Eurone MP899

This is a fake iPod Nano. There’s no use beating around the bush or trying to hide that fact. While the original iPod Nano goes for around Rs. 9,800 for the 2GB version, this fake Nano drops to as low as Rs. 1,600 for 1GB and Rs. 2,050 for the 2GB version. Is it worth the price? Or is it just crappy Chinese rubbish? Let’s take a look.

The unmistakably iPod Nano-like MP3 player has been sold in local markets and online by a variety of names, such as 'iPod-Style', 'Slim MP4 player', 'Apro' and the really cheeky 'Jano'. This 'Eurone' is a Mediatech-marketed model that costs a whole lot more—Rs. 6,500 is the MRP!

The original iPod plays music and lets you see photos. That’s it. But the fake Nano plays music (MP3, WMA, WAV), has an FM radio tuner, has a movie player (WMV, ASF, AMV), a picture viewer (JPEG), an e-book (TXT) reader, a voice/FM recorder, a phonebook application and also a few games. This is a bucket load of features and there’s probably nothing else you can think of adding to any portable media player. Just add a GSM phone, some WiFi or Bluetooth, an Office document viewer and it will be the only device you’ll ever need for anything.

The player is very, very close to the older iPod Nano in dimensions, just being a millimeter thicker. It has the glossy black front side and the shiny stainless steel rear side, although I’m not sure this is actually stainless steel. The fake Nano is as light, and has a more square screen that’s a longer in height, but a bit shorter in width.

The familiar wheel is also present on this fake Nano, but it doesn’t really work like the touch-sensitive iPod wheel, of course. It’s a basic five-way wheel that clicks, but doesn’t scroll. The 'Menu' text is replaced by 'M', the Play/Pause button is moved to the center and the lower key becomes the volume button. The volume button just activates the volume setting, and you need to use the Back/Next buttons to adjust the volume, so this is a two-step procedure that I don’t quite like. The hold button on the top of the Nano is the on/off switch in the fake Nano.