iPod nano: the first 24 hours
I've had my iPod nano in hand (and large ogre-like hands if the picture with this post is any indicator) now for 24 hours. Three words: best iPod ever.
I love it. I'm actually considering selling my 60GB iPod. It's flash-based, so it is fast. It's super light and small. The plug on the bottom isn't weird like I thought it'd be. If I drop the iPod nano, it hangs nicely from the earphone cable without pulling free. It fits nicely in my shirt pocket.
It doesn't fit as neatly in the little jean pocket that Steve Jobs' intro to the unit indicated. It's too tall to fit straight down, and with the earphones plugged in, it won't fit fully in sideways. Nevertheless, the thing is so small you won't have any difficulty whatsoever finding a place to tuck it away. Also, it feels pretty solid. One of my complaints about the iPod shuffle was how light and plastic it felt. Walt Mossberg was right: this feels just right. Nice and solid with just enough weight. I think I could skip this sucker pretty nicely across the face of a lake.
More after the jump...
Here's a pic of the illustrious bag it comes in if you buy one from the Apple Store (previously mentioned by Dave in his hands-on review). It's a rather stiff bag, but if I can figure out how to ship it, I'll include the bag with the white 2GB iPod nano I bought to send to the winner of our contest. If not, maybe I'll auction it off to the suckers on ebay.
The black picks up fingerprints like you wouldn't believe and I've already put a scratch in the front, but honestly, I don't care. I've never been squeamish about scratches on my iPods. I bought this for its size and functionality. It delivers nicely in both areas. The USB only file transfer is a bit of a drag, and I don't think the file transfer is nearly as fast as Christopher Breen's review seems to indicate. It took quite some time for the iPod nano to get the 500 songs I chose to cram on it transfered over alongside all the photos I chose to transfer. That being said, the performance of the iPod nano when it is not connected to a computer is amazing. It flies through the interface and displays the photos much faster than my 60GB iPod does. The screen is great. Bright and clear. The only negative I can say about the screen is that the Notes font is more than a bit small on the nano's small screen and will most likely not make it an attractive choice for people with bifocals. Apple should release a firmware update that adds a preference to toggle the font size from miniscule to mega-big.
The sound is great. The iPod is great. Get one. Try to win one. I'll add more bits later.
