What's new with the iPod Nano

MANILA, Philippines - You’ve heard it before and you will hear it again: the iPod Nano now has a video recorder and movie player.

The buzz for the launch of the fifth-generation Nano was centered on the video capability and the message is clear: the iconic gadget is transitioning from a mere music player to a multi-tasking gadget with more uses and functionalities.

The new Nano captures video at a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second with AAC audio. Apple claims that it can hold up to eight to 16 hours of video and video playback time is five hours.

While the Nano’s video capability cannot replace the standard video cameras people use to probably shoot more serious stuff, it is best for shooting casual videos. As people generally carry their music players all the time, now there is no need to bring along a separate video camera and it is best for taking random shots of everyday life and simple everyday fun.

The convenience it brings comes with the fact that one can toy with at least 15 special effects like sepia, black and white, film grain, cyborg, motion blur, light tunnel, and twirl.

The fact that the file is easily transferable to a computer or another device makes the video clips also easy to share or post on a blog or website.

Beyond the marketing pitch, however, the iconic gadget is really getting elastic; its traditional use as a music player is being stretched to accommodate other functionalities. Multi-tasking gadgets are a dime a dozen, but give it to Apple to re-invent the Nano, two or three steps at a time. It also has an FM radio, a built-in pedometer, and a voice recorder.

Next to the video, another bit of real good news for the new Nano’s release is that finally, it now has an FM radio. While Apple took a long time to give its iPod a tuner, its own came with real nice features as it displays the name of artist and song playing on the radio, and it allows users to take a break from listening to the radio, but during the pause, the Nano is caching it in its memory through its Live Pause feature so that when you return, you can listen to the live broadcast right away or rewind to as far back as 15 minutes.

For real radio lovers though, the appeal of this feature is that now you can listen to the radio and not just your own music anytime. When you hear an unfami-liar song on the radio, you can also tag it. When you synch the iPod with iTunes, it creates a list of your tagged songs so that you may purchase them.

The voice recorder, on the other hand, is made possible by the built-in speaker and it’s pretty good at capturing spoken word.

Perhaps recognizing that more people are into fitness and healthy lifestyle, the new Nano has a pedometer, which allows users to count the steps when they walk or run and compute how much calories they burned. You have to key in your weight and height and other info for it to be able to do the math.

For real fitness buffs, the Nano can be used in tandem with Nike shoes and an iPod sports kit so that it can tell your time, distance, pace, calories burned, and other info on your workout. For non-fitness buffs, it still helpful sometimes to know how many steps it takes for you to go up or down your office building or how many calories you can burn if you walk to the next block to pick up some items from the neighborhood grocery instead of taking the car or a passenger jeepney.

On the tech specs side, the iPod Nano is available in 8GB and 16GB like its predecessor model, but this fifth-generation Nano has a wider LCD screen display at 2.2 inches, and a slightly higher resolution at 240 x 376 pixels per inch. It also now comes with an anodized aluminum finish, which makes it look shinier and brighter.

With the New Year, you may find the reinvented Nano more fit for your equally reinvigorated lifestyle.