Hands-on with Hama's iPod nano 4G case at IFA
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Sep 1st 2008 7:25AM
posted Sep 1st 2008 7:25AM
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
I don't know if it's just me, but the new Nano looks terrible.
That curved screen assures everyone that a light source is going to glow, shine and reflect into your eyes wherever you turn that thing to.
Wait till you see it in the wild. Everybody said the last nano looked terrible until they actually saw it.
@fanman
The new nano still looks horrible IRL
"the new nano" being the 3rd gen (current) one
I think it looks great. Ridiculously thin and otherwise just like a miniature version of the iPod classic. It's no wider than a credit card and only slightly thicker :P
But meh, this is moslty down to personal taste.
I hope they don't touch the Classic, besides the price (and/or capacity and/or speed) since I might get one...
As for this "next" Nano, meh, but this seems right now to be a mistake
Seems like a pretty huge Nano, doesn't it? Doesn't it look to have similar dimensions to the old iPod Mini?
If Apple had done the following:
1) Keep the size and shape of the current nano
2) Put a touchscreen on the entire interface (instead of the current half screen half wheel).
That would have been something very cool.
I agree! It´s ugly!! boo!
If you're about to get the classic, I would just get a Zune.
What I don't understand is why Apple would make a fourth generation Nano which is larger than it's previous iteration. Every single generation of iPod has gone through the 'brighter screen, smaller size' transformation, so why shouldn't this one?
I think because at a certain point, following that trend, it would just become a shuffle with a little tiny (but very bright) screen.
Like the Zen Stone, but with a good screen.
yes you're right...
Curvy iPod = Ugly
As for reflection or glare, NO
IT DOES NOT REFLECT
The only way to really get a glare on it is to turn it at a very awkward angle that is not possible for human beings!
And I must say, it is very beautiful!
This iPod looks even worse then the ones out at the moment! I know it's just a case, but if all the renders and images which have been released are anything to go by - eughh.
This thing is huge, but I don't want to say it looks ugly (I thought about the fattie too - and god I was wrong)
Same thought - that doesn't really look "nano" to me at all...
yeah, it's phone sized... gee I wonder why would Apple make something phone sized?? ;-)
How can you say it's huge... it's a perfect size.... i mean, it fits in your palm perfectly, look at the photo, the height of the thing is the same as the width of a man's hand..... that's not huge. Do yourself a favour... check you palm.
It just looks huge because of the angle of the camera and the case, I just got one and...
Remember the old 2g? The one with the tiny screen? This is that with a huge screen and cool capabilities
And it's even thinner, like so thin it might slip out of your hand.
Ok there is just no bloody way this is will be the new Nano. Just not on. End of story.
Apple make sure they achieve timeless designs, they dont get their inspiration from Chinese MP4/5/6/7 makers.
Can't you read?? Who said this is the new Nano. It's a just a case for crying out loud.
@Homeboy
Well, the article said it numerous times as well as the second picture which had the words iPod nano 4G printed on the case.
It's a current gen Nano sitting in a next-gen case guys...that's why the case doesn't actually fit you know.
@Homeboy.
Of course i know this is a bloody case. What do you think this case FITS??
The sloped screen design will not be the new Nano. THATS what i meant jeez.
@Adderz
That's what everyone said about the current Nano 'Fatty' design too before it launched. I don't care for Apple at all, and I even stuck up for them, claiming such a lame design was beneath them.
I was wrong.
@ Kamokazi
.. but the current one is fucking ugly also
something fishy here...
or is it just that Apple might have a 4g nano that stinks?
I can see why they wanted to make a widescreen version of the Nano but couldn't they have made the clickwheel smaller or integrated it into a touchscreen or something? The reaon I love my Nano (my first Apple purchase ever) is because it is so neat and small.
People want bigger screens, but still want smaller devices.......
Unless you find out how to build in the 4th dimension,
STOP BITCHING ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!
if they integrate the scroll wheel into a touchscreen then they just have a new version of the iPod touch. the touch screen is what sets the touch apart from the rest so that option is automatically ruled out.
My prediction: internal wifi antenna.
Larger capacity too. It's funny that people are just bitching about the look, and expecting nothing new, feature wise...
My further predictions:
1. will function as an iTunes library access point.
2. will have remote functioning like the Remote app for the iPhone OS.
The new nano will not have wifi, the controls are not suited to web browsing nor is the screen big enough. It's a new design, there may be larger capacities and some slightly more powerful hardware to allow for future software/firmware upgrades. But that will be it, why are you expecting something revolutionary, it still doesn't even have an FM radio. This is Apple and the last 3 generations of Nano have remained largely the same feature wise and all each generation does is update looks, hardware and may add slightly more space.
The only reason I feel confident about the new Nano having wifi (and it's a low risk prediction on my part, obviously) is that it was just re-designed around a completely different conceptualization: to make it smaller and easier to put in your pocket. The minute I saw the alleged new design, it seemed to me that the only reason to make it so long is to accomodate a wifi antenna.
I'm no Apple update cycle expert, nor do I want to be, but my feeling is that Apple is updating the iPod Touch and the Nano at the same time for a reason. If I were Apple and just updated the iPhone by opening it up to 3rd party software development, and I were to want to update the Touch, I would turn it into a zone controller / iTunes access point / PMP. I would write only one app for the App store called "Remote" and see what kind of user feedback it generated, such as, "This is awesome!" or "It's the best remote for Apple TV." I would address the complaint that there's no product differentiation between the iPhone and the Touch by differentiating the products, e.g., by adding IR to the Touch instead of adding GPS for no good reason. I would make it even easier to set up a home iTunes network by allowing every wifi-enabled iPod to receive streaming audio and video content from the iTunes library. I would tip off accessory makers that the iPod line needs an HDMI compatible video dock, and that it can cost several hundred dollars. And I would add wifi to the Nano, a widescreen aspect, and remote functions.
Like I said, it's a low risk prediction. What do I care if people want to set up an XBox home network, an Apple home network, or just buy a PS3 and have a "network" on one TV. My Squeezeboxes are doing great, and I'm holding out on video until someone puts something together that makes some sense.
Oh, and I would add just one light sensor to the Touch, to make it more useful in home theater, low lighting types of conditions.
Apple will not implement WiFi in the new Nano for two reasons:
It would eat into the sales of the iPod Touch
It would increase the price too well over what it is now
If the nano comes in with WiFi, just as much storage capacity, a large enough screen to watch movies comfortably whats the point of the Touch which would be much more expensive? Implementing WiFi in the Nano would also increase the price by 10-20% (30%+ most likely as this is Apple) it would put it way out of the range of the players it is currently competing with (Sansa, iRiver, Cowon, Samsung etc.) Apple already costs more then it's rivals but if it increased the price much more, people would go elsewhere for small flash based mp3/mp4 players.
@Juxtah: I'm not saying I disagree with your points individually. I just think it's what they're doing.
My thought about the difference between Nano and Touch: the OS. The Touch is as you mention a very capable internet device, and its large touchscreen makes it a good remote. The only reason the Nano would be redesigned (as you said, in a different direction than every previous version) would be to participate in a home network. It will never be as good a remote as the Touch, to the degree that it would have those functions. I don't think it could actively stream high quality video from a network source.
The apps show the basic proof of concept: Remote was released in the App store because only those people who run an iTunes home network would want something like that. Simplify Media's 3rd party app demonstrates how the iPhone or Touch can stream audio from an iTunes library, over any network.
Apple needs to bring its home system together into one package. The best thing about having wifi PMPs with drastically reduced storage capacity on an iTunes network (other than remote functions which only a Touch or iPhone would be able to deliver in full) would be:
1. to serve as an access point (i.e., to receive content from the library) and
2. to "scrobble" the content from the library as accessed by each user/PMP, so that
3. iTunes can load your networked PMP with content you tend to play on the library as a whole, to offset the difficulty of managing a huge content library on a device with minimal storage.
Again, just my speculation.
My question is, what will happen to the iPod Classic?
@ Juxtah: It wont have wifi because the screen is too small for web browsing?
You know that if it has wifi it doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be a web browser. There are other benefits to having wifi - like wireless sync and multiplayer game options.
[cough] [cough] zune [cough]
What's the point of paying for WiFi if you don't get to browse the internet? I realize there are other uses but I refuse to buy a WiFi device that cannot browse the internet, as that's kind of the point of it.
@Juxtah
Wifi is not only for browsing the World Wide Web. Wifi is networking. Wifi is what allows a computer with a wireless card to access a modem wirelessly; the modem is what gets you onto the internet. You can have Wifi running without a modem. It's just a network.
Now, while i guarantee the number of people who use a Wifi router without a modem is around... 0, the point still stands that Wifi is for networking. That means remote capabilities, iTunes access, and hopefully some wireless syncing of some sort.
Wasn't a patent for a cloud type iPod being thrown around a couple of months ago? Is it not possible that this nano actually DOES have WiFi and is going to be the first iteration of the cloud player? Personal opinion, if I could get a nano that would have access to my home library from wherever WiFi is with an 8gb HD, I would buy it. And adding 20% to the cost? You do realize that WiFi chips are extremely cheap right? Just my .02
Just speaking about wifi on the Touch, the Simplify Media app turns it into a "remote" iTunes access point (for your non-DRM files, and for 30 of your friends' non-DRM files). Even if you don't have an iPhone, if you leave your computer on at home, and bring your iPod Touch with you on a trip to a hotel with free wifi, you can listen to your entire non-DRM library anywhere in the world.
If a 3rd party developer can write apps like that, 3rd party developers can do a lot of the things I'm talking about. Maybe not with video, but definitely with audio. Anything that someone else can program for the iTunes network, Apple might as well add if they feel like they can support the application and people want it. And only Apple can write apps that extend beyond the 3rd party SDK, officially anyway.
If you could do exactly what the Simplify Media app does but instead on the Nano, who wouldn't want that?
@hiko36: What I mean is, the iPhone OS 2.0 just turned the iPhone and the Touch into the first "cloud" music player -- if you accept a small app running on your home PC serving up tunes to 30 people anywhere on the internet a "cloud." Why it's okay to stream your music to 30 people but no more than that, I have no idea. So right now, even as we speak, the only thing between you and a cloud wifi music player is about $200.
But at this point, not having any real clue what is going to happen -- except some rumors from Kevin Rose about a new Touch that is different, yet mostly the same, with "firmware 2.1" that might not be relevant to the iPhone, a strangely elongated Nano, and a new version of iTunes with no clear new features to warrant the change in version number -- I would definitely wait until the product updates.
Nano: Very small or at a microscopic level
also: One billionth
or: Whatever Apple decides for that year.
iPhone : Engadget Unit of Measurement
ie: one iPhone length width height
or: Nothing has measured up to the iPhone as yet...
try adding the two together like iPhone nano.
Wow that thing looks pretty big... aren't nano's supposed to be tiny?
I like how they use an iPhone as a reference tho :P
Meh.. The Zune 4/8gb is still better.
Zune better?
In Ballmer's wet dreams...
Nope, in ballmer's wet dreams he is ceo of apple and steve is well being his "secretary" if you know what i mean ;)
No, I don't know what you mean. Please explain.
Obviously no one reads anymore. IT'S A FRIGGIN CASE! ...and it's hideous.
It also looks as though curved surface inhibits use of the click wheel. Not sure who this thing was made for.
And obviously you've never seen a case before. That's probably just flat paper inside the case as an example. Im pretty sure the curved form of the actual iPod Nano Gen4 will make up for that gap where the click wheel and the case meet. >.> :D
Can Engadget post/email me a link to that Engagdet Logo iPhone wallpaper?
Maybe this will help http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr163/deyanimay/images.jpg
Or just make the background black in this http://img.engadget.com/common/images/2768755886686308.JPG?0.6202710638260707
Or maybe their just trying to clear their inventory of 2G iPod nano aluminums by selling it under the 4G name. I mean, the wheel's orientation doesn't seem to be the same as the blurry spy picts
I bet a 16GB Nano is on its way
This looks like a cheap knockoff.
http://www.engadget.com/2005/10/04/is-this-the-video-ipod/
This is from 2005. Man they have been working on the lanky long nano for a long time.
they're only bringing this out to get rid of the 3G nano stock. because we all know which nano we would buy.
I know which nano WE as readers of a tech blog would buy, but that's not the iPod's userbase. Its userbase is the "Look at me!" spoiled kid who has the latest of everything.
Hey douchebag it says theres no "s."
I won't comment on the new form factor before I use it, but it's interesting that Apple even invested design time in this at all.
Other than gym rats, aren't most people gravitating towards the Touch, which will probably see a heavy discount (to keep up with iPhone pricing) soon? Granted, there are a lot of practical reasons for a PMP with a more tactile interface (the clickwheel), but I wonder how many people will opt for those advantages when you can basically get a pocket-sized computer (the Touch) for a little bit more.
Also, for better or for worse, Apple owns this category - why remake something without adding much functional advantage when your current product is already the top-seller?
My only guess at the last question is a kind of planned obsolescence - the mp3 player market is levelling off, so we're going to see these marketed more and more like fashion accessories, changing enough so that there's always something nominally different to be the latest and greatest.
The nano is perfect for those of us who want a reliable product that does one thing well rather than many things poorly. I did see some sedentary blob hook her ear buds into an iPhone perched in the cup holder of her treadmill at the gym. I laughed when she stopped waddling to pick up her $400 MP3 player with the cracked screen. I have a cheapo flip phone, a nano, a laptop, a TV, and a PS3. All of these devices do what they are designed to do exceptionally well. The coolness of the iPhone wears off in about 13 minutes and then you are stuck trying to preserve that investment for two years. Good luck with that.
Uhhhm.. its shiny? Thats gotta be good, right?
That made me lol :P
if thats the new ipod, then its terrible. Just hope that in 9th September, they show us something really cool.
I don't see how they can call this "nano". It looks to be twice the size of the old nano, and what features will it have to justify the size. Agree that Nano's strength is its size. My only thought is that it might have an accelerometer for automatic use of the widescreen when held horizontally.
Is there any way I can please get my hands on that Engadget wallpaper showed on the iPhone in the cover picture?
I like how everyone complains about the new nano looks, but when Apple officially releases it, everyone loves it
Not everybody but a bunch of apple fanboys, sadly they are pretty noisy and give a false impression of a massive crowd. For example, Iphone is not so popular like the common believe, its popular only in a specific and reduced market, outside is fairly unpopular.
Is it me or am I the only one that thinks these photos look fake, I mean, there is no shadow on his hand from the ipod nano cases in either photo and it doesn't look like he's holding it properly in the second one - it look as if his thumb goes under the case, which I guess it possible, but it just doesn't look as if the case is digging into his thumb much - kinda look fake.
Meh, could be because it's 12am, but do have a second, close look guys - I think these MIIIGGHHTT be fake.
no this is not FAKE.....my uncle nd i saw those cases at the ifa too..they're real
@tomtom ok, cool - I think I'm just tired :p
im thinking that the way to hold this "nano" is sideways and that its a nice design. something new is always good in my books.
It's not new, it's just new for Apple. Everybody else has already done that.
http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/
http://www.zune.net/en-US/products/default.htm
http://www.sandisk.com/products/catalog(1166)-sandisk_sansa_e200_series_mp3_players.aspx
The weirdest part for me is that the first commenter on the spanish engadget post suffers from Oedipus Complex...
Stupid mistake ;-)
If this is the new case for the 4g nano then we are not about to see the first 'Touch nano', that will probably be next year in the same show as the iPod touch 2gen.
It's the same old thing nowadays with apple, they leave it a good 2 years between real updates, all you get on the annual birthday are 1.5 versions really. Will be very interesting next year when they probably change the screen for the iPod touch and the iPhone, no bought the first micro touch nano will follow, would be very cool. My bet is that next years the year to put my hand in the pocket again and get another nice piece of kit. Really, really hope they go for a 4inch diagonal, 204ppi (or even the holy grail 300ppi) screen on the 'touch', that would destroy everybody else’s attempts to get in on the touch screen act.
Shame apple don't invest in the audio side of the iPod range a bit more and come up with some sort of in-built hole-less high fidelity flat 3D speaker behind the screen that would be great with all these new apps.
Freedom Fighters, not Terrorist.
I hope this also means new touch with lower price. I'll then make the dive into apple, which would be my first!
@Tinu
If they made it all touch screen its called a different class of iPods - the touch
-Brett
This is clearly a fake picture, how the hell can you have a shadow under the iphone and not under the ipod. This is impossible.
The third pic is clearly fake.
if the nano did have wifi, apple could make the clickwheel assign buttons to each.
For example, turn the clickwheel and a letter will pop on the screen, press the middle button and it will use that letter in text typing.
this is just the way i would design it to function with web browsing, writing etc.
The best thing about the ipod nano is the size.
Riddle me this; if your comment causes other people, on either 'side', to be enraged and kill people, does that make *you* a terrorist by default? Food for thought, "jay dog".
It's not too different in size from the 2nd gen Nano:
http://img134.imagevenue.com/aAfkjfp01fo1i-6081/loc1148/94511_ipod_122_1148lo.jpg
Dear people at Engadget,
Like JDogg already mentioned, Hamas is something entirely different and much less innocent than Hama, which is the brand's name... :-D Correction, maybe?
I'm not convienced by this picture. The way the person is holding them both doesn't seem possible. It's hard enough holding an iPhone flat at that angle without it sliding off (I've tried) let alone a nano case as well. I'm not saying it won't end up like this but I say fake on the pics.
omg,
these pics are faked very bad...
That's not very ''Nano''
Where can I get that background for my iPhone. I want that sweet engadget logo.
looks like a messed up zune case
Oh machine translation. How I missed you.
"This time Hamas is you turn the alarms."
is it just me or am i missing a shadow under the nanocase next to the touch?
This is probably fake. You noticed they didn't show the whole freaking case box. And anyone could have made that thing for attention. Besides, it been a slow news week except for all those pricey ass HD tvs and those ubiquitous netbooks floating around all over the place.