Fantasic features,Looks awesome and performs great
Disadvantages:
iTUNES what a nightmare
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Introduction-
Love them or hate them Ipods are an integral part of our lives and there are few people that dont own one or at the very least know someone who has one.Everyday seems to bring a new addition to the range with more features more memory and smaller size,but also more horror stories of ipods crashing,freezing and losing hundreds of their owners treasured song collections.Reliability has been a major problem for the Ipod and you don't have to look far for blogs and forums full of peoples experiences both good and bad.Having recently updated my old ipod shuffle i have decided to do a review on the ipod nano video(3RD Generation)just like memebers of the family they now have generations(just a shame they dont last as long!).Hopefully you will find my review helpful and informative and i look forward to your constructive feedback both good and bad.
The Geeky Stuff- I have decided to list the main specifications of the ipod nano video(3rd Gen) because it is helpful when trying to decide what model would suit you best.
Capacity - 4GB or 8GB Holds up to 1,000 or 2,000 songs Holds up to 3,500 or 7,000 iPod-viewable photos Holds up to 4 hours (4GB) or up to 8 hours (8GB) of video Can be used as a USB flash drive
Size and weight Height- 2.75 inches /69.8 mm Width- 2.06 inches/52.3 mm Depth- 0.26 inch /6.5 mm Weight- 1.74 ounces /49.2 grams
Skip-free playback Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, AIFF, and WAV, maximum volume limit
Video-
H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second
Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second
MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
Display-
2-inch liquid crystal display with blue-white LED backlight 320-by-240-pixel resolution at 204 pixels per inch
Headphones-
Earphones Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz Impedance: 32 ohms (important info when buying replacements)
Accessories in the box-
Earphones USB 2.0 cable Dock adapter Quick Start guide
Pc connectivity-
Mac system requirements-
Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later
iTunes 7.6 or later5
Windows system requirements- PC with USB 2.0 port
Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
iTunes 7.6 or later5
Power settings-
Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery Playback time Music playback time: Up to 24 hours when fully charged Video playback time: Up to 5 hours when fully charged
Charging-
Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter (not included in box) Fast-charge time: about 1.5 hours
Full-charge time: about 3 hours
Benefits-
Now that i have listed the boring tech stuff ill go through the benefits of these features and how i found each of them when i used them myself.The name nano means very small and this is exactly what this unit is small,slim and easy to carry around the display is very small so the photo and video features are really just an additional extra because the display is only 2 inches and watching it for along period of time is going to put a hell of a strain on the old eyes(hopefully no blindness or at least not yet).It is nice to have these features and i have played around with them transferring and converting both photo and video to the unit,the quality of both is good and both transfer and conversion were easy with the right software(there is a lot of free software available on the net).I used the drag and drop method as my laptop easily recognised the ipod as a removable drive and when you drop a particular file type onto the units harddrive it gets sorted automatically into the correct folder eg Music,Photo or video.Now when it came to a sync with itunes on my laptop this was a different matter i couldnt get my ipod recognised by itunes even though i downloaded the latest version and i am still having problems now as the connection is not as seamless as it should be.Instead i am using windows media player to sync my playlists and funnily this was so much easier to set up and suited me as my music library was already set up under this system. The navigation menus are standard apple-ipod setup so you will have no problem navigating the product allowing you to customise playlists,shuffle or view and watch your videos with ease.There is no touch screen or jog wheel and the buttons can feel a bit cheap when pushed but that is the price of having such a small unit that is easy to slip inside the smallest of pockets.Sound and video playback is high quality and even the supplied ear-phones are very good thus eliminating the need to have to buy a better set from the start. The main strength of this product is the massive array of extra accessories you can buy for the nano range ranging from leather cases,arm bands custom body covers,docking stations,connectors for TV playback and portable speakers to name but a few.
Overall Summary
The initial set-up is very easy allowing you to get the unit up and running in a small space of time.Connecting to a windows pc is very easy with the unit being recognised instantly by windows(vista is my version).However i have had a nightmare of a time getting it to sync with itunes(lots of forums available on the net for this issue) and it seems to be a problem alot of people are having so a big minus on this point.Playback quality is excellent for Music,Video and photo's and the unit has a fantastic range of features and setting to use that will keep you occupied for months to come.The size is fantastic if you want a small ipod but will mean that you will not fully utilise the video features of this particular small ipod.The accessories you get inside the box are standard and will mean that you dont need to spend more money to get the product up and running.
Overall Score 8/10
Plus Points- Fantastic Range of Features Excellent Playback Small,compact and looks fantastic
Bad points- Absolute nightmare connecting to Itunes (apple if your reading you really do have to sort this major issue out
I would highly recommend this product and have already bought a docking station for it (feel free to read my review on it as i would be happy for feedback both good and bad)
Price- You should be able to buy the 4GB mobel from about £90 and the 8GB model from about £120.it does pay to shop around as there are always great deals to be had
Online resources- www.apple.com (but just do a search on ipod and you will get an endless resource of information to help assist you)
Thankyou for taking the time to read my review and i value all feedback both good and bad.
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