If you're a "feeler" rather than a "looker" then no, if you look at the screen with your current model then yes the new model shouldn't be any less difficult. If you use the buds with the remote, I'm pretty sure the new nano supports it as well.
I suspect there will be a no-look way to operate the new nano when playing music (tap to pause, double tap to advance, etc) but we won't know for sure until either the user manual comes out or the device is in stores.