World of Apple

The third-generation of the iPod nano was released on September 5th 2007, the little brother to the original iPod has really grown up with the recent update offering the ability to play video, view photos, play games as well as featuring a snazzy new interface.

The video iPod nano is commonly nicknamed “fatty” due to its shorter appearance compared to the previous incarnation of the iPod nano but despite its name the video iPod nano is thinner than the second-generation iPod, an incredible feat when you look at just how thin it is!

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In hand

The new iPod nano is shockingly thin, that added with the new short design makes the iPod nano somewhat awkward to hold.

The new video nano scraps the previous all-aluminum look instead bringing back the old-school mirrored chrome rear, you’ll want wrap this puppy in a case because fingerprints and scratches are not the best look for your shiny iPod. The nano was originally available in blue, silver, black, red and green but with Valentines Day just around the corner Apple has recently released a new pink model.

All the ports and and the hold-switch have been moved to the bottom of the nano, in my opinion making them no less or more convenient that on previous models.

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Packaging

The iPod nano continues to ship in small plastic containers with the iPod floating up front while the accessories are stored round back.

The video iPod nano ships with a set of standard iPod earphones, a USB to iPod Dock Connector cable and a Universal Dock Adapter (No. 13), a small instruction manual and booklet of legal jargon is also included.

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iPod video

Back in the day iPods lacked any form of video playback, the 5G iPod changed all this; but the feature primarily stayed in the top line of iPods until this latest refresh of iPod line-up brought video playback to the iPod nano range.

The video iPod nano features a generous 2-inch display with a stunning 204 pixels per inch and a resolution of 320×240. The nano can also output up to 480p or 576p to a separately attached display.

The display is 0.5-inches larger than that of the original video iPod which is barely noticeable if you coped with the iPod video then the nano is an easy adjustment, but for those used to watching video on the iPhones spacious 3.5-inch display may find it difficult to adjust.

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All new UI

The most dramatic change in the new iPod nano is the new interface. In essence the new UI adds more visual additions, taking advantage of the larger screen but not necessarily making navigation any easier.

On the majority of menus the left side of the screen is as you’d expect, offering a list of menu items, but the right side is dedicated to showing extra information; for example if you were to select the “Music” item on the menu then the right side of the screen would begin displaying album artwork.

But not to worry for those not too keen on the new interface, its not everywhere. Once in a menu just listing songs for example the split screen interface is gone and you’re greeted with the standard albeit with more information. A standard song list for example will have the artist written below it, in this instance I thank Apple for making use of the extra resolution to present me more useful information.

Unfortunately the new user interface does come at a sacrifice, at times the interface can be somewhat sluggish especially when scrolling quickly through long lists or flicking back and forth in Cover Flow. Recent firmware updates have improved the situation but not to my satisfaction.

Apple has also added a bit of Mac OS X Leopard to the iPod nano, Cover Flow offers a new way to scroll through your music, I didn’t personally find it a particularly intuitive method of searching for music. But for people like me Apple has kindly built in a search facility, making it real easy to find anything on your iPod!

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How it sounds

The most important part of an iPod is obviously how it sounds and much like the second-generation iPod nano this iPod sounds great. Using the supplied earphones bass response is reasonable and most songs sound brilliant at varying volume levels, very rarely distorting but it did happen a few times.

Battery and display

Apple appears to have bent the rules of physics once again, the iPod nano features a larger and brighter display than its predecessor yet boasts a mighty 24 hours of audio playback and an impressive 5 hours of video playback. Some may think that Apple’s figures may be heavily skewed but some very basic testing showed that the numbers provided by Apple may actually be conservative.

Playing the 1234 video by Feist bought from the iTunes Store on repeat managed to finally drain the iPod after around 5 hours 30 minutes. This was with the display set to just over 50%, which was more than bright enough.

In a non-scientific music test the nano lasted for around 26 hours repeating through a playlist, once again with the display brightness set to just over 50%.

Wrapping up

The video iPod nano is a solid upgrade to the iPod nano range, Apple could have simply adjusted the design bumped the capacities and left it at that but has instead decided to renew the UI and build in the ability to playback video.

Personally the new split screen interface makes no odds to myself but it does offer extra information and a bit of pizzaz to what were boring menus before!

The new iPod nano is available in capacities of 4GB and 8GB in blue, green, silver, black, red and pink. The 4GB model is priced at $149 (£99) and only available in silver with the 8GB model priced at $199 (£129) and available in all colours.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Pros

• Incredibly thin and light
• Video playback
• Excellent display brightness and battery life
• Search capabilities
• New user interface conveys more information
• Very reasonable pricing

Cons

• Interface can be sluggish at times
• Mirror finish rear is a nightmare to keep clean and scratch free

Related Galleries

• Pink iPod nano (3G)
• RED iPod nano (3G), also comparison shots against iPod nano (2G) and iPhone