Apple iPod Nano 4G Review

Apple brought out a completely new iPod Nano at its “Lets Rock” event held last month. The 4th generation iPod Nano has a completely different look and design. And as with all next generation Apple products, it is sleeker, slimmer and ready to rock! The new design is curvier and feels much better in the hand. The interface has got a new look too and it makes good use of the now integrated accelerometer. The new Nano comes in nine colors to choose from. Lets get down to the details.

Apple iPod Nano 4G specifications :

• Dimensions : 1.5″ x 0.2″ x 3.6″ (W X D X H)
• Storage : 8GB/16GB
• Weight : 36.8 g
• Body Material : Aluminum
• Display : 2″ LCD with 320 x 240 resolution
• Supported audio formats : WAV, TIFF, Audible, MP3,
  AAC, Apple Lossless
• Supported bitrate : 16-320
• ID3 Tag support : Yes
• Supported Video formats : H.264, MPEG-4
• JPEG support : Yes
• Additional features : Built-in games, motion sensor,
  Nike+iPod support, Cover Flow, Genius technology
• Battery : Internal rechargeable Lithium-ion
• Estimated battery life : 24 hours
• OS compatibility : Windows XP SP3, Vista, MacOS X 10.4.11 or later
• Approx. price : $149 (8GB) / $199 (16GB)

Apple does done a great deal of work on the redesign of the iPod Nano. The new design gives the Nano a curved look and even the display is made up of curved glass. This comes as a complete change over the square design of the iPod Nano 3G. The length of the body is long and hence is easier to grasp. The buttons are easy to reach and the click wheel is as good as ever.

The glass used for display is scratch resistant similar to iPod/iPhone. The glass do not affect viewing in bright light although it is glossy by nature. Dimensions of the new Nano will put all other MP3 players to shame. With a thickness of just 0.2″, it is the thinnest iPod yet. The display size and resolution has remained unchanged from the previous generation.

The headphone and dock connectors are located at the bottom. The hold switch has made a comeback and can be seen at the top. The display has been rotated 180 degrees and hence the interface has also changed. The font size of the menus can be changed now. Full screen album art is displayed by default, Cover Flow works much more smoothly.

No feature has been dropped from the older version but new ones have made their way on to the device. Tilt-sensor now comes integrated into the Nano, similar to what you find in the iPhone or the iPod Touch. Apple has cleverly made use of it and apart from the usual automatic switching between Cover Flow and album art mode, its now implements shake-to-shuffle which is self explanatory. Casual shaking or jerks are not accepted and the feature can be deactivated from the settings menu. Video orientation can also be changed using the tilt-sensor which is not possible in iPhone/iPod Touch.

Genius feature is probably the biggest addition the iPod family. It lets you create instant playlists based on similar songs to the one you are listening. To enable the Genius feature, you first need to enable the feature in iTunes 8 and send library information over to Apple for it to be able to create playlists. Sync your iPod to iTunes then, and you can create Genius playlists on the fly now!

Voice recording is now possible as the headphone jack accepts input through it. But sadly, only a few headsets are compatible with the feature and you would need to shell out extra for a compatible headset. I you have a iPhone headset, then you can use that. The bundled earbuds are the same and do not have a microphone.

Visually impaired users have got special attention in the 4G iPod Nano. Visually impaired users now get to listen to menu, selection, playback information etc. This feature too needs to be implemented from iTunes. This should certainly be an eye opener for other manufacturers to implement such features.

Speed and performance updates have made iPod Nano 4G zippy. Menu navigation is faster than ever. Audio quality hasn’t changed as it sounds as good as ever. Custom EQ setting continues to elude iPod users. No new formats are supported though. WMA is the only major format that isn’t supported though iTunes has the option to convert WMA to other formats.

Video playback on the iPod Nano 4G is great for a small display. It is good for watching short videos such as promos or Apple keynotes but watching movies can strain your eyes. Auto rotation of movies is supported through the tilt sensor, but getting used to controls in landscape mode takes time. H.264 or MPEG4 compatibility means you will have to convert your movies to these formats which can be time consuming. Images are crisp and clear but glare does hinder in their viewing.

iPod Nano 4G works with iTunes 8 or later which has significantly improved over the last version. iTunes is an important factor that one needs to be factored in when purchasing an iPod as it completely controls the iPod. Coming to the battery life of the new iPod Nano, it manages to play music for a full day and videos for around 6 hours at a stretch. These numbers have reduced from the 3rd generation iPod Nano.

Pros :

• Great design
• Tilt sensor
• Genius feature
• Hold button
• Voice recording

Cons :

• Screen has glare
• No custom EQ
• No WMA support
• Reduced battery life

Final Thoughts

The iPod Nano 4G is a major improvement over the previous generation in terms of design and new features. Tilt sensor and genius feature add a lot more value to the new iPod Nano and give enough reason to upgrade. The new design is much better than the previous one. Hold button has made a comeback. Voice recording is not supported although works only with few handsets. WMA support and custom EQ continue to elude the iPod Nano. Battery life has reduced by not by much and still is very good. Overall a great product to buy.

My Rating : 4/5