Well just when we thought that iPods couldn't get any better, any more innovative, any more anything, they hit us with this: The iPod nano 4G and the iPod Touch 2G. How much better can they really be though? What really lies beyond the new flashy colors and sleek(er) designs? And why should I waste my time updating iTunes? In this special iPanik 3-product review, we'll seek to uncover the truth, look inside the case, and discover what the new iPods are all about.

Upon visiting apple.com today, It was brought to my attention that not only has Apple gone "nano-chromatic" but also that "The funnest iPod ever" was apperently available and that they were "Introducing iTunes 8". As soon as I got my iTunes updater running, it was off to see the triumphant return of the crazy-colored iPod nano as well as said "funnest" iPod ever. What I saw instantly caught my attention.

The New iPod nano
It's color-ific!!

All those colors...

Okay well maybe that's not exactly a very, um, masculine description, but it more or less describes the fact that the new nanos come in 9 colors, as compared with the six of the 3Gs and the 2Gs, and the two color options of the original nanos. If this isn't enough to entice you, however, there is brawn behind the beauty in this story.


Style and function?

The new nano not only sports a fresh coat of metallic, iPod Classic-style paint, but also a sleek new design a la the second gen nanos. A bit more round, the new nano throws back to the upright design that I personally didn't miss in the 3rd gen, but we can all live with it. It seems to be sleeker and more comfortable, and the design looks a bit nicer as well.

But it can't be all visual, can it?
Of course not! The new nano sports all kinds of new features, most notably the accelerometer. "Now why would I need to know how fast my iPod's going?," I hear you say. Well imagine being able to turn your nano on it's side and go straight to cover flow just like it was an iPhone. Well now, you can. With the accelerometer, any time you turn your iPod on it's side while listening to music, it takes you striaght to cover flow, a rather convenient upgrade from the masses of menus to get to cover flow in the 3Gs. Also, when you do the same while watching a movie or viewing your photos, the 'pod once again takes on touch-like traits and shows them in wide- and full-screen. Also, If you're sick and tired (or just too lazy) to set your list to shuffle, or if just want to go to one random song but not actually shuffle, give the 'pod a little shake and you're off. Pretty nice if you ask me.

"Why that thing's genious!" you may say. Well not really, but this is: Apple's latest and greatest innovation: the Genius feature. While listening to music, just head over to your menu and hit "Start Genious >". And some comes genious, an amazing bit of innovation that will actually select similar songs in your library and queue them as a playlist, just like a DJ might. Though we don't really know the technology behind Genious just yet (does it use ID3 tags or does it actually analyze the sound?) we do know this: It must be great, because it can be found in both the new iPods, but also the new version of iTunes. More on that later.

Other neat features include a built in loudspeaker, full 3D gaming and more. For more information, check out the official features page.

Yeah, yeah, so what's the damage?
Surprisingly, this new technology does NOT come at a steep price. Actually, over night the price of an iPod nano went from 8Gb being $199 to $150. But don't worry! If you're a big spender, you can plunk down those two hundreds you've been saving for over three days now and get the 16Gb model, the biggest-capacity nano to date.

Well is it worth it?
I guess that's up to you to decide, but I say sure, if you still have a nano 2G, if you don't have an iPod, love to watch videos on your current 3G nano, really need another 8 gigs on your 'pod, or if you love to spend money/have to have the latest thing. Then go for. But say you never watch videos on your nano and don't really need any more space. You may still consider it just for the new GUI and the Genious feature. But seriously dude, learn to use the video....

More Info:
The Features
More Pictures and Videos
Which iPod are you?

Want more? We'll get touchy-feely with the new iPod touch only in the next part of this three part iPanik special. Stay tuned!

NOTE: We at iPanik have no claim to the pictures shown in this blog post. ALL pictures © 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

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