Not a fan at all of that form factor for the iPod Nano. I think that the current design works very well.
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Leaked Case Design Suggests iPod Nano May Gain Smaller Square Form Factor
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Okay, below is my (quick & dirty in MSPaint) concept mockup of the nano based on the leaked case design.
My admittedly wild guess is that the screen, if using Retina Display technology, might be able to accomodate an iOS home screen (with a 3x3 icon matrix?). Double-clicking the small Play/Pause button just below it would bring up the iOS Home screen, at which point it's a nanoTouch.
However, during regular music/media play, the screen is a "virtual clickwheel". Rubbing the screen in a circular motion during music play would allow "scrub-type" fast forward/rewind, while double-tapping on the left or right side of the screen would act as previous/next track. The tactile presence of the Play button would allow a user to determine the orientation of left/right, and thus control basic music playback without looking. Volume would be controlled by the volume buttons at all times. Thus, the physical click wheel could be eliminated.
During video playback, rubbing horizontally along the bottom of the screen would be the fast forward/rewind. Single-tapping left/right would be previous/next chapter, for those videos encoded with chapter marks. Single taps would be allowed here, as the user would logically be looking at the screen while watching video and would most likely not make inadvertent taps, unlike during music playback.
Again, this is all wild speculation.
My admittedly wild guess is that the screen, if using Retina Display technology, might be able to accomodate an iOS home screen (with a 3x3 icon matrix?). Double-clicking the small Play/Pause button just below it would bring up the iOS Home screen, at which point it's a nanoTouch.
However, during regular music/media play, the screen is a "virtual clickwheel". Rubbing the screen in a circular motion during music play would allow "scrub-type" fast forward/rewind, while double-tapping on the left or right side of the screen would act as previous/next track. The tactile presence of the Play button would allow a user to determine the orientation of left/right, and thus control basic music playback without looking. Volume would be controlled by the volume buttons at all times. Thus, the physical click wheel could be eliminated.
During video playback, rubbing horizontally along the bottom of the screen would be the fast forward/rewind. Single-tapping left/right would be previous/next chapter, for those videos encoded with chapter marks. Single taps would be allowed here, as the user would logically be looking at the screen while watching video and would most likely not make inadvertent taps, unlike during music playback.
Again, this is all wild speculation.
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of course. i mean look at what they did to the nano? Are they just going to throw it all away?
This is a good enough guess.
The iPT will probably take the market from $129-up, the current low end iPod Touch merely moving down in price and staying the same design. The nano-shuffle will then be $59-$99. However, it's all an assumption. I think they should keep the G2 shuffle and make it $29.
iPT is such an awesome entertainment-surfing-email-document browsing-music-movie-app mini-computer for the price. It is destined to be THE iPod for the decade. 2020--it's going to be far more capable than the current iPad and will be a kiddie-grade desktop-mini that can go portable.
I can see two volume buttons similar to the iPhone 4, a power button, and a slot for the 30-pin connector. Its more likely a Nano.
The question is...would it have a VGA video recording ability.
EDIT: I take that back.....I think it can be the new iPod Shuffle with a 30-pin connector. I just rememebered a recent patent the iPod Nano will be the same dimension however the screen is elongated to a widescreen and there is a virtual click wheel.
Even after my long-winded concept, I hope you're right. I do like the physical click wheels on my nanos, and my concept looks too much like the much maligned 3rd gen nano, sans the click wheel.
Or maybe not? Take a look at this:
Advertising like this won't come cheap you know
the only relevant post worth quoting.
That's what I said.
Now be a good lad and go find the patent application for the virtual click wheel, it's on this site somewhere.
omg man , u are such a genius...
i d buy one , and the other one , and the third one , it would be really nice thing!
but still , i think that square nano with touch-screen is better than the old one with a wheel , if i want to buy an iPod , i d better go with Classic , if i want to buy a multimedia iPod , i d go with Touch , if i want a really small music player , i d go with iPod Shuffle , i dont know who buys nano`s , i dont really like them , btw , i dont really like shuffle too
but that would be nice to see new iPod nano there , and im still waiting for iPad Nano as well Sadly, I think you may be right, but I think it'll be a disaster if they get rid of the Classic and the top of the line iPod becomes something with less storage and twice the price.
Whatever happened to the idea of "your entire music library in your pocket?" I can almost do it with my iPod Classic but definitely won't come close with something smaller, especially when it encourages other things to be stored on it (apps and video) in addition to the music.
For some of us, the iPod is still about the music...
Im sorry but HOW BLIND CAN YOU GUYS BE-Its the new ipod shuffle-The hole in the case is for the clip, there will still be a ipod nano-just more like a ipod touch mini without the wifi
I was bored so I threw this one together.
LOL. That's pretty good. I think that the icons would be replaced with the Play, Stop, Foward, and back buttons, assuming that it's the shuffle. A device that small wouldn't handle iOS well.
Oops, sorry about that; didn't mean to steal your spotlight. Shows what happens when I don't read the whole thread...
I just MRoogled for the patent, but haven't found a reasonable match yet.
I was bored so I threw this one together.
You snarky fellows, with your mad Photoshop skillz... (shakes tiny fist)
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Oh Please Not the "Fatty" Again
Been there...done that....not good.
The current nano form factor is really nice, they just need to up the capacity to 32/64 GB.
And please don't take away the buttons!!! When the device is in a pocket or in the dark, I can still operate my iPod via the buttons.
The worst would be a return to the fatty with a tiny touch screen that is the same size as the end of my finger. That would be the end of the Nano.
Maybe they are trying to force people into the "touch".....hope not.
Been there...done that....not good.
The current nano form factor is really nice, they just need to up the capacity to 32/64 GB.
And please don't take away the buttons!!! When the device is in a pocket or in the dark, I can still operate my iPod via the buttons.
The worst would be a return to the fatty with a tiny touch screen that is the same size as the end of my finger. That would be the end of the Nano.
Maybe they are trying to force people into the "touch".....hope not.
The only problem with the configuration shown in the patent drawings jeznav has found is that the user must be looking at the screen. There is no tactile point of reference to allow "blind" media control as with a physical click wheel. It would have to be limited to single/double/triple taps, analogous to the in-line controls on the shuffle's headphones.
may be that has tactile touch screen, so you can still click it?
i think that is Shuffle not Nano ( and assuming iPod nano is replaced with iPod touch, but the question is price $$$!!!)