Continued...

Then there's the Split Screen. Instead of the Menu dominating the entire display and boring you, as you navigate your music, photos and videos, the Menu now takes half of the display, while the second half displays transitioning backgrounds to make the navigating experience a bit more interesting. For instance, if you are navigating in your Photos folder, the second half will display random photos from your album to keep you entertained for the three seconds it takes to pick an album and begin a slide show. And then they complain why we can't take simplicity.

Now, now, you can't forget about gaming. And wow, these games look sweet on the new Nano. While the selection is still laughable at a whooping three games in total (Solitaire, iQuiz and Vortex), it's a good start. The games are addicting enough to spend hours on, and visual enough to excite you. They are a nice way to get an energy boost on a slow day.

The audio functionality of the Nano is same old, same old. You can refer to our original Nano review, or check out Apple's official Nano page to get a glimpse into that. There's nothing new or exciting enough for us to pay attention to it. Besides, we don't think you would be really interested in reading about the same old features that nearly all music players support these days.

Apple iPod Nano: Another Winner from Apple

While the 3rd generation Nano is nearly perfect, Update: 09/11/2007 Apple made a huge mistake by choosing to drop video output (video output is supported). You can't view your photos or watch movies on your TV, and that's sad. Not to mention, thanks to Apple, a lot of third-party video docks are now obsolete. All it takes is a single hit to let others know who's in charge.

As we mentioned above, the video quality is downright impressive, and we couldn't ask for it to be any better. Equally, the photos looked just as amazing. On the audio front, it still lacks line-in recording, FM tuner, and support for other music services, but it might be asking too much from Apple. Moreover, the audio quality is just about average. It's evident that Apple's iPods are successful because of their existing brand and perceived coolness factor, not for superior audio quality. Apple might want to look into audio performance and work on it. Please us, Apple, and take a look at audio performance for next year. For battery life tests, according to Apple, it's supposed to last 24 hours for audio and 5 hours for video. We easily hit those numbers, though it was very easy to sway the number one side or the other if we mixed a few activities (photo viewing + listing + gaming all in one session) in a single recharge.

For $149.99, you can score the 4GB version in silver and 8GB in a variety of delightful colors, and we think the price is very reasonable for a luxury brand of music player. Make sure to put the 3rd generation of Apple's iPod Nano on your shopping list for the upcoming holidays season. It's an excellent device with amazing updates, but average audio quality.

Click here to check out the latest prices on Apple's iPod Nano (3rd Generation)!