Some new iPod nanos afflicted with tilted screens

The new iPod nanos are exhibiting screen problems for a small subset of owners, whereby the screen doesn't appear to be completely level within the casing. More than a dozen people have reported the issue on Apple's Support forums, with most reports saying video appears tilted slightly to the left. Apple is replacing units that exhibit the problem, although judging by some anecdotal reports, entire batches at certain stores have the problem, making replacement a far from adequate solution. Fortunately, it appears as if it's possible to notice the issue with the nano inside the box. At least now we'll know what the problem is if we run into any gadget fans with crooked necks.

[humpty @ Sep 16th 2007 8:21PM]

They should have kept the form factor the same as the 2nd gen.. and put the widescreen in portrait orientation... flip it on its side to watch a movie.

This looks like a pos.

[ryan @ Sep 16th 2007 8:43PM]

portrait widescreen you say; that sounds a lot like a certain other mp3 player on the market...are you saying the Zune might have some good ideas in it? preposterous!

[Gerald Tan @ Sep 16th 2007 9:09PM]

Widescreen portraits look funny, it is as though the device suited wasn't designed with video watching as a primary objective.

Anyway, I am sure that many Nanoes have their screen tilted, it is just that picky people like me notice it whilst others don't!

I wonder if the Apple logo on their website is tilted?

[tiuk @ Sep 16th 2007 11:25PM]

Yeah, that's what I said as soon as I saw this. Should have kept it rectangular and had people use it horizontally.

[ned @ Sep 17th 2007 5:06AM]

"Widescreen portraits look funny, it is as though the device suited wasn't designed with video watching as a primary objective."

It's got 8GB (or less) and a 2 inch screen, it wasn't designed to play videos.

Also I'd rather have a long list of artists/albums/songs than a fat list and a pretty picture.

[modenadude @ Sep 17th 2007 8:53AM]

It wasn't designed to play videos? Oh, then that new Apple ad's got me fooled.

[hybridvigor88 @ Sep 16th 2007 8:21PM]

Anyone know how to put coverflow by albums instead of the default sorting by artist?

[X Budd @ Sep 16th 2007 8:22PM]

Are you kidding me?
So Apple is fixing a tiny problem with the iPod Nano, and yet they have made absolutely no move to fix the major Black levels / contrast problem with the iPod touch??

Jeeze!

[DBrim @ Sep 16th 2007 8:32PM]

What do you expect them to do? Replace your touch with another touch that exhibits the same problem? At least the problem is fixable with this.

[X Budd @ Sep 16th 2007 8:43PM]

Not at all!
But acknowledging that there is a serious issue with the iPod touch, would be a good start.
At the moment, I feel betrayed by Apple's lack of response to the matter!

[Khris @ Sep 16th 2007 9:53PM]

You feel betrayed because Apple hasn't issued a fix for a product which isn't officially in stores until September 28th?

Wow....you really have some issues don't you? Have you even bought an iPod Touch yet or are you just another wanker who has nothing better to do than whine about something which doesn't affect them?

[bbydon @ Sep 16th 2007 10:00PM]

dude it just came out...relax alittle.
They will handle it with firmware

[BrettB @ Sep 17th 2007 12:12AM]

If yours has such a problem, just return it. I'm sure it's within the normal return period as they just came out last week. And, by the way, get a life. Jeeeeez!!!!

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Sep 17th 2007 1:48AM]

Khris @ Sep 16th 2007 9:53PM

"Wow....you really have some issues don't you? Have you even bought an iPod Touch yet or are you just another wanker who has nothing better to do than whine about something which doesn't affect them?"

Sorry, but you, sir, are a moron.

Why not put yourself in the other person's shoes and feel their pain? We spend good, hard-earned money to get these new toys. The least we can expect is to have good customer service and feedback.

Sadly, I doubt you will ever know that. Maybe when your mommy or daddy gives sets your allowance back on will you finally get a chance at owning one of the new iPods. All you can do is wish, wish, wish and rain on other people's parades. Shame on you!

[Xavier Gill @ Sep 17th 2007 5:11AM]

Good video showing that the iPod Touch screen is awful from ALL angles.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nYxlrsReUEU

[Khris @ Sep 17th 2007 11:47AM]

@ LiQuiD_FuSioN

You must be really l33t to spell your uSeRNaMe LiKe THiS!

Here's some advice little boy, make sure you have all the facts before opening your mouth to chastise someone.

"We spend good, hard-earned money to get these new toys."

What is it that I'm sending on the iPod Touch that I've already ordered? Perhaps your money is more "hard-earned" than mine? When I get my iPod Touch, if the screen is defective (out of lack for a better term to describe it), I will be promptly sending it back to Apple. I will not however feel BETRAYED by them.

Now piss off and go join the rest of the wankers, they've saved a seat for you.

[Pedro @ Sep 16th 2007 8:23PM]

Why does it seem that Apple really rushed the product line this time around? When the 5.5G came out, I don't recall this many problems across the board. Hopefully, when they release the upgrade to this line, there won't be so many problems.

[SteveMB @ Sep 16th 2007 9:26PM]

Well maybe because all 5.5G was an updated screen and bigger hard drive.

[Pedro @ Sep 16th 2007 10:14PM]

Yeah but even with the original 5G I still don't recall this many problems

[El_Pachuco @ Sep 16th 2007 8:24PM]

Yeah, but when you actually see one in real life they look really nice.

[Slvrgun @ Sep 16th 2007 8:29PM]

Apple wanted to show us more love by making the Nano even bigger.

[freakscene @ Sep 16th 2007 9:42PM]

It's true...I don't really consider this new nano to live up to its name. Looks like the nano got car size creep -- where a car starts out slim and cool, and ends up a few model revisions down the road bloated and slow.

Companies just can't let a good thing lie; they feel like they constantly have to add features to make it fresh. Unfortunately, lesser designers are usually tasked with these updates and the product veers more and more away from the original design vision.

[AlexP @ Sep 16th 2007 10:04PM]

You douchebags, look at the dimensions before opening your traps, it's 7.9mm smaller total than its predecessor.

[BrianP @ Sep 16th 2007 10:11PM]

Overall size is irrelevant, the form factor makes it seem bloated; ergo, they would've been better off not changing it.

[AlexP @ Sep 16th 2007 10:20PM]

There was demand for video playback, and video playback is mostly done on widescreens these days, it's the only reason why it's wider.

The thing is, he said it was bigger than the 2G one, when in fact, it isn't.

[John @ Sep 16th 2007 10:51PM]

They changed the form factor so that it is, in comparison, bloated. You can put a short, fat guy next to a tall, skinny guy, and no one cares that the fat guy might way less than the tall guy - he looks fat!

[nizzy1115 @ Sep 16th 2007 8:30PM]

how could any laptop come made with less than perfection. it's like they are dell or microsoft....

[Z @ Sep 16th 2007 8:47PM]

Laptops?? You wana play doom on the nano or something?

[Comacozi @ Sep 16th 2007 10:22PM]

ever try playing doom with a tilted screen? impossible!

[Alan @ Sep 16th 2007 8:30PM]

haha! I thought I noticed a tilt on the one I was playing with in the Apple store yesterday.

[eh @ Sep 16th 2007 8:32PM]

My 3G iPod was tilted like that, including a really uneven backlight on the left side. I took it back to the store and the Apple guys said it was meant to look that way. Douchebags.

[Ireland @ Sep 16th 2007 9:19PM]

Seems strange to me, any problems I've had Apple has been more than helpful. If your screen is tilted you'll get it replace, my guess is you either got a stupid employee or you weren't persistent enough.

[Bloobie @ Sep 16th 2007 9:30PM]

Or more likely, he is making it up. LOL.

[DickHardknocks @ Sep 16th 2007 8:36PM]

...and LEAD PAINT.

[AlexP @ Sep 16th 2007 10:13PM]

Speaking of paint, I might as well take a jab at the POS Inspiron 1520 I bought a bit less than 30 days ago (I think the 30-day return crap expires Monday and they haven't answered the email I sent them Tuesday yet) and the paint actually started FLAKING OFF the lid, not to mention that it refuses to boot correctly in Vista now... Or the light leak on the LCD, or the shitty battery life (it's a 9 cell FFS), or the annoying noises it makes when the hard drive is working (why is it seeking while it's in sleep mode in the first fucking place?), or the overall tackiness, or that memory cover that keeps popping out everytime the machine gets a little hot, or all my dead skin sticking to the plastic, or the 10 minutes it takes to connect to my local draft N network, or simply how bulky and heavy it is for what it is...

God, what a fucking piece of shitty shit, I hope they fucking take it back, because I'm not paying 60 bucks a month for a piece of shit like this one that was delivered late.

[Tom @ Sep 17th 2007 1:36AM]

Do you need a friend, Alex? You seem lonely.

[AlexP @ Sep 17th 2007 10:07AM]

Lonely I am not, I'm just pissed at my Dell (our old 8600 was fine (of course, until we dropped it once, cracked the shell open a bit, but the machine still ran flawlessly... Well, it needs a format but it's good), I feel ripped off in every single way with it. I mean, why is it that everything else I got this month is fine but not this? Whether it's my 360, my LCD TV, my iMac, they all work perfectly, except this piece of trash. The thing that really ticked me off was the FLACKING paint, there was like a 30-day delay for THAT?

[Jax @ Sep 16th 2007 8:36PM]

I second that El_Pachuco. Go to the apple store humpty and see one for real and then make a judgement.

I just went to the apple store today and those things are tiny! It can fit in the middle of the palm of your hand without even getting close to your fingers and it's amazingly thin. It wasn't hard to navigate it either, the clickwheel felt just the right size. It was better for watching videos then the classic since the quality of the picture is so high, I was watching Conan O'brian from 3 feet away and was fine. The tv ads for the nano are not that good, since they don't give you a sense for how truly small the nano's are, even Steve holding it up at the keynote doesn't do it justice.

[anderesp @ Sep 16th 2007 8:40PM]

can you imagine if all these screen problems came up during the holiday season?!




ohhh man.

[Chris Aubeck @ Sep 16th 2007 8:41PM]

I wonder what the marketing strategy was that pushed all these hyPod babies out the door so fast. Is it because Microsoft or some other company was about to launch a new range of products before Christmas?

(BTW, is anyone going for the new Nano or Classic rather than the Touch? As a first-time buyer, I'm still undecided. Aside from other concerns, I can't imagine having 160gb to fill up with songs or movies for the little screen, it sounds stressful. Off the top of my head I can't think of 40,000 songs I actually like...)

[Cagrino @ Sep 16th 2007 9:04PM]

Yeah, I got the Nano 4GB because I've been in the market for a Nano for a while now so that I can use Nike+ on it. When all the reports came out that a 3G Nano was coming out I waited and I think it was worth the wait. The size is amazingly small; perfect for a running session.

I also got the Touch since like a lot of people I've been waiting for a full screen iPod (not iPhone) for about two years since ThinkSecret started rumoring it. So far I like it a lot too. I haven't noticed the complaints others have made regarding the screen not displaying blacks properly. I'm ripping some DVD's now and I'll see for myself soon.

Have you or anyone else been having problems synching photos on iTunes 7.4.1? It's been blue screening my Vista Ultimate. Called Apple and they hinted like they knew the problem exists but wouldn't out right tell me that. They said they would email me with a solution. I was supposed to get that email yesterday... There is a small group of people complaining about it here
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5348107&tstart=0

[Chris Aubeck @ Sep 16th 2007 9:10PM]

Oops, I have Home Premium like virtually everyone else on Vista, if I get blue screened or white screened or "iTunes is closing..." over and over I'll be really annoyed.

Good luck with the shades of darkness.

[Carbonize @ Sep 16th 2007 10:58PM]

I'd suggest something like the Creative Zen V Plus which doesn't require you to install something bloated like iTunes as your Windows will automatically install the drivers for it then you can either sync using WMP/Winamp etc or just drag files across like on a usb stick.

[josh @ Sep 17th 2007 12:09AM]

when and if my 60gb ipod dies i will likely go with the largest "classic" available... id like to have my whole music library with me, just for the ease of not having to decide what's on there. if you have the whole library on there, you know you have what you want and never have to waste time managing whats on your player or whats not... i find myself doing that now, choosing what songs or genres i need to prune out to fit other stuff i want. i'd rather not have to bother with that. but its not worth upgrading until my current unit goes kaput.

[Krish the Fish @ Sep 17th 2007 1:46PM]

I'm getting a 80 gig classic to replace my 5g 30 gig.

I'm ordering a touch with my macbook for school next year. I'm hoping the 12" ultra-thin black aluminum macbook pros come out by then :) we can still hope, can't we?

[Sean Nazarian @ Sep 16th 2007 8:50PM]

Looks like Apple's trying to expand their market too quickly..

[Juaquin @ Sep 16th 2007 8:56PM]

Man, seems like the Quality Control people really dropped the ball on the latest batch of products. Apple shouldn't have rushed these out just so they would get the holiday season.

[Bobo @ Sep 16th 2007 9:04PM]

Or you just hear about it because the media doesn't give a sh*t about Sony, Dell, or HP

[Arjy @ Sep 16th 2007 9:05PM]

I dunno, it seems that they get it out now so by the time the holidays come around (it's what? September still?) All these bugs have been fixed.

[NG @ Sep 16th 2007 9:04PM]

Excatly..
First the iMac display problem, iPod Touch colour problem.. now the Nano.
What next?