Design

The new iPod Nano has a comple makeover in terms of software and hardware design. It looks more like the older iPod Shuffle model than the Nano-line of iPod we've seen before, but Apple still managed to put in multi-touch screen on the tiny cubic body. Due to the small form factor, the Apple Nano had to let go the camera found on the Nano 5th generation.

The original nano was simply a scaled-down version of the standard iPod—tall and thin with a shiny, steel back and a white-plastic front, but the first revision gave the nano an all-aluminum body. The third version brought a short-and-wide shape, but the nano returned to tall and thin in the fourth go-round. The the most-recent nano, the fifth in as many years, got a larger screen and a video camera. But one thing all nano models have had in common is the traditional iPod design: a screen at the top with Apple’s iconic Click Wheel below. No longer with the release of the sixth-generation (6G) iPod nano, the line has received its most dramatic redesign yet, and the Click Wheel is nowhere to be found. In its place you’ll find a Multi-Touch screen similar to—but much smaller than—the one on Apple’s iOS devices.

Hip to be square

The new nano, available in the same 8GB and 16GB capacities as before but in seven new colors, still wears an aluminum shell, but it now takes a considerably smaller shape: Instead of rectangular, it’s nearly square at just 1.5 inches tall and 1.6 inches wide. But the 6G nano is also the thickest nano yet—0.35 inches—thanks to a built-in, spring-loaded clip, a la the iPod shuffle. The clip is grippy enough to keep the nano attached to your shirt sleeve during moderate activity, though the nano is heavy enough that you’ll want to clip it somewhere safer during vigorous exercise.

On the bottom of the new nano, you’ll find Apple’s 30-pin dock-connector port, as well as a 1/8-inch (3.5mm) headphone jack. We’ll have more on accessory compatibility soon, but for the most part, dock-connector accessories that worked with the previous iPod nano should work with this one. The nano ships with Apple’s USB dock-connector cable and standard earbuds. As with most recent iPods, not included are an AC adapter—unless you buy one separately, you charge the nano while syncing using your computer’s USB port—and an adapter for dock accessories that use Apple’s Universal Dock design. (Apple’s online store doesn’t yet list a compatible dock adapter for sale.)

On the top of the nano are a Sleep/Wake button and shuffle-like Volume Down and Volume Up buttons. In fact, between its volume buttons, shape, and clip, the new nano looks very much like an oversized version of the new iPod shuffle. Well, except for the fact that it has no playback buttons.