Apple iPod Nano '2nd Gen'

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Apple iPod Nano '2nd Gen'

Punit Lodaya, Oct 27, 2006 1800 hrs IST

The new second-generation or "2G" Nano features a scratch-resistant, brushed aluminum casing staying true to the earlier iPod Mini's styling.

Sleek and lightweight, Click Wheel Interface, Considerable improvements over previous generation, Search feature, High battery life, Improved earphones.

No TV Out, No FM Radio, Slightly Expensive.

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Apple iPod Nano was introduced on September 7, 2005, replacing the iPod mini, which was discontinued on the same day. It is considered as a hybrid of iPod Shuffle and iPod Mini. By looks, it was one of the classiest players with no competitor near-by. It was one of the fastest selling iPod claiming record sales of 1 million in just 17 days. However, the iPod Nano was so scratch prone, that even a micro fiber cloth could cause damage to it. In some cases, the screen was known to crack under pressure. Apple did confirm that a small percent of iPod Nanos did ship with a faulty screen and agreed to replace any Nanos with cracked screens, but denied that the iPod Nano was more susceptible to scratching than prior iPods.

Second Generation iPod Nano

On September 12, 2006, Apple updated the Nano line. The new second-generation or "2G" Nano features a scratch-resistant, brushed aluminum casing staying true to the earlier iPod Mini's styling. The color options, featuring five colors (silver, blue, green, pink, and black), mirror that of the mini as well. The second-generation Nano features "a brighter, more vibrant display", a battery life upgrade from 14 to 24 hours, and doubled capacity. They are available in capacities of 2, 4 and 8 GB. The new iPod Nanos also support gapless playback of audio files, a new search option, and a 40% brighter screen. As of today, the one gigabyte model has been discontinued and been replaced with the second-generation iPod Shuffle.

The 2 GB model is available only in silver, the 4 GB is available in silver, blue, green, pink and the limited edition red, and the black color is exclusive only to the 8 GB model.

With a dimension of just 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.26 inches and weighing just 40 grams, it is one of the lightest and sleekest players in its class. In fact, it even rivals out some of the thumb stick based MP3 players. The iPod Nano uses flash memory instead of a hard disk. As a result, it has no significant moving parts (excluding the click wheel), making it immune to skipping and far more durable than disk-based players. The iPod Nano has a screen size of 1.5 inches (38 mm) diagonal, supports a resolution of 176 x 132 pixels, and can display 65,536 colors (16-bit color). It has a touch sensitive wheel, which is known as click wheel. The click wheel is used for navigation, increase/decrease volume, time skip and for playing games. It has four buttons integrated in the click wheel in the four directions. The Click Wheel is certainly one of the best innovative feature of the iPod lines and makes it stand apart from the crowd. This wheel works even if there is a small layer of cloth or rubber on it. This way I can still control my iPod Nano, even though it is in my jean's pocket. Can any other player do that?

Like the previous Nano, it has the dock connection and the stereo audio output plug at the bottom of the player and Hold slider is on the top. It charges through either the USB connector or a separately purchased charger. It takes 1.5 hours to charge 80% of the player's capacity and 3 hours to charge the built-in lithium ion battery. It sports a new earphone design and even the quality of the earphone has changed. More on that later.