New iPod Nano Review

 Interesting Design And User Friendly

At about 40mm across and weighing 21g, this is the smallest and squarest touchscreen iPod Apple has ever made. The video camera from the iPod Nano fifth generation is gone, presumably as everyone over the age of 12 now has a much better video camera on their phones.

As a piece of engineering, the new iPod Nano is impressive. Employing the now-familiar ‘app’ menu system, everything is selected via swipes and stabs, with the familiar array of playback buttons supplemented with icons for playlists, Genius mixes, podcasts, FM radio, somewhat undersized photo viewer, Nike+ and a clock.

As with the Touch and iPhone, icons can be placed wherever you like on the screen but you can’t add any from the app store. There’s no Cover Flow and finding your way back to the home screen isn’t as easy as usual, due to the absence of a big home button, but you’ll get over both those “problems”.

New iPod Nano sixth generation: Sound Quality

Audio quality is superior to the Shuffle but nowhere near the calibre of the Touch with some high-quality tracks sounding flat at times even with half-decent headphones. That is presumably because the smaller design means less powerful audio components. Shaking the Nano to shuffle tracks is a nice touch, although you’d be well advised to turn it off if you’re jogging with it in your pocket.

Battery life ran to around 20 hours for continuous audio playback in our tests.

While the Nike+ adapter is almost as big as the Nano itself, the size is still an improvement for runners, especially with the Shuffle-like clip attached to the rear of the casing. However you decide to clip it onto your person, you can adjust the screen at 90-degree increments using a two finger gesture. We’d hoped an accelerometer would be used to make it start automatically as you went into action, but no. Maybe next time.

You attach a pair of headphones to the Nano to tune into FM radio. You can live pause shows and, if broadcast, song information can be saved to purchase via iTunes at a later date. Photos can also be synced but with just a1.54-inch, 240 x 240 screen it’s more gimmicky than useful – like a cheap key-ring photo frame.

Find out more product and cool gadget from BELI MURAH.COM.MY

Read more »

Posted in: COOL GADGET

New iPod Shuffle Review

New iPod Shuffle slims down, but new features speak volumes. Quite literally

Apple’s new iPod Shuffle fourth generation may be the baby of the latest iPod line up, it’s got its own charms. Reverting back to the 2G Shuffle’s button design but incorporating the creepy VoiceOver feature of the iPod Shuffle third generation, today’s Shuffle is the most compact Apple has produced, yet the buttons are nearing a fifth bigger than ever before.

As with the previous incarnation, you flick the small slider on top to switch between continuous and random playback and tap the equally small button flanking it to activate VoiceOver – one press for the current track and artist; two for battery status; hold it down to cycle the playlist menu. You have to enable (and download) the VoiceOver Kit in iTunes, but installation is automatic.

It’s hardly as much fun to use as touchscreen Apple iPod Touch, nor is it as intuitive, but you’ll soon get used to operating playback, blindly, in a pocket.

Once connected to a Mac or PC using the small 3.5mm-jack-to-USB cable, the Shuffle can be synced with multiple playlists and Genius mixes through iTunes, as well as podcasts, audiobooks and iTunes U files. Tick a box in iTunes and the Shuffle can also be used as an external flash drive.

New iPod Shuffle fourth generation: Audio and battery

Audio doesn’t reach the volume or quality of its bigger brethren but as a lightweight – just 12.5g – MP3 player to clip onto a sleeve or short pocket when exercising, there’s nothing that does the job better.

The battery gives just under 14 hours continuous play before needing a recharge and the supplied Apple headphones are about as good as ever – ie: not very. In the case of the Shuffle, adding more expensive cans won’t greatly improve the range, bass and punchiness of the audio, but it’d be nice to at least have earphones that stay in your ears during a treadmill session, or won’t annoy your fellow commuters through ‘leaky’ sound.

Find out more product and cool gadget from BELI MURAH.COM.MY

Read more »

Posted in: COOL GADGET