Restoring iOS from an iTunes backup

[drakira]

How does it work? Does it entirely restore the OS or just the content & settings? I have iOS6 on my 4th generation iPod touch and was thinking about restoring iOS 5.1.1 from an iPhone4 backup. Would that work? Thanks.

 

[DefBref]

Restring from old Backup doesn't restore the iOS version, just the settings etc.

 

[drakira]

Restring from old Backup doesn't restore the iOS version, just the settings etc.

Thanks. So, it looks like there is no way to downgrade apart from jailbreaking the device... That's quite inconvenient, isn't it? Does anyone know what's the rationale behind this constraint?