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Hexiii

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 30, 2011
1,113
373
Prague, Czech Republic
Just came to mind, if Apple would bother putting retina into an iPod Nano. It seems pointless now, but they could add some Mini App Store.

What do you think?
 

APlotdevice

macrumors 68040
Sep 3, 2011
3,145
3,861
Screen already puts considerable drain on the battery. Retina could make it significantly worse (looking at teardowns, there doesn't appear to be any room to fit a bigger battery).
 

Carlanga

macrumors 604
Nov 5, 2009
7,132
1,409
You don't need retina to have an app store and retina displays hit the battery hard.
 

CodeCowboy

macrumors member
Aug 24, 2011
38
9
Dallas, TX
App store for the nano would NOT be overkill.

All the nano needs to be "useful" as an app sales point is bluetooth.

Then I could have notifications post from iPhone to the nano as a watch. Great for exercising. Who was that text message from? Do I care to stop and answer or no?

Incoming call... do I want to answer? Yes? tap. No? tap.

Bluetooth headphones would already be connected...

What about watch faces? .99 cents for a watch face you really like seems like an easy sale.

Stream music from your iPhone...then you have pandora, etc instantly available.

LOTS of apps like that would be very valuable, even if you had to buy on iTunes and then sync your iPod to it to download them.
 

Hexiii

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 30, 2011
1,113
373
Prague, Czech Republic
Some of the games...

2zq4ea8.png
 

PlaceofDis

macrumors Core
Jan 6, 2004
19,241
6
i don't even like the current nano's as it is. i think its good that they have them and the ipod classics for their simplicity alone. sometimes less is more.
 

TyroneShoes2

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2011
133
3
i don't even like the current nano's as it is. i think its good that they have them and the ipod classics for their simplicity alone. sometimes less is more.
Agreed. The UI for flash iPods has been going down hill for some time. I just bought a used G3 nano because anything newer is just too small to hold or operate, at least if you want to read what is on the screen and interact with it. [yes, the 4G and 5G have the same size screen; they just don't have as good of a UI, and are harder to hold in a human-sized hand; smaller is not necessarily better].

Now the shuffle is different; its for shuffling, which means you basically don't interact with it that much, but for podcasts and audio books? The controls on a modern iPod just suck out loud.

I left my soapbox in my other pants, but here's what really bugs me about the UI for the nano:

Regardless of how small the screen may or may not be, their approach in how to use that real estate is ridiculously bush-league. I don't need album art (or a generic "note") taking up 90% of what is available, with teensy little lettering scrolling on by below it. When I start to push buttons on an iPod, it should immediately shrink the album art down to nothing and expand the controls I am accessing, so that they dominate the screen. If I press one button to wake up the backlight, then the iPod should dim the album art and put the song title, album, artist, and time bar in over that in readable type, ferchrissake. If I start to scroll, it should hide everything but the scroll indicators and the time bar (and blow those up to dominate the screen) until I finish. Its a friggin' no-brainer; why can't they figure that out?

The UI for iPods is not smart at all. In fact, it's pretty stupid. For instance, who ever thought it was a good idea to make the back rounded? Try to operate the buttons and clickwheel on a 5G with one hand while it is sitting on a desk in front of you. Basically impossible. Why not make all the laptops with rounded bottoms, too? It's just as stupid of an idea.

And I am tired of everything Apple does being designed by people who have the eyesight of 20-year olds. They live in a bubble and don't have a clue what most folks over 40 have to deal with.

I wanted another 35 years from Steve; we didn't get it. I wanted it partly because if what he did in the last 35 years is any indication, he would have taken us somewhere even more incredible in the next 35. But what I REALLY wanted is for him to age and finally realize that how eyesight declines with age needs to be addressed in his UI. We may never get that, either.
 

Hexiii

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 30, 2011
1,113
373
Prague, Czech Republic
yes they look cool and nice but try PLAYING those games on it. Temmple Run would be very hard as you can't see upcoming breaks, and obsticals. nice rendering though.

Well, I chose the games that could actually be playable. But it's just a concept, there's no way Nano would run Real Racing 2.
 

JMG

macrumors 6502a
May 4, 2006
554
2
Your fingers aren't small and thin enough retina or not.
 

anomie

Suspended
Jun 29, 2010
557
152
they should make a regular iPod nano with the click wheel and the retina display, and make the current one the iPod Touch Nano. I'm sure with IGZO, it can achieve retina display-type resolutions.

lol, clickwheel. it´s 2012, bro!
 

TacticalDesire

macrumors 68020
Mar 19, 2012
2,286
23
Michigan
I don't think a 'retina' display would be very practical on a nano. Those devices are great for working out and leaving in the car. You don't have to look at the screen much with those anyway.
 

ftaok

macrumors 603
Jan 23, 2002
6,487
1,572
East Coast
220 PPI is Apple's claim, making them close to Retina Display, as Apple also claim that the human eye can only see 220 PPI.

Apple's made no such claim. They have claimed, that at typical viewing distances for smartphones, the pip of a screen needs to be about 300 for an average human to not see the pixels. I'd guess that a nano is typically viewed closer than a smartphone, so you'd need even more resolution.
 

Hexiii

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 30, 2011
1,113
373
Prague, Czech Republic
Apple's made no such claim. They have claimed, that at typical viewing distances for smartphones, the pip of a screen needs to be about 300 for an average human to not see the pixels. I'd guess that a nano is typically viewed closer than a smartphone, so you'd need even more resolution.

Well, I can't really see the iPhone pixels even if I look from the closest distance I can :D And I don't have a bad sight.
 
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