iPod nano 6's firmware shows TV out, leftover video support
updated 07:45 pm EDT, Wed September 8, 2010
New iPod nano may have vestigial video support
In spite of dropping video support from the new iPod nano, a new exploration of the shipping firmware hints that Apple has photo slideshows and has left code for video support inside. Checks by TUAW show code for TV out for photos as well as captions, subtitles and other features that would normally be needed only for video. The movie code is most likely material that wasn't pulled during development, as the screen would be too small for native video, although it leaves the possibility open.
Photo slideshows do work on a TV and can be controlled with multi-touch much in the same way as it would on-device or for an iPad, iPhone or iPod.
A wider look at the firmware confirms that it's unrelated to iOS and may just be a touch-aware and overall more advanced version of the Pixo OS that Apple has been using since the beginning of the iPod in 2001. Its reasons for choosing an incompatible OS may stem from the need to keep the firmware lean on devices with lesser processors and reduced storage; an iOS install can consume several hundred megabytes and today needs a reasonably fast processor like the ARM Cortex-A8 in the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.
