Ipod Nano Review (6th gen) - mp3 player, fitness tool or watch ?

When my ipod classic recently decided it had had enough (started skipping tracks, failed to play some songs etc all signs pointing to an impending harddisk failure), I started looking for a replacement to house my music collection.
After careful consideration among existing players from different brands (the usual suspects like Cowon, iRiver, Creative, Apple etc),  I decided to plunk my money on an ipod nano (6th gen). The reasons to me are clear:

1. It is resuable with my portable amplifier infrastructure (more on that in an upcoming post) and existing charging cables.
2. The Nano is small and much more portable than my ipod classic and other competing models.
3. It has other interesting features that I wanted to explore i.e. Nike+ running app and watch faces.

I chose the 16GB Red model at S$208 (Red is exclusively available at the Apple online store and a portion of the proceeds goes towards a global fund to fight AIDS in Africa). It arrived within 2 days. As with most Apple products, the packaging was lean and clean.

The nano is encased in a plastic container with curved edges. Opening the package, the contents are as follows:

As seen above, the Nano (Top Right) comes with a pair of standard Apple earbuds and a charging cable (Bottom Right). To load songs into the nano, you need to use ITunes which is easily downloadable from apple.com.
Here is a comprehensive list of features on the Nano:

1. Music player
2. Radio
3. Nike+ fitness app
4. Clock (watch faces)
5. Photos
6. Podcasts

Physical Button and ports layout
Top view:

On the top, you have the volume controls (-) (+) buttons on the left and the power button on the right. To power on or off the Nano, do a long press on the power button.
Bottom View:

On the bottom of the Nano, you have the standard Apple 30 pin port for charging and docking the Nano. On the right is the 3.5mm earphone jack for you to plug in your earphones.
Simple Menu Navigation
If you have clicked into a submenu or option, you can easily return to the previous menu/page by swiping your finger from Left to Right across the Nano screen.
Music Player and Sound Quality
After synching my song collection over to the Nano, I plugged it to my reference earphones i.e. Shure SE SE215 Sound Isolating Earphones paired it with an IBasso T5 portable audio amplifier to test the sound quality. If album art was loaded together with your music, it would be displayed on the screen just like below:

As for the sound, I feel the Nano's output sounds even better than the Ipod Classic that I used to have. To affirm this observation, I connected my earphones directly to the volume jack on the Nano and I seem to hear more detail in the music and the Mids(e.g. Vocals) and Highs( e.g. instruments) are clearer than what I used to get on the Ipod Classic. However as audio quality is subjective from person to person, I suggest you bring along a pair of earphones to an Apple Store / Authorised Reseller to plug it to the Nano to hear for yourself.

Clock Feature
The new Clock feature consists of 3 components namely:

1. Clock/Watch faces
2. Stopwatch
3. Timer

This created a whole new category of accesories for the Nano with different manufacturers (e.g. LunaTik, iWatchz) putting out different kinds of watch straps for people to use with their Nano.
The clock face looks like so (below) There are about 18 watch faces that you can choose from.

I don't have any accessory watch bands on hand to try out. Perhaps in the future when I decide to try it out.
Nike + Fitness App

The Nano comes pre-loaded with the Nike+ fitness app. This app is similar to apps like Runkeeper and those that come with Garmin Forerunner and Polar Running watches. Here's the good news: Unlike the previous version of the ipod nano (5th Gen), you DO NOT need to purchase the Nike+ kit (Foot pod) to measure distance with the Ipod Nano (6th Gen). It utilises an inbuilt accelerometer to measure the distance that you run/walk (Similar to a pedometer).  To have a complete running system, all you have to do is to get the compatible Polar WearLink+ transmitter Nike+ heart rate monitor chest strap to measure your heart rate. I will be posting my real world jogging experience with the Nano in an upcoming post, so stay tuned!
I didn't test the other features like the Radio, Podcast or Photos because I don't see the use for them so I'll reserve my comments on those features.
Overall Verdict: The sleek and lightweight form factor is attractive. My personal take is that the sound quality of the Nano is superior to the Ipod Classic that I used previously. The inbuilt features / apps (music player, Nike+ fitness, watch faces) are well implemented. 16GB may be a far cry from the 80GB on my Ipod classic but practically speaking I can't finish listening to all the songs on the Nano in the time spent commuting from home to work. My experience with the Nano so far has been very positive. Now only time will tell how durable it is.
2 cents: To protect the LCD screen from scratches, you can opt to buy a Screen Protector or you can quite easily cut an appropriately sized square from a spare (mobile phone) screen protector you might have lying around.