“Apple’s fourth generation (4G) iPod nano melds the best of nanos old and new: specifically the older, more popular tall-and-slim design with the newer, larger screen from the third-generation player. At $149 for 8GB, and $199 for 16GB, the nano is impressively priced given its additions, including a built-in accelerometer (a la iPod touch) which flips the screen orientation, on-the-go Genius playlists, and the gimmicky-but-fun “shake to shuffle” feature. It’s one of the best looking and most successfully executed flash players ever created, and like any good gadget, it’s fun to use, despite its sophisticated user interface,” Tim Gideon reports for PC Magazine.
“Although I really liked last year’s third-generation fat nano, the iPod nano 4G represents a clear improvement in both form and function. The scroll wheel and subtly tweaked user interface work as quickly and as intuitively as ever. The accelerometer’s greatest feat is not the shake trick, but the screen shifting option that allows for a better photo and video viewing experience on what, ultimately, is still a very small player. The added Genius and shake-to-shuffle features aren’t exactly groundbreaking, but they do show that the king of digital audio devices isn’t asleep at the wheel. It’s continual minor tweaks like these to the venerable iPod line that keeps Apple’s stronghold on portable media player market intact. Once again, with the nano 4G, Apple has produced the coolest, slickest, and most intuitive sub-$200 flash player you can get, and easily earns our Editors’ Choice,” Gideon reports.
Full article here.