We know you come here for the hard, gritty, "$2 slice" end of the gadget news spectrum, and we've got that in spades in our video hands-on of the new
iPod nano. We start out shooting the iPod with our regular Sanyo Xacti rig, and then
dive in to the nano's shot -- real movie magic at work. Granted, the nano's camera isn't that magical. Apple's piled on a huge complement of effects to disguise this fact, and in truth, some of the Photo Booth-style filters and distortions really do make the video more interesting (cyborg and kaleidoscope were a couple of our favorites), but the basic video mode is much lower quality than the recent crop of cheap pocket video cameras, and a far cry from the
iPhone 3GS's quality. Motion is shaky, the video is pixelated and oversaturated, and the mic is horribly easy to distort, especially when you're talking into the back while shooting. But really, we suppose we couldn't expect much out of such an offering, and it certainly does spice up the traditional PMP formula. Video is after the break, with the second video offering up the few non-conformist videos that happened to be shot vertically (it's a little difficult to tell how the video is recording, or even if it's recording, since the indicator is pretty small). By the time they made it to Viddler they ended up stretched wide and inexplicably upside down. Magic, we tell you.
posted Sep 10th 2009 5:40PM
This will be awesome when its hacked to be a video spycam.
Let me clarify - - Higher Quality video spycam.
Yeah, would be good!
I must admit, I have seen worse video, the quality isn't that bad.
"No no no, that does not look like a video camera." ;)
ya creepers can use iPods now in malls to take pics of my sexy rearo
nice
No!!!!!! "ya creepers can use iPods now in malls to take VIDEOS of my sexy rearo"
OMG!!! i will sooooo trade you my amazing apple gaming device for that camera... deal : )
Looks fun.!
Especially the effects. I like the first video with the cars and bike distortion. I don't see documentaries made with this but its a decent addition.
I watched the second video first and was like, the video quality is terrible for the first segment, must be some "retro" effect. Kaledescope effect looks neat too.
But teh camera is in the wrong spoooot, mooooooom!
/impression of Engadget bloggers
Really now, when have you ever owned a digital camera that thin where the lens was in a place that you didn't need to hold it on the side? Come to think of it- when have you ever owned a camera of any kind this thin? Most people's hands cover up the entire back anyways since it's so small, so quit your whining, they did their best.
Now if only the Ipod Touch had the same thing.....*sigh*
It wouldn't be such a great gaming platform then...
Hey, at least it's a great gaming machine.
Damn you loocas!
Cameras: Bad for games! Great for music!..?...?...
I didn't even read the article. I came straight to the comments section to see how others felt about the lack of camera in the Touch. In fact, I refuse to read about any Apple product till I see "iPod Touch: now with camera" in the headline. Apple, I am disappoint.
well you see the way you said that it would not be such a great gaming device, how come the nintendo dsi has a camera in built? its still a good portable, but i do beleive that apple will listen to all of us and put in a camera in the next gen, yay extra year... because they always look at what the consumers want, and when they see how many people are dissapointed in the no camera deal on the Ipod Touch they are bound to put it in later on... just an opinion people
@ THE ONE
I doubt it. Apple does whatever they want despite what the consumer is telling them. How long did it take for the iPhone to get copy and paste? It's gotten them thus far so they'll keep doing what they want.
@WixosTrix
Actually Apple changes a lot of thing based on consumer demand. How easy it is to forget because Apple is often dismissive or the functionality before "flip flopping". They aren't entirely stupid.
Ipod added video (after saying video was a gimic and nobody wants to watch on a 2 inch screen)
Iphone added a SDK (after saying all apps could be web based and run in safari)
Ipod added gapless albums
non lossy audio playback (even if it is in apple's own format)
Apple's mice now have more than one button (well its actually no buttons but it can click like two buttons)
I'm sure there are many others.
@ amc
I didn't mean they never implement what the consumer asks for, I just mean they do it when they want to regardless if there are a bunch of people asking for it. I'm not discounting any other manufacture for they all do what they want when they want as well but I feel like Apple kind of takes a lot longer to do so than some. That's why I referenced the copy and paste
@WixosTrix
Point taken.
Apple can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes (the nano includes a radio now?!?)
There is the 99% apple rule which is a little out of date but kinda funny.
.
http://pcwizcomputer.com/weaksauce12/2009/03/11/the-apple-99-rule/
I've had my ipod for years and its been great and very durable device for me, and I have no need to replace it.
WEAK
bad image stabilization.
oh well,
OMG you anti-Apple zealots are morons.
@nirvana206: You're stupid. Go away.
All you people on Engadget are stupid (excluding me of course)
.
the "image stabilization" is poor because the device is so light. The lighter the device, the shakier the video is because it's so easy for the user's hand to transfer shakiness to the video device... That is why the expensive cameras are generally a lot larger and heavier (but they also are because the internals actually require that much space)
@Mark
The only thing going here is the color from your comment =P
let me correct: _no_ image stabilization
Haha, I liked the robot-Terminator looking effect.
Well, the camera is better then expected in my eye. Those new adopters should be pleased.
But for me, five more days......
You talking about the Zune HD, bro? Yeah I preorder mine and should be getting on Tuesday. I'm stoked.
hehe, amen brutha... amen.
gimmicky effects are gimmicky
Uh, the video is upside down because it doesn't appear to have re-oriented itself before you started filming. Look at the timecode in the top video--it's upside down.
Apple needs to gets its priorities straight, including a camera before they include bluetooth is a joke. And don't dare give me that lame excuse of bluetooth draining the battery! give me a switch to turn it on or off based on my needs, let me chose don't chose for me.
Switch for bluetooth?
The Shuffle doesn't even have a play button.
lol point taken. I meant a switch as in software, how hard can that be?
Seriously. The sad thing is, Apple products always have so much potential, then they pander to idiots who want crappy videos of them listening to music to load on the You-tubes.
Bluetooth? More codec support? Integrated Nike+?
>let me chose don't chose for me.
lmao! You owe me a keyboard now, I spilled my ice cream on it!
Oups, forgot the sign ...
- Steve Jobs
not bad, but the video quality is much worse then that of the FlipCam that they were so bullishly dissing.
(don't go into size, features, yadda yadda, they said that there device was better then a dedicated camcorder device, and considering the only thing a the flipcam does is record video, the ipod does not do it as well.)
as well, as in, "not as good" or "poorer quality"
as well as in "I'm an anti-Apple zealot and post in all of the Apple threads and bitch about ANYTHING I can think of".
not really, I work on a mac all day and own an iphone. I just don't like implausible BS advertising.
a pinhole camera (unless its magic) isn't gong to be as good as a bigger lens.
Why is the Camera at the Bottom? B/c it's Apple, and they can. Welcome back Steve. :-/
i dont get the placement either, anyone have any idea why it's at the bottom? aside from "because they're apple and they can"?
because they're apple
and they can
not sure, because if your right handed, holding it with your right hand would completely cover the camera.