Apple iPod Nano (fifth generation, 8GB, silver) first look

Design
In 2008, Apple broke away from the traditionally flat, rectangular iPod design and surprised customers with a curved, wing-shaped iPod Nano. It's safe to assume that Apple is still pleased with that design, since the fifth-generation model is nearly identical to its predecessor, measuring 3.5 inches tall by 1.6 inches wide by 0.25 inch thick at its center.

To distinguish itself from previous models, the latest Nano includes a slightly larger 2.2-inch screen (up from 2 inches) and a glossy, polished aluminum finish that one CNET editor described as looking like a Christmas tree ornament. However, the easiest way to tell that you're holding a fifth-generation iPod Nano is to flip it over. Unlike its fourth-generation sibling, the latest Nano has a bead-size camera lens on its lower left backside. The lens runs flush with the Nano's aluminum body, but if the worn-and-scratched back of our fourth-generation Nano is any indication, we advise investing in a protective case to keep the camera in good working order.

Features
All of the features from last year's Nano have migrated to the fifth-generation model, including music, video, and podcast playback, as well as extras such as photos, calendar, games, alarms, stopwatch, contacts, notes, and clocks. If that weren't enough, Apple has upped the ante with an integrated pedometer, Genius Mix support, voice recording, a built-in speaker, video camera, and an FM radio that we've been asking for since 2001.

Even with the Nano's ever-growing stable of features, music playback is still the beating heart of this iPod. As a portable extension of Apple's popular iTunes computer software, the Nano offers an impressive number of options for playing music, audiobooks, and podcasts. The Nano supports all audio formats such as MP3, AAC, AIFF, and Apple Lossless, and it's a breeze to transfer media using Apple's iTunes software (a required install). For those of you with collections of WMA audio files, iTunes will handle converting your unprotected files (DRM-protected WMA files are a not convertible) into an iPod-compatible format. Niche formats, such FLAC and OGG, will also need to be converted; however, you'll need to use third-party software to get the job done.

The iPod Nano's ties with iTunes also brings fantastic media features, including standard, smart, and Genius playlists; the latter creates instantaneous 25 song playlists based around the characteristics of any of your favorite tunes. Aside from turning playlist creation into a simple, one-click affair, Genius playlists can be created directly on the iPod Nano, eliminating the hassle of creating and syncing playlists through iTunes.

Taking the Genius playlist experience one-step further, Apple has introduced a new feature called Genius Mixes, offering extended playlists of music grouped around a common genre. You can think of Genius Playlists as a more evolved take on shuffling your music library, with selections constrained by genre and ordered according to Apple's secret Genius mojo. Unlike Genius playlists, Mixes require no effort to create--they simply appear on your iPod as part of the automatic syncing process of iTunes. Understand, however, that if you set up iTunes to manage your iPod manually or prefer not to activate the Genius feature in iTunes, Genius Mixes will not appear on your Nano.

The Nano's video camera
Of all the bells and whistles Apple added to the fifth-generation iPod Nano, the video camera is the most notable. Placed on the back of the Nano in the lower right corner (or lower left, if you're looking at the back), the small, bead-size lens brings yet another convenient and useful feature to an already impressive product. We're not thrilled with the camera's video quality, the location of the lens behind your hand, or the inability to take still photos, but it's difficult to criticize when you consider the Nano's relatively low price. A comparable, VGA-resolution video camera such as the Flip Mino has a street price of $130 and includes only a fraction of the features found on the Nano.

There are plenty of nice things to say about the Nano's video camera. First, the Nano's camera is easy to use, letting you to jump right into recording after only two clicks from the main menu. Its 640x480-pixel resolution and MP4/H.264 video recording format (bit rates range between 2,500Kbps and 2,800Kbps) works natively in iTunes and most video playback software as well as video streaming Web sites including YouTube, Flickr, and Facebook. With up to 8GB of storage, the Nano can store an impressive 16 hours of recorded video, and as far as convenience goes, you'll have a difficult time finding a smaller, lighter video camera than the iPod Nano.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• 8GB
• silver) first look

[shfq456]

Can't snap a picture. booohooooooooo.

[yohan1985]

Clip is not HD?

[TradingCardsDude]

I WANNA TRADE MY GOGEAR ARIA FOR THIS THE GOOGEAR SUCKS SHIT

[kaisean95]

mines chrome, BITCHES!

[ibtihalsalsabil]

dude: you can win fabulous prizes! *takes a cheap looking bag out* xD

[armstrongjack8]

thats not silver its grey like mine

[pyeclam]

Pedometer. I read it as Pedo-meter. Like, something that measures how much of a pedophile you are.

[damn606]

mine's blue.. xD

[Gerard300349024]

i have one their pretty sick

[supersmashfm]

yes u can just tap the center button quickly and it takes a 00:00 second movie

[crosby87871]

it should be able to be able to take pictures???!!!!??!!!

[gotogodink]

gay...