Debunk: Schiller's front facing iPhone 3G camera
By Thomas Ricker 
posted June 12th 2008 8:02AM
posted June 12th 2008 8:02AM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted June 12th 2008 8:02AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
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The one on the left is probably the proximity sensor and the one on the right is the ambient light sensor. Nothing to see here people!
agreed...
Agreed too. That's what it said on the patent file anyway.
Look at the top of a gen 1 iPhone in bright sunlight and you will see all the sensors.
As catachip stated, I'm pretty sure those are sensors.
Hmmm. I hope it is a camera though. and I hope they announce some better camera specs, because al he said in the keynote was 'camera'. Hmmmmmmmmmm indeed.
It isn't, and they already announced the camera specs. Keep hoping though.
Because we need people walking on the streets and driving while video conferencing. And don't you already have the capability to video conference with your MacBook + MacBookPro?
Web browser... because we need people walking on the streets and driving while surfing the net. And don't you already have the capability to surf with your MacBook + MacBookPro?
Er, what macbook?
The one on the right is clearly hot wing sauce.
RIIIIGHT, but the question IS.. what BRAND of hotwind sauce?
Pets Texas hot?
Tobasco Chipotle?
Super Duper Ass FIRE Hot Sauce?
you decide.
Now I understand why Engadet Posts suck so much. The maturity level of the average poster is very low. Lets attempt to be witty to get ranked up instead of posting something worth while. Yuck.
actually Jesus i like seeing funny things on the internet, thats half of the reasons i read the comments is for stupid funny things that make my day. i mean isn't that what the internet is for?
yes it is, but also porn...
lol.. has to be the sensors. wishful thinking!
Conspiracy theories ahoy!
Would be nice to surprise us, just like they did when they allegedly increased battery life on the original iPhone a month before it was released... I was like, "isn't this thing already half-way manufactured?"
I don't remember that happening but anyway...
With all the spotlight that was on Apple it would have been smarter to show off a front-facing camera and surprise us with GPS or something.
It's obvious that there is no front facing camera and most likely never will be one, Apple is clearly being stubborn about it, much like A2DP, MMS and video recording.
This generation of the iPhone was about addressing the major complaints of consumers...no 3G, closed OS, too expensive, impossible to get in most countries. It's like a lot of people on the internet have said, this was about making a $500 phone $200 so it's in more people's hands. Then once everyone and their mom have a iPhone, they'll start boosting the specs in gen 3 to get people to buy up to the latest/greatest.
Remember this press release of increased battery life and glass displays they announced just 2 weeks before the release date? http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/18/iphone-delivers-up-to-8-hours-of-talk-time/
I'm just saying... anything's possible.
I agree, it's just the sensors visible in bright light. That's also why in some of the other shots it's not visible, it's only when the light shines on the phone at a certain angle.
It is the same on the current iPhone, in normal lighting you can't see them, but shine a light on them and they are visible.
Does the word 'obsessive' suggest anything to you?! and I AM a mac fanboy!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j6Yt2DakywI
ive chopped out the bit you need to watch, so you can waste just 10 seconds rather than 10 minutes.
"speach" LOL
The spot on the left in the picture within the top left frame, looks like a girls face....a dead girl's face.
AIIYEEEE.
Actually it kind of look's like the outline of the Virgin Mary...
AAAAAHHHH
What the hell case is Phil using... It makes the iPhone look butt ugly
His iPhone makes his iPhone look butt ugly?
For those not keeping score, Apple only recently put out the call for a digital camera engineer to work on bringing a _good_ camera to the 3rd Gen iphone 3G. Uh ... which I guess would be the G2 iPhone 3G, or the G3 iPhone, or iPhone 3.0, or iPhone 3G 2.0, or ... oh screw it.
No new camera 'til next year.
Hey guys. What I'm about to ask is probably cause for burning at the stake around these parts, but wasnt there a link somewhere so you could get the Engadget RSS feed minus any iPhone news?
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/20/tired-of-iphone-and-or-apple-news-on-engadget/
So, you cant make video calls on the iPhone now its got 3G?
Oh well, im sure they will release another version with that feature for you apple fanboys to suck up sloppily of the dirty Apple showroom floor.
No i am not a MS fanboy i just mate apple.
You mate apple?
You must like them a lot.
So how does the mating work? I mean seriously.
I think Apple is just playing it safe with the whole forward facing camera thing - something to save for the third iPhone.
A lot of people moaned about the lack of 3G in the iPhone v1, but 6 million people still bought one! For the same reason, i believe Apple is waiting to hold this feature back for now.
It would very welcomed in the iPhone 3G though!
Where's that sans Iphone RSS feed at? This is terribly dull.
http://pipes.yahoo.com
Doesn't work...
Considering Engadget writers manage to shoehorn iPhone references into just about every post, that feed would also be terribly dull.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/20/tired-of-iphone-and-or-apple-news-on-engadget/
If you squint real hard you can just about make out... YEA! Macbook Air 2 spotted at the top right! omg first!
Even if there was a camera on the front and both cameras had more than 2 megapixels someone would still whine that it doesn't have flash or it doesn't capture video. Big deal! It's an iPhone not a digital camera. God what was everyone expecting from the 3G I Phone? A phone, an iPod, a video player and a God dam dishwasher?
The N95 8gig can do everything you said, apart from dishwasher obiviously. Though the iPhone has the amazing web browser mmm.
I actually watched the keynote last night. Engadget pretended like the demos were boring, but frankly, they were a lot more interesting than the 3G iPhone announcement. Of course, maybe it's easier to sit thru the demos when you're not anticipating the "big news" announcement, but dayum. The games and apps the 3rd party developers made look absolutely incredible. That musical instrument/band app was *awesome*. I'm not a gamer, but I foresee myself spending entirely too much money on iPhone games to have something to do on the airplane or whatever.
It's fascinating how Apple's control over the platform, while stifling some grassroots innovation, also makes it a massively fertile platform for others to develop on. The level of support by 3rd parties is incredible.
Well since the announcement was like a wet Tuesday in Grimsby that wouldn't be difficult.
The "camera" you are seeing on the phone is just city lights reflecting off swamp gas. Nothing more.
They can be the proximity and light sensor but the one on the left is really big for a sensor maybe it could be a future prototype version but I doubt the camera would be hidden behind the black glass since it would get less light for the video/pictures and just as the 2-megapixel camera on the back it really needs a lot of light in order to take good non-blurry pictures.
Take a look at apple site. All iPhone pics have this corner obscured....