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1626 of 1667 persons found the following review helpful.
Nano Gains Touch, Loses Video Playing & Recording
By Steve H
The iPod Nano update on September 1, 2010 is arguably the most dramatic since the iPod Nano moniker was introduced by Apple five years ago.
Several colors are being offered in both 8 GB & 16 GB capacities.
More than an update, this is a new product that merely retains the iPod Nano name. It gains a substantial feature, but loses assorted others.
The huge deal is the touch interface on the most recent iPod Nano. iPod Nano users will now be “touching,” their music as iPod Touch and iPhone users have before them. The click wheel is gone. To find your music, you select a category from the Nano’s menu such as “Playlists,” or “Artists,” and select from there. Less commodious or more commodious than a click wheel? Honestly, in regards to equal. The screen is in truth small, but not unusable.
FM Radio has been kept as well as the Fitness distinct features with the capacity to use Nike + or merely the built in pedometer. However, the form factor will be a major gain for those working out with the Nano. The former Nano required an armband to keep it on you while working out, jogging, or the like. Not always comfortable, an further and added expense, etc. However, with this new small, square form element that need is gone. Now, we may merely “clip,” the Nano onto us, with the built in clip, and run to our listening content. A larger deal than you might think.
The downside? Features have been got rid of from Nano. The screen is much littler than the former generation. Therefore, playback of video content from iTunes is gone. Nano no longer plays video, which was a feature added three years ago. Secondly, last year, Nano added a little video camera to record low quality video, which could be played back on the Nano’s screen or synced with iTunes and viewed on your computer. That feature is gone too. The device is too little now for a camera or to watch video. This new generation iPod Nano has a lot of stimulating new features, but buyers will have to be conscious that it is no longer a video player. It is something new. Those wishing to play video on an iPod ought to choose an iPod Touch.
My opinion on this change? Honestly, did I ever watch video on the iPod Nano’s screen? No. For me, while they kept attempting to make the screen larger, it was merely too little to take pleasure in more than a once a year video. Likewise, the camera was plainly not high sufficient quality to keep yourself pleasantly occupied by using on a regular basis. It became a feature unused by many.
The iPod Nano has changed and gone back to being an particular music player. There is not one thing here you do not need to take pleasure in music. However, the display and touch interface brings the 21st century “touch,” that Apple has made so frequent to a more lowcost device. The touch function will be fixed here to merely selecting songs or bringing up the clock, but nevertheless, touch has made it is way to the Nano.
I’m most thankful that the Nano has without doubt held the DOCK CONNECTOR. The dock connector is key to use with iPod accessaries such as docks, speaker docks, and built in car iPod connectors. The nano is so diminutive that if you plug it into the factory iPod kit of an automobile, the cable’s dock connector will look closely more prominent than the Nano itself. Not a negative, just amusing. Nevertheless, the dock connector is there, and you will be competent to use the device in such applications, and that was a significant decision by Apple. Users want and need the dock connector. It is there on this iPod Nano, but still missing from the Shuffle due to it is even more diminutive size.
This 16 GB version is the greatest size Apple offers in the Nano. It offers no further and added functionality over the 8GB, but features twice the storage. Choose the one best for you. 16 GB is great if you have a big music collection. We must all do not forget even though that with Nano no longer doing Video or Storing Pictures, the storage is exclusively for music. This makes 8 GB and 16 GB more suitable size offerings as music takes up much less storage than video.
Overall, Apple has got rid of video (both playback and recording) from this iPod Nano. However, it’s an equalling good music player. Navigation of music is now finished by way of touch, which works efficaciously in spite of the little screen. It’s actually hard to believe so much may fit into such a little device and I believe every one will be a bit shocked when they open up the Nano the initial time and see it’s size yet necessary function as an effective music player retained. The most recent Nano brings a closely Shuffle like size, but yet retains the functionality (touch, clip, dock connector) that severe music lovers and those who use the Nano while working out, demand.
1191 of 1277 persons found the following review helpful.
LOOK! Up in the SKY! It’s a BIRD! It’s a PLANE! No, it’s… SUPER SHUFFLE!
By Your Role Model
But it’s not a Nano. Once you get that, the rest is easy. It’s also a bit of a mixed bag.
**UPDATE** Apple, apparently in response to complaints, has freed a Version 1.1 Software Update that
1) Now allows users to turn the Nano COMPLETELY OFF by keeping down the Wake/Sleep button for assorted seconds. No more ‘it only goes to sleep’.
2) Sets the Wake/Sleep button as a ‘Next Song’ button- double-click it to advance through your songs or radio station presets (that’s default; it may be set to Play/Pause on double-click instead, or you may turn off double-click functionality altogether).
This alter ought to improve the Nano’s battery life as well- from aweinspiring to plainly BAD- as you’ll be less dependent on the power-gobbling touchscreen to advance songs/stations.
Due to these improvements, I’m provisionally upping my review rating to three stars (battery life and pricing/value-for-money stay issues). End Update. ***
A lot of ppl are confused with regards to the radical re-invention of the Nano, not realizing that the Nano is, essentially, dead. The Nano’s mission was to be a compact iPod that still did a lot of higher-end stuff such as video and picture-taking- a nice portable ‘media’ player. No more.
The new Nano, aka Super Shuffle, is focalized on a dissimilar task entirely, and much the same one as the regular Shuffle- the gym. To that end, Apple radically scaled down the size and gave it an integrated clip a la the regular Shuffle. It is now ‘wearable’, aka the ‘Shuffle with a screen’ that a great deal of have wanted for a long time.
The downside is that others loved the ‘true’ Nano, and now they can’t have one, unless they go running for the old 5th gen models before they’re gone. Some will wonder why it was an ‘either/or’ thing for Apple, i.e. couldn’t the Super Shuffle and ‘true Nano’ subsist side-by-side?
Others will say the Super Shuffle is highly inadequate even for the gym. “I don’t want to look at a SCREEN to switch songs or alter the volume. Lame!”, they’ll say.
To be reasonable though, you normally don’t HAVE to look at the screen, because
- The Super Shuffle has physical volume buttons. They’re small, but still easy to use. And as of Software Update 1.1, you may now double-click the Wake/Sleep button to advance songs- a MUCH necessitated improvement.
- It has the ‘Shake To Shuffle’ feature- in a literal sense shake it to shuffle to another song. But, as implemented, STS is inconvenient to use- see notes @end of review.
- It supports VoiceOver. But to use *all* VO features requires the Apple Earphones With Remote & Mic, which are NOT included (Apple either wants another $30, or still hasn’t solved the sweat/moisture issues those ‘phones have had in the past).
So, galore issues aside, the 6G Nano/SS now works fine in it is role as a ‘gym’ Shuffle with a screen.
Features-wise, it does photo-viewing (but not taking), audiobooks, podcasts (minus any video), voice memos (w/the optional ‘phones w/Remote & Mic), is a pedometer, and does FM radio besides. And radio stations do sound breathtakingly clear in any halfway decent reception area. Even low-power college stations normally come in clean- a big plus, since they often times have more modern music programming than mercantile FM.
It also retains the 30-pin dock connector, so you have access to the universe of iPod accessaries – for a good deal of examples, see ‘iPod Nano 6G Docking Options’ on YouTube. This is all well and good.
So MY BEEF with the Super Shuffle isn’t that it killed the ‘true’ Nano (enough demand = they’ll fetch it back), but rather the level of ‘milking it’ Apple’s decisive to go with here. While I own & use one, it just isn’t worth an further and added $100+ MORE than a regular Shuffle.
They do much the same thing, after all- the features it adds to the Shuffle are reasonably minor (for example, ever try to get consistent FM reception inside a huge concrete building, aka your typical gym? Best be near a window.)
Sure, you get the touchscreen, which is sharp/clear, fun to use, and closely eerily immune to smudges/fingerprints (nice). But said T-screen is likewise *really* little – going more spectacular would’ve made it less ‘wearable’ – which compromises readability/ease-of-use. Worst of all, it scarfs WAY too much battery juice (see notes @end of review).
It does give you 6GB more storage than the Shuffle (though that cost Apple < $10 to put in there). But a 'gym' Shuffle doesn't in truth need to hold 2,000 songs (4,000 if you opt for the 16GB), nor does the tiny screen lend itself well to navving through all that. The capacity and price points are Nano legacies, but as we know, this ain't a Nano.
All in all, the vantages don’t add up to the price charged, in terms of value provided. You may buy THREE regular Shuffles for the same money.
Now, a 4GB model for $99-$129 would’ve made sense. Hitting that price point next time would be great, as that’s regarding what a ‘Super Shuffle’ is in truth worth.
Here’s hoping we see that *and* a new ‘true’ Nano once the 7th gen rolls around. Sure, a Shuffle with a screen is COOL- just not cool sufficient to warrant shelling out $150-180 (as I found out).
I do want to dig ya Super Shuffle, but the pricing/value-for-money is your Kryptonite. =[
Also, as mentioned, the battery life is very ‘touchy’ (see notes below) and pretty disappointing, and there’s a few minor bugs & interface issues (also see below).
Update: Got bit by a bug (on 1.0 Software). My Nano would ceaselessly loop the same song over and over. A ‘Restore to Factory Settings’ fixed it, but still… strange.
_________________
Note #1 (Colors): If you buy online, be conscious that the casing colors are more muted than they appear in pics. The blue Nano, for example, is a smoky, very pale blue in person. The exception is the Product Red model (which is Apple Store-only): it’s a VERY bright red in real life. But the other, more understated colors aren’t bad, and are arguably more ‘grown up’.
Note #2 (Battery Life): The batt life on the 6G Nano is VERY dependent on how much you use the touchscreen. Playing around with it a lot- which is EXACTLY what you’ll do when you introductory get one- just KILLS the batt juice. No way around it: the touchscreen, while fun, is likewise a HUGE BATTERY HOG. =[
The screen sleep conduct worsens the problem, by keeping the screen lit for far too long after a touch. This is NOT changeable in Settings either. WTH?
Thus, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND putting the screen to sleep MANUALLY by way of the Wake/Sleep button EVERY time you’re done touchscreening- don’t let the screen turn itself off, it’s VERY SLOW to do so. Your battery life will thank you.
Btw, Apple’s claimed ‘UP TO 24 hours of battery life’ apparently refers to just playing music, with no screen usage. That’s NOT realistic, since you DO have to use the screen for numerous things. Be exceptionally careful with the touchscreen radio tuner, as taking too much time looking for that ‘perfect’ station is just. pure. battery. kryptonite. (Tip: Set up your radio presets early. Turn off Live Pause too- a lot of ppl report batt life issues w/it).
For myself, doing 90-minute workouts with a mix of radio/regular music, I take 25-30% off the battery on avg – so when it comes to 5-6 hrs of battery life, real-world. The 1.1 Software Update may up this a bit, as you may then just use the button to advance songs. Be conscious that the Battery Life icon is VERY schizo- 1st usage after a charge may read as taking almost NOTHING off the battery, while a similar but later use may read as taking HALF the battery. Bottom line: You’ll be recharging frequently. Reducing Screen Brightness may support slightly.
Note #3 (Bugs, Interface issues): i.e. ‘Things I hope Apple fixes in a Software Update’.
- In low-but-usable radio signal areas, you’ll get a large total of erroneous ‘No Radio Signal- Please plug in headphones’ messages. I get these WITH my headphones plugged in, listening to a station that’s coming in a bit quietly but just fine. =[
- MANY ppl blamed the poor battery life on the fact that you couldn’t manually turn the Nano totally OFF (it’d Sleep instead). This is fixed in the 1.1 Software Update, but, as you recognise by now, it’s the TOUCHSCREEN that’s the unfeigned batt life culprit. =[
- If you set the text to ‘White on Black’ in Accessibility (which improves contrast/readability/looks cool), all icons & wallpapers get turned into strange photo negatives of themselves. Whaaa? If this is an OS limitation, then at least provide ‘negative’ wallpapers & icons that look good with the feature turned on.
- The Battery Life meter and Time ought to be visible on ALL screens (such as ‘Now Playing’). Having to nav back or ‘hold down to jump to Home screen’ is annoying/slow, and wastes power.
- As mentioned, the backlight power-saving needs a lotta work.
- The ‘Shake To Shuffle’ feature bears rethinking. First off, it’s iffy ’til you figure out the technique- 2 short, FAST shakes in any direction, *with the screen ON* (1 may work, but the % is lower).
Many gym ppl/runners won’t like this, though. They’ll wish STS worked with the screen OFF, so they may just reach over & shake without having to do a no-look Wake/Sleep button jab. Apple’s worried regarding accidental triggerings, but you’d like to see a better solution than this.
But Apple does is worthy of props and thanks for the 1.1 Software Update. Hopefully even more Nano-love is upcoming, beginning with better power-saving.
Note #4 (Protecting Your Hearing): Volume Limit in Settings is your friend. Correct procedure: Set your max volume limit w/it while in a QUIET room. At the gym, noisy treadmills/equipment may without apparent effort make you crank your volume to the point of causing permanent hearing damage, given sufficient exposure time. Volume Limit is a hearing-saver. Use it.
225 of 251 humans found the following review helpful.
Nano is portion of Apple’s new plan …
By Bob Penn
With the formal publi statement of the new Apple TV, and now the release of the drasti revised iPod Nano, it would appear that Apple is in the procedure of re-evaluating it is product line and re-tooling the entries to match what it grasps to be the needs of the consumer.
With the Apple TV, they have correctly, I believe, simplified the complexity of the firstborn offering, got rid of any notion of storage, which tended to confuse the intermediate user, and prepared it for an app driven iOS future. They claimed these changes resulted from a close look at the usage of the current Apple TV, and that they made the changes they felt were necessitated to more almost match what was desired.
The Nano, I believe, follows the same path.
I have an iPhone and and the new Nano. I also have the former generation Nano. I tend to agree with Apple: I never the older Nano once to watch a video. I never used the contacts, the calendar, nor did I play a game on the Nano. I purchased it for jogging, I only used it for jogging.
All those things got rid of from the new Nano I presently do on my iPhone. These got rid of features were despicable to me and will not be missed.
But the Nano did do incisively what I wanted it to do: become smaller, and be requiring little effort to use. Though I am getting applied to a virtual pause button vs. a physical button on the older model, I find the new Nano to sound a little better and is less irruptive for the duration of running.
Apple has apparently moved away from the “same feature set, dissimilar design” view and has moved to “what’s best for the intended useage?” model. They now have a mature line of music players, each with a clear and intended purpose.
The Classic is for those who wish to carry their entire music collection with them.
The Touch is the top of the line universal player and application machine. Not intended for exercise, but rather for those who don’t have an iPhone but want it is best features.
The iPhone, a Touch with a phone built in. Same positioning as the Touch, but replaces your phone if you are in the market for a phone.
The Shuffle: the low cost entry point into the Apple ecosystem. Probably the only way Apple could offer any product beneath $100. With it is little storage, and lack of screen, it appears to be basically a gateway device for a lot of to enter the Apple world.
And at long last the Nano. Not the universal player anymore. Not the littler iPod Classic, like it is predecessors were. The Nano seems to be purposed to the highly mobile exercise crowd. The Nano is genuinely only good for playing music, which, along with the Shuffle, make it the only “pure” iPod left. If you want a music player, and you want more than 2GB or storage, but you don’t need apps or video or games because all you want to do is listen to music, than the Nano seems ideal. It fails when we undertake to make it something is distinctly not intended to be. And for those who mourn at the loss of the features, I am sure Apple’s answer is that “you genuinely want a Touch.” They’re right, too. The days of the Nano necessitating to be a stripped down Touch or Classic vanished the day the Touch was released.
So, altho not perfect, I think the design and intended use of the Nano fits in nicely into the Apple music player offerings.
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