Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family
First nano thoughts
This is by no means meant to be a review, but after using and tinkering around with my 4 GB black iPod nano I figured I'd post some initial thoughts. These are coming from a guy who's owned 1 of almost every iPod since the original 5 GB, and who got rid of a 60 GB iPod photo for a shuffle:- The nano feels like what would happen if a regular iPod got caught in the wash and shrank. I know we all know this, but I can't repeat it enough: this thing is small. Really small.
- The color screen is gorgeous and holds up in sunlight well
- Sound quality is superb. Regular iPod worthy.
- Loading lots of data like long contact lists (mine's 300+) or flying through image thumbnails is worlds faster than on color iPods, formerly known as iPod photos
- Lack of firewire cable is one thing. Lack of firewire support all-together is annoying
- Black looks really, really, really hot. Too bad the accessories don't match. (All the extras are still white)
- If you buy a nano in an Apple store, they come in an exclusive bag that looks almost as expensive as the packaging the nano comes in.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ben Gold said 4:21PM on 9-09-2005
i went to my local apple store yesterday and there seemed to be alot of ipod minis out they had the nano and the manager showed me one tat they opened to play around with it was awsome but he said even though he thinks it awsome too he wouldnt get one to replace his shuffle
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Eric J said 4:23PM on 9-09-2005
I've got a nickel that says metal isn't just out for iTunes -- the next Powerbook will be Nano black & acrylic.
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narco said 4:29PM on 9-09-2005
How is the quality of the color screen compared to the iPod photo/color screen?
Fishes,
narco.
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pete said 4:34PM on 9-09-2005
Why did you give up your 60 Gigger. I'm thinking about selling it for one of these but I have 50 gigs of music. All I really do is listen to shuffle though...
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LD said 4:40PM on 9-09-2005
I didn't get the fancy bag. Lame. I opted for white even though I demoed the black. Most of the employees I saw had one in their back pocket for demoes though it wasn't yet on display.
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Alex said 5:01PM on 9-09-2005
Do people think the black nano in 4GB will sell out like the mini did. I can't buy one for a week or two and I want to be able to get one when I do....
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armedmemory said 5:35PM on 9-09-2005
I'm confused about the lack of firewire support, doesn't the iPod Nano use the standard dock connection? And, after looking at Apple's web-page it shows connectivity as USB, but it can be charge via Firewire?
If Apple is abandoning Firewire I'm going to be really pissed.
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ericd said 5:46PM on 9-09-2005
i think FW connection in something that thin wouldn't have worked...
I'm getting a 4G black nano tomorrow. I have every iPod model released and I'm still getting one. Why? I'm not sure - its so freaking sexy looking though!!!!
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neus said 6:00PM on 9-09-2005
firewire could work for something that small, it is more an issue of USB being so pervasive in the marketplace.
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Cory Krug said 6:11PM on 9-09-2005
How hard is it to use that tiny click-wheel?
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ericd said 6:15PM on 9-09-2005
I havent seen a wide 6 pin FW port yet have you? The 30 pin USB2 exists... but I haven't seen something like that for FW. A regular FW cable plug end is itself about as wide as the nano is thin.
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Paul said 6:41PM on 9-09-2005
I love these things. I can't wait to see one in person because I can't belive how small it is.
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Cam said 7:34PM on 9-09-2005
Can you not use a firewire dock connector cable on the nano? I was under the impression the dock connector was the same as on the iPod.
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CompuDude said 7:52PM on 9-09-2005
It will charge via firewire because the voltage comes over the same two dock connector pins of a firewire cable as it does on a USB cable or powered dock in a set of iPod speakers, etc. That hasn't changed.
Also, the size of a 6-pin firewire cable is irrelevant, because that's not the end that plugs into the iPod, the dock connector does... the firewire plug goes into the computer itself, not the iPod. (At least, since they dropped the full blown FW port on the iPods around 3G or so in favor of the bottom dock connector.)
What has been dropped from the nano is the internal chipset that "speaks" firewire in order to transfer data as a firewire device. Apparently, space was tight in there, and faced with a choice between a firewire chipset and a usb chipset, obviously the usb was going to give them compatibility with far more people than firewire, so thats what they went with.
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KD said 7:58PM on 9-09-2005
Something that gave me pause was the photo capabilities. It shows pictures on the built in color screen, but you can't play them on a TV like a regular iPod Photo. Bummer.
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Extensor said 11:08PM on 9-09-2005
I bet a third party gadget will come out that lets you output to a TV like the regular iPod Photo.
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Ian Nott said 11:56PM on 9-09-2005
I am going to pick up a white 4gb tommarow, my local apple store only just got them in late today, so i havnt acctually had the chance to see it in person, but from what ive heard it seems really great. i have had one of every generation ipod on the market aside from the shuffle, and my 2g 4gig pink mini is my favorite so far-only because of it's size. so, smaller is better in my book.
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squid729 said 12:26AM on 9-10-2005
for anyone who likes the idea of a colored
(non-white) ipod nano check out colorware for 21 color choices
http://www.colorwarepc.com
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Zaxxon said 1:56AM on 9-10-2005
The problem with Colorware's process on iPods, iMac G5's and iBooks is that the paint covers the transparent plastic coating that make it unique.
So think twice about doing this because it ends up looking like most other product plastic surfaces. Also, last time I checked, the prices were a little extreme.
(and you can be that I'm not the one working for Colorware)
Another thing, I'm almost %100 sure that the video out circuitry is not in the nano, as the video out chip in the current color iPods would probably take like half of the nano motherboard.
The best you could do is plug the audio-out into a composite video input, then play a specially crafted sound that more or less matches the NTSC format. You would only get a grayscale animation at 4x240 though :)
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Alex said 12:11PM on 9-10-2005
Do people think the black nano in 4GB will sell out like the mini did. I can't buy one for a week or two and I want to be able to get one when I do....
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