iPhone gets video recording capabilities
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Dec 13th 2007 4:49PM
posted Dec 13th 2007 4:49PM
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crazzzyyy
more like pathetic. for such a innovative and high tech phone like this, no video?
iGasm
WOOT!
Wow cool! And why do we need those seven figure salary developers in Cupertino?
Because they can afford it? (And, the stock price doesn't seem to be hurting too badly....?)
Makes that "wonder-device" seem all the less wonderful to begin with, huh?
Except that this is video recording at TWO MEGAPIXELS and 45 fps. I'd like to see another phone do THAT!
Has this been released publicly yet? Didn't see it in the usual sources of Installer.app.
Here is a thread about with a download link:
http://www.modmyifone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21144
um, why did the iPhone not come with this capability... or a gps... or the ability to rotate the keyboard like the ipod touch so you don't fat finger it.
you can rotate the keyboard the same as the ipod touch.
1st generation things never have everything in them.
but while you are at it - it should also grow money and be able to drive your car to you.
GPD requires a separate antenna in a gps phone. Cannot be combine like in a CDMA phone. So this means a bigger phone which is not as nice.
Oops.. GPS
It didn't come with that feature because, even though it could easily record video, apple decided that they wanted to use video recording as a selling point for their next iphone.
Yeah, why make it work when you can have planned obsolescence... To use these obvious flaws that they will “fix” in the next gen as a selling point is the dumbest thing I have ever heard, and I hope they don’t offer an upgrade program for the schmucks that think that’s an ok plan.
oh, or 3G
To be fair to apple, the lack of 3g is probably why they shipped it without video enabled, because that would really expose how slow the edge network is. 15 second Video files take a couple of seconds to send on my free with service phone, and that is a paltry 100kb or so. Just imagine what a nightmare it would be to have to send around videos that can look decent on that big high res screen the iPhone has.
i get around 300KBps on edge.. the only thing that sucks about edge is the latency
Don't you mean 300 k_b_ps?
Show me a consistently 300 KBps EDGE (or, for that matter, UMTS) connection, and I will poop myself.
I would offer to, but I'd have to deal with the smell. So, no.
Application is great, but developers should have SDK already, or this app should be provided by Apple itself. It's embarrasing to have to wait for hackers for such a basic functionality with a 2MP camera.
too bad it can only record 5 secs for now...
My free with service phone will only send 15 second video clips which is really only enough to send messages like "Hey Im going to see the Golden Compass tonight, I know it got bad reviews, but I want to see it anyway. I will be at the theater at 8:30 if you want to meet up, then we can grab some dinner afterwards."
So really, this is an excellent start, then just fill in with 3g, a small screen next to the camera, and Apple will really be onto something.
Oh god, you send people videos of yourself talking?
You must have very few friends.
i love your headings today...
"Workaround puts auto-playlist back on Zune" vs. "iPhone gets video recording capabilities"
they're both hacks, yet one title makes it sound official. love the bias.
-iPod owner
The point of the OS Wars was for Engadget to get a sense of its readership. They noticed a lot of Mac fanboys/users are here so they have to make their majority happy.
BTW I don't approve of biased reporting and I agree with you. I own a Mac laptop and a PC. I personally like my PC (Windows XP MCE because Vista is terrible) better because I've used it for much more years and its the better machine for me at this point in my life.
@JAmerican
It's a little unfair to compare a MacBook with a PC desktop... while the desktop can't leave the outlet, it's not practical to use a laptop for many things you need the desktop for.
I have both a MacBook and a Dell laptop, the Dell being about 3 months newer than the MacBook. Comparing apples to apples, the 2G MacBook definitely beats the Latitude D620 in my opinion. But comparing the MacBook to a newer Dell PC at work with two screens that are each three times the size of my laptop, and a mouse, the desktop wins hands down.
I wish I could honestly compare an iMac to a PC desktop, but I have too little experience in front of an iMac and way too much experience in front of a PC desktop.
Mr.hammerstein, you're mistaken. Do you even know what a "workaround" is? Workarounds are generally non-programmatic solutions to a problem in a system, and often involve using somewhat unorthodox lateral thinking to get a desired result (sometimes in very clumsy, temporary and possibly unstable way).
From this point, this new iPhone app just keeps getting more features. It can be "developed" into a full-featured application with all sorts of features, etc. What's described in this iPhone article is NOT a "workaround", the article about "kind of" re-enabling "auto-playlists" on the Zune IS about a "work-around".
Go re-read it if you have to. If someone programmed a new feature into a Zune that allowed you to, for instance, pickup songs from Starbucks (a la Apple's iTunes arrangement), and save them for later purchase on the Zune store... that's NOT a workaround... that's a new feature (however much it may be a "hack"). Also, if video was enabled on the iPhone by saving a series of still-photos that you can stitch together... THAT'S a work-around... its not REALLY what you want, but it may be close enough for people to get value out of.
Does that make any sense to you? 'Cause this political stuff is for the birds. It's just a computer. Unclench.
HEADINGS. i didn't mention the article. read my post before getting upset at nothing. it's a hack. it's not from apple. i can watch avi files through windows media center thanks to transcode 360, but i don't think it's fair to say, "Windows Media Center gets AVI playback"
who cares about this complete nonsense blabbering anyway?
HEADINGS... Oh, I get it... so you're not interested if the headings are accurate for the article, you just want to whine and complain that simply reading them makes you feel like there is inequality... despite the actually facts. Wow. Dude, go get some sleep. Come back when you've got a real point.
iPhone: The cellphone equivalent of putting a lawnmower engine in a Ferrari.
Then that would make it 100 time more reliable than a stock Ferrari!
More like putting a Ferrari engine in a lawnmower but not turning it on (actually, that's a scary thought) -- It's sad that there's so much potential but Apple is/was trying to hold them back. I'm just happy Apple finally listened and is scrambling to make an SDK so we can make apps.
I'd have to check more, but I hope the SDK is going to be available to everyone. Sure we won't see all the apps on iTunes, but that won't stop the community from building sites so we can install other (free?) apps...just hope Apple doesn't decide to brick our phones because we didn't install apps with their platinum seal of approval...
It's a Ferrari where, in order to drive it, you have to attach electrodes to your testicles that zap you at random intervals.
This seems so simple to me, a great phone should:
Be shaped like the iPhone (minus the borders)
Have a good camera with video capability
Have the latest generation radio's (including GPS)
Have a touch screen
Be able to play any media file
Be able to surf the web in full .html or flash
Be able to sync with MS office or the Mac equiv.
It is a communication device, it should serve all of your communication needs. Where is my System On Chip for this stuff? Intel? SiRF? Apple? IBM? Come on guys...
althought I agree with you, so does everyone else..
You aren't anything special to come up with ideas to create an ideal phone,
and there are obvious reasons why apple did not and physically could not add some of these things in
I agree with muffin. Also, FYI, the Mac equivalent of MS Office... is pretty much office. There is a true equivalent, but...
Hmmm... HTC Tytn II?
It seems to have most, if not all, you request. It's kind of bulky, though, not to mention expensive.
I'm cool with it being expensive, but the bulk could easily be taken care of with some engineering work. And yes, it will take work, but that's why we pay $600+ for a phone. I expect a lot out of my equipment, just as people expect alot out of me. With the 45nm and 32nm processes available, I expect to see these systems integrated and I expect it to be done quickly. Remember, we ARE the market, we can drive the progress with our dollars.
great, iphone gets hacked to be like a normal phone.
more like "iPhone gets hacked to be more like digital camcorder"
No, even most phones that come with plans for free can record video. That's why I find the iphone hype so funny. It's mediocre at best.
Sorry, Bryan... Did you actually look at the video on your average phone lately? When you exported it, did it kind of look like... oh, I don't know... like ASS? That's kind of the thing... the Nokia N95 has a great high resolution video camera. It's NOT like the asserific video camera in your average phone. If a software update gives the iPhone video that comes in spitting distance of the N95... dude, that's news. I don't care what hole your heads been stuck in. If the Nokia had the iPhone's OS, multi-touch and large screen... they'd be the xPhone darling. But, they're still baking that pie.
The reason people dig the iPhone is not because its a Swiss Army Knife that currently does *everything*... but because it has all the capability to do NEW things, and Apple... for better or worse, keeps hinting that they plan to keep adding these things to the phone you already bought. Seriously. It's got OS X/Unix, a multi-touch capable touchscreen, excellent sound, a camera, an accellerometer, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, a Web 2.0 capable browser, Mac/PC support, and a USB compatible serial port. Enough items that together, make this an unique platform for ongoing development... with a user-base that's leaped to over 1 million inside of its first 75 days.
The party hasn't even started, yet, man...
thats the most asenine thing ive ever read, you sound like apples pr rep.
No... I'm just trying to cut you a slice of reality. It's one of those moments when you say something, y'know... and it sounds like a commercial? But... eh, what can you do? It's now December 14, 2007. One year from now, I won't care about this thread but I'm pretty sure that original iPhone owners will still be being paid higher dividends on their investments than your "regular phone" comment would imply. We'll see though, right?
I know, all my phones have had 3" multi-touch screens with 8gb of built-in storage! Wow, what a rip off!
You people think Apple is dumb or something, or you are smarter to come up with LOTS OF FEATURES that they somehow were too dumb to think of???
obviously the phone is capable of much more with current hardware but just giving all those features in a 1st gen iPhone does not make good financial sense.
I mean come on, the 2gen will get another color and some new features (man current owners will head to ebay to sell and buy a new one). 3rd gen will get slight design change with more features and so on up til 5 or 6 gen when they will introduce a completely redesigned unit.
This goes for Nintendo (how many gameboy advance versions were there anyway?) and basically most all tech gadgets.
$$$$$$$$$ Money is the whole idea here, not pleasing whiny people $$$$$$$$$$$$
Though this is also correct.... I would never say that Apple is dumb, because catering to dumb people is genius, they're most likely to fork over money!
45fps at a lowish resolution is not that great
Tell that to pretty much every cellphone manufacturer. Very few phones take decent video, most are restricted to QCIF 15fps video.
FYI, most phones do QCIF resolution, which is 176x144. The iPhone uses the PMB8876 S-GOLD 2. Notice the H.263 video encoder on-board. Here are the stats.
* ARM926TM based single modem and application
processor with cache support and fast tightly-coupled memories
* Parallel/serial display interface supporting high
resolution colour displays
* Supporting camera applications of up to 2 MPixel
* MPEG4/H.263 encoder hardware (MOVE® coprocessor), support for
video streaming and video telephony
* Standardized multimedia extension interface (MMIC-IF), MMC/SD
interface, SD IO capable
* USB 2.0 on-the-go, full speed, fast IRDA
* Polyphonic Ringer support for up to 44 voices at up to
48 kHz sampling rate
In plain English? It can record high-resolution video & sound very efficiently. Most people have been twiddling their thumbs waiting for someone to do a proof. Most people thought it'd be Apple. Go figure.
Did the "JOYSTIQ IS TOBIAS" meme carry on over to Engadget? Because I'd like somebody to use it here.
Argh, that was supposed to be a reply to mrhammerstein Carry on.
Incredible ! Americans discover that a "ALl-in-One" mobile is able to record video ! What japanese and European know for years ! sad.
If they knew about it, why didnt they hack it together and work on it?
Wow with such feature I'm sure it will run for "Gadget of the Year" amongst competition that have GPS capabilities, more features and etc. I mean functionality and features are more important than the design. Which is why I think this Apple device won't catch much hype.... Oh wait... sorry... It's just... My common sense got in a way. Sorry
However, above everything is usability and meeting needs. If a product or service does not conform to your needs, it is not for you, but it may be a fit for others.
P.S. - Design is a part of the functionality of any product.
Video, good job.
...but I think an iPod is still a nuisance for privacy.
iPhone a Trojan Horse For Government Surveillance?
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2007/200707iphonesurveillance.htm
FBI records audio from cell phone even when battery is out
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2006/071206batteries.htm
The second clip seemed like there was a wobble in the video that was not produced by his hand movements.
Are we sure this is legit?
This is fake
the movements towards the end don't completely line up with the actual subject.If you pause the video at 00:26 you will see what I mean. Just look at the book shelf structure on the phone and try to line it up with the shelf its self.
Actually, the whole thing is a 3D model I created, my hand included. I rendered everything out on a farm of old SGIs -- it took around two months, but it was worth it to convince the world that the iPhone got a proof-of-concept video recorder that shot five seconds of un-saveable video. I can't believe you uncovered my scheme.
Nice! :)
Can somebody explain why I would want video capture in a cell phone? I mean, assume that I'm actually an adult here, and not some pimple faced teenage girl who enjoys capturing her scintillating conversations with her girlfriends and sending them to her 27 other girlfriends so they can shriek about how funny they all were the next day at school. Also assume that I have an actual camcorder so if I want to take a movie of something, I can.
I mean the only reasons I can think of is if I either see 1) Bigfoot, 2) the Loch Ness monster or 3) a midget bar fight and I absolutely must capture it in motion. And this isn't about the iPhone, I don't see a use for having video capture on any phone. I have a camcorder for that.
Boobies man... boobies.
You can't lug your HD beast around most of the time.
You must not have a young child that is constantly doing cute spontaneous things, things that her grandma that lives hundreds of miles away would love to see.
Well if you always have your camcorder on you, then no biggy (I never do, unless I plan on recording something). Does nothing spontaneous ever happen in your life that you just have to get a video of? Only reason I really ever use my phone camera.
Now it's not something that makes or breaks a phone for me, but it is a plus.
What Alex said too, half the time if you try to get out the camcorder/camera phone the kid has already stopped whatever they were doing that was a priceless moment.
Stop wasting your time on 'useless' features like this. Instead, spend that time trying to come up with a solution to unlock the 1.1.2 firmware. I'm dying to unlock my phone!
Important stuff still missing:
Voice dialing
Bluetooth A2DP/AVRCP profiles, to be able to play music through a wireless headset
Bluetooth DUN profile, to connect it to a laptop and use it as a wireless modem
Just thought I'd throw in my own two-cents here..
My PDA's been able to record in MJPEG and H264 for over 2 years at 352x288 (and 640x480 using hacked drivers). The quality has been excellent, especially when I'm using higher bitrate options and no, I don't notice slow frame rates or sluggish playback on mine.
Now considering the iPhone, for all the huff and puff being thrown around about it, is considered "cutting edge", I think that it's perfectly reasonable for people to expect it to come with paltry video recording capabilities at least.
I agree with one of the above posters- Apple are holding out to make more iFans spend their iCash.
You said: "Apple are holding out to make more iFans spend their iCash."
Huh?! And, there's a gun being held to their head that forces them to?
Grow up, and learn to deal with the real world of consenting adults, man...........
I get 300KBps pretty regularly on my UMTS phone on SoftBank in Japan.
Fortunately I'm not an iPhone lover :D
I swear i love my iphone, but i think we need to send out a big fuck you letter to apple, i bought the phone knowingly there is no video recording, even a apple rep told me there in no way the phone will be ever to recoard video untill a second gen modle, so if a bunch of people with less knowledge about the device that apple build then selfs and have found a way to put video recording on it, FUCK YOU APPLE, seriously FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKEN M$ COAK SUCKING BASTARDS!!! you say your so not like Microsoft, but shit i dont even think good o billo would have thought of some slime like this. i swear im calling apple in the morning see what they have to say about this... and boy do i smell a new refund coming our way... this news needs to flood the web w/ iphone users being outraged over people that apple looks down on as noting but no good hackers basterdtazing the iphone who are truly putting more function to it, apple needs to set up to the plate or we all together maybe need to get together speak our voice about this not between us but directly to apple, Peace my fellow iphone brother and sisters, (w/ one fist up in the air for the movement)
˙ʎppnq 'dn ɹǝqos
I"m waiting for Video chat on all cell phones. What's the hold up?????? It's going to be 2008!