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Apple iPod Update Increases Battery Life

Posted by pudge on from the mmmm-battery dept.

hhoor writes "Apple has released iPod Software 1.2.6. According to Apple, 'After updating the iPod, customers can expect at least 10 days of standby battery life on a full charge.' So maybe now it's really time to buy one."

11 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Holy Crap by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 4, Insightful

    5.2 MB! As if that's not crazy, there's a Gzip file that expands to 51 MB inside that. Most of it seems to be absorbed in different languages. That's 8-12 songs worth of space, though.

    Also, couldn't this have been available via Software Update? I don't spend much time at the iPod homepage. I suppose not everyone needs it, but couldn't there be some way of telling if you ever had an iPod connected? Wishful thinking, maybe.

    --
    That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
  2. Works great for me by Fulkkari · · Score: 5, Informative
    I wish there was some feedback here before I update my iPod, to see if Apple messes something up on my system.

    I updated my 10 GB Mac iPod, and the updating process went smoothly. I have had no problems with the update. So go ahead and update. You should however always make backups if you want to be sure.

    --
    I demand the Cone of Silence!
  3. Re:Out of stock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I work for compusa and the 5gb ipod is DO1 status in our database, meaning it was discontinued... You wont be seeing it any time soon... 10gb ipod is the new 5gb..

  4. Re:hmmm...... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    It was made for seti@home, and is working constantly on that, and breaking the X-Box key when the seti@home code needs to "phone home" to get a longer set of jobs.

    That's why iTunes has that "Connect to Internet when needed" option. It's so that when you sync your iPod the iPod can send its latest batch of results to seti@home and download new work to do.

  5. Clock and firmware by elliotj · · Score: 5, Interesting

    After updating my firmware the last time (from 1.1 to 1.2) I noticed a significant reduction in standby time. I did some research and found that the inclusion of a clock was the culprit: the iPod was never designed to keep time using a small power trickle in the same way that say, a digital watch, or your PC, is able to keep time without requiring a massive battery. The solution was to revert to v. 1.1 of the firmware and I got my standby life back.

    Does anyone know if the new firmware removes the clock feature? Personally I have no real desire to upgrade: I don't need any more functions from the device - I only need it to play tunes and that's it.

    1. Re:Clock and firmware by dhovis · · Score: 4, Informative
      I did some research and found that the inclusion of a clock was the culprit

      No, you and everyone else blamed the clock, as it was the only apparant change to the iPod firmware that seemed like it might have introduced a drain on the battery.

      However, if this update works, it blows that theory out of the water. The knowledgebase article for this says that the problem was that the iPod was incorrectly interpreting the battery charge. It seems that the 1.2 firmware was not allowing the iPod to use all of the battery capacity, and was shutting down when there was still plenty of life left. There is no way anyone outside of Apple could have figured this out, so the clock got blamed.

      --

      --
      The internet is the greatest source of biased information in the history of mankind.

  6. My pet iPod-peeves: by Erik+K.+Veland · · Score: 4, Interesting

    - Occasionally shuts down when shoving the remote-control into the jack. I have to smoothly press it it.
    - Said remote-controls connection is finnicky. I have to press it into place a bit too often if I have it in my pocket.
    - The clock is some archaic system with letters instead of the standard 24-hour clock used in most parts of the world.

    None of these are deal-breakers though. I just love my 20 GB iPod. Bring on AAC already Apple!

    --
    "I tend to think of OS X as Linux with QA and Taste", James Gosling, creator of Java
  7. iPod on Linux by dakkar · · Score: 4, Informative

    I use an iBook with OS X, and a Linux machine.

    Recently I acquired a iee1394 PCI card, and used the conversion tool from iPod-on-Linux to transform it into a FAT32 iPod, and gtkpod to manage songs on it.

    The conversion tool installed firmware 1.2.1, but this last iPod upgrade wanted to reformat my iPod. So now I had a 1.2.6 iPod, but HFS+ instead of FAT32.

    Never to lose courage, I copied the 'Firmware' file from inside the upgrader's directory on the Mac to the PC, over the 1.2.1 firmware used in the conversion tool. Run the conversion tool again, and now I have a 1.2.6 FAT32 iPod, and I'm filling it up again using gtkpod.

    --
    dakkar - mobilis in mobile
  8. Re:Why does the iPod have no off switch? by idsofmarch · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hold down the Play button.

    --
    Anyone who whines about being modded down should be.
  9. yeah... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is Slashdot - ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which we will not put.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  10. Actually... by vought · · Score: 4, Informative

    I wrote some of the documentation for the PP5002C and PP5003 chips used in the iPod when I worked for Portal Player last year.

    In fact, the chip IS a dual ARM7 core with supporting I/O logic. So it is you, in fact, who is mistaken.