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iFixit Takes the New iPod Nano Apart

Thursday October 6, 2011 11:56 am PDT by Jordan Golson

iFixit has gotten its disassembling hands on the latest iPod Nano and taken it apart piece by piece. They discovered the new 7th Generation Nano, introduced on Tuesday, is very similar to the prior version.

The most difficult part of the teardown was removing the display which "requires the use of a heat gun, as there is a lot of adhesive holding it in place." Once the display is removed, though, disassembly is pretty straightforward.

There were software changes between the old generation Nano and the new, but those changes are available to prior Nano owners via a software update. The new Nano's biggest feature is a reduced price. The 8GB version is now $129 and the 16GB model is $149, down from $149 and $179 respectively.
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SwiftLives
8 months ago
So - is there any physical difference between the current and previous generation nanos? Is there any software difference?
Rating: 5 Positives / 0 Negatives
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TuffLuffJimmy
8 months ago
Weren't these supposed to have a useless camera or something?
Rating: 5 Positives / 1 Negatives
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mms13
8 months ago

So - is there any physical difference between the current and previous generation nanos? Is there any software difference?

If the answer to both of your questions was 'no', why would there even be a new generation?
Rating: 5 Positives / 1 Negatives
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applefan289
8 months ago
All the new stuff Apple came out with 2 days ago consists of the following:

1.) new software for Nano
2.) iPhone 4S
3.) white iPod Touch
4.) lower prices for Nano and Touch.
5.) new website graphics.

That's it. The only real update was the 4S, which I'm fine with. I've never liked the Nano, and the Touch still looks great, so I don't see a need for anything to be added, except maybe an A5 chip should have been added, but that's about it. If they added anything though, the price would have to be higher than $199.
Rating: 2 Positives / 0 Negatives
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mattlol
8 months ago



Weren't these supposed to have a useless camera or something?


you believe the garbage you read on this site?

LOL!
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
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Chundles
8 months ago
688LL/A is Graphite.
689LL/A is Blue.

The part numbers have not changed.
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
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nsbio
8 months ago

I don't understand the market for the Nano. For $50 more you can get a Touch which does so much more, plus it's an iPod. Are there people who really need a tiny music player like the Nano? Is it particularly for athletes who want something unobtrusive?


For example, I use my Nano for listening to books and music while at work and the Nano is clipped to my shirt pocket. That way, all controls are instantly accessible. Try to do that with iPod touch. Nano can not do all, but it has its place.
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
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jayducharme
8 months ago
I don't understand the market for the Nano. For $50 more you can get a Touch which does so much more, plus it's an iPod. Are there people who really need a tiny music player like the Nano? Is it particularly for athletes who want something unobtrusive?
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives
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MarkU
8 months ago

According to iFixit the model number is the same even though the part number is different, this is a minor tweak at most.

Sadly, these iFixit people didn't realize that the "part number" (MCxxxLL/A) includes the color. So all they've done is to tear apart a blue 6th generation iPod nano, instead of a red (or whatever) one they did before. The announced refresh is pure software.

...I think they've simply updated the Nano's software to use its built in accelerometer (which both generations have) as the pedometer and are calling that feature Nike+. According to the new Nano product page "There’s no need to connect a receiver or use a shoe sensor to track your steps" and iFixit didn't find a Bluetooth chip in the new Nano.

Exactly, except that they are the same HW generation.
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swarmster
8 months ago
You would think iFixit might have done a comparison, but here are the two boards:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPod-Nano-6th-Generation-Teardown/3563/2#s17113
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPod-Nano-7th-Generation-Teardown/6554/2#s28229

Besides slightly different numbers stamped on the chips (could just be serials or date codes, who knows), they look pretty identical. The new one has Sandisk memory instead of Toshiba (or at least, this one did, they could be dual-sourcing). The batteries are the same.

I think the part number bump is just to specify that it comes with the new firmware (and/or I guess the memory supplier change, if that is a change). And as others have mentioned, there has been no "iPod nano 7th generation" added to Apple's compatibility charts.
Rating: 1 Positives / 0 Negatives

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