Nano meet Mini, Mini meet Nano: nano 2.0, the best of the best

If the nano 1.0 was love at first sight, the new nano 2.0 is a second honeymoon. The nano 1.0 was cute and playful and at first you never wanted to put it down. But after awhile you took its technological capabilities for granted and started to see its flaws. The nano 1.0 is a terrific player to be sure, but even a beauty queen can’t be 100% perfect.

The nano begged for an improved, more scratch resistant case, and it’s highest storage capacity, just 4GB left some like me needing more from Day 1. Of course longer battery life is always welcome. Apple listened and a year after it introduced the original nano we now how the new, improved version.

Apple’s solution was quite simple: take the scratch resistant aluminum shell of its previous iPod mini and shrink it down to the size of the nano…a tiny bit smaller even. Then put a more roomy 8GB flash chip (approx 7.75GB formatted) inside along with a new battery that plays for 24 hours along with a brighter screen. That is the new nano 2.0.

The nano 2.0 is not the groundbreaking stunner that the nano 1.0 was, in part because we’ve had a year to become jaded by the nano’s impossible size. But that lack of shock value doesn’t mean the nano 2.0 won’t make you fall in love all over again when you pick one up.

In the hand, the nano 2.0 fits even better in the hand than it’s older sibling thanks to the new curved case. Apple advertises that the new case is .01” slimmer. Big deal you think. I know I did. Strangely though your hand can tell the difference in that minute amount. Suddenly the nano 1.0 seems a little chunky, if that is even possible. Nano 2.0 even went on a diet and shed about 1/10th of an ounce. Again, on paper it doesn’t seem like much, but it’s something you notice when you are holding it. Over all, the nano 2.0 feels luxurious where the nano 1.0 felt “cool.”

Functionally the workings of the nano 2.0 are exactly like nano 1.0 and every other recent iPod with the addition of two new features: search and index. Search is, in my experience, pure gimmickry. It might be useful in the full size 80GB iPod, but just makes no sense in a 8GB nano. Search is a menu item that lets the user scroll in the title, one letter at a time, of a song, title, or artist. As you can imagine it can get quit tedious. Maybe in a lesser MP3 player this feature might be handy but the iPod’s scroll wheel and menu system is already easy to use. The search function unnecessarily complicates things in a player that exudes simplicity. I think Apple should remove this feature. It just clutters up the menu.

The index feature, on the other hand, is quite handy if you are a fast scroller with a full nano. The feature overlays the first letter of the artist/album/song as you scroll so easily know where you are as you fast scroll. But if you aren’t a fast scroller, or don’t have a large collection you’ll never even notice this feature.

Unlike it’s big brother, however, the nano cannot download games from the iTunes Store, play videos, or be used as a digital recorder (with optional microphone). It can display photos, however, with the help of optional software like Apple’s iPhoto or, on the Windows side, a photo storage program like Photoshop Elements 4 or Photoshop Album.

Included in the box is the usual: Install Guide, dock adapter (for use with universal accessories), an iPod to USB 2.0 cable, and ear phones. What isn’t included anymore is an iTunes CD. You now have to download iTunes from your computer, which is fine since that way you know you always have the most recent version. The nano requires iTunes 7 or later. It won’t work with earlier versions.

Another thing the nano 2.0 doesn’t work well with is nano 1.0 accessories. Blame this on the slight thinning of the nano 2.0 as well a slight shifting of the dock connector. Any accessories specific to the nano 1.0 most likely will not work on the 2.0. For example the nano 2.0 will not fit in the nano 1.0 dock adapter for the Altec-Lansing IM3 speakers. Hopefully a nano 2.0 adapter will be forthcoming soon. I would expect other speaker docks to have the same problem with the nano 2.0. So be aware. If an accessory says its “nano compatible” make sure it’s nano 2.0 compatible and not older stock meant for the original nano.

On the case front, I tried a no-brand nano 1.0 rubber sleeve as well as an Xtreme Mac Iconz Sport case. The generic sleeve fit fine and I was able to control the nano 2.0 through the case. No such luck with the Iconz case. The nano 2.0 was just too thin and created a gap making controlling the click wheel from the top of the case impossible. If you have a nano 1.0 and are thinking about upgrading keep these potential incompatibilities in mind. Also, don’t buy clearanced 1.0 items unless you can return them for full refund.

Apple advertises the nano 2.0s in all their glorious colors. So you may be surprised when you go to the store for a 8GB version and all they have is black. No, they are not sold out of the other colors; they are just not available (at least as of this writing). For whatever reason, the 8GB is available ONLY in black. Great if, like me, you wanted black, but no so hot if you wanted one of the other colors. The black unit is very slick though. The entire surface, including the top, bottom, and inside of the headphone jack is black.

Bottom line: the nano 2.0 8 GB is a terrific improvement over the 1.0. The new aluminum shell feels great in the hand and battery life is improved. The 4 GB was never enough storage for me so the 8 GB is a worthy upgrade for my needs. If you need more storage in a tiny package then I think you’ll agree.

On the other hand, if you have a 4 GB nano 1.0 and another 4 GB of storage doesn’t excite you I see nothing else that compelling about the nano 2.0 to necessitate upgrading. First timers should consider the 8 GB though. For 25% more money over the 4 GB’s price you get 100% more capacity. Maybe you don’t need that much space now, but I assume you are constantly adding songs to your collection. A larger storage capacity also lets you encode songs at a higher bit rate that will give you clearer, more detailed audio.