Tuesday, September 09, 2008, 02:30 pm

Apple unveils new iPod nano with built-in accelerometer

By AppleInsider Staff

Apple on Tuesday introduced the new fourth generation iPod nano, the thinnest iPod ever featuring a built-in accelerometer and new tapered design with a curved aluminum and glass enclosure, in nine more vibrant colors.

The new iPod nano incorporates the Cupertino-based company's new "Genius technology" which automatically creates playlists from songs in your music library that go great together, with just one click.

The fourth generation Nano, with a new 'tapered tube' form factor revealed in advance by accessory makers, is the thinnest ever with recycle-friendly designs that use arsenic-free glass and are also clean of Brominated Flame Retardants, mercury, and PVC plastics.

The new iPod nano also features a refined user interface, a high resolution portrait display and a built-in accelerometer that automatically switches to Cover Flow when rotated. Users can swipe the click wheel to run through Cover Flow titles. It can also be used to browse through photos in Cover Flow mode and to shuffle songs just by shaking the player.

The new Nano also gets built-in audio recording features, the first in an iPod outside of the iPhone. Along with the new iPod touch, the new Nano will offer headphones with a mic as a $29 accessory option.

Users can expect up to 24 hours of music playback or four hours of video playback. An 8GB model will retail for just $149 and be available later this week, while a 16GB model for $199 is due in stores by next week. Both models come in a spectrum of 9 different colors: silver, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, pink, (PRODUCT) RED and black.

"The iPod nano is the world's most popular music player and we've made it even better for this holiday season," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. "We think users are going to love the amazing new design, the automatic Genius playlist creation, as well as automatically going into Cover Flow with just a turn of the wrist."


The new nano blends a two-inch display with a curved aluminum and glass enclosure. It was was designed to fit even more comfortably in your hand, Apple says.

The 16GB model holds up to 4,000 songs, 14,000 photos and 16 hours of video, and the 8GB model holds up to 2,000 songs, 7,000 photos and eight hours of video.