The design of the current iPod nano touch is getting old: the first version was introduced about 2 years ago and in the meantime the battery technology and the screen technology had a good advancement in reducing the size and the thickness of two fundamental components of digital players. If we add to this the rumours that Apple is probably revising all its product line with a new smaller dock and that every case of mobile devices (including laptots) is moving to “unibody” design we can think of an evolution of the current model rather than the speculations of an hybrid case that mixes fourth generation iPod case toghether with the bigger fourth generation iPod touch.
If Apple wants to mantain a great public attraction on the iPod “watch” dimension ratio has two ways to obtain it: reduce its dimensions (and we mean thickness because with a smaller screen size the touch interface can’t be of any usability) and adding functionalities with a Bluetooth radio.
A new compact uni-body
Let’s start from the components: new touch screens with smaller thickness, more efficient batteries and a smaller dock could help Apple in abandoning the “external” clip design and use an “embedded” design in the actual body of iPod nano reducing the overall thickness that could be more attractive to the producer of belt clips and nano touch accessories and to the final users. The current nano touch has a lot of options for trasforming itself into a hyper tech watch with digital player but a smaller form could attract more users.
In the video below (new model rendering by Settimio Perlini) you se how we have figured the new design starting from a nano touch 3D model available on the web: as you can see the main hurdle for the reduction of thickness is the size of the headphone plug and the consistency of the volume buttons: for the anticipated new dock is not difficult to be placed on the bottom but if you want a good space between the home and the volume buttons on the top you can’t reduce the space in between anymore.
By embedding the clip in the main body you can reduce the overall device weight and dimensions and retain its versatility on direct clipping on suits or belts.
New expanded communication functions?
Imagine adding a Bluetooth capability for connecting to iPhone, iPod touch iPad or Apple TV: you can read incoming calls Phone IDs, iMessages, SMSs, control audio and/or video players, rss feeds, weather, stocks without the direct use of a wi-fi or 3G radio.
The latest hints for iOS 6 show a persistent Bluetooth connection feature that can be use for such a function with the iPod nano touch on the other side.
Like it or not, this could be a nice evolution for the nano touch placing it in a smarter position on the Apple ecosystem and using all the tech advancements we are talking about in the last few months: they could be used not only for the iPhone 5 but for the whole Apple production.
