iPod Nano (PRODUCT) Red - Review

Friday October 13th 2006 – Apple Computer announced a special edition iPod Nano, the iPod Nano (PRODUCT) Red. Their slogan? Put a different kind of change in your pocket. Their aim? To donate $10 of every Nano (PRODUCT) Red purchase to the (RED) campaign founded by U2 lead singer Bono and Bobby Shriver, a business designed to fight against AIDS in Africa by getting some of the worlds leading brands to develop unique products – all the profits going toward the Global Fund which hopes to fund programmes for women and children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Today I’ll be reviewing the new iPod Nano (PRODUCT) Red™ that is virtually the newly re-mastered Nano in a special edition red casing.

The second-generation iPod Nano has been around for a while now and it certainly does the business on the original Nano. Designed with a much more durable aluminium casing that resembles the much loved and missed iPod Mini and an extra 12 hours of battery life of its predecessor, it’s clear to see why the Nano is Apple’s leading MP3 player.

Aesthetics

The size of the Nano has shrunk by about 2mm in depth where the height is slightly longer and the width roughly the same as the first gen – anyone who has a posh arm-band to use at the gym with the original Nano could still use it with the second-gen.

If you cast your mind back to when the 1G Nano was originally released, you’ll remember complaint after lawsuit after complaint being thrown at Apple for the amount of scratches the Nano picked up. Fortunately many of us were safe from this admitted design fault but it seems that there were enough unfortunate folks out there to prompt Apple to do something about it on their 2G Nano. One of the two great features of the iPod Mini were then introduced – aluminium casing. Not 100% scratch resistant but certainly more durable than before with a much more attractive look giving the Nano some nice rounded edges and an unforgettable feel.

Of course, the other great feature brought back in from the Mini is the introduction of colours to the 2G Nano. Up until Friday of last week, there were 5 colours to choose from; a 2GB in Silver, a 4GB model in Silver, Pink, Green, Blue and an 8GB model in black. However, Apple has now introduced the special edition (PRODUCT) Red Nano that sits comfortable in the 4GB range. Whether Apple will open this up to 2GB and 8GB models, I’m unsure. Throughout all models, the screen remains the same 1.5-inch diagonal measurement and the beautifully designed click wheel remains intact.

First Install

Upon first plugging the Nano into my iMac, iTunes immediately opened and a software setup screen followed. Everything here is pretty straight forward, asking you to register your iPod (which I was unable to do due to me not being allowed to select a country outside of America – possible iTunes issue?) and sort out whether you’d like to have songs automatically placed onto your Nano or put them there manually.

Now I have over 1000 songs in my iTunes library, so I had to shift through for a while deciding which songs I’d like to listen to whilst I’m out and about, so for that reason I told iTunes I’d like to manually place songs on the Nano. Once the Nano summary and options page loads within iTunes, I was then asked it to only upload songs I’ve checked in iTunes, but there was a brief period, about 10 minutes, where nothing was happening. I hit ‘Apply’ a few times and double-checked my options, still to find nothing would work. However, after that initial 10 minutes, the Nano started to update and ever since then it’s worked like a dream – fast and reliable. Whether this is an issue with software on my Mac or the Nano itself, I’m unsure, but I’m pretty certain it’s the former.

Nano Updates

Other than the obvious aesthetic updates, the first thing I noticed when scrolling through my library was the brightness of the screen – the 40% increase in brightness Apple claimed is certainly noticeable when compared to the first gen Nano. It’s almost as if the screen has been completely replaced with a much more powerful and expensive version, removing the “yellow” tinge when viewing images that is now apparent when the 1st and 2nd Gen Nanos are compared next to each other.

The software on the 2G Nano is clearly faster than the 1G, especially when viewing photos, although this alone wouldn’t really warrant a new purchase. The main addition is the search function that Steve Jobs seemed so excited about at last months Expo. On testing, I found that I could locate a song much quicker using the search function than I could when scrolling through my entire library. It’s simply a case of selecting the first few letters of the song and within milliseconds (on a full library as well) a list of songs are shown, allowing you to select and play straight from the search facility.

Battery life has always been a big issue with Apple’s line of media players, the iPod fronting the majority of the slack for this. Although it didn’t seem to harm Apples sales, the iPod was in desperate need of a battery boost. The 1G Nano had 12 hours of battery life that was adequate to an extent until you of course saw other MP3 players on the market with nearly double that amount. Thankfully the 2G Nano now has 24 hours of battery life to play music, hopefully ending those criticisms of a pathetic battery.

On a smaller side of the updates, Apple also introduced some new headphones with the updated iPod range. The headphones themselves don’t appear to be any different from their predecessor, except in the form of the shape. I was pretty impressed how much more comfortable these new earphones sat in my ear, allowing a much more solid sound to be pumped through. Other than that, the overall power and quality remain the same.

Charging

This isn’t a huge issue with many as charge times for the new iPod is around 4 hours from a flat battery and for the Nano, 3 hours. The only quarrel I have is with using an old Firewire iPod charger with the new Nano. When I visited the Apple store I made a point of asking the salesman if my old Firewire charger would work with the Nano, as I didn’t fancy spending extra money on something that wasn’t needed. His exact words? It will work. Now he wasn’t lying, it does work, but when I first plugged the Nano in, I noticed what felt like vibrations running through my hand. I wasn’t sure if there was too much power feeding the Nano and it was an electric current I felt, or whether it was just the Nano physically vibrating, but it certainly didn’t feel right. I immediately removed the charger and plugged the Nano into my iMac where the vibration seemed to stop.

So a word of warning to anyone about to purchase a 2G Nano, a Firewire charger will only aid in shocking your Nano to a state of tears and I doubt very much it’s a healthy thing. I plan to get in touch with Apple about this issue in the next couple of days and check whether this is a charger fault, a Nano fault or whether the salesmen miss-informed me and that the Firewire charger shouldn’t have been used with the Nano in the first place.

Battery Testing

On note of the 24-hour battery boost, I decided to put it to the test. I left my Nano to play my entire library (Roughly 4GBs worth) over night. It seems that the battery actually lasts a little over 24 hours, clocking in at around 24 hours and 14 or so minutes. However, I dare say that if album art is turned on, a slideshow is playing or you’re physically flicking through your library to choose a song, that battery times will be greatly reduced. But as far as lasting 24 hours, Apple has got it spot on.

What comes with the Nano?

I was incredibly impressed by the size of the casing that came with the Nano. Apple was getting slapped wrists until recently with their environmental issues. It seems that to shake things up a little, they introduced a tiny case to house the Nano – making it a little hard to decide what I appreciated more, the beauty of the Nano or the beauty of the casing.

Still, along with the stylish little box it arrives in, you’ll also get the new headphones, a USB charger, a dock-adapter and a quick start guide. In the (PRODUCT) Red boxes, you’ll also get a little leaflet informing you that as a (PRODUCT) Red partner, Apple will give a portion ($10) of your iPod Nano purchase to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.

Summary

For those that don’t have a large enough music collection to justify a purchase of the iPod, the Nano is definitely the next best thing. The size and weight are perfect for those who use their iPods in gyms or in sports (such as running or cycling). It’s also worth while noting that the 2G Nanos resemble the iPod Mini much more than the 1G, so if you were disappointed when Apple buried the Mini, then these newly re-mastered Nano’s could be the Christmas purchase/present for you.

It’s still early days and I dare say the Nano will scratch like most other gadgets available today but certainly not as much as the 1G Nano. Along with the Firewire charger issue, these are the only two real complaints away from all the other ‘wants’ out there (radio tuner etc.).

Cost: 4GB Apple iPod Nano (PRODUCT) Red = $199 (£129)
More info: http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/red/
Shop: http://www.apple.com
8/10

For more information on the (RED) foundation, please visit joinred.com

Check out our gallery of iPod Nano (PRODUCT) Red photos here.