The sixth-generation iPod nano's design marks the largest divergence from the nano line since the device was introduced in 2005. The new device is also the first iPod nano to have a touchscreen interface, and the last iPod with a screen to get a touchscreen interface (not counting the languishing iPod classic, as that would just turn it into an iPod touch). As of now, the nano no longer has the telltale circular click wheel that helped to make the iPod so iconic.

However, the new iPod nano differs from its touchscreen iDevice brethren in that it doesn't run iOS, or at least not a version of iOS that any of us are familiar with so far. In reality, the sixth-generation nano is kind of a mutant—a cross between the old iPod and the new, where you can move things around with your finger but can still only play music and perform a few other functions. What to make of this electronic chimera?

In the box

It's really more of a tiny plastic cube than a box, but Apple includes the typical items inside: the 8GB or 16GB nano displayed on top with instruction booklets underneath, then the headphones and the USB cable.

There is nothing special to note here—especially if you're at all familiar with any of Apple's other iPods—except for the headphones. Strangely, Apple has chosen not to include its now-typical headphones with built-in remote with the new iPod nano. The device does work with such headphones (if you buy them from Apple, or use a pair that you got with a different iDevice)—you can pause, play, skip ahead, skip back, and turn up/down the volume—but you apparently don't get that privilege included with your $149 or $179 purchase. (A reader has pointed out that the previous-gen nano didn't come with headphones with a remote either.)







Okay, we take that back. The other obvious difference is that the nano (again) no longer has its "stick of gum" form factor. The sixth-gen nano is now a tiny square with a clip on the back—barely bigger than the iPod shuffle, and practically all screen on the front. In fact, the nano and shuffle are now more similar than they have ever been, the only major differences between them being the existence of the screen, an iPod dock connector on the bottom, and volume buttons on the top.

Can I get an icon wobble?

As we mentioned earlier, the new nano's interface sports a very iOS-like look. The screen can hold four rounded-corner icons at a time, and there are four screens that you can swipe through with your finger (indicated by the row of dots along the bottom of the screen). If you have ever used an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you'll instinctively know how to interact with it. Tap on the icon you want to select and scroll through lists by moving up or down with your finger.

It may in fact be some secret variation of iOS (it would be almost crazy if it weren't), but Apple insists that it's definitely not iOS and you should stop thinking those unclean thoughts immediately.

Indeed, there are parts of the nano's not-iOS variant that behave differently than the real iOS. For one, there's no home button to tap when you want to return to the icons from within an "app"—instead, you can either swipe right (to essentially go "back," like in a browser), or you can tap and hold in the center of the screen until the home screen comes back up.

Additionally, there's no way to sync any apps of yours to the device. What you see is what you get, and you are limited to nine options related to audio you synced from iTunes (now playing, playlists, artists, albums, songs, genres, genius mixes, composers, and podcasts), the radio tuner, fitness, photos, clock, and settings.

You can't organize things into folders, but you can move around the icons in order to prioritize the ones that you use the most. Again, this is just like on other iOS devices—you tap and hold on an icon to make them all wobble, then drag the icons around between screens. When you're finished, you tap the button on the top of the device to lock the icons into place. And, for those curious, the icons on the nano do appear to wobble at the same frequency and angle as those on the iPhone.

Finally, the touchscreen interface enables you to rotate the screen to your liking. This is particularly useful if you have it clipped to your clothing and want to navigate the screen more easily without unclipping it—just use two fingers to rotate the screen and it will stick there forever, until you rotate it again.

(Apple seems to claim that this is enough to call the nano "multitouch," though iFixit disagrees with this definition, saying that multitouch requires at least three touchpoints. So far, the nano's interface can only take two touchpoints at a time, and only for this screen rotation feature.)

If you want to see all of these features in action, check out the short video below (please excuse my allergy-filled narration):

Organize your playlists

Apple has added a feature that's not new to its other devices, but new to the iPod nano, and that is the ability to create and edit your playlists right on the device. Undoubtedly the reason Apple added this is because of the nano's touchscreen—why not? If you scroll to the top of any playlist, you are presented with "Edit" and "Clear" buttons (and if you scroll to the top of the general playlist view, there is an "Add" button).

Again, if you have used this feature on an iPhone or iPod touch, you probably already know how it works: once you tap "Edit," there are red minus signs next to each song that allow you to delete them, and list icons on the right-hand side. When you tap and drag on a song's list icon, you can rearrange its order in the playlist.

To some, this may seem like a novelty feature, but I find myself creating and editing new playlists on the fly relatively often. This implementation is certainly more fleshed out than Apple's old On-the-Go playlist feature created for the scroll wheel iPods, and I prefer the new way.