~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MY GORGEOUS PINK IPOD NANO!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Following a recent obsession of all thinks pink, I decided to blow £113 on a pink ipod nano! I had refrained from buying any form of ipod in the past on the basis that you could get basic MP3 players a lot cheaper!
After the death of my beloved MP3 player I was missing having music to drown out the sound of my university lecturers! I looked on both amazon and the apple website and amazon turned out to be a little bit cheaper so I brought mine through that, although apple isn't much more expensive and you can get the back of your ipod engraved for free if you buy it via the apple shop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What is it? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The ipod nano is basically like a tarted up mp3 player. You can store up to 4GB of music on it (approx 1000 songs) and the interface enables you to play these back through the headphones in a variety if ways, for example you can create playlists, play songs by genre, artist, album, song etc. In addition to storing music, the ipod nano can also store and display your photos.
The actual ipod nano is very thin and rectangular in shape. It has a screen at the top and a touch sensitive keypad in the centre. It is made from durable anodized aluminium, which is intended to protect it from being bashed around in your pocket or bag. Whilst this is reassuring, I do have concerns regarding the screen becoming scratched as this is very exposed and has no real protections.
The Apple website states the dimensions as follows:
Size and weight: Height: 3.5 inches Width: 1.6 inches Depth: 0.26 inch Weight: 1.41 ounces
In addition to the pink one, which I own, the ipod nano is also available in the colours green, blue, silver and black. There are also different sizes available (2GB, 4GB and 8GB)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE FEATURES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The ipod nano includes various features as detailed below:
Music:
Well this is obviously the main feature as mentioned above. You can upload music from your computer to your ipod nano using the USB data cable, which comes with the ipod (this also charges the unit). The only way of uploading music to your ipod is through the itunes software. This is free to download from the web, but does mean that you must use this software even if you don't like it (im not particularly keen on it myself!). The music is played out through the headphones and I do feel that the sound quality is good. You can buy speakers etc to hook your ipod up to aswell.
Photos:
Photos are also to be uploaded through itunes and once on your ipod these can be displayed as a slideshow, The display quality of photos is very impressive and the screen size is adequate for good display.
Clock:
This is a nice and actually quite useful feature, you can set the time and even set an alarm on your ipod nano. You can set up clocks for more than one time zone which I imagine would be very useful while away on holiday.
Games:
The ipod nano has four games on it, Brick, Music Quiz, Parachute and solitaire. The solitaire game is the basic card game that you would find on most windows computers. The Parachute game is a strange shooting game which I don't find particularly appealing and brick is where you hit a ball to knock down bricks! Brick and parachute I find fairly uninteresting, I do like solitaire although it is difficult to play using the interface. The music quiz game I think is a nice idea - it plays you a few seconds of a track on your ipod nano and gives you for options of what the track is - you have to select one and the quicker you get it, the higher your points. Although it is a nice feature to have games on there I do feel they could have been made a bit more interesting.
Settings:
Through the settings option you can adjust all sorts of things such as the backlight settings, what is displayed on the main menu, shuffle and repeat settings, language, sounds, maximum volume settings etc. All of these settings are useful and allow you to personalise your ipod to suit you needs.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BATTERY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of my main reasons for not buying any form of ipod inititally was the assumption that although they could hold lots of songs, the battery life would probably be pretty pants. I must say that I am incredibly impressed with the battery life of my ipod nano. The built in rechargeable lithium ion battery has up to 24 hours playing time.
You charge the battery by the USB cable which comes with it, I have found this useful as I can just leave it plugged into my laptop for a couple of hours and it charges up nicely, although this is obviously not convenient if there is not a computer around. You can purchase power adaptors separately which I think I will need to do for when I go away on holiday etc. I do think it's a bit of a rip off that you don't get a power adaptor the the ipod nano itself.
I have found the battery charge time to be approximately 3 hours when the battery is completely dead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE DESIGN AND INTERFACE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The colour of my pink ipod nano is a very bright and attractive pink. The headphones are the trademark white colour of ipods, which, whilst they do look attractive, I am sure apple just uses them as some disguised marketing ploy! The majority of people who see someone with white headphones in their ears will know that they are listening to some form of ipod and thus it is good advertising for Apple, however, everyone who recognises the headphones of an ipod will also know how expensive they are and this can significantly increase your chances of it being stolen. It is of course possible to buy other headphones of a different colour which could be a good theft prevention method!!
The screen is bright, clear and well lit. The text on the screen is easy to read although would not be suitable for someone who is visually impaired as there is no obvious way of enlarging the size of the text,
The actual keypad took me a few minutes to understand (I may just be a bit slow!). It consists of a white donut shape which is touch sensitive, so scrolling is done by gently touching your thumb around the shape. Once you get used to it, its easy to use and pretty cool but rather confusing to start with!! This donut shaped touchpad also has four areas which if pressed, perform different functions. There is a menu button, skip forward, skip back and play/pause button. In the middle of the donut shaped touchpad is a circular button which is the same colour as the rest of the ipod nano and it is basically the 'select' button. After a few minutes of getting used to the touch pad idea I now really like it. I think it would perhaps have helped if I had read the instructions before trying to use it!!
The ipod nano has a sliding button on the top, which puts it on hold. I have found this very useful if you have your ipod in your pocket and don't want to knock against it and accidentally skip the song or turn the volume up/down etc!!
After dropping my ipod nano about 5 times in the space of one day (I am very clumsy!) I purchased a pink coloured latex tube, which helps protect it further from knocks and bumps. The touchpad is still very useable under the latex and I have found myself worrying a lot less about it getting scratched or broken in my bag.
The navigation on the ipod nano is pretty intuitive. The main menu is clear and you can scroll through and select what you want to do. This is where the scrolling touchpad becomes particularly useful as if you are looking through a large number of songs it makes it a very smooth and easy movement just to glide through them rather than having to click through buttons. As mentioned earlier, you can also make navigation around your ipod even easier by changing the settings for what displays on the main menu etc.
When listening to music, the volume can be easily adjusted using the touchpad, and you can skip through and pause songs using the clearly marked buttons on the touchpad.
For a 4GB ipod nano new ipod nano you are looking at around £100 wherever you buy it from. Amazon is a good place to look if you want one new or second hand. The apple website is not a lot more expensive than other places and you do get free engraving if you purchase it through them. In general I have noticed that if you buy it online you will most likely get it cheaper than in a shop although the ipod nanos are available in pretty much anywhere that sells electrical goods so its worth looking around for the best price.
One thing worth looking into if you are having it delivered is making sure someone is in! When amazon delivered mine - no on was in and they just left it out on my front doorstep without even waiting for a signature! So its worth making sure that it will get to you safely if you are getting one delivered!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SUMMARY OF THE POSITIVES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- I do really like the design and the way the ipod nano works. It is easy to use and the ideal size to fit comfortably in your pocket or bag. - The amount of music you can fit on the ipod is great and being able to create playlists or to play by genre, artist, album etc is a real plus. - It is a nice feature to be able to store and display your photos on it. - The navigation is intuitive and works well. - The additional features such as the clock and alarm settings are beneficial. - I have found it useful being able to charge the ipod while it is connected to my computer. - The sound and picture qualities are great. - The availability of different colours is a nice touch to make it more personal to the individual. - Due to the popularity of the ipod brand, there are now endless accessories etc you can buy to go with your ipod, such as speakers, cases etc. - The ipod nano feels fairly strong and robust. - The itunes software needed to use the ipod is free and easy to download.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SUMMARY OF THE NEGATIVES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- The screen seems very vulnerable and without extreme care could be scratched quite easily. - You have to use the itunes software to connect your ipod to your computer whether you like it or not! - The white headphones dramatically increase your chance of being mugged or having it nicked! - Only a charger which connects to the computer is available with the ipod so you have to pay extra if you want to get a mains power adaptor. - It's a lot of money wasted if you lose it or break it!
My ipod nano has exceeded any expectations that I had. I am very pleased with it and feel that it was definitely worth the money. You can get decent MP3 players a lot cheaper than an ipod but if you want the storage capacity and the quality of an ipod then its worth forking out a bit extra.
