The new nano: Has Jonathan Ive lost it?!?
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
As the lead designer of the iMac, iPod, and iPhone, Johnathan Ive has an impressive track record for coming up with eye-pleasing yet functional designs. Unfortunately, if recently leaked photos of the upcoming nano prove to be legit (and it is looking like they may be) it looks like Ive may have gone to the creativity well one too many times.
Now, of course no one knows for sure that those photos are indeed of the actual upcoming nano, but let’s assume for a moment that the fact all major sites running the pics have been asked by Apple legal to take them down, claiming ownership, as a “yes”.
The word that best sums up the design of the new nano is “fugly”, which is not even a word. That’s how wrong it looks. It looks so wrong that most people decided the photos were fakes right off the bat. Many of us assumed that someone with only marginal photoshopping skill squashed a couple regular iPods, colored them, and laid them out in a blurry circle. But it is looking more and more like those pics are the real deal.
So why the bizarre design choice? Odds are, going wider and squarer will allow for a screen closer in size to the current video iPod’s, so likely the move is to allow videos to play on the nano while still keeping a cost-effective clickwheel navigation scheme (obviously a touch screen would be too expensive for a nano, and inefficient while exercising, a key use of nano buyers).
To be fair, I will assume these things must look better in person, and in truth, I am not a big fan of the current nano’s design, so a redesign is fine by me. While I think today’s nano looks cool, I found it was just too small to fit in a grown man’s hand and navigate the tiny clickwheel one handed. Using a nano to me seemed akin to when my wife wears exceedingly uncomfortable shoes to a wedding because they look nice, but they really aren’t the best choice, functionally. Looks are certainly important, but ease of use is still paramount.
Given Ives’ track record, perhaps once we use this new nano, we will appreciate its improved ergonomics, and overlook the unsexiness of it. And besides, if the nano ends up looking like the Quasimodo of the iPod line, I’m sure Speck or someone will make a nice looking case to hide it from the torch-wielding townspeople.
You guys are hilarious!
Do you actually believe that thing’s for real?! Please…
It’ one of the worst Apple product fake jobs I’ve ever seen. (and I’ve seen them all) I can’t understand why so many people seem to think this is real.
well… I have a theory:
what if apple is gonna make the ipod familly bigger?
add new ipods design to the current line…
I think that the nanos r gonna stay as they r, and that these are the new flash based ipod with video.
that means that the line will have:
-nano (as it is right now)
-flash based ipod (the new pics)
-regular ipods (with price reduction, for the people who care more about the volume of the drive than the size and speed)
-and most important VIDEO ipod (a fullscreen touchscreen ipod with OSX)
I may be wrong, but this kinda sound practical. and I can also dream, can’t I?
First, and even more shocking than that abominable design/mashup, is that the American heritage Dictionary says:
fug·ly (fÅg’lÄ“)
adj. fug·li·er, fug·li·est
Vulgar Slang Very ugly.
(Holy Noah Webster, Batman!)
Second, the best hope I have that the cease and desists are intentional diversions by Apple is the “photo” taken down from 9to5mac.com. No one in their right mind would make a shi- uh, Zune brown nano.
No one.
Maybe they want to make it right by first having used a slogan that would discriminate bigger people, so now they bring out a product that shows those people that Apple really cares about them!
(Sorry if this appears twice, but I haven ‘t seen my comment since I posted it, so I’m trying again)
I think that maybe Apple is trying to compensate all the anger they caused with the iMac-slogan, by introducing a heavy looking iPod nano, that show to everyone that even they can think large, and that they didn’t want to insult the bigger persons..
Puh-leeze. There’s no way that lousy photoshop job is real
No doubt Apple is demanding removal of images (if they even are) because they’re Apple professionally-shot promotional images of the iPod that are being distorted to make this abomination.
Plus, let’s face it, if it can get enough suckers to think their copyright assertions on the original images are “proof” that the doctored images are real, it only serves Apple to make people doubt rumor sites that much more in the future if someone DOES happen to get a professionally photographed “leaked” image weeks in advance.
Fat is jolly.
Even if the pics themselves are really from Apple, there is no indication that they are of the new nano — if anything this is a full iPod — no WAY this is a nano, you’d have to be pretty stupid to believe that. The next nano will be the same size or smaller.
I for one welcome our new fatPod overlord!
To all you who so confidently called “fake”… OH SNAP!
ur all really really sad