This seem pretty subjective ... I love the various aluminum ipod-mini/nano models, for instance. In my experience, they're almost perfect. Apple's mistake wit

This seem pretty subjective ... I love the various aluminum ipod-mini/nano models, for instance. In my experience, they're almost perfect. Apple's mistake with the earlier metal ipod seems to have been not that it's made of metal, but that it's made of highly polished metal (which will of course be subject to scratching, fingerprints, is more slippery, etc). "High-quality plastic" can easily suffer from the same issues if it's glossy; I own phone made from very glossy plastic, and while it's beautiful and extremely well made, it's also very slippery and very prone to picking up fingerprints. So using a metal back with a less finicky finish, as they did with the iphone 5, seems a pretty reasonable move.