entirely if you’re listening to music on a bulldozer.Hahahahaha...
Pocket-ability is definitely important in nanos, especially for lasses like me who love wearing skinny jeans, and it’s less noticeable in my pocket than my previous ipod. Unless you have *really *tight pants and have your pockets up to your stomach, you will most likely not even feel the dissimilarity between the two.
The software:
The portrait UI is also a great improvement over my previous nano landscape UI, and makes much better use of the available real estate.(The older nano rather awkwardly tried to fit two columns on the screen. This only has one.) The new menu and display fills up the entire top half of device, which gives you more list items at once.Scrolling through menus and Cover Flow is as fast as we’ve seen on any iPod.
On-the-fly genius playlist creation, which recommends music already on your device based a starting point of any song in your library, worked well. When generating one from MGMT’s Electric Feel, genius recommended The Shins, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Beck and Damien Rice. Not exactly the same genre or song type, but someone who listens to MGMT would be likely to enjoy all these other artists. And that’s the point. Apple’s basing their recommendations not off of analyzing the individual tempo or features of a track, but off of purchasing history and many customers’ music libraries. It’s too early to say whether this method is better or worse than Pandora’s, which my friends love.
The new nano also comes with a Voice Memo app that works just like the Belkin devices currently on the market. It’s too bad that you have to pay 9 big fat Kuwaiti Dinars for a pair of headphones that actually have a mic on board; the default ones are just standard ear buds. Voice notes to yourself, with the microphone just hanging from your ear, is plenty loud enough to understand exactly what you say. Recording conversations with someone across the table isn’t as good, but if you pump up the volume you can make most of it out.Clicking the center button also inserts "chapters" into your recording.
This generation comes in nine colors, which include pink, purple, black and silver, but no white. It’s also the first nano to use solely USB charging, so old Firewire chargers are rendered useless. If you’re into Apple and looking for a mid range media player, you should have no hesitations in picking one up.Otherwise, your current player will do just fine.
Further notes:
• You can’t adjust volume when in landscape mode because it’s locked into Cover Flow. Tough to adjust blindly when you’ve got the iPod in your jacket.
• The headphone output volume is slightly louder than the iPhone’s.
• Shuffle by shake does NOT always work reliably.
• The glare due to the curved screen is more annoying outdoors, where you not only get glare, but a slight warping of the glare like a fun house mirror.