The 2GB/4GB tiny baby brother of all Nationite players gets put through its paces in this review.
See how it fared after the break.

Nustled among this big package is a small player. To find out exactly how small, see the size comparison from a few weeks back.
If you’ve not got the time, let’s just say it’s as high as a credit card is wide and about as thick as a nice quality pen.
That’s the inital reactions out of the way - what’s in the box!

In the nice slide out, 2 box packaging is the player, a USB cable, an instruction manual and a set of basic headphones.
All in all, the standard affair for an MP3 player.

Getting Around

The small size means everything is controlable by one thumb while it sits snugly in the palm.
Thankfully, unlike a lot of other small players, there’s a lot of control.

Due to the recognition of ID3 tags there’s none of the usual ‘just shuffle’ aspect here as your whole music library can be navigated via the thumb toggle.
This means playing albums from start to finish is a breeze thanks to the simple yet effective menu on the 1.1 inch OLED screen.
From the main menu you can choose from the following:

All songs
Artists
Albums
Genres

Within these the ID3 tags kick in and the library is fully navigational.

Up and down goes through the menu, left and right switches tracks and pushing the toggle in acts as the ‘enter’ button.

The buttons above and below play/pause (which also doubles as the power swith) and EQ (which doubles as an addition ‘folder play’ option button in the main menu).

The features and controls on the N1 genuinely feel thought-out and intuitive.

Connectivity

It’s a simple plug and play, drag and drop player via USB which also acts as the charger.

As an MP3 player user who has dealt with things such as Sony’s SonicStage software, among others, drag and drop players are always welcome.
Simple and fuss-free.

Other than the USB input, the only other port is for headphones and there is a reset button hidden underneath the player.

Sound

You could hear this cliche coming a mile off but this tiny player really packs a punch.
The audio quality is excellent and especially shines considering what’s usually expected from such a small player.
Most genres have been put through this little fella and everything from country (coming out as warm, close and intimate) to freak-out psychadelic space rock (filling the headphones with thick sound, full of bass and twinkling highs) has shone.
The 7-preset EQ is a delight too, offering lots of comparible levels at a suitable range that should please everyone.

Battery Life

The blurb says it offers 40 hours battery life on a full charge and although I’ve not run it down to the bones due to putting music back on it’s not let me down yet after days of consecutive use for hours at a time.
There’s also the ‘Fast Charge System’ which gives 3+ hours playback for a 15 minute boost charge - another handy feature.

Portability

Once it’s in your pocket you don’t know it’s there. Seriously.
For anyone athletic it’s the runner’s dream. This reviewer is used to running with the brick-like Sony NW-A3000 and although my left arm might now lose some muscle definition, the N1 was a very welcome companion.
It’s also proved itself rugged on a journey it once took from my hand to the floor at quite a high velocity. The metal casing sucked up the impact and carried on like usual.

Summary

Another winner from the Nationite camp. For the price there’s little that can touch it for audio quality and navigation in this price range.
There’s also a black model available for those who wouldn’t agree with my ‘Hot Purple’ choice.

The Nationite Nanite N1 was tested with Skullcandy G1 headphones and the Nationite E5 headphone amp.

Models begin at $39.50.

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