 Now
you might us may not have thought we needed a new iPod Nano, after
all what was wrong with the old one? But like everything in gadgets
the latest upgrade is around the corner and here the new 4th
generation Nano from Apple jumps from 4 and 8gb to 8 and 16gb in
storage but this is much more than a bigger disk.
New features abound from the revamped thinner and curvy (yes curvy)
iPod Nano Chromatic. Apple have managed to give everything a curve
on this new model, the case is slightly curved as is the screen
which feels amazing in the hand, who would have thought such a small
change would make a difference. It now measures 90.7 x 38.7 x 6.2mm
and weighs in at 36.8 grams. Available in 9 colours from the sublime
to the shocking Apple have called this Nano the Chromatic, we
suppose its more catchy than 4G.
Inside the sexy shell lie a few tweaks and the biggest news is a
Nintendo Wii like accelerometer which enables 2 cool features one
new to the Nano and one very new to Apple. First up tilt your Nano
on its side and the whole display will change from portrait to
landscape, not that amazing but it does make the best use of the 2"
screen which is a bright and colourful as the 3G. The real smart use
of the Wii like technology is the shuffle on shake technology, shake
your Nano hard (and we mean hard) and the Nano shuffles to another
song, this works amazingly and is so intuitive. Apple have even been
careful to ensure that the normal bumps and shocks encountered while
listening when at the gym wont trigger the shuffle, you have to give
it the same level of shaking as trying to get the ketchup from a
glass sauce bottle. Of course you better be careful that people can
see what you are shaking or prepare for some very funny looks.
Its no coincidence that the Nano Chromatic was launched at the same
time as the latest iTunes V8 as its shares the genius play list
feature. Here the Nano will upon request scan your library and
suggest 25 songs that sound like the one you have selected. After a
bit of a play we have to say its quite good, perhaps not as good as
the Audio genome project that lead to Pandora but pretty good none
the less. If you want another 25 you just hit refresh and bingo your
Nano will serve them up.
If you buy a set of updated ear buds you can also use a voice record
feature which uses the mic in the earbud cable a nice little extra
tagged onto this release.
 Apple
have also ported over coverflow from the larger iPods to the Nano
which makes finding music easier on this smaller cousin, when
combined with the easy click wheel and the landscape browsing it all
feels very easy to use. For those that need some assistance with
accessing technology Apple have provided some nice features like
spoken menus an alternative large font to make it easier to read
video captions in a high contrast mode.
You can expect a battery life of up to 24 hours which isn't great
but this is more down to the bright screen and Apples instance on
making the Nano so thin. We suspect that real world may be less than
the 24 hours but our test period with the Nano didn't allow for us
to drain it in a straight listening test.
Like other iPods the Chromatic will support ACC, MP3, Aiff and WAV
formats and is hooked up to iTunes as the main way to sync up with
your collection. It also supports H.264 and MPEG-4 video replay in a
variety of low bitrate versions which look fine on the smallish
screen.
Sadly in true Apple tradition each launch has to be flawed in some
way and this time its not a lack of stock or a dodgy screen, its an
omission. They have forgotten to mention that the new 4G Chromatic
nano will not work with many 3G accessories, so beware if you have a
speaker set, car transmitter, dock etc as the new Nano may not
charge when connected which could leave you just a tad miffed.
That aside we have to say the new iPod Nano Chromatic is a stunning
device and one that after a few hours playing with we had to own.
Attention to detail is everything and the mere feel of this little
gem makes us happy let alone some of the nifty new features (we love
a good shake to shuffle). Priced at around £110 for the 8gb version
and £150 for the 16gb version you only problem will be choosing a
colour (we suggest black or pink).
Published - 17/9/2008
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