iPod Nano 4G

As you know, I originally voiced my concern over the rumored new Nano design, saying that it was hidious and against Apple’s design legacy. Well I’m retracting all of that to now say that the Nano makes perfect sense when you’re holding it in your hand.

Today I went to my local Apple store to check out the new Nanos and the new iPod touch. The Nanos look amazing, all 9 colors seeming to explode out of their display stands. Picking one up I instantly new it was a lot thinner than any other iPod (although the curved design probably help making it appear thinner). I also discovered that the new curved look made perfect sense. It’s more comfortable to hold and use, and doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall out of your hand when you use it.

The screen, although the same and the 3G Nano, looks amazing. Colors burst off the screen, everything is crisp and sharp. Browsing through music lists is much easier as you can see more of it now that the screen is in portrait. The album art looks great when a song is playing, Cover Flow is smoother, menu transitions are smoother, the accelerometer is fast and responsive, everything is fantastic! I seriously have no quams with this iPod.

Unfortunatly, you can’t please everyone, as I found out from commenter Sam:

“I would like to comment on the new iPod nano which I have recently seen. I can safely say that the price cut of the nano has clearly affected the design budget. Whilst it is all we have come to expect from Steve, it has none of the swank sexiness that makes us buy Apple products. Somewhere it just falls short. Also there have been no new feature updates apart from the accelerometer, which is really little more than a gimmic and has no real application in the nano.

The new nano falls far short of the stardnard standard (ahem, spelling Sam!) for Apple.”

Well I’m sorry to hear that Sam. I hope that you’re able to come to love the Nano over time like I have =)

I’m so glad that the Nano has returned to it’s original tall and thin design. It just makes more sense. If I didn’t already have an iPhone, and iPod touch and a 2G iPod nano, I would rush out and buy one of these babies right now!

3 Days to Go

Three days out from the now announced Apple iPod Event the rumors are starting to become settled and more concrete. Here is a round up of the new products you can expect from Apple on September 9th (if the rumors turn out the be true, which they will):

New iPod Touches and Nanos (New iPod Classic?):

This rumors is a given considering the FCC released their dimensions earlier this week.

The iPod Touchshould be getting a face lift to be more in line with the new iPhone 3g and the iPod Nano will receive the curved treatment (luckily the screen won’t be curved judging from the images.) Details here and here.

iTunes 8:

Being a completely new update there are going to be quite a few new features. Here is a list from Kevin Rose’s blog post:

iTunes 8 includes Genius, which makes playlists from songs in your library that go great together. Genius also includes Genius sidebar, which recommends music from the iTunes Store that you don’t already have.

With iTunes 8, browse your artists and albums visually with the new Grid view; download your favorite TV shows in HD quality from the iTunes Store; sync your media with iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (2nd generation), and iPod touch (2nd generation); and enjoy a stunning new music visualizer.

There is the mention of the 2^nd generation iPod Classic! But it’s probably just a face lift.

What isn’t mentioned in Kevin Rose’s post is the rumored inclusion of a new visualizer from Robert Hodgin. The visualizer is called Magnetosphere and looks awesome! This rumor came up after Hodgin removed the free download from his website saying that he had sold the rights to Magnetosphere to a 3rd party. Later on, Kevin Rose confirmed that Magnetosphere was the visualizer he saw in a build of iTunes 8. More info here.

It all seems to be coming together in the land of Apple. Watch out for all this stuff on September 9th!

The Day Draws Closer

 

As the time period Kevin Rose described as the release date of the new iPod line there is even more to back up the rumors that the iPod Nano will get a new, uglier look. Its becoming more likely that Apple will in fact release the 4G, slim and tall Nano in the next few weeks judging from this case available at Alibaba.com

On a side note, this mock up (by a MacRumors Forum poster) of a new MacBook Pro looks reallllly purty (pretty)! Note that this is not an actual leak. If Apple does refresh the line, I hope it looks like this. I dunno about the September date though. It seams a bit to early for Apple to do this. I would think they would want to wait until the new Intel Nehalem quad-core processor was released next year.

Still no word from Apple as to a release event date yet.