Jason Dunn
07-30-2008, 06:18 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/backstage/comments/ipod-nano-4g-a-zune-alike/' target='_blank'>http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ba...g-a-zune-alike/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"It may be hard to believe, but from what we've now heard from multiple sources, it's true: the fourth-generation iPod nano will look like... a Microsoft Zune. Well, sort of. Contradicting speculation that Apple was planning to transform the new nano into a miniature iPod touch, complete with a smaller touchscreen, we've been told that this year's nano upgrade will go in a different direction. Described by one source as looking like "a Zune Flash... or whatever it's called," the new nano has a vertically (tall) oriented display with a Click Wheel underneath, preserving the button-based control scheme that users have found easiest to use without looking down at the screen. The new nano's screen will gain the same 1.5:1 widescreen aspect ratio as the iPhone and iPod touch, versus the 1.33:1 ratio of the prior iPod nano and iPod classic, and you'll rotate the device to watch videos on it."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1217436924.usr1.jpg" border="0" />Does this surprise anyone else? It doesn't surprise me. The design of the Nano "fatty" never seemed particularly appealing to me - the screen was too small to be useful for, well, really anything. And it's not like the second generation Nano was too big - I liked the design it quite a bit, which is why I like the design of the Zune 4/8 so much. It's a nice balance of screen size and functionality, and about the only way I'd improve the outer design of the Zune 4/8 would be to make the screen bigger, nixing that huge bezel. I'm not convinced that a wide-screen aspect ratio screen is appropriate for a device this size - what do you think? I really want to see the Zune 80 gain a wide-aspect ratio, WVGA resolution screen, but on a device as small as the Zune 4/8...would you want to watch movies on it?</p>