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The Player
Let’s
now see what the player is really like ... Firstly,
you will notice that the Nano has the famous iPod
click wheel, just like its older brothers. The wheel
has been sized down a bit for the Nano but it’s
still very usable and I’ve never had any problems
with it, even with my large hands. Sensitivity is
a bit high and it takes some getting used to, but
you will find yourself using it proficiently in
no time.
Apart from
that, there is barely anything else on the iPod
except a hold button on the top of the player. The
Nano is very well designed and Apple really kept
everything simplistic and minimalistic (which is
not a bad thing). The amount of connectors on the
iPod is also quite minimal as you just have the
headphone plug (universal) and a proprietary Apple
connector. Again, some of you might not like this
but I really did since it kept the iPod clean and
clutter-free.
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Very easy to use
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The more I explores the Nano’s
capabilities, the more satisfied I was with it.
First of all, the iPod’s menu is very customizable,
so everyone can tailor the iPod to their own needs
and wants. If you’ve never used an iPod before,
well, the only thing I can say is that you are missing
out on an excellent user interface. Playing your
songs is very easy and you can be very quick since
the iPod sets up your songs by different criteria
(Artist, Album, Genre, etc.). Same with the Photos
you can view on the Nano (more on that later) and
everything else you can do with this little device!
It’s simply got
a topnotch interface.
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The Nano
does have a few extra things to offer apart from
playing music. First of all, as I mentioned in the
paragraph above, this new iPod has photo viewing
capabilities.
The screen,
though small, is actually extremely sharp and clear.
But to be honest, who is going to use the Nano to
view pictures? I feel that Apple added this feature
just because they could and it was most
probably an afterthought. But it’s nice to
know it exists (even though you’ll most probably
never use it). Apart from the photos, there are
also a few games available and a few strange but
useful things like a stopwatch, a screen lock and
world clocks. Again, you will most probably never
use any of these (like me) but it’s nice to
know that they exist.
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Sounds good and looks good! Just class!
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One of the
most important things about the iPod is obviously
the sound quality; and Apple’s player does not
disappoint. The audio quality is crisp and higher
volume doesn’t distort the sound in the slightest.
Also, the amount of equalizer options available (over
25) means that everyone will find the perfect setting
for their songs. All of that with a catch though –
you need to have proper
headphones. Unfortunately the quality of the famous
iPod headphones is quite poor and I advise you to
exchange them immediately. The bass is good but the
rest is subpar and will really make you wince in pain
the first time you listen to a song. The midtones
and upper range are far from well seperated and I
found it hard to focus on individual instruments or
multi layered vocals. It really hurts the impressions
one has about the player and I personally was really
disappointed with their build quality too. After only
three weeks of use, my right earpiece died, meaning
I had to go buy some other headphones.
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You like high quality sound? then trash
these...
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The last thing
I’ll quickly talk about is the connection between
your PC and the Nano. First of all, the iPod Nano
can also be used as a portable hard drive! It’s
quite handy and since its USB 2.0, it’s not
slow either. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for some)
is that you have to use iTunes for the music transfers
(like all the other iPods). While the program is quite
clean and easy to use, it felt slightly cumbersome
and clunky. However, transferring music back and forth
isn’t difficult and within moments, I had all
my songs onto my iPod Nano.
Conclusion
So in the
end, is the Nano worth buying? That is the real
question and well, it’s not a very easy one
to answer. From a technical point of view, it isn’t
worth your hard earned money for quite a couple of
simple reasons. Firstly, the price is way too high
for the amount of space you receive. For the same
amount of money, you can buy bigger and better music
players, making the Nano look almost obsolete. Another
important thing to remember is that the sound quality,
though very good, isn’t the best out there and
again, it means that the small iPod isn’t the
best bang for the buck. It also doesn't help that
the headphones are poor and will need replaced if
you are serious about your music.
However, there
are many good reasons to buy one too. First of all,
it’s the current fashion must have and for many,
that’s motive enough to go out in town and quickly
buy one. The Nano is also very stylish and no other
player in store comes close to it in terms of aesthetic
beauty. I guess It all depends on what you are looking
for in a player. For me, memory size wasn’t
really an issue and the sound quality was great with
good headphones. The thing is that I just wanted something
that would stand out from the pack (at least where
I live) and the Nano helped me do that with flying
colors. All in all, even though I’ll admit that
sometimes I use it merely to show off, it is still
a great music player and I feel that it was worth
buying – the elegance and beauty alone makes
you somewhat forget the high price you pay for it.
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A match made in heaven
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Contacts:
Reviewer: Arush
"Sandok" Kochlar
Editor:
Panagiotis
"Kombatant" Vagiakos
Designer:
Allan "Zardon" Campbell
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