Apple Inc. iPod nano (Fifth-Generation)

In 2005, Apple shocked the world with the original iPod nano—then the thinnest music player in the world—and it has spent the four subsequent years improving the device in a variety of big, medium, and small ways. Heading into the 2009 holiday season, the company has introduced the fifth-generation iPod nano (8GB/$149, 16GB/$179), which is without question the most capable version yet, adding a wider screen, video camera, microphone, speaker, FM radio, and pedometer to last year’s fourth-generation model. Yet apart from some significant changes to the color and texture of its casing, the fifth-generation nano manages to squeeze all of these new features into a body that looks and sounds a lot like its predecessor.


Some people will consider the aforementioned laundry list of new features to be enough to make a purchase without further elaboration: the fifth-generation iPod nano can be blithely summed up as a better fourth-generation model, and left at that. But that’s not entirely accurate. Changes to its screen, body, and battery performance—particularly when using its new features—should be understood up front, lest you find yourself surprised by what you don’t know about the new model.



iLounge’s comprehensive review of the fifth-generation iPod nano looks both at the device as a whole, and at what has changed from its predecessor—more critically, how—enabling you to make a more informed purchase, or pass on one if you don’t find the new model’s performance characteristics to be to your liking. There are quite a few surprises in the sections below, so we encourage you to read through as many as you want; our Conclusions section at the bottom explains our rating and overall opinions on what we’ve seen.