I Love the i-Pod

If you are the sort who uploads videos regularly to the likes of YouTube we have just two words of advice about the iPod nano buy itEven if you are new to the Apple world you know a few things about their products they tend to appear quirky to the nonAppleite they are perceived to be a bit on the costlier side and they offer features not always found elsewhere The iPod nano is no exceptionIt is quirky in the sense that unlike many other players you dont just plug in the USB cable and copy MP3 files to the player with gay abandon you need iTunes It may be perceived to be expensive the 16GB version I got for review costs Rs 11200 in Karnataka inclusive of all taxes and you can get a cheaper player if all you want to do is listen to musicTrendy and useful The new range of iPod nanos seem to be the best MP3 players in towniDig videoBut there is one thing that you may not find anywhere else the video camera It is hard to believe that such a small device can record such good video but it does Best of all you have options for recording ranging from sepia to black and white and from cyborg to xray so you can sure have a lot of funMy only issue here is the placement of the video cameras lens If you hold it with the screen facing you invariably your finger tends to cover the lenss view Perhaps in future models Apple can alter the position of the camera so this doesnt occur that oftenThe mike is located just above the lens ands does a good job of capturing sound There is one problem though close up you get good audio but a few feet away and the voice tends to lose clarity Maybe a nice mike with Bluetooth may capture sound more efficientlyIn any case this is only a minor grouse If you are going to make a trip to a historical landmark and shoot something while giving some voiceover yourself trust me you will not be disappointediWalk so I amAnother nifty feature is the pedometer which is a great way to exercise To turn it on you merely activate the feature and it measures the number of steps you have walkedThis is connected to the calendar feature so on the 5th of October you can check out how many steps you took on the recently passed Gandhi JayanthiThe device measures the movement of your hips and if you slip it into your trouser pocket it works fine I however had trouble while wearing my Bermudas the pockets stop just short of my knees and the iPod couldnt detect stepsHowever merely holding it in the palm of my hand with said hand pressed to my hip made the pedometer work flawlesslyiWant musicAnd now let us come to the music we have left this feature for the last because of course everybody knows that the iPod plays music For a long time one big grouse against the iPod was the absence of FM radio and now even thats been included The bonus is that it has live pause so you can pause FM answer a call and then continue where you left offThe music quality is quite good I found the earphones painful so I decided to dump them and play music at maximum volume on the iPods own tiny speakersWhy one would want to play an iPod at home while one can use the speakers attached to the computer you may ask In one word locationWhile planning for an upcoming book I sat in my balcony watching the sunset and penning some thoughts while the iPod nano played on a window ledge behind me Cant do that with the speakers connected to my PC now can IiSuck becauseThe only problem with playing the iPod nano without headphones is that it drains the battery quite quickly And talking of batteries one problem is that it can only be charged with the USBOne really wishes that Apple had included a small charger along with the device itself to charge it off a wall socket this would be ideal if you are on vacation and want to shoot lots of videos and are not carrying your laptop to charge your iPod nano via USB But then again when has Apple ever done something like thatBut that said this is a great little gadget for videos and the music acts as a nice bonus In fact I like it so much that Im tempted to lie to Apple and tell them that I lost this review piece and keep it foreverQuick takegtgtApples new iPod nano features good videogtgtIt has a pedometer for the fitness consciousgtgtYou can also listen to FM and pause it for good measureiPod detailsgtgtWeight 364gmgtgtDisplay 22gtgtScreen resolution 240 x 376gtgtDimensions 36 x 15 x 024 height x width x depthSource iPod nano Reviewers Guide