When the current generation of iPod Nano's first came out, I thought they were really silly. Yeah, they were small and had cool touch screens, but they had almost all of their features downgraded. I suppose it makes sense considering the growing number of features up until then was bordering on ridiculously unnecessary (do we really need video cameras in our ipods?). But still. I never thought I'd have one. Having an iPhone pretty much makes any need for an iPod null and void.
Then I saw that there was an unseen factor. These iPods could be worn as watches. Suddenly my childhood scifi dreams of having a watch with a screen on it could be fully realized. It was still to much money for what would essentially be entirely cool factor, so I put any and all hidden desires away.
That was before I got an email telling me that the original iPod nanos from like six or seven years ago were faulty and that there had been a recall. My old G1 iPod Nano had long since stopped working anyway, so I decided to send it in to see if, who knows, maybe it was repairable. I guess I didn't read the email fully, because instead of getting back my old ipod fixed, I got the new nano, completely for free.
I rushed to the Apple store that day to get a watch strap. Since then, I've been wearing it consistently, and here are my thoughts.
First of all, it's as functional an iPod as you would expect. Really good audio quality, very fast thanks to the flash hard drive, and full of little hidden features and functions. It is strange that they pulled the video functionality, but I suppose I never used any of my iPods of video anyway. Having a radio built in, however, is great. And to be honest, I'm happy to make the trade.
Now wearing an iPod as a watch does bring about certain levels of self-indulgence. I keep catching myself checking it just so I look like a badass, pressing a button to see a flash of a screen, telling me what time it is. Occasionally I have to repeat the process because the first time I didn't actually check the time. Still, it is an actual boost in convenience to have a music on my wrist than say, my pocket. Skipping songs is as easy as pressing the iPhone-style power button twice. I don't have to reach anywhere to change songs, and working with the menu system is fairly straightforward.
Still, my final conclusion about using an iPod Nano for a watch is that for me, at least, it's almost entirely a source of vanity. It's absolutely something I don't need, especially considering I already have an iPhone and an iPod Classic for all the music I can't fit on my iPhone. I would never actually spend a large amount of money on such a device, so I'll just keep considering me lucky to have gotten it for free.
If you have the original iPod Nano, trade it in! If not, sci-fi land isn't all that cool. You're not missing that much.