Yet another iPod nano 4G render? Sure, why not

Hey, what's one more leaked OEM/ODM image of the iPod nano 4G between friends. While usually we'd be highly suspect of an image like this from Alibaba.com (peddlers of the Mac G6), the stars have certainly aligned around the next-generation iPod nano form factor show beneath the "Screen Guard for iPod Nano 4th Gen." Besides, it's the first clean render we've seen from below. Five more days and we'll know for sure.

[Thanks, Chris W.]

[JoeB @ Sep 4th 2008 5:04AM]

I like it, looks pretty sweet.

[Saad Rabia @ Sep 4th 2008 5:27AM]

Yeah, it looks pretty sweet, just like a Zune 8, but (here it comes): Curved. which makes it better than a Zune 8 whatever the features are going to be.

/something

How do I end the sarcasm?!

[swingin' dick hero @ Sep 4th 2008 5:31AM]

Yeah, I agree. Looks hawt to me.
And it's going to be aluminium all around again!

[Shadowise @ Sep 4th 2008 5:05AM]

l like it more than the nano phatty design, is the nicest thing I can say :]

[heng @ Sep 4th 2008 9:24AM]

Hi,
I really preferr the wide design and would not consider getting a new one if it had more memory than 8gb.., any other news on specs? how much memory? any other new funky gizmos? like portait/landscape sensor or something??

[B.Cherry @ Sep 4th 2008 6:37AM]

Apple has added an iR to the 4G Nano so iT can be used as a remote for iTunes and what not.

-sent from my iPhone
_____________________
iGet enough exercise just pushin' my luck!

[thef1re @ Sep 4th 2008 7:00AM]

im a apple fan boy

-not sent from my iphone

[drumdbeat @ Sep 4th 2008 5:10AM]

The more I see it the more I like it.

Better than the 'fatty' but with a larger screen than the previous nano... Good no?

[toxicpiano @ Sep 4th 2008 5:10AM]

I really hate the rounded screen

[Jash Sayani @ Sep 4th 2008 5:32AM]

Yeah. I dont know why is Apple obsessed with the rounded design. Its convenient to watch video on a flat screen.

[dennis @ Sep 4th 2008 6:03AM]

Don't worry, apparently the screen peels right off.

(It's rounded because of the wifi antenna.)

[sh'm00n @ Sep 4th 2008 5:48PM]

It looks like the front could be flat, perhaps just the back rounded - If you look at the edges it appears there's a tiny bit of a ridge to where it flattens out at the front...

[GON @ Sep 4th 2008 5:14AM]

See? It's looking sexier already!!

[CraigJ @ Sep 4th 2008 5:15AM]

It's not that nano, though! This is more like a mini that anything else.

[gad get @ Sep 4th 2008 5:15AM]

In this render, the screen looks less curved. If this is getting closer to the actual design, then that can only be a good thing.

[Rich UK @ Sep 4th 2008 5:37AM]

Yeah I was worried about this but from the dimensions "leaked" yesterday it seems that the curvature is just on the sides and thte screen is flat. Fingers crossed

[bart @ Sep 4th 2008 5:19AM]

Looks quite fame to me, like a stretched Nano 2nd Generation. Also, the screen is very impractical for viewing video. Surely this is Photoshopped. The screenprotector is just there to distract.

[Saad Rabia @ Sep 4th 2008 5:20AM]

Well, Apple must be out of their minds for producing a curved screen on a portable media device. It just doesn't make any sense, at all; it doesn't feel like Apple!

[Jean-Marc @ Sep 4th 2008 9:38AM]

maybe its just the glass over the screen thats curved...

[Saad Rabia @ Sep 4th 2008 11:12AM]

Even though Jean, a curved reflective cover means lots of lights on the eyes wherever you turn the nano! It's not a big deal for me as I'm never buying an iPod, but this isn't how Apple usually work!

[ArcticFox @ Sep 4th 2008 5:22AM]

I would have thought a landscape screen instead of portrait would be preferable, i dont like this design.

[Umbrian @ Sep 4th 2008 7:15AM]

It probably has an accelerometer to rotate the picture for wide-screen video.

[Exekias @ Sep 4th 2008 5:32AM]

Its obvious that apple is not trying to pull another WWDC and make us go WOW!!! there simply making some cosmetic changes, this thing looks like its going to be so unbeleivably thin and the same with the supposed touch. There revisions, almost pointless revisions. it now means the origional ipod touch and the ipod nano "fatty" are now officially outdated. ITs a plow by apple to make u upgrde to something that is hardly an upgrade, and for waht???

[TheRatpack81 @ Sep 4th 2008 7:45AM]

Man i hate those Apple plows. No use at clearer snow whatsoever.

[TheRatpack81 @ Sep 4th 2008 7:48AM]

And so i f**k up the spelling.

[CC13 @ Sep 4th 2008 5:32AM]

Something odd strikes me...

Before the iPod nano we had the iPod mini, in a alu casing. The 1G iPod nano appeared in a similar size, just a lot thinner, with plastic front and metal back. Then the 2G iPod nano had the same shape, but full alu casing like the iPod mini. The 3G iPod nano changed shape, but kept and alu front, much like the 2G but grabbed back to the glossy alu back from the 1G. Now the 4G iPod nano seems to go back to it's original shape. It wouldn't be that improbable, given that Apple always seems to recycle previously used designs and solutions in new generations of it's iPod nano's. Is it a coincidence or am I on to something? No idea really... just something to think about...

I'm wondering what kind of cover they will use this time: glossy alu, brushed alu, plastic?

[xValentine @ Sep 4th 2008 5:36AM]

So people like it now because someone made a great render* ?

Where are the people who are saying it will look like crap ?

[gad get @ Sep 4th 2008 5:43AM]

I'm right here. ;)
But this render certainly makes the design look more appealing, as the screen doesn't appear curved like in the previous pictures. Cross your fingers and hope this is accurate[-er], Apple boys.

[gad get @ Sep 4th 2008 5:44AM]

Of course, none of that matters if it still has the same old crummy sound quality.

[dennis @ Sep 4th 2008 6:04AM]

We've all been subliminal influenced by our ambivalence towards Kevin Rose and what is probably a crap, $10 4G Nano case.

[Carl Vitullo @ Sep 4th 2008 7:42AM]

Yeah, none of us thought about the fact that everything we've seen so far were cases, which always make the iPod look about 3 times as thick as they really are. Although it the scrollwheel is really recessed a tiny bit like in the render it's going to scream "shoddy" to me.
I dunno though, this isn't really much of an update. It's probably not going to add features except a likely accelerometer, so I don't see the point of anybody buying this if they have one already.

[Claudio @ Sep 4th 2008 9:52AM]

Why would they make a step back from ultrastylish to ultraugly?:)

[andrew @ Sep 4th 2008 6:15AM]

"Sure, why not" em because you have already had one on the site?

[PEZ @ Sep 4th 2008 6:43AM]

I don't see how this is a step forward in design. Aside from the taller (wider?) screen, its just a previous design flipped the other way. What needs to happen is, a Touch Nano.

[El Guapo @ Sep 4th 2008 6:57AM]

OK so this is not related and would definitely have been covered by others but why has Engadget not said anything about Google Chrome?????

[drumdbeat @ Sep 4th 2008 7:22AM]

Yeah, i like Google Chrome.

[Carl Vitullo @ Sep 4th 2008 7:46AM]

Agreed, I've been using it nonstop since they released it (I actually haven't ever exited), and while I know almost all the facts about it, it would still be nice to see a feature wrap up here.
As soon as some add-ons get released (*cough cough* Adblock *cough cough*) it'll likely replace Firefox for me.

[B @ Sep 4th 2008 12:48PM]

I just started using it and it's using half as much memory running Pandora... Thank you Google.

[G_ @ Sep 15th 2008 7:47AM]

There is headphone jack from bottom wtf

[Dillon @ Sep 4th 2008 9:46AM]

You've clearly missed the last couple nanos...

[chefgon_ign @ Sep 4th 2008 6:55AM]

This is easily the most hideous iPod of all time.

[Shadowfox952 @ Sep 4th 2008 9:11AM]

That's impossible because it looks almost identical to all the other nanos and minis before 3rd gen

[pbrooks100 @ Sep 4th 2008 7:10AM]

Would a curved screen suggest a lower power flexible screen such as an OLED?

Kodak has used smaller ones in cameras for a few years now....

[i_am_rich @ Sep 4th 2008 7:16AM]

Google Chrome +1

I don't really like this new 4G - but if it comes in 16GB at the right price, it's mine

[David @ Sep 4th 2008 7:22AM]

Would kinda like it if Apple would make up their mind - they keep alternating between a polished chrome back and the anodized aluminum back at each generation

[SteveJ @ Sep 4th 2008 7:33AM]

One issue I have with this claimed design is that, presuming the Nano is still intended to be able to play video, and considering that to watch video you, presumably, turn it on its side, now the scroll wheel buttons, at least as labeled, will be rather odd. Press/hold up to skip/scan back? Press/hold down to skip/scan forward? I guess you'd get use to it, but it's rather strange. Of course this might not be the design at all, or maybe the scroll wheel is no longer labeled in this fashion.

[Holden @ Sep 4th 2008 7:35AM]

Back and forth, back and forth. C'mon Apple make your mind up! You can only make it so thin, tall, wide, etc...
What they need to do is improve the sound quaity - or is that no longer the purpose of an mp3 player?

[HAZE @ Sep 4th 2008 8:23AM]

What's there to render? I mean you can tell EXACTLY what it will look like just by the leaked case that was out. I suck at photoshop and I could probably do that.

[voodoo @ Sep 4th 2008 8:28AM]

ZOMG!! A new ipod, I can't wait to throw out my year-old one and buy this!!!

[Firelight @ Sep 4th 2008 8:35AM]

But will it play Divx/Xvid files? Don't think so...