Product Reviews

Just when you thought Apple had abandoned colour altogether in favour of pure black and white, along comes the second-generation iPod nano in anodised aluminium, sporting the same bright colours that made the iPod mini a hit.

Whether Apple has determined that its black-and-white-only scheme was causing it to lose sales, or whether it just got bored and decided to have some fun is anybody's guess. Either way, the result takes the best bits of the mini and the original nano, squeezes them into an even smaller case and bungs in a few extra gigabytes of storage for good measure.

The pictures on Apple's website and in the press just don't do it justice: it's even better looking than its predecessor, and the aluminium case adds a touch of class. On the black nano, everything is black - front, back, top, bottom, even the inside of the earphone jack. On the others, the top, bottom, and Click Wheel are white. This gives the black nano a more stylish look and suggests Apple is positioning black as its premium colour. That may also be why, if you want a black nano, you'll have to go for the 8GB model, as it's not available in either the 2GB or 4GB models. Likewise, the pink, blue and green

ADVERTISEMENT

nanos are only available as 4GB devices, while the silver one is available as 2GB or 4GB.

The new nanos also have a longer quoted battery life of 24 hours and a screen that Apple claims is 60% brighter.

Like their chunkier siblings, these nanos have new earbuds. While they're still not on a par with, say, Sennheiser's CX 300 earphones, they're a significant improvement on their predecessors.

The packaging for the new nanos is presumably designed for retail-shelf appeal, but you'll have to be careful when extracting the iPod from the plastic backing plate to which it's attached - the key is to bend the plate rather than the iPod. There's a small diagram on the plate itself, but no doubt one or two people will ignore it and damage their new nano as they over-enthusiastically remove it.

The 8GB nano we tested performed admirably. The battery lasted 25 hours on a full charge. Its tough anodised aluminium exterior renders it much less prone to scratches than its predecessor and the brighter screen makes it much easier to read menus and, importantly, play solitaire. It's worth noting that the nano isn't compatible with the new games such as Tetris and Bejewelled, which can be downloaded from the iTunes Store, nor will it play movies and TV programmes when they eventually become available in the UK. But it does play photo slideshows.

One slight concern is that after a couple of days of carrying it around in a pocket, some of the black started to come off the top and bottom edges, revealing the bare aluminium below. If you decide to buy one, you'd do well to invest in a good case.

The nano is now even more desirable than its predecessor and given the additional capacity, better battery life and brighter screen, it gets a resounding thumbs up.