The new iPod Nano hardly bigger than an oversized stamp. It does away with the click wheel (and all things video) in favor of a multitouch screen. But how do you use it?
The tiny touchscreen iPod Nano is 46% smaller and 42% lighter than its predecessor, and scarcely larger than the new iPod Shuffle. It has hard volume buttons, Voiceover, FM radio, NIke+ support, and a pedometer, and Apple’s saying it has 24 hour battery life. There’s a clip, too, so you can attach it right to your clothes.
The revamped OS doesn’t offer much in the way of new capabilities over the old Nano, since it’s focused on a streamlined control scheme, and you navigate just the way you’d expect, by poking around with your finger. Twisting two fingers rotates the screen (if you happen to have it upsidedown?) and there’s a home screen which you can populate with your most-used items, rearranged by tapping and holding, just like on iOS devices.
Gone are video cameras and video playback—the true multimedia iPod now is the iPod Touch—but the new Nano does photos, which you can manipulate with multitouch,
The new version makes more sense than the old Nano, given what people who still buy dedicated MP3 players—that aren’t looking to carry their entire library in their pocket—are looking for. But still you have to wonder how easy it will be to scroll through your music when your thumb is, you know, covering the whole screen.
It comes in the same four colors as the new Shuffle, as well as graphite red and a Global Fund-sponsored red. $149 for 8GB; $179 for the 16GB version.
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