I decided to write a short review on Apples new iPod Nano. I've owned my Nano for about a week now and the components have had quite some time to burn in so here goes nothing. First of all, I would like to clarify that I'm by no means an audio expert. This review is based solely on my personal taste, preference, and listening habits. What this means is that what I like may not be what you like. I will be reviewing the Nano from several perspectives, size and design, screen quality, battery life, and most importantly sound quality. The new Nano has undergone a drastic transformation as it embarks on it's 3rd evolution from the original Nano. Some may argue that the newer wider design completely defeats the purpose of the Nano, which was designed to be a small, compact player that can easily fit into pockets. The newer, wider design is used to compensate for the wider screen, which is required for the video playback. Regardless of the added width, the Nano is amazing small. The Nano must be seen in person in order to truly appreciate its size, the images posted on the net does no justice. The screen on the Nano is considerably larger than ones on the previous generations. The larger, high resolution screen may have resulted in a larger silhouette but it is a great trade off. Even at 50% brightness, the quality of the screen is superb. The album covers show up incredibly crisp and clean. The track titles and artist names are easy to read even outdoors. The battery life on the Nano isn't the best but it is very very good. The exact figures of my test are not available but from my experiences, it only requires a charge every 2-4 days of lengthy playback. The charging is surprisingly quick, roughly an hour or two will completely charge the Nano. Now on to my favorite part, sound quality. For this test, I've opted to use two completely different pair of headphones (JVC Marshmallows and Sennheiser HD555). The sound quality from the new Nano is superb. The sound is very clean and there is no background hiss whatsoever. I'll add more stuff later. Suddenly felt really lazy. -rockon
