I like the clickwheel.Going the same way as the shuffle - that just plain sucks.
I liked my floppies too.
Things move on.
Mechanical parts cost and break.
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Apple's Updated iPod Nano to Lose Click Wheel?
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I liked my floppies too.
Things move on.
Mechanical parts cost and break.
Depends entirely on the user interface applied to the touchscreen. Of course it's not going to be a tiny version of the iPhone layout, it would have to be designed for a screen that size. At it's most simple, it could be just divided into four buttons with the ability to show you a picture for what the button does. They could draw a circle on the screen and you get a clickwheel, but with the ability to show images behind it. More than likely if they did do something with a 2" touchscreen it would have more though put into it than my 5 seconds thinking i posted above, and can't imagine they'd ever release it if it wasn't at lease as easy to use as the clickwheel (which, incidentally, i hate - far too fiddly if you're trying to select something specific).
David
Isn't that a Nano? (Albeit with extra lead in the back to make it large and heavy like the classic)
It's an iPod Nano - the only control now is the click wheel, and you could have the same size of wheel on the touch screen. Plus you could easily scroll through your songs are albums directly on the screen, without using the scroll wheel. The current screen area on the Nano is larger than the scroll wheel. I think it is mostly a matter of cost; what's the cost of a touch screen compared to the cost of the scroll wheel.
And Apple could change the shape to keep the same area (needed for the battery) but with a larger 16:9 screen filling the whole area. That would also mean the headphone plug could be further away from the dock connector, so I can listen with headphones and charge at the same time again.
No idea what Apple will be doing, but touch screen is definitely a possibility.
If they put in a touch screen, I imagine it would be in addition to the click wheel. The touch screen would have basic multitouch capabilities for navigation, but there will still be a click wheel. The nano cannot lose the click wheel, or else nobody would want it. Surely Apple knows that?
HO...LY... *****!
small touchscreens are so crap -especially when there's no room to grab the device fully like a small Nano.
The problem is that a device the size of a Nano means its rather annoying and uncomfortable to touch the area of the screen closest to the palm when holding in one hand - you really need to bend you thumb (try it!)
This means you need two hands...
small touchscreens are so crap -especially when there's no room to grab the device fully like a small Nano.
The problem is that a device the size of a Nano means its rather annoying and uncomfortable to touch the area of the screen closest to the palm when holding in one hand - you really need to bend you thumb (try it!)
This means you need two hands...
Seconded. I tried using my old iPhone 3G as an "iPod" now that I have my iPhone 4, and it just was.not.working. Changing music was too much of a hassle, and "shake to shuffle" barely worked, when it bothered working at all. I love my 2G Nano, particularly because of the click-wheel. I can operate it one-handed, without looking, while I'm driving. I've been wanting a new one (since mine is only 4GB), but not if there's no click-wheel.
Why would nobody want it? The click wheel does two things: It has five points where you can click (and with my fingers, they are definitely on the small side), and you can scroll. No problem for a touch screen: Move finger up/down for scrolling, tap one one of the four sides or the centre for the five clicks. Much more natural than what we have now, and I think easier to use in the car without looking at it, because the area to click is just so much wider. If done properly, you can pick it up any way you like and it still works.
Agreed that controls on the iPhone / iPod Touch are too complicated. Feature creep. Whatever they do, it needs to be designed for one-handed + blind use.
The nano is by far my favorite iPod, losing the click wheel wiil make it more difficult to operate IMHO, they screwed the shuffle out of existence, let's hope that they don't do that with the Nano (although I expect that they will)...
What do you think of the idea below?
Remove the click wheel, and have only the screen. But control the iPod by performing the click wheel moves on the screen. Now this is something I'd LOVE to have. What do you think?
Remove the click wheel, and have only the screen. But control the iPod by performing the click wheel moves on the screen. Now this is something I'd LOVE to have. What do you think?
Removing the click wheel is a bad, bad, bad idea. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the reasons why I bought my Nano. I can use that darn thing in complete darkness, without my glasses on, and it's perfect. When you get used to a click wheel, you could use it in a cave...blind-folded.
If I wanted an mp3 player with a freakin' touch screen, I'd get the iTouch.
If I wanted an mp3 player with a freakin' touch screen, I'd get the iTouch.
It was obvious BEFORE the fact.
A good deal of us on here predicted this use back in July while a great many said we were nuts for thinking Apple would ditch the click wheel...
COMPLETELY agree! I have a 2nd Gen also that I use sometimes while I'm driving and you're right...don't even have to take my eyes off the road to use it.
Add a touchscreen to a Nano. Will never buy that model again
it would have to be a pretty freakin intuitive interface to lose the clickwheel. but this is apple we're talking about, so there's hope.
Hope? Nope.... The brilliant minds that reengineered the shuffle are at play here.
Because on the menu for the nano, the options there are too many options to fit on the screen for even small fingers. You need analog controls to get through the menu. The click wheel may be small, but It has a wider range of area to click the buttons on the click wheel.
It could look like this:
I hope it doesn't stop playing music if I hold it in my left hand.
It could look like this:
They wouldn't do that because that would be for a shuffle. The nano, is supposed to have a larger menu to play video. That wouldn't have a large enough screen to have the complex menu to be used for a nano.
But if you imagine that interactive screen UNDER the current screen, but just in place of the current clickwheel, I think it becomes an interesting concept.