Incredibly thin, lightweight, and made of a durable aluminum, the fifth-generation iPod nano ($149 for 8GB, $179 for 16GB) doesn’t look much different from its predecessor, but appearances, as they say, can be deceiving. The latest refresh brings a slightly larger screen, FM radio (finally), song tagging, new Genius features, and most intriguing of all, an embedded VGA video camera. The nano isn’t a Flip killer by any stretch, and its audio quality could be better, but it’s still the most well-rounded compact flash media player on the market.
Super-slim Design
One of the most attractive aspects of the nano is its wafer-like profile. Measuring just 3.6 x 1.5 x 0.2 inches and weighing a barely-there 1.3 ounces, the updated nano is far thinner than it even appears in photos—and now it includes a camera housed in its back. The andolized aluminum body provides sturdiness without heaping on weight, and there are nine eye-catching colors available (black, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, red, silver, yellow) to suit your mood. Despite being a marvel in modern gadget design, we were a little annoyed that the 3.5mm headphone jack is located on the bottom of the device to the left of the USB connection port.
Display and Interface
The majority of the nano’s face is comprised of the 2.2-inch (240 x 376-pixel resolution) display, which is a bit larger than the 2-inch LCD on the fourth-gen nano. Beneath it is the familiar iPod clickwheel that let us swiftly navigate through menus by using our thumbs. When we purchased Spoonfed Hybrid’s “Boyz in Zinc” music video from the iTunes Store, the nano played back the clip without a hitch. The glossy display kicked back some reflections, which became more pronounced during darker scenes. Our transferred photos of family, friends, and other subjects looked crisp and colorful, but viewing them in widescreen mode sometimes lopped off the tops of photos.
Turning the player to the horizontal position causes the accelerometer to launch Cover Flow, Apple’s visual tool for paging through albums. The accelerometer also comes into play if you turn on the optional Shake to Shuffle feature, which let us randomly jump from song to song by giving the nano a brisk shake.
Audio Quality
Music and podcasts sounded loud and clear, but they lacked the vibrancy and richness found in devices such as the Samsung P3 or Sony Walkman X series. Likewise, the built-in speaker is so poor that Apple should’ve just excluded it from the player. It made the horns in our Marc Seales’ “Highway Blues” WMA file sound extraordinarily tinny, and bass-heavy tracks such as The J.B.’s “Giving Up Food For Funk” were a muddy mess. The nano is compatible with AAC (protected and unprotected), MP3, MP3 VBR, AIFF, Audible, Apple Lossless, WAV, and WMA, but true audiophiles may lament the absence of FLAC and OGG support.
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