When news of the new iPod Nano first leaked out onto the tech blogs last month, I was, like many, underwhelmed. Perhaps unconsciously tapping to our hard-wired aversion to obesity, I agreed that the squat design looked like crap compared to the tall, sleek Nanos of generations previous. Who the hell's going to wear that on their arm? I thought. Is this the same Apple that's known for its groundbreaking gadget design?

It would appear so. Now that I've had the chance to play with one of the new Nanos for a week, I see what Apple's doing. This thing is pretty freakishly small. Standing alone in pictures, the Nano looks like an unwieldy giant. Held in your hand, it's more like a metallic, music-playing Saltine cracker. And I have to say — oh, yes, my friends — yum.

That, and four more things that surprised me about the neo-Nano, after the jump.

Speaking of wearing things on your arm, the Nano aces the gym-partner litmus test. At just a quarter-inch thin and a mere 1.75 ounces, it goes straight to the head of your spinning class. Putting the Nano side by side with the comparatively bulky iPhone, it's hard to believe they have the same capacity. Though the Nano doesn't have a touchscreen, the finger-friendly clickwheel is better to have for skipping tracks while in your pocket or armband.

Apple expanded the screen size (1.94 inches diagonal). It cranked the pixel density (to a whopping 204 pixels per inch). The one thing it didn't do is include a magnifying glass, which you'll definitely feel like you need whenever you try to watch video on this thing. And watching widescreen stuff on the 4:3 screen? Fuhgeddaboudit — good thing Apple included a full-screen option. It cuts off the sides, but it helps.

Not helping things is the screen contrast. Watching the same episode of 24 on both the Nano and the iPhone, CTU headquarters looked decidedly grayer on the Nano.

Some kudos are in order for Apple's update to the iPod's navigation. Someone wisely realized that the words in the menus don't really take up that much room, letting them split the screen in half, filling the right side with a visual preview with what's in that folder. So if you've filled your Nano plenty of U2, you'll see cover art for The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby! et al. float around before the screen saver kicks in. Maybe someday they'll make this useful instead of a minor benefit.

Also featured is cover flow, though it doesn't work as well as it does on the iPhone. The Nano needlessly split up some albums (typically compilations) so all the songs weren't under the same cover. There's a good chance this will be fixed with a software update. Also, the "flow" isn't as smooth as the iPhone's. Nonetheless, it's a welcome feature.

Yes! No useless CD-ROM comes with the new Nano, so the box it comes in isn't much bigger than the player. I have no statistics to point at, but it feels like a "greener" package… except that it's made of plastic instead of cardboard. Other things I personally could have done without: That silly piece of plastic that's ostensibly a dock tray and the included earbuds. Seriously, people, you can do better.

The Nano is certainly miles ahead of the bloated player I thought it was going to be, but is it progress? If you were going to include video playback, I suppose a wider shell was inevitable, even though it's hardly my first choice as a portable to watch video on. Then again, it probably would be in my Top 5. And the video-specific players that would top that list wouldn't be on my list of gadgets to take to the gym, something the Nano is almost perfect for. The Nano is essentially a media player that wants to please everyone. Even though that's an impossible task, it probably comes closer than any iPod that's come before. — Peter Pachal