Apple iPod Nano 5th gen :Review

Apple has done it yet again. They are now out with the latest iPod Ranges which they call the fifth generation ones. While the basic structure of the interface remains the same with same functions located at same place in same font, same music, video, photo, sound quality, but there seems to be some changes in the hardware side. Most interesting of them all is that the iPod Nano gets a camera that can shoot videos. There are also minor tweaks to make it a more perfect device to enhance your entertainment experience. Let’s take a look at our quick review to find out more.

Design

The shape and dimensions are nothing changes from the past years model and looks exactly the same. Perhaps the aluminum is more glossy and the screen is now stretched from 2 inches to 2.2 inches. Same color themes are retained.

Camera

This is the most important inclusion of all, so we discuss it at first. The camera can shoot videos at VGA Resolutions of 640 X 480. The resolution is good enough for viewing in its screen but certainly not good enough to view in your HDTV. Then again, you should remember that the iPod is meant for capturing and sharing your experience not to make an movie anyway. The recorded video format is iTunes friendly .MP4 format with H.264 video and AAC Audio. The quality of the video looks good but nothing better than that to win the title of the best video shooter. Another point of regret is that the device can’t shoot images. To get a still picture you have to take a video, upload it to iMovie and the grab still photos - sounds so weird that I won’t try it for the moment.Apple said that they could not provide a still camera as it would make the device much more thicker which could lead to lose of its design essence.
We also didn’t like the placing of the camera lens. The position of just behind the clickwheel suggests you would always get your hands on the lens to coat it with fingerprints and make it blurrier.

FM Radio

The Nano gets an FM Radio. But don’t underestimate this. The Radio is fairly spectacular capable of displaying RDS info, tagging songs, and an even more interesting feature of pausing and rewinding songs. The system is capable to pause and record 15 minutes of radio music and store that in its internal cache. You can listen to that when you want giving you the feeling of pausing and rewinding a song. The RDS facility is a good feature to have but it does not work most times to get the data of the song playing in a particular Radio Station. If it works you can tag that song and find it in the iTunes store.

Pedometer

There is also a new pedometer feature which comes under a fitness submenu in the extra directory. If you have any confusion, I will only say that it works!

Internal Speakers

The 5th gen iPod Nano gets intenal speakers. The less said about the quality of the speakers, the better it will be. But at least you get the option of listening to a track and sharing it with your friend without giving your earbud. However, to listen to FM Radio you need to plug in the earbud.

Memory Capacities and Prices

Two models are available as usual, with capacities of 8GB and 16GB. They are priced at $149 and $179 respectively, just what you would from an Apple product.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the latest iPod nano is more about making the device to stay at par in competition with the introduction of features such as FM Radio, Camera, in-built speakers which the other PMPs already have. There is nothing revolutionary about it and it is just a device with superior music quality and also packing in the essential features.