The iPod nano has been one of the key icons of Apple’s legendary iPod series of music players, originally being conceptualized as a mini-sized iPod classic that is lighter and more portable. Having seen six updates to the iPod nano to date, let us now cover what has changed in the latest update to the iPod nano 6th generation.
The iPod nano 6 released last year in 2010 was an excellent update indeed. It shrunk the iPod nano significantly by cutting off half its weight and size, thus removing the classic scroll wheel, the VGA video camera, and video playback capability. From the rectangular little candy bar that was the 5th generation, the 6th generation nano became a cute, little squarish block that was just as functional and more portable. Featuring the new little 1.54-inch display with a new 240×240 resolution touchscreen, the iPod nano 6 has now gotten even easier to use with its clip design that combines the best of both worlds from its other siblings, the iPod Touch and iPod Shuffle.
Moving on to the latest update to the iPod nano 6th generation just this year in October 2011, although this update has been touted by some as the ’7th generation’ iPod nano, we feel that in actual fact, it is just an update to the 6th generation iPod nano. In a year that saw the untimely passing of the legendary Steve Jobs himself, we have witnessed the release of the iPad 2 in March and the iPhone 4S in October. With no update to the iPod Touch 4th generation yet, this latest update to the iPod nano 6 essentially retains the exact same form factor of the 1.54-inch square touchscreen and clip design. So physically, there are no changes externally to the iPod nano.
Similar to the release of the iPhone 4S with the latest iOS 5, the iPod nano 6th generation now has an upgraded version 1.2 software. The most notable change would be from the previous home screen default of four apps to a new larger one-app display. This makes the iPod nano 6 more user-friendly to those that found the previous four-apps display too small to use comfortably.
Another notable update would be in Apple promoting the use of the iPod nano 6 as a wristwatch. With 18 different watch faces to choose from in both analog and digital displays, there are also some accompanying wristbands that allow wearing of the iPod nano as an actual watch. There are some cute Mickey Mouse and Kermit the Frog themes to choose from to keep users fascinated. One key benefit of wearing the iPod nano as a wristwatch is that this makes it harder to misplace it. This commonly happens with the original 6th generation model since it is so tiny, being half the size of its predecessor. On the other hand, it would be good to see Apple adding in the ability to download more watch faces from the App Store in the future, since 18 faces isn’t that wide a range to choose from.
One aspect in which Apple should improve on in their next update is the ability to customize the lock screen duration, since it just defaults to one minute on the nano. Sometimes, users may desire to lock the touchscreen instantly, particularly when wearing the iPod nano as a wristwatch. Some additional features that were not included but would have been highly desirable would be adding in an internal radio antenna with AM radio, instead of having to rely on headphones to activate the radio function. With no improvements yet to the current battery life of 24 hours music playback on a full charge, perhaps even throwing in an included pair of iPod earbuds with microphone would have been a great and much desired bonus.
To summarize our review of the latest update to the iPod nano 6th generation, Apple has played the update game correctly by preserving the existing form factor since it was popular and effective. The software update is a welcome bonus to user-friendliness with the option of the new one-icon display, while the watch feature is useful to have by adding on to the functions of the iPod nano 6. The watch could be improved further with more clock faces to download or choose from, and some hardware upgrades would have been useful. Although this latest update to the iPod nano 6th generation is too minor to be classified as a complete ’7th generation’ update, the iPod nano still reigns supreme as one of the world’s best music players because of its size and usability that has just gotten a little better, courtesy of Apple.
Click here now for the latest version of the iPod nano 6th generation.