Roger Fingas
Apple on Wednesday released an unusual standalone update for the seventh-generation iPod nano, making unspecified changes to the media player's proprietary operating system.
The update is listed as v1.0.4, and unlike iOS releases it can only be downloaded and installed via iTunes. The last separate Nano firmware update dates back to 2011, when the watch-like sixth-generation model was still available.
Though it borrows design cues from iOS, the Nano operating system is a custom one not shared by any other device. It's in fact based on iOS 6, the last version of the platform to use a skeuomorphic interface.
Apple updated Nano hardware on July 15, but only to add three new color options: gold, dark blue, and hot pink. It still costs $149, and has the same design and internal specifications it did in 2012, including just 16 gigabytes of storage.
Andrew Orr
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5 Comments
It's not based on iOS 6. It's Pixo OS with an iOS 6 skin.
The update almost has to be Apple Music related, though I'm hesitant to update my 7th gen nano just to see what's different.
It probably has nothing to do with Apple Music. It probably has to do with compatibility with the new itunes. There has been some probems with this ipod and syncing with voice messages. Perhaps this fixes that glitch.
Is it snappier?
I wish they'd update the iPod Classic software so it doesn't crash when playing USB audio into a car stereo (reproduced on several different recent-model cars with factory-bundled iPod integration). And no, the iPod itself isn't failing - it plays just fine for hours if I use the headphone jack instead of USB for audio.
But that's not likely to ever happen, even though I've reported that bug several times over the past 4 years.