Apple keeps raising the barrier on the iPod Nano
design and making it tough to outdo themselves. But any company that
has a category-leading product is faced with this dilemma of always
having to improve and jump a higher hurdle with every product
iteration. If they time the jump wrong and go crashing through the bar
then another product can take the lead. But Apple has this race down
and updates their products just often enough to keep relevant, but not
so often that their just adding one or two features to an existing
product.

The second generation Nano (2G Nano) follow up to the original nano (1G Nano) was excellent. The entire body
except for the end was made of scratch resistant anodized aluminum. The 2G Nano was thin
as a wafer and had stunning looks. Even with its thin-and-light design, it still felt solid. The 2G Nano was indeed a huge improvement over the 1G, so how could Apple possibly have room to improve further?

It turns out Apple had plenty of ideas on how to improve the Nano further: cleaning up the user interface to make it more readable, adding in a larger high-resolution 2″ screen with video display capabilities and making the device even smaller. So does this make the third generation Nano (3G Nano) a hands-down winner in the portable music player category? Maybe…

What do you get in the box?

First, here’s a quick overview of what you get with your iPod Nano:

• iPod nano (4GB comes in silver only, 8GB comes in black, silver, red, green, and light blue)
• USB to iPod dock connector
• Apple earbuds
• Universal dock adapter
• Set-up guide

Many will gripe that the only charger you get for charging your iPod is the USB connector, which means your computer has to be on and your iPod has to be connected to it in order to charge. You can buy a wall plug-in charger for between $10 - $20 from Apple.com or your closest Apple Store.

Design Overview of the iPod Nano 3G

The 3G Nano is a great media player device and is well worth the $149 you pay for the 4GB storage version or $199 you pay for the 8GB version. The newly added
features are for the most part excellent, but the new “fat” form
factor can take time to adjust to. The 1G and 2G Nano players fit very well into the palm of your hand, but this is not so much the case with the 3G Nano. The 3G Apple Nano’s face sits
on top of a beveled back which creates a blunt edge where you hold it. This provides a feel that’s a bit awkward, sort of like a remote control just a
few inches too wide. However, while it feels a little odd in your hand, the size is a great fit for your jeans pocket. It’ll even fit into the sub-compact pocket area.

Old Nano next to new

The 1G Nano had a metallic back that scratched easily. Apple fixed this with the 2G Nano by using an anodized aluminum for the body that was fairly scratch resistant. Now with the 3G Nano Apple went back to the shiny metal back that can scratch easily. It’s an unfortunate move, maybe to help the case designers do better business, because you basically have to buy a case to put the 3G Nano in if you want to avoid hideous scratching of the back surface.

One strange thing is that, while the 3G Nano is wider and has a larger screen, the clicker wheel is smaller than the previous Nano devices. This isn’t obvious until you put the 3G Nano side-by-side with the older ones, but it is indeed the case. The good news is that you don’t even notice this in use, so I can’t really say this is a negative.

The screen on the 3G video Nano is amazing. It’s hard to imagine such a small screen could be so darn nice to look at, but it is indeed the case. I laughed when I first heard the Nano would have a video screen built-in, but in usage I’ve found that the high-resolution display is acceptable for watching a 30 minute TV show. I couldn’t watch a feature length movie on the Nano though, that’s just torturous on the eyes.

Video playback on the iPod Nano

Other than watching video, the screen is fantastic for viewing larger album art, which was almost impossible to comfortably view on the previous
nanos. The text display is now much larger and easier to read than previous iPod models. Apple really put some thought into improving the interface and using the full capability of the higher resolution and larger screen.

Apple iPhone next to the Apple iPod Nano Video

Comparing the thickness of the iPhone to the Nano

As with the previous nanos the headphone jack is located on the bottom next to the iPod dock connector. I’d prefer the jack were on the top for when I’m working out at the gym (it’s easier to rest something in a holder when there isn’t a jack coming out the bottom). The hold switch is now located on the bottom of the case, instead of the top. I’d prefer the hold button be on the top, it’s just easier to reach and toggle it there

iPod Nano with Video Usability

The new summer 2007 iPod releases got a nice user interface overhaul (except for the shuffle which has no user interface). The iPod players still work like they
always have, they�ve just been spruced up. The first change to be noted is the split-screen menu that shows your function options
(music, video, settings,etc) on one side, and a visual representation
on the other. For instance, if you select music it will show album art;
extras will show a clock icon, and so on.

When you click on �music� all the usual view options are there such
as �Artists,� �Genre,� �Playlists,� and so on. But the 3G Nano introduces
Apple�s 3D graphic interface named �coverflow” as a feature for sorting through your albums. The problem is that when coverflow is used within iTunes it’s powered by a fast processor on your computer, but the Nano doesn’t have that power and so the result is slow and choppy. Since the Nano doesn’t have
the horsepower to constantly redraw all the album art very fast, you usually get a bunch of gray placeholders where album art
should be. If you wait a few seconds it will pop up, but what�s the
point? It�s faster to just search by album or artist name, which also
shows you a thumbnail of the album art, just not in 3D as coverflow would.

On the topic of searching for albums and songs, if you want to get to an album or song quickly
there is a new �search� feature. Just
type in the first few letters of a song, artist or albums name and it will pop up so that you can go to it instantly.

Another improvement worth mentioning in the �songs� search feature is the listing
of the artist underneath each song. There’s no more wondering who
sung a song that�s title is unfamiliar to you. After all, we don’t all memorize every song title from every album, and so for those lesser known songs it’s nice to quickly see who actually sang that tune.

The previous 2G nano was able to port pictures
to a TV via the headphone jack with a standard $8 A/V to mini jack
cable. Apple decided to strip this feature out. You
can still view pictures (and now video) on a TV, however you will need
a special $50 cable only available from Apple and it’s “Made for iPod”
partners. Just another cost to consider if you assumed this feature would be built-in.

Sound Quality

I’m not an audiophile by any means, but I do appreciate a good listening experience. I won’t put up with static and can really appreciate the benefits a more expensive pair of noise reduction headphones from Shure can provide. I’m not the type that endlessly tweaks their home audio system for pursuit of the ultimate sound experience though.

That out of the way, I tried to see if there were any noticeable
differences in the sound quality between the new 3G Nano and the previous 2G. To do this I made sure the volume limiter was off on then Nanos and then set each devices volume to mid-point. Next I selected the same
160kbps encoded MP3 on each player and hit Play. In test one I
switched headphones from one player to the next. In test two I took two
pair of low end Koss earbuds and put one bud from one player in the
left and a bud from the other player in the right. In both tests the
2G Nano appeared to be cleaner and brighter. I tested out
different types of music and the 2G came out the winner each time. I’m not saying the sound from the 3G Nano is bad, because it isn’t. It�s just to this set of ears the 2G Nano sounded better. I don’t have any scientific way of proving this without an expensive lab setup unfortunately. So just take this as a perceived step back for the 3G, and probably not one you’ll notice.

Conclusion

The 3G Apple Nano video is a neat little device,
and it’s great that it costs $50 less than the previous generation.
If you want to have an all around player and be up with the times then the 3G Nano is it. Watching video on a 2″ screen isn’t that great for more than 30 minutes, but the option is there and that’s a major value add. The screen is especially nice for showing photos to your friends and family.

However, if you’re looking for a really great music player you might actually find the 2G Nano is a better fit for you, and cheaper if you can find it at the Apple refurb store or on eBay.

If you don’t care about small size but would rather have a large screen for viewing video, the $299 8GB iPod Touch is worth a look at just $100 more than the 8GB Nano. The iPod Touch also offers built-in Wi-Fi for surfing the web.

Cheers

• Beautiful 2″ screen is great for viewing photos, and even a video
• The new user interface takes full advantage of the screen making the Nano easy to control
• The iPod Nano Video is beautifully small and light
• 4GB - 8GB of flash storage should be enough to store many of your favorite songs and even a couple of TV shows

Jeers

• The back of this iPod Nano is easily scratched, you’ll have to get a protective case
• The sound quality doesn’t seem quite as good on this 3G Nano as the 2G Nano provided
• The USB cable is the only charger provided, meaning you have to have your computer on to charge the Nano