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Apple iPod Nano (4G) 8 GB
by illusiveman
-When I bought this product-
A few years ago I had been using an MP3 player which was starting to wear out after about a year or so of usage, Christmas was approaching so I thought I would look up MP3 players in the Argos catalogue.
I found the Ipod Nano (8 GB Version) which at the time was selling for about £110 so ... I decided to ask for one for Christmas.
-Features-
It has 8 GB of internal flash storage which is plenty of storage for my music collection which at the time only took up about 3 GB; this left me with enough room to store some videos on the device as well as my music.
The device features a 2 inch LCD screen with a resolution of 320 x 240 at 204 pixels per inch. To me this is suitable if you have a short video clip that you might want to watch (it gets annoying holding the Ipod in the same position while watching a longer video).
A music player is built into the Ipod to allow you to play your music, the Ipod supports AAC (Itunes store), MP3 (16 to 320kbps) and MP3 (Variable Bit Rate), it allows you to view the current song playing and also the full list of songs stored on the Ipod, you can also activate features such as shuffle and repeat if you want to listen to random tracks or listen to the same track more than once.
A video player is also included to allow you to watch any videos you may have stored on the device, although from experience it only takes certain formats which I believe are m4v, MP4 and MOV.
Photo viewing is also supported by the means of a built in photo viewer that supports JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only), and PNG formats.
The battery life was always very good to me. I usually find I had to charge it about once or twice a week when just listening to Music, although watching videos drains the battery even quicker so found I would be charging it at least once per day if I watched a lot of videos.
You can also buy a cable that allows you to connect the Ipod to a TV screen for viewing on a large screen, although I would recommend plugging it into charge while doing this as it is a big drain on battery life (the cable I have has a standard USB connector as well as the dock connector and AV cables).
To navigate the Ipod you slide your finger along the track pad at the bottom of the device, this is where the play, pause and menu buttons are located. I find that sometimes it was difficult to scroll to one specific menu button although this could have been me scrolling too fast.
-Limitation/Disadvantages-
There is no room for expandable storage by the means of a memory card so if you fill the 8 GB it would mean having to delete files to free up space.
Itunes must be used to transfer files to the Ipod due to the way it organizes the files on the device.
As it uses the standard apple USB charging / data transfer lead it means you must always use the cable supplied with the Ipod and if you lose it or damage it you would have to order a replacement just to be able to charge it.
-Overall rating-
I used this Ipod for a few years until I got my Ipod Touch in 2010 and was always a very good MP3 player, I didn't watch videos all that often due to the small screen size so I will give this a 4/5 rating
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Apple iPod touch (2G) 8 GB
by thriftygiftyisme
=Apple iPod touch 8 GB=
My treat to myself, I brought this myself at Christmas.
=Contents=
Included in the box is a USB cable, Head Phones, IPod Dock adapter, and a quick start booklet, which explains everything you need to know.
=Colour=
I have the white IPOD, it was also available in ... Black.
=Dimensions=
The size us just under 6cm in width, 11cm in height, and just under 1cm in depth. This is light in weigh, and weighs 101grams. The visual screen is 3.5in wide, and the pixel resolution is 960x 640 at 326 pixels per inch.
=Buttons=
There are four buttons on the IPod
1st - This is on the front, which you press to take you back to the home page, also you use this when the IPod is in sleep mode, this needs to be unlocked for you to get access to the slide bar, - this bar unlocks all the functions on the IPod.
2nd. This is a push button, on the top id the iPod, with this you can lock the iPod to prevent any problems that could incur such as getting knocked off channel when you have the iPod in a pocket or handbag. With this button of you hold the button down whilst the iPod is unlocked, this brings up a power off menu, which you can slide to turn the IPod off or you can turn the button displayed at the bottom.
3rd and 4th - There are also two buttons which are connected to each other, and these are located on the left hand side of the IPOs, these are the volume control to increase and decrease the volume.
I will say although there are only 4 buttons it does take a little bit of time to get the hang of which one does what, I guess it was harder for me as I have always had MP3 players, and now this IPod comes along and changes everything, but slowly getting the hang of it, although give it to my daughter and within a few days anyone had of thought she'd had it for years. I blame it on the generation gap. (that the excuse I'm sticking too.)
=The Touch Screen=
Here we go another help moment, but with my daughter to hand, and the instruction booklet.
The touch screen was quite easy to get the hang of, I put that down to having a touch screen on my smart phone, and the apps are quite a good size to touch.
=The Apps=
The iPod touch has 17 pre-installed applications on it
Games Centre,
Photos
You Tube
Calendar
Contacts,
Maps,
Stocks,
Weather,
Utilities,
Notes,
App Store,
I-Tunes,
Music
Mail
Safari
Videos
Settings.
=Internet Access=
Some of the apps do require internet access, such as Maps, You Tube and App Store, to name a few.
=Additional Apps=
There are literally thousands of additional apps that you can get, on any subject from business to weather, games to bingo.
=Cost=
Some apps are free to download which others are chargeable, any charges are fully displayed before you download, and can be from 69p to even £3, I tend to have downloaded a wide selection of free ones. They are easy to download from the apps store.
=Change Your Mind - Apps=
This is easy to delete the apps if you change your mind, you just hold down the icon on the app you want to delete, then when the app wobbles, this displays as an X you then press and conformation screen shows delete and then bye bye app.
=Music=
When you go into the music app, a screen appears, and there are five icons,
Playlists
Artists
Albums
Songs
More.
You can search through the music icons when you have a song playing, and from here you can rewind, fast forward, play, pause, or change the album.
If the album you have downloaded has album artwork, this displays as a background picture.
=Speakers=
You can choose to listen to the music without headphones or an iPod dock, as there are built in speakers, it gives a basic level of sound, but personally I prefer to have a dock if I want the music on when I'm in the room.
=Videos=
The app for Videos gives you the freedom to search through and watch videos easily, although the downside is the size of the screen, personally I'd rather watch videos on my tablet. but it is all personal taste.
=Photos=
You can just transfer photos from your computer onto the iPod, and there ready for you at a touch of an app.
=ITunes=
ITunes is the device needed for the transfer of music, you need to transfer your music to an iTunes compatible format, you can also download music directly from the iTunes app, or buy from Amazon,
=Battery=
The battery is a built in battery, and gives up to 36 hours of use, this does depend on the activities undertaken. You can also charge via a USB cable, which can be via a computer, or one of those plugs you can attach a USB cable.
=Memory=
This is a 8B memory, and I have installed photos, apps , music and there is still plenty of room left.
=If=
If I knew I would have chosen the 16GB as that would give me more room for apps as they can eat into the memory, but for the first one I am pleased with it.
=Price and Availability=
The IPod is available in many retailers from Argos to Amazon, Curry's to Tesco. Prices do vary.
Rough Guide
8GB - £130 to £160
16gb - £160 to £200
32 Gb = £200 Plus
=Would I recommend=
I would defiantly recommend these, not showing my age, but I was around when the Sony Walkman was the new must have gadget, then the personal CD player, so I am a but long in the tooth with electrical, and to be honest I am still finding my way around this IPod, it is a case of "sweetheart" (my daughter) can you do this or what have I done. But compared to my MP3 players, it's like comparing a 10 hour economy flight to 10 hours in First class......
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