Official: iPod nano reaches 4G, looks tall for its age

Well well. Can't say we're surprised to be telling you about the new 4th generation iPod nano. As we heard, 9 colors, bigger $149 8GB and $199 16GB capacity, and wider 2-inch display under the control of an accelerometer for automatic switching between portrait and landscape modes like those early Canon PowerShots and uh, oh right, the iPod touch and iPhone. Looks just like the spy shots eh? Steve calls it the thinnest iPod ever with new Genius playlist, shake to shuffle feature, and 24-hour battery for music or 4-hours for video. In stores by the weekend, available immediately on-line. A few more pics after the break and the gallery below.

Gallery: iPod Nano 4G

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[myzter @ Sep 9th 2008 1:20PM]

Oh I want a dual touchscreen

[Brad @ Sep 9th 2008 1:24PM]

To do what, exactly? Play DS?

[Jeremy K. @ Sep 9th 2008 1:20PM]

The spy shots were really right haha

[Tinu @ Sep 9th 2008 1:24PM]

Even Nano's picture itself used in the presentation has glare on the screen. This is not good.

[Tinu @ Sep 9th 2008 1:26PM]

Meh, engadget changed the picture now.

[Arthur @ Sep 9th 2008 1:27PM]

yeah, unfortunately.

I was hoping for something new, not something apple modified in 30 minutes and decided it looked different enough.

[steve @ Sep 9th 2008 1:57PM]

@ Arthur

I for one would love i scaled down touch, more screen, smaller to carry.

[Jack Storm @ Sep 9th 2008 1:58PM]

Yeah and now since skinny Steve announced 'em theyre suddenly not ugly anymore...

[konshuss @ Sep 9th 2008 2:00PM]

it's kind of shaped like jobs... long, gaunt and slightly swollen in the belly.

[ynx @ Sep 9th 2008 2:08PM]

too tall

[OneLove @ Sep 9th 2008 2:16PM]

Divx, xvid support? Not for you!

[iSmoke,therefore emit death by breathing @ Sep 9th 2008 2:37PM]

Kevin Rose is God to the fanboys from this day forward!....

[aBsOlUt @ Sep 9th 2008 4:06PM]

hahahahahaha and people make fun of M$ because it charges for everything 10$ for a PATCH? HAHAHA.

F this, sticking with Ubuntu desktop and xp ONLY for gaming.

[Yuriy @ Sep 9th 2008 7:03PM]

chinese was faster to start selling same looking MP4's - funny:-)

[Tinu @ Sep 9th 2008 1:21PM]

Why so much empty space above and below the click wheel?

Click wheel looks a bit old-tech now =).

[kigamoosh @ Sep 9th 2008 1:40PM]

Considering how small it is, it makes sense to have space above, so your finger won't smudge the screen, and below, so your finger won't slip off the bottom.

[vic @ Sep 11th 2008 4:45AM]

its called ergonomics

[xValentine @ Sep 9th 2008 1:21PM]

Wow. I'm surprised!.

Really.

:)

[Homeboy @ Sep 9th 2008 1:36PM]

Me too. I've got a Z80 but damn the new Nano looks taste. Might nab a blur or orange. Reminds me of the days when I was one of the first guys in my city with a Mini.

[tumclub @ Sep 10th 2008 12:06AM]

WoW ....Cool

[DerekKramer @ Sep 9th 2008 1:22PM]

god they are ugly

[404 @ Sep 9th 2008 1:25PM]

Seconded. I'm no Apple fan but for looks I'd choose the older gen Nano.

Good thing Apple don't market on looks eh? Oh, wait...

The capacity bump sounds good though.

[iEye @ Sep 9th 2008 1:49PM]

Black would have been better, but Apple is saving that so that they can fleece a 32GB model just before the holiday season arrives, thus selling multiple units to fan boyz and fangirlz all across the land....

[PynkFloydd @ Sep 9th 2008 1:56PM]

iPod Nano: gay pride edition

[Mobile Phone Diva @ Sep 9th 2008 2:37PM]

Actually I think the colors are cool. I need to see them in person though. Sometimes pictures are misleading.

[tiuk @ Sep 10th 2008 1:42AM]

Not a fan of the ellipse shape, but I am glad the finally put the screen next to the scroll wheel instead of on top of it. I'd been saying they should do that since the fatty nano came out.

[Bdad @ Sep 9th 2008 1:43PM]

I guess kevin rose was right...

[Tom Stieger @ Sep 9th 2008 1:22PM]

For anyone who cares, it is not an oval. It's an ellipse, although maybe an elongated one at that.

Why do people insist on calling an ellipse an oval!! :-)

[Jonathan @ Sep 9th 2008 1:24PM]

I still like my 3rd gen nano better. Bigger Screen.

[andrew @ Sep 9th 2008 2:18PM]

No, the screen is the same as the 3rd Gen.

[BradVT @ Sep 9th 2008 2:21PM]

Are you sure? I thought they said they just rotated the screen from the third gen 90 degrees.

[Arthur @ Sep 9th 2008 1:25PM]

So when are they going to do something new?

[Kain125 @ Sep 9th 2008 4:00PM]

When its not broken, you dont need to fix it.

[DEEZNUTZ @ Sep 9th 2008 4:21PM]

@ Kain125
"When its not broken, you dont need to fix it. "

Yeah, tell that to US auto makers. This shit is old.

[WhoMe @ Sep 9th 2008 1:25PM]

Engadget, how's about you condense all of this Apple crap into one or two posts, k?

[Doc @ Sep 9th 2008 1:25PM]

Why not just move the wheel to the back and save the front purely for a widescreen/portrait layout?

[404 @ Sep 9th 2008 1:38PM]

Because then you'd get people who didn't like having to operate the thing blind. There'd be people stopping in the street so they could keep glancing at the back to see the controls and then the front to see if they've scrolled too far, and back and forth and back and forth...

I love navigating by the touch of my MiniDisc's (Yes, MiniDisc. So I'm out of date) buttons, but not everyone likes that kind of thing.

[Doc @ Sep 9th 2008 2:24PM]

I think you underestimate people, but I think I might feel the same way if I didn't own an ipod. The click wheel is one the greatest innovations in tech and what makes it great is that it's easy to use, so I don't think that it would slow people down they'd get used to it.

[Dubb @ Sep 9th 2008 10:33PM]

"The click wheel is one the greatest innovations in tech"

It's the same thing as a touch pad, which have existed since the early eighties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchpad

"Touchpads are also the primary control interface for menu navigation on all of the currently produced iPod portable music players (except the iPod shuffle and iPod touch), where they are referred to as “click wheels”."

[snife @ Sep 9th 2008 11:17PM]

I would like to see that too for the next nano - remember Apple filed a patent for a virtual scroll wheel that could appear when you touch the physical one so there would be no need to do it blind, when the scroll wheel detects a finger it could just display a transparent representation of the wheel on the screen

[Michael X. Maelstrom @ Sep 10th 2008 6:28AM]

I like your idea of the entire front of the ipod being used for the screen, but not the wheel on the back, instead I'd sugg putting the wheel on a hinge'd extension at the bottom, you know that folds up (to protect and cover the screen) and then folds down below the screen, for use.

Michael X.

[MyHeadisFed @ Oct 10th 2008 10:13PM]

@Michael X. That sounds hideous.

[Boarderwoot @ Sep 9th 2008 1:25PM]

calendar and stopwatch integration? do i smell nike and ipod nano union?

[Frankie @ Sep 9th 2008 1:25PM]

More like: "The thinnes Steve Ever"

[Homeboy @ Sep 9th 2008 1:34PM]

Haha thank god I'm not the only one who noticed how thin he's become. Next time it's the iPod that will be introducing him "Here's the new Steve, thinner than ever and comes with either a brown a black turtle neck."

[Frankie @ Sep 9th 2008 2:09PM]

@Homeboy
That was by far the funnies comment that I've read on engadget. LOL
"Here's the new Steve, thinner than ever and comes with either a brown a black turtle neck."
OMG too funny!

[ilikemyrealname @ Sep 10th 2008 9:17AM]

I totally agree, I think Steve is the thinest iPod ever. lol

[Joshua @ Sep 9th 2008 1:26PM]

I bloody knew it was real! Yet 99% of comments here pointed it was fake, LOL.

[Joshua @ Sep 9th 2008 1:35PM]

Cheers mate.

[jorvay @ Sep 9th 2008 1:26PM]

shake to shuffle is nice. My Sony Ericsson phone does it and it can be handy...if not a little gimmicky.