The new iPod nano has landed, replete with a shiny shell, more extras than a Star Wars box set and video abilities set to keep You’ve Been Framed on the air for another decade.
But there’s more to the new iPod nano than meets the eye. Delve deep, and you’ll find secrets underneath that slinky new skin.
Coverflow gets a spit and polish
The new iPod nano has Coverflow to show album artwork whizzing by when the iPod’s held horizontally, big deal you might think, the last one had that too.
But this time round Apple has tweaked Coverflow, adding letters underneath the artwork when you scroll at speed, making it easier to track down tunes as your entire music library blurs past you in a jiffy.
Video filters in fine fettle
In typical Apple style, video recording on the new iPod nano is a fancy affair. Hold down the centre button and you’ll be offered 16 different filters and effects.
The new iPod nano even shows live previews of each one. It’s smooth, stutter-free, and stomps all over the “fun” video offerings from Flip Video and their ilk.
Read our new iPod nano review!
Guaranteed recording space
By default the new iPod nano reserves 200MB of space to record video. Even if you fill up your iPod, it’ll hold back a bit of room so you can always shoot video. That space is enough for around 10 minutes of footage.
If you’re desperate to claw it back for music, you can switch to manual management of the iPod in iTunes and stuff it with songs instead.
Radio wrangler
The new iPod nano has an FM radio built in, but it also uses the storage space inside to buffer broadcasts when you hit the pause button.
You can use the forward and backwards keys of the iPod nano to skip through your recording, but unfortunately there’s no way to save those broadcasts for later listening.
See the new iPod nano unboxed!
Tune tagger
Apple has built in a technology called iTunes Tagger, letting the new iPod nano recognise songs it hears on the radio and save them for later purchase.
Unfortunately, British radio stations haven’t caught onto the idea yet, so it only really works in America. As soon as the UK catches up, however, you’ll be able to build a wishlist simply by tapping iPod buttons.
