Apple iPod nano 4GB (2nd Generation)

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Anthony Fiti
Kurtis
N/A
Sep. 19, 2006

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Taking a Closer Look

The iPod nano is surprisingly light. In comparison to my first generation iPod 10GB, the nano is as light as a feather. It's about the same size and weight as the first generation iPod nano, just slightly thinner and a hair longer. The click wheel and the LCD are the same size on both the first and second generation nano. The placement of the hold switch, 30-pin connector and headphone jack have not changed between the first and second generation iPod nano.

The LCD is a 1.5" screen with an LED backlight. When the backlight is on, the display can light up a dark room. Compared to the first generation nano, the LCD is noticeably brighter, as promised by Apple.

Once I plugged the nano into my computer and registered it (I already had iTunes 7 installed), it prompted me to upgrade the firmware to 1.0.1. One of the nice things about iTunes 7 is the revamped iPod management interface. Starting with the picture of the iPod at the top of the summary window, you get the vital information about the unit, and tools to manage songs, podcasts, pictures, etc. I was surprised, though, to find that my 4GB nano only had 3.68GB of usable space to put music, pictures and contacts (that is 92% for the math impaired). If you expand 3.68GB to bytes, its 3.95 billion bytes (using 3.68 * 230, not 3.68 * 109), so they're rounding the number a bit to hit 4GB. This reminds me of my MacBook experience, but I digress.

The earbuds for the iPod nano 2nd Generation have also been revamped since the 1st Gen nano. During the Keynote, Steve talked about the 18 months of research they have been putting into these new ear buds, and looking at over 1,000 ears to figure out the right size and shape. I didn't notice that much of a difference between the old and the new ear buds, personally. The only difference I could tell was that the new ear buds don't seem like they're going to fall out of my ears quite as easily. This is due to the shape of the neck of the ear bud. (Ed - Above you can see a comparison of the old and new earbuds. The new ones have a little longer of a neck and the gray end is coated with rubber where as the old earbuds are just plastic. The slightly different shape coupled with the rubberized neck help them stay in place.)

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Impressions
Page 3: Taking a Closer Look
Page 4: Testing
Page 5: Conclusion

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16 User Comments

1 - Posted by tony3010 on September 19, 2006 - 11:56 pm

Very informative article. Thanks for all the pictures (especially the ones showing the new and old earphones side by side... I was wondering what they looked like!).

2 - Posted by Nathan on September 20, 2006 - 7:25 am

"The placement of the hold switch, 30-pin connector and headphone jack have not changed between the first and second generation iPod nano."

Sort of incorrect, depending how you read the above. The 30-pin connector HAS CHANGED in location (placement). It has been moved to the outside of the unit ... making some accessories for the 1st gen not usable for the 2nd gen. And the placement of the headphone jack has also changed.

Just look at this picture to see the difference:

http://images.appleinsider.com/ipod-second-gen-sho...

3 - Posted by Nathan on September 20, 2006 - 7:36 am

Another comment (my last, I promise).

I see another improvement. The earbuds are improved in the area of sound quality. Personally, they sound A LOT better than the earbuds that came with the first gen nano.

Some further reading in this area:

http://www.maccast.com/2006/09/19/sleek-yet-still-...

4 - Posted by handrail on September 20, 2006 - 8:03 am

yep, great review anthony. i was sad to see that you didn't have any pictures of yourself dancing in the dark with the nano though.

5 - Posted by edoug on September 20, 2006 - 9:23 am

Another key improvment in my opinion is the button in the center of the scroll wheel. It is not convex to the touch and provides a much clearer press and keeps you better aligned on the wheel when you're not working than the old, basically flat, button did.

6 - Posted by edoug on September 20, 2006 - 9:25 am

excuse me...i meant NOW as opposed to NOT:
Another key improvment in my opinion is the button in the center of the scroll wheel. It is NOW convex to the touch and provides a much clearer press and keeps you better aligned on the wheel when you're not working than the old, basically flat, button did.

7 - Posted by Nick on September 20, 2006 - 11:48 am

Please brad, dont encourage the ipod dancing thing. It doesn't really apply to the nano being flash, but imagine the marketing stupidity behind those commercials showing people swinging their HARD DRIVE based ipods around. Anyone who finds themselves with a dead drive should call in and say, i was just dancing with it like in the commercials!!!

8 - Posted by handrail on September 22, 2006 - 1:39 pm

maybe i want all the iPod drives to crash....you ever think of that, nick? evil pods.

look how they've invaded TTL! three articles in a row of iPod related reviews...

they all say i'm crazy...you'll all see! wait for the sign. then all prisoners will be released. you will perish in flame!!!

9 - Posted by Kurtis on September 22, 2006 - 1:44 pm

don't anger them brad. they may see it fit to silence you.

10 - Posted by handrail on September 22, 2006 - 2:01 pm

they've gotten to you too, kurtis!!!

11 - Posted by BCSchnei on September 22, 2006 - 3:26 pm

The review mentions that the new Nano is a slightly different size. Has anyone tried to put it in an aftermarket protective case?

-- Ben

12 - Posted by Kurtis on September 22, 2006 - 3:34 pm

it's almost exactly the same size. just a hair difference. shouldn't be a problem but i didn't have any cases to verify.

13 - Posted by blackjet on September 26, 2006 - 9:12 am

they look pretty sweet, good article!

Will they ever put a radio in the dam thing? That is one reason y I still haven’t bought an i pod, that and I’m broke.....

14 - Posted by Michelle10607 on December 26, 2006 - 7:16 pm

The new one does fit into the case that I had. It was a little snug but it was ok. It does not however fit into the speaker & charger thing that I had for my old one because of the headphone jack movement. That made me a little angry.

15 - Posted by herbus on August 1, 2007 - 5:50 pm

should i buy and ipod nano now... or will they just get updated???

16 - Posted by Kurtis on August 2, 2007 - 12:49 am

There should be a new iPod or iPhone coming out this fall. I'm guessing it will be a slimmed down version of the iPhone with just iPod capabilities, maybe some OS X stuff too. But it could just be another, cheaper, iPhone.

If you'll be severely disappointed if there is a new model released in a few months, I'd wait just to be safe, otherwise I'm sure you'll be happy with the iPod nano current version, it's a great little player.

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