Apple iPod nano 16 GB 6th Generation > Reviews (4)

As always all Apple iPods are exceedingly smart and catchy, in spite of the aahs and oohs for the features that has been taken away the 6Gen iPod nano is a more sensible device than, may be, it’s more illustrious predecessor. Let us check out what has been left and I’ll try my best justify their deletion. Yet I have a gut feeling that Jobes may just be eying at the earphone or the earbud market in a big way!

Ten most note able deletions:

• 1. The built in Video recorder
• 2. Video play back
• 3. Video rental capability
• 4. Physical buttons
• 5. Click-wheel games (like Vortex, Maze, Klondike)
• 6. Notes
• 7. Contacts
• 8. Calendars
• 9. Stopwatch
• 10. Alarms

So the glaring cons are

• a. Cheaper earbuds, smaller screen than previous nano
• b. Multi-Touch sometimes more gimmicky than useful
• c. No physical playback buttons
• d. No video-watching and -recording features

The features which remain intact:

• i. VoiceOver support for announcing track information
• ii. FM radio with live pausing
• iii. Shake-to-shuffle
• iv. Fitness pedometer

But even you even get access to voice recording, you'll need to supply your own mic-equipped earphones since the bundled pair are just plain old earbuds.

A BIT ABOUT THE 6G iPod Nano size factor:

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If you look into the designing of the all the Apple iPods, they have all come in rectangular sizes but the recent one is a definite deviation from the norm. It has taken an immensely smaller shape, nearly square 1.5inchx1.6inch but it is thickest nano of all them at 0.35inches weighing a mere: 0.7 ounce. The reason being the built-in spring loaded clip like the shuffle and mind you it is very functional. Before I forget I think I should share the fact that I always make it a point to have my earbuds attached to the tiny device, just a precaution against losing it and it has helped.

Criticisms and reservation for this latest Apple 6G iPod nano apart I liked the small screen it’s gorgeous, bright with its 240x240-pixel resolution and of course easy to read. It offers excellent customization options like the ability to change the background, change the order of the icon and control the orientation of the screen. It is very user friendly in a sense that those who are accustomed to iPhones and iPads, the mechanism is more or less the same.
These are available in memory capacities of 8GB and 16GB and seven new wonderful colors that will make anybody suffer from indecision (of course retains the aluminum shell):

1. Red
2. Pink
3. Yellow
4. Green
5. Blue
6. Grey and
7. Silver.

For me I’ll opt for the grey one any day.

Now the iPod shuffle (1GB) stores around 250 songs, taking that an average file duration of 5 minutes so 8GB should be capable of well around 2000 songs but the practical experience for me is that it has no problems storing 3500 songs.

JUST A DIG IN ITS TECHNICAL SPECS:

Storage Type: Flash memory
Capacity: 8GB or 16GB
Audio File Types Supported: AAC (to 320Kbps); Protected AAC (from iTunes Store); HE-AAC; MP3 (to 320Kbps); MP3 VBR; Audible; Apple Lossless; AIFF; WAV
Photo File Types Supported: JPEG; TIFF, PICT; GIF; PNG; JPG2000/JP2; PSD; SGI; BMP
Screen Size (Diagonal): 1.

5 inches
FM Tuner: Yes
Mfr. Rated Battery Life: 24 hours
Dimensions (HWD): 1.5x1.6x0.35 inches
Weight: 0.7 ounce
Color Specifications Display – 1.54 color TFT display, 240 x 240 pixel resolution
Input/Output – Dock connector, Earphones jack External buttons – Volume control, Sleep/Wake button Sensors – Accelerometer FM Radio – Regional settings for Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Japan, Live Pause Extra Features – Localized UI & VoiceOver (29 Languages)
Audio Frequency Response – 20Hz – 20kHz

INTERFACE & FUNCTIONALITY:

I must say that the interface is simply and user friendly and the touch screen response is excellent. The iOS-like icons on each screen is highly intuitive lead to the noted function with ease. Then again there are always some hiccups with a new and sophisticated machine, it hardly takes time to get over them.

I think it will be worthwhile to mention a bit of my opinion in a sense that it is widely accepted that Apple knows best the touch screen and it’s friendly attitude but I would any day settle for Apple home button that exists in other touch-screen device from Apple and do away with some of Nano’s tiny form factor!

FM TUNER:

The radio is fun to use and a nice option is very much functional and very useful just in case you get bored with the songs available in the library. One of the impressive feature of the FM tuner is its capability to pause the live broadcast, saving a reasonable 10-15 minutes of the air-time. It has got the facility to mark you favorite station.

BATTERY:

The batter life is mind-blowing 18 hours and takes about 3.5 hours for charging.

A GLARING DRAWBACK:

High technology, touch screen, they are all very good and definitely useful. But there are certain situations when a physical playback control becomes a necessity, suppose you have the nano in your hip-pocket and you are driving, suddenly you want to skip tracks what would you do?

What did I say I in the beginning? Yes may be Apple has its eyes on the sophisticated earphone market. By now you will, probably, be knowing that Apple markets Earphones with Remote and Mic. They have an inline remote-control module that lets you do most of the actions remotely.

As always the latest Apple 6G iPod nano comes with those disappointing earbuds. They are horrible, wear them for 15 minutes, you sure to land up with acute pain in on the surface of your ear.

BROWSING:

Since the latest Apple 6G iPod nano screen size is very small browsing the list requires lot more scrolling and swiping practically you can see three and half entries since there is no way to reduce the font size.

THE LAST WORD:

All said, done and argued my main reservation and concern regarding the 6G iPod nano boils down to its real usability. It’s now a simple music and photo play back machine, after moving forward I believe in terms of functionality its taken quite some steps backwards. But then one can argue what ever the screen size, resolution and clarity be a Video player should be king size. It’s Apple’s credit that they had the guts to delete the video capability tag from the latest version of nano.

As far as the as the audio quality is concerned I am sorry to say the same thing, with the default earbuds-it’s just ordinary but with a good pair of earbuds (may be a Sony or Creative) makes nano boom.

Aplle 6G iPod nano’s great advantage and disadvantage: 1. The size 2. Again the Size 3. The Price.

Price:
8GB £124.10
16GB £157.95
(http://www.amazone.co.uk)

Thanks for reading.