Will Apple pretend iPhone video recording requires the new iPhone?
Looks like all the rumors about a possible iPhone video recording app for this Summer have been confirmed. MacRumors has posted a shot of what the new video recording interface of the iPhone will look like, which appears to be a supped up version of the Camera app with a “photo/video” toggle switch at the bottom.
So, now that we know video recording is coming, the question is, who is it coming TO? There were rumors that Apple will be upgrading the optics in its cameras for the anticipated generation 3 iPhone. Will Apple claim that these new optics are required to record iPhone video in an attempt to get current iPhone users to upgrade yet again?
As a happy jailbroken iPhone user, I have found that Cycorder works quite well for recording video on the iPhone, as does Qik. I see no technological reason why Apple could not support video recording on the current crop of iPhones (albeit perhaps at a lower frame rate), yet something inside tells me Apple’s decision to include a crap camera for as long as possible was a calculated move to help justify its “upgrade path”. Just as GPS was a big enough hardware specific upgrade to convince many 1st gen iPhone users to upgrade, I wonder if including one of the lowest res cameras found in any mobile phone for TWO hardware generations was not deliberately intended to add perceived value to the next iPhone revision.
When Apple released the 3G iPhone last year, many were shocked that Apple did not include even a slightly upgraded camera, given how otherwise technologically advanced the iPhone is. I suppose when Apple releases the third gen iPhone this summer and the accompanying iPhone 3.0 software, we’ll find out for sure whether or not we first and second gen iPhone users will have that magical video toggle switch or whether we’ll be forced to keep Jailbreaking, but as Lando said “I’ve got a bad feeling about this”.
Almost certainly yes. At the very least, the new iPhone will have a much nicer camera in it. Apple may well activate the camera in existing iPhones, but might degrade the quality. LOL
Apple has already said that the storage medium in current iphones would die prematurely with the constant rewriting that video requires. If that’s true, then more than just the camera would need to be updated to safely record video.
Sure, They’re pretending that you need a 3G iPhone for MMS. That’s a piece of BS that I didn’t hear many complain about.
I wonder if they will include a flash in the new iPhone? At any resolution, the iPhone does not take good photos in dim lighting. An LED flash would make a big difference.
I hope that the rumors about being able to do videoconferencing with the new iPhone are true. Now that would be the bomb. And I am still desperately hoping that the new Bluetooth profiles will include input devices (i.e., Bluetooth keyboards).
Apple only wants to stick to their video encoding profiles. (h264 video). my old ericsson could record video but it was 3GP or .avi or something. do you really think Apple would want their phone to record a format that isn’t tied in with QuickTime, iTunes or the iLife Apps?
new hardware would possibly allow them to add a decoding video chip to spit out h264 .m2vs.
i know it doesn’t make much sense but the flip video recorder records good quality video because it’s a dedicated device. wouldn’t it be great if the iPhone could record video that was higher quality than 320×240 cinepack avi? i doubt you could do that with the current camera + software…
The APPL logo on the back of the iPhone would make for an ideal flash. I saw a russian mod at one point make that happen.
I think it will be open to everyone.
You’re also wrong about the camera in the 2nd Gen iPhone. It was better than the 1st Gen and many people commented on that fact as well.
While the megapixels may be less than other phones I beg to differ that it’s worse. I’ve seen the images from many so called 3 and 5 megapixel cameras and some of them are noticably worse than the iPhone’s images.
It’s not necessarily the megapixel rating of the camera that makes it better but the quality of the parts namely the lens and the CCD.
The whole megapixel debate is often nothing more than conjecture.
If Apple intended this to be featured in older iPhones they would’ve announced it in the update.
I for one believe the story about storage life by the way.
Darrell, 3GP IS based around QuickTime. That’s why when you see a phone supporting 3GP in the manual it will make reference to Apple and QuickTime.
The problem is that 3GP is utter bollocks. It is such poor quality that it is a joke.
Apple has moved on since then and so supporting H.264 is a smart move. While the image will still never be as High Def as true H.264 it will still retain good compression to quality ratios than any other format.
Also don’t get hung up on the whole AVI and MP4 thing. AVI is nothing more than a wrapper for video just like MOV is nothing more than a wrapper for video. Chances are much of the AVI stuff you are watching is actually H.264.
TimF, you DO need 3G for MMS. All the phones that handle MMS here in New Zealand are ALL 3G. The iPhone is sold in New Zealand by Vodafone which is 3G in the big cities and moving towards 3G everywhere.
Technically you can send an MMS message using GPRS but the phone itself must be a 3G phone and it’s not going to work on any phone that isn’t 3G because those phones can’t handle the format.
It might be slightly different in America which has up until the iPhone 3G been largely EDGE networks but the EDGE system sounds like something that is a cross between GPRS and 3G so maybe that’s why it works in the States.
For $300 and sometimes more, I would expect at least 4 mega pixel quality.