Apple iPod Nano 16GB Review
APPLE iPOD NANO 16GB - FOURTH GENERATION
PRODUCT OVERLOOK
Apple has once again come down with its own style and bash through its iPod Nano with 16GB capacity Fourth Generation music and games device. The iPod Nano 4G comes in an array of 9 dazzling and attractive colours. It had altered its design resembling to its original models when compared to the square and broad 3G model and appears to be sleek and stylish.
This new iPod Nano 4G sports a new tool for creating the Genius playlist with a tilting sensor and the font size of the menu has been improvised for the visually-impaired person. On the other hand, it is most needed to upgrade your device to the company’s iTunes 8.0 version software. It could be undoubtedly said that this iPod Nano is extremely good in its user-interface and software features and the pricing is also reasonable.
PRODUCT MAKE AND APPEARANCE
Apple iPod Nano 4th Generation with its hi-tech appearance is unbelievably light-weighted and extremely slender in design. It is built-in a seamless metal finish with a curved edge to its design. The entire device in its finished quality is very comfortable with its long and tapering body to hold in the palm. The curving of the glass screen has got more resilience and fights back to keep from scratches. The viewing features of the iPod has not deterred with the glossiness or the reflective nature of the lush glass screen.
As far as the external buttons and controls go, there is a hold switch and a click wheel for easy manipulation.
Inspite of alterations in its design, the dimensions of the 4G iPod Nano MP3/MP4 Player has not changed and so the viewing quality remains the same. It is one of the largest small screens and thinnest iPod. It measures about 3.5 inches in height and 1.6 inches in width with a 0.25 inch thickness. It has a display of 2″ LCD screen, sized diagonally with a blue and white LED backlight and a one-inch scrolling wheel control option. The dock and headphones can be connected from the bottom of the device and the sliding-hold switch is once again located on the top of the 4G Nano.
For the comfort of the visually impaired the Apple has increased the font of the text in the menu to a certain level and has made a setting in its fonts. This appears good and legible even for the others with a 20/20 vision. The user interface had undergone a major change compared to its older versions
The album art of the music playback is now full screen by default settings with a more fancy view of the Cover Flow. Now you can view it in an alphabetical for easy selection when you flip through your choices.
PRODUCT FEATURES
The most important and highlighted special features of the iPod Nano 4G Video Player is the creation of a new Genius playlist, the tilt sensor for shuffling you music choice, the application for voice recording and the synthesized voice option for the visually impaired to read their text. Let’s see in detail about these features.
Although the iPod Nano 16gb has retained almost all the major features from its earlier model like music, podcast playback, video options and photos, calendar, alarms contacts, the gaming features, note-making or the clock facility; it also has evolved with some of its unique qualities of its own (check the features, reviews about Apple iPod Nano 8gb). These features make the Nano 4G compulsive on the buying range to the consumers and poses good threat to its competitors.
First of its specialities, is the instant Genius playlist which allows you to make your own 25 songs included in it. It’s usage is very easy. All it takes is select one of your favourite song and press hard on the “Start Genius button” in the menu and hold it until it enables. Then the result is all fun. This play list collection could be transferred to the PC and heard if the iTunes’ Genius feature has been enabled. Sometimes one may find it disturbing of privacy because the Apple may be reported with your choice of musical habits.
The LCD screen with a high resolution is contrast adjustable and has backlight options which make reading in soft lightings much easier.
Second is the interesting “tilt-sensor” of the Apple’s iPod Nano. This 4G iPod has a good trick up its sleeves. When tilted and given a hard shake the music player shifts itself to the shuffle mode and plays a random selection of songs from the available playlist. If needed to be deactivated it could be just done by holding the switch for shake to shuffle from the setting menu of the iPod.
This tilt-sensor also activates the Cover Flow music of the Nano 4G when the device is turned to its sides. The playback of the video can also be changed to the direction you turn the screen.
Thirdly, Apple had made voice recordings pretty easy on the Nano 4G. It has made allowance for a headphone jack with a microphone input. Only reservation is that headsets compatible to the Apple only has to be used. The earphones that come with the device remain unchanged and do not have a built-in microphone to it.
The last but not the least is the speciality of the iPod’s capacity in incorporating a new feature for the visually impaired. With the help of the synthesized voice found in the device and by enabling it, these users can hear the entire menu, the necessary selections and other playback information read by the synthesized voice feature. This could be done with the help of the iTunes. A large font sized menu settings makes a good alternative for easy reading.
AUDIO FEATURES
The audio of the Nano 16gb 4G is pretty much the same as its predecessors. There is nothing beyond the original or traditional settings. Apple does nothing to complicate the sound quality or does not enhance the sound settings. Even if there is no richness in the audio there is always a balance in the treble and bass. It certainly sounds good to the ears.
The supported audio formats of this fourth generation iPod are the MP3, WAV files, AIFF, Audible files, AAC which include protected files and Apple Lossless files. Even if the device does not favour WMA music, it could easily be converted to MP3 with the help of the software from iTunes.
With the 16GB flash drive, this fourth generation iPod Nano is able to store about 4000 songs and a maximum of 14,000 images which are iPod viewable.
VIDEO FEATURES
The fourth generation iPod Nano 16gb with its multi-coloured selection has a good 2-inch LCD screen. It provides both the portrait and landscape mode of viewing. It has a maximum resolution to its screen with a 320 x 240 pixels with featured 204 pixels per inch. The almost curved or rounded glass screen of the iPod gives a bit of glaring but still the picture quality is extremely good in brightness and clarity. Like all the other portable video playbacks, this also require specific file format. The compatible video formats are the H264, the MPEG4 video format in the MP4 or MOV or M4 file format with a picture resolution of 640×480. When videos are played, there is a caption which is displayed in a clear and legible, white and black contrast font.
This keeps in its hold about 16 hours of video and stores all of its data through a USB flash drive.
LANGUAGE FEATURES
The device is multi-lingual and supports a variety of languages at its user interface. The most important languages are the English, the Russian, the Czech, the Danish, the Dutch, the Finnish, the French, the German, the Greek, the Hungarian, the Italian, the Japanese, the Korean, the Norwegian, the Polish, the Portuguese, the Simplified Chinese, the Spanish, the Swedish, the Traditional Chinese, and the Turkish.
Others which give additional support for the display of songs, the albums and also about the artist info are the Bulgarian, the Romanian, the Serbian, the Slovak, the Slovenian, the Ukrainian, the Thai and the Vietnamese languages.
PACKAGE DETAILS
The Packed Box of the Apple iPod Nano 4G comes with the device, a pair of earphones, a USB cable of 2.0 version, one Dock adapter and a guide for Quick Start.
There is a dock connector and a 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack as an input and output accessory.
POWER AND BATTERY FEATURES
The battery which is used for this iPod Nano 4G device is a rechargeable one of lithium ion and is a built-in one. It holds a music playback time of about 24 hours and a video playback of 4 hours. This iPod can be easily charged through the USB connected to the computer or via a power adapter which could be purchased separately. It takes about 1 ½ hours to charge to 80% of the battery as fast charging and about 3 hours for a complete charging of the battery.
OPTIMAL TEMPERATURES FOR USE
This 4G iPod is best operated under a temperature variation between a 32° to 95° F or 0° to 35° C. There is also a non operating temperature instruction for this and the variation is between -4° to 113° F or -20° to 45° C.
The relative humidity under which this device could be used is a noncondensing 5% to 95% and the operating altitude is to a maximum of 3000 m or 10,000 feet.
Apple iPod Nano 16GB 4th Generation - Technical Specification Table
| Manufacturer | Apple |
| Model Name | iPOD 16GB Fourth Generation |
| Product Type | Digital Player |
| Colours | Red, silver, orange, black, green, pink, purple, blue and yellow |
| Dimensions W x D x H | 1.5 in x 0.2 in x 3.6 in |
| Weight | 1.3 ounce |
| Body housing material | Aluminium |
| Memory | Integrated 16GB |
| System Requirements | The Microsoft Windows Vista with Apple MacOS X 10.4.11 or later version, or, Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP3 are the preferred requirements. |
| Supported audio CD formats | The AAC, an MP3, an MP3 VBR, an Audible 2, 3, and 4 an Apple Lossless or AIFF or a WAV format. |
| Video formats | H.264 , MPEG-4 with a digital graphic equalizer. |
| Softwares | iTunes version 8.0 or later with an iTunes stores account and Drivers and Utilities |
| Digital features | An MPEG-4 playback with JPEG photo playback and it is also Variable bit-rate compatible. |
| Additional features | A Motion Sensor, a calendar with Cover Flow, a volume limiter, Genius technology and built in games, Nike with iPod support, a USB 2.0 version compatibility, and a battery level indicator. It also has a built-in digital clock with alarm and stopwatch. |
| User interface | USB port with 2.0 compatibility |
| Input and output | 1 external USB cable, one docking station, and one 3.5 mm miniphone stereo binaural headphone set. |
| Battery | Rechargeable lithium ion battery |
| Power | 3 hours of recharge time |
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