iPod Nano 5G Review

Vincent Nguyen, for those who doesn't him, according to his official site vincentnguyen.com. He is a technology blogger, social media evangelist, & entrepreneur he began his career in tech more a decade ago as provisioning manager and software developer at Sprint (via Andersen Consulting). While he specialize in mobile technology, he also cover all aspects of consumer electronics with a fresh and independent perspective.

Here is his review of the newest iPod Nano which is the fifth generation of the iPod legacy:

With video recording capabilities, a new radio and even a pedometer, the nano 5G certainly has a longer spec-sheet; has it managed to do what Steve Jobs predicted, though, and stomp neatly over the Flip camcorder? SlashGear set to finding out.
In terms of visible hardware changes, Apple has further reduced the scroll wheel and pushed it even lower to accommodate a bigger, 2.2-inch display. The center button in the middle of the wheel remains the same, thumbable size, but the touch-sensitive strip encircling it has become tighter. While that slightly impinges on easy scrolling, we’re glad of the 0.2-inch larger panel that makes a surprisingly big difference to video enjoyment. While at 240 x 376 (compared to the nano 4G’s 240 x 320) it’s still not true 16:9 widescreen, the black letterbox bars are trimmed even further down. Inside, there’s the same 8GB or 16GB of flash storage. Otherwise, despite being shinier than the 4G, the nano 5G is ostensibly the same hardware at first glance.
The biggest difference between the iPod nano 5G and its predecessor is, of course, its video camera capabilities. Despite the dimensions staying exactly the same – meaning the nano 5G is still impressively thin and narrow – Apple have found space to squeeze in a VGA resolution CMOS module and microphone. It’s worth noting that this is only for video capture and not still images, which Apple say require higher-quality optics than they could fit into the nano 5G’s shell.

Sample Video:



Still, if you’ve been weighing up buying a new PMP or one of the numerous budget camcorders – such as from the Flip range – then the nano 5G could tick both of those boxes. Capable of 640 x 480 30fps recording, the iPod can’t really be compared to the latest HD-quality standalone models, but if you’re willing to make do with standard-definition footage of the sort you might get from a feature-phone then the nano 5G will certainly suffice. As with all such cameras you’ll get best results with bright lighting and little movement, since the nano 5G handles panning with only fair results and dark environments hardly at all. Colors are biased toward blues and greens, which can lead to unusually tinted skin-tones, especially indoors.

There’s no zoom or still-photography, and no the quality isn’t great, but it’s another string to the iPod nano’s bow and – given it would be hard to identify one are of the music experience Apple could address without treading on the toes of the rest of their range – neatly differentiates the nano 5G from its predecessor. Not a PMP you buy for its video capabilities, no, but the fifth-generation refresh will likely keep the nano neatly ahead of its competition.

Go to slashgear.com for a comlplete review of Vincent Nguyen about this newest iPod.

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Vincent words give a fair judgment about the pros and cons of this newest gadget.