Just a really quick sketch for those who may still be having trouble visualizing what the new mini touchscreen iPod nano-shuffle-micro might look like.
Though the radiuses are pretty close here, the real thing’s surely going to be a little different. Expect less metal around the screen, the Dock Connector to be centered below the screen with the headphone port off to its right, and the top to have some nice iPhone 4-style buttons. We’re expecting a clip on back, coming from the right side of the chassis rather than the left like the second-generation shuffle, and like the third-generation shuffle, a little smaller than the rest of the iPod’s back surface. The aluminum will most likely wrap around the top and bottom of the device a la the iPhone 4 and third-generation iPod shuffle; the clip and part of the rear housing would come off for professional servicing purposes, but a plastic core is always a possibility.
One interesting issue: there’s no real room for a camera there. So what’s going to justify a nano-riffic price tag? Hmmmm. A squintable Retina Display? A two-finger multi-touch control system? Wi-Fi, with most of the setup work handled through iTunes since there’s no room for a real keyboard there? New and charmingly short dancing silhouettes? We’ll see tomorrow.
