Once again, Apple has released a new generation of iPods, also introducing a newcomer, the iPod Touch. UrbanWire lays their hands on the 3rd generation iPod Nano, which is now slimmer and wider.

The First Look

At 1st glance, one can easily notice the difference between the new iPod Nano and the previous one. Noticeably wider, the 3rd gen Nano boasts a beautiful 2-inch screen, which is 1/2 an inch wider than the first 2 iPod Nanos. Available in 2 capacities, 4GB and 8GB, the former comes only in one colour, silver, while the latter is available in silver, blue, green, black and (PRODUCT) RED.

The player comes neatly packed in a small clear, plastic box with the ubiquitous white earphones and iPod-to-USB cable.

The beauty of the latest Nano has to be appreciated by touch. Its slim chassis will amaze you at an astounding thickness of 6.5mm and a wider dimension of 69.8mm by 52.3mm. It feels good in your hand, fitting comfortably into your palm. You can scroll the clickwheel with no awkward adjustments to make. With an ergonomic design, it feels like second nature when you’re holding the 3rd gen Nano.

For convenience’s sake, this Nano fits seamlessly into your pocket and will not jut out of it when you’re sitting.

The Screen

Not only has the 3rd gen Nano upgraded to a 2 inch LCD display, it is now 50% brighter. The screen displays videos and movies with absolute clarity and sharpness. It is however, a tad small. Your eyes might tire after watching videos for an hour. Not something that they should be blamed them for, as the 3rd gen Nano is really tiny and it’s a mechanical feat to have such a high resolution screen on this tiny gadget.

However, UrbanWire wouldn’t recommend anyone to try watching a 16:9 movie, as the screen is small enough and by watching a 16:9 movie, you’d be fitting your show into only 1/2 of the screen.

Battery Life

A major gripe among many iPod users is always the non-existent battery life. However, Apple seems to have gotten it right finally. The 3rd gen Nano is able to play songs non-stop for 23 hours and 23 minutes, just slightly below Apple’s claim of 24 hours. With up to 4 hours of video playback, the battery life is only 1 hour shy of the battery life stated by Apple.

The Interface

With the introduction of a split screen, the album art will hover and float around on the right when you’re scrolling through your music listings on the left. This does look pretty cool even if there’s no important function for it. The same happens for any other tab you’re scrolling in; for example, in videos you’d be able to see clips of the show.

Also, Cover flow is now available on the iPod Nano. Users and reviewers in America are comparing it to the iPhone, which seems to tap on the cover flow function more intuitively as it’s a touch screen. While it might difficult to make a comparison as the iPhone has yet to arrive in Singapore, the Cover flow feature does bring a nice aesthetic touch. One thing good was that there is no lag time while scrolling through the albums, something you need not worry about if you’re an impatient person.

Pricing

The 4GB and 8GB Nanos are in the market for a much more affordable price of S$248 and S$348 respectively, a rather competitive price for MP3 players in this range. For example, Creative’s Zen is priced at SGD$249 and SGD$349 for 4GB and 8GB respectively.

Gripes

While there are many presets to select from, music junkies would pretty much want to have customisable equalisation. However, that said, Apple is still not giving in to other common features in other MP3 players such as built-in FM tuner and expandable memory, just to name a few.

The hold button is shifted to the bottom of the player to be with the stereo jack and iPod dock, and it is way too small. You have to use both hands to operate the hold button, and this isn’t just the case for petite female hands. This is also tested and proven by a male, who also found it difficult to use the hold button with just one hand. It’s a real pity as the Nano could have been easily maneuvered around with one hand if not for the hold button.

Another pain in neck is also the laborious task of uploading album artwork manually.

Bottom Line

The iPod Nano 3G is nice to have and hold, plus, the price is certainly justified. It is a nice player to consider if you haven’t already got one. Or you can just get it anyway because it looks good and it’s better than ever.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars