Apple iPod nano 16 GB Silver 5th Generation
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iPod nano now has a built-in video camera that lets you spontaneously shoot video wherever you are And that’s just the beginning It has a dramatic polished anodized aluminum finish and a larger screen The new Genius Mixes feature acts as your personal DJ automatically searching your iTunes library then making mixes you’ll love Take iPod nano anywhere and the new Pedometer counts your steps Also making its debut a built-in FM radio with two amazing features–iTunes Tagging and Live Pause So the world’s most popular music player now has more to play with p table width cellpadding align left tr td align center img src http images amazon com images G electronics detail-page B L HDOC- -th jpg border p small b i The more info
Tagged with: Apple • Generation • iPod • MC060LL/A • Nano • Silver
It Seems They are Running Out…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Do not get my wrong. I have loved Apple iPods for many years now, and my iPhone is a great part of my life. However, I have started to wonder what else will be added to the traditional iPods, to keep them fresh. Have they reached the limit of necessary features?
Despite my reservations, watching the Apple keynote of this new product has led me to head down to the Apple store and pick up a 16 GB 5th Generation iPod Nano, to add to my “collection.”
First reactions? This Nano appears just as sleek and beautiful as the commendable 4th generation Nano. In fact, at first glance, you would not think must different about the newer version. I quickly tried out the recording of video. This was average. It is nice, if you carry your Nano everywhere, to have the ability to take video. Cool. When played back on the Nano, the video looks pretty good. It’s average, when played back on your computer. Again, far from bad, but in the age where digital cameras have some great movie modes, you have to simply call the iPod Nano video average, but most of all convenient. Fun too.
Personally, I have found myself most interested in the new Pedometer built into the Nano. It can keep track of your steps during the day, if you keep the device on you all day. I think this could push me to be more active. Again, is this feature really necessary in an iPod? I’m not sure, but keep in mind that this product is popular among fitness gurus for its portability, almost feather-like weight, and solid state memory.
Finally, in a pinch, to listen to a sporting event or particular talk radio show, the new nano includes a FM Turner. Blah you might say? Yes, that is not particularly exciting, BUT the Nano adds one cool feature to FM Radio. You can “pause,” the radio up to 15 minutes, such as you might do with the DVR connected to your television. It works flawlessly. Before one asks, no, you cannot schedule radio recordings. Still, the new nano will make FM radio a bit more modern, with this pause function.
Overall, it does seem as though Apple is not quite sure how to keep adding features that are truly remarkable to the iPod Nano. The Nano is the best selling MP3 player in the history of the planet, more sold than any other iPod to date. However, the Nano’s best features continue to be its size, ability to sync great content from your iTunes library, portability, and great user interface. The click wheel continues to make finding your music and videos relatively easy. Again, the Nano is superb, but the new features are probably a bit specific on if they will be useful to you or not.
The updated nano is that bit more advanced with a few new features, particularly for many the ability to record a quick video, easily, will be attractive. However, if you have the last generation Nano, I would not worry about upgrading too soon, unless having the absolute latest device and new “features,” are important to you. Fantastic device, but not much different than before.
Awesome!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Let’s face it…we are not all clones and look for different features when it comes to an MP3 player. I wanted a small, portable player for the gym. The FM Radio feature is what I have been hoping for for a very long time! I don’t need apps. I don’t need to surf the web. I need to play my tunes. Genius is a great way to create a mix for the gym. The fitness tracker is incredible. And finally I can tune in to the TVs in the gym. Love it! This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Perfect device for my needs.
Fun and light
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I should begin the review by stating that I’m far from an iPod expert or an especially tech-savvy person. All I was looking for in the new 8GB, 5th generation Nano was a good-looking screen and the ability to take good quality videos (as well as hold my music and movies). After spending the day playing around with the new Nano, I think I can say that if you’re a casual mp3-player owner like me, you’ll really enjoy this one. It’s easy to handle, use and navigate. This model’s star functions are the video camera (but not still camera) and a radio tuner, as well as nice extras (like a pedometer labeled under “Fitness”). And for the functions it offers, the price is great.
It’s thin as ever and the new aluminum surface is smooth and attractive. In terms of how to hold the iPod while taking videos, just hold the iPod sideways or upside down (the camera, which is located in the lower left corner, will realign the screen image right-way up). Taking video is intuitively easy (press the center of the wheel to start and stop) and I was pleased with the image quality– though it’d be a mistake to expect the Nano to match the quality of the higher-end video cameras. Then again, I doubt savvy buyers would make that mistake in the first place. I should also mention that the speaker quality isn’t stellar, and that to listen to the radio on the Nano, you have to have your earphones plugged in– the rest of the functions, like video, movies and music, are audible unplugged. Sound quality when the earphones ARE plugged in is obviously far better than not.
To sum up: it’s classic Apple in its simple, sleek, light-weight exterior. It has the fun new functions of taking video and having a built-in radio (which has a Live Pause option). If you’re a casual user and don’t think you’ll get hung up on image quality from the video camera, or speaker quality (though both are far from “bad”, anyway), I’d recommend the new Nano highly.
NO FM RADIO IF YOU ARE USING DOCKING STATION!!!
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Look people. it’s another cool looking apple device but BEWARE:
1) FM radio can only be enjoyed if you plug in headphones or 3.5mm stereo connector. NO, you can’t put your expensive NANO with FM radio on your expensive Bose (or any other) docking station to charge and listen FM radio at the same time. Instead, you have to charge it first and then disconnect it from your usual PIN connector, then plug in the 3.5mm stereo connector and then find plug in for 3.5 mm stereo connector on your favorite docking station.
THE 3.5MM HOLE IS RIGHT BY THE PIN SLOT SO YOU CAN’T CHARGE AND LISTEN TO IT EVEN IN THE CAR. HOW INCONVENIENT.
2) Video is a cool feature BUT you have to really struggle to comfortably take a video and actually see what you’re doing because your hand will be in the way of your eyesight, WOW SO MUCH FOR ERGONOMICS OF THE NEW NANO!!!
The Best Nano Yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I know alot of people will be upset with the title of my review but I personally think that the iPod Nano 5th Generation is the best yet. I just received mine yesterday directly from the Apple online store and have been enjoying the features. I notice that the audio playback has improved alot over the previous generations I could hear hissing in the third generation and didn’t really remember how if sounded on the fourth generation because I didn’t have it along time. I’ve owned all the iPod Nanos at one point and I can honestly say that I love the screen as it’s good for causal viewing of a movie or show. The voice and voice memos function work great so does the radio but the radio requires headphones to get a signal but other than that you can listen to your tunes without headphones. As for the video camera it’s a nice addition considering it’s an mp3 player first and foremost, I think people are going to go into this and think maybe I can replace my old video, NO. It just a solid low quality video camera some of the lighting or your fingers may get in the way of the actual recording but once you get use to it, it can become fun. Since I own an iPhone I wasn’t disappointed by the lack of a camera or other functions that maybe missing from the iPod Touch it would’ve been nice to see those functions on the Touch but again I’m not disappointed if you’re looking for a media player that has many functions including a build-in pedometer and the other funtions listed for a resonable price check into the iPod Nano, if you want the app store and multi-touch and internet access check into the touch but having owned a Touc the first gen and second I’d wait and purchase the 8GB or 16GB iPod Nano to tie me over until the next refresh I believe that the Touch is going the functions as the Nano very soon, remember Apple added a 32gb iPod Touch in January of last yr.
Best iPod Yet
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I really didn’t need a new iPod as I currently own an iPhone 3G(S), two older Nanos, an older 1 GB Shuffle and two iPod Classics in 15 GB and 30 GB configurations that I recently installed new batteries in. But I HAD to have the new one and justified it to myself by Apple’s seductive inclusion of an FM radio in this 5th generation edition.
Having said all of that, I am really impressed with this new 5th generation iPod Nano. I find that the FM radio has great reception and is easy to use, unlike the Apple dongle radio attachment I use on my previous generation Nano. The radio software integration is nicely done and very simple to use, set favorite stations and pause as necessary to talk on the phone and then quickly resume where the music or talk show left off for up to 15 minutes.
The playback of pre-recorded movie video is clear and the sound is very good as with earlier iPods. The video recording is point and shoot simple to use but not of very high quality – about what you would expect from a cell phone- but I really don’t plan on using this as a video camera. Would have been nice if Apple had included a still camera as well but I suspect the quality would not be acceptable without adding more componentry requiring more space and cost. I did note that this iPod has a speaker built in (which I assume is the microphone as well) but its sound quality is not good.
The pedometer function (Fitness) is interesting and can be used without any external attachments. It only counts steps and not distance so I assume that I will need to multiply the counted steps by stride length to come up with distance walked. Ironically, it does have you put in your weight but I’m not certain how this is used.
The build quality is superb, the unit is very compact and light weight with Apple’s customary intuitive user interfaces that make it easy to use right out of the box without reading the instructions (which I dread resorting to anyway). In summary, I am very pleased with my new iPod and am rapidly working on irrefutable justifications for its purchase before the credit card statement arrives and my wife asks, “Did you buy ANOTHER iPod?”.
Huh, even less battery life . . .
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
This generation of the ipod has even less battery life than the 4th generation. I was listening to it for an hour and a half on the lowest brightness setting, the 2 second backlight (because you can’t see what your doing without the backlight), and the battery was indicating that I had 4/5ths of the power left. That means I could listen to music for about 6-7 hours.
My 2nd Generation ipod last 24 hours with full brightness and a 10 second backlight! I’ve had it for almost 4 years, too!
The “aluminum” casing looks like cheap plastic, and feels like it too. When I got the 4th gen ipod in purple, it was beautiful. This one was so ugly and flat colored and textureless that I couldn’t even buy the blue or purple, I had to go with pink. The pink, red, green, and “gold” (more yellow) ones are the only decent looking ones. The other ones look very cheap.
But, the radio feature, while not having the best sound, is GREAT! The tagging of your favorite songs is even better.
In the end, I had to return it (just like the 4th gen). I listen to my ipod too much in a day to have it drain in a few hours. And what is the point of a beautiful display if you can’t see it because the backlight is off and the brightness is so low?
It might have visual appeal, but it’s not worth it if you have an original or 2nd gen or even a 3rd or 4th gen, because they all look and perform better.
I, unfortunately, will never be buying an Apple ipod again =(
Very cool, handy and sleek new toy — but don’t throw away your Flip yet!!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3GCL7CCLCHZCY When Steve Jobs announced the newest generation iPod nano, he suggested that with its new video capability the nano would easily compete with the Flip Video camcorder. While someday down the line this may be a serious contender in the pocket video camera market, it’s not there yet. I took some comparison footage with the iPod nano and the standard definition Flip Mino to show why. My point in all this is not to suggest that you go buy a Flip instead of an iPod nano, but that you ask yourself what it is you really want. If you want to make videos you can upload to Youtube and you want them to look pretty decent, and you don’t care much about music or you already have an mp3 player, I wouldn’t buy this iPod just because now it has video. On the other hand, having some video capability might be enough to give this the edge over most other music players; if games are more important to you than video, though, you’d be better off with an iPod touch.
One thing you’ll notice in the footage, where I shot the same things back to back with both camcorders, is that where the Flip really shines is in low light. I shot the hamster moments at night, in a room illuminated only by a lamp. Not only did the iPod nano take grainy video, it also didn’t do any kind of white balancing and the indoor lightbulb added an orange tint to the clip; I’m not sure exactly how the Flip is designed to address this (whether it automatically adjusts white balance or just has a better average setting), but the footage shows that it captured light correctly both outdoors and indoors. If you compare the hamster shots with the Flip and with the nano, I think it’s clear that for indoor and lowlight there’s no comparison and the Flip has the nano beat hands down. The outdoor images are closer, but I think even this small video shows greater detail in the Flip video. When you blow the images up bigger there’s no comparison — the Flip looks decent even on a big screen TV, the iPod nano footage looks like it was shot with, well, a toy camera. In all fairness, that’s all it is at this point. (Note, by the way, that, like the Flip, the nano will only take video and doesn’t take photos. You can manually add photos to the nano from your computer, but you can’t use the onboard camera to capture stills.)
Another thing that bugs me a bit about the new iPod nano is the bizarre placement of the camera lens. It’s nestled down in the corner of the backside below the screen — exactly where it is most natural to hold this thing if you are shooting with it. Even if you just grasp the thing at the corners, there’s a tendency for some part of a finger to accidentally edge into the camera frame. In fact, I found that even after I was aware of this fact I kept doing it anyways — the way this thing fits in my hands just makes it likely I’ll catch an edge of a finger in my shots unless I’m conscientious about avoiding it, and that detracts from the spontaneity this is designed to take advantage of. (I even noticed I’d done it on most of the iPod nano footage for this video comparison — and I thought about doing it over, but then decided to leave it in just to show how easily it can happen.)
So, to sum up: what you really get with the iPod nano is a toy camera, fun to have in the pocket and very cool to have just in case there’s something you want to shoot, but not quite the quality we’ve come to expect from the handy pocket camcorders like the Flip Mino and the Creative Vado and the Kodak Zi8, that keep getting better and better. Video is a nice new feature on the Nano, but not really a radical innovation and not a game changer.
What makes the iPod Nano worth it is that in addition to video on the fly, you get to listen to music, you get an FM radio that works quite well and even tells you what song you are listening to, you get a voice recorder (a VERY nice feature, excellent for students who can listen to music on their way to class and then record a lecture), a decent quality mini speaker, a somewhat useful pedometer, decent game options for killing time. You don’t get any of that with the Flip! Sure, the new iPod nano is a toy … but it’s a very cool toy.