iPod nano

Can the newest iPod live up to its high-flying brothers?

Once in a while, a gadget comes along that knocks you off your feet, in a way that can only be matched by answering the door to find Keira Knightley asking for a jar of coffee. The nano is just such a gadget. It's so beautifully crafted, so well designed and so damn sexy, that as soon as you set eyes on it, all you can hear inside your brain is, "gimme, gimme!"

When we flashed our two out on the street, like a particularly ostentatious barrow boy, everyone who saw them wanted one, with most more enthralled by the black version than its more ordinary white brother.

One of the best things about it is that it feels like a proper iPod - just one that's been zapped with an incredible shrinking machine. There's a real "wow" factor when you hold its tiny frame in your hand and whizz through tracks with the mini click wheel. Despite its size, the wheel works just as well as it does on the larger iPods and the player sounds just as good too. And despite the fact that the colour screen is small, it's still handy to have so you can show off the odd picture or two to your mates.

If we had to grumble, we'd say that the battery life at 14 hours is short for a flash player. Putting the headphone socket on the bottom of the unit is also an odd decision and the player scratches easily, so you'll need to buy a case. But these are minor negatives among many positives.

Apple really has surpassed itself with the nano. It's taken all the best bits from the other iPods and managed to cram them into a box so artful, it's the Rembrandt of the gadget world. We wouldn't hand ours over for love nor money - not even if Keira asked nicely.