The Pre's proven to be an eminently hackable platform pretty much from day one, and given that, it stands to reason that major "missing" features are going to either be added in the hard way or a few good programmers are going to die trying. The
virtual keyboard developments are seen as a big win for users, and next up is true video recording -- something inexplicably missing from the device considering its ample (well, theoretically ample) processing power. Work on homebrew recording tools seems to be moving along nicely, with some open-source tools already available -- so far, they're apparently able to push it to 480 x 320 at 30fps, but it comes out encoded strangely and doesn't resemble anything your average end user would want to be dealing with. That's where Palm hopefully comes in with a future webOS update, but for now, at least we're able to play around. Follow the break for video of the hack in action.
[Via
PreCentral]
posted Sep 25th 2009 4:27PM
Doing good guys :)
Just ran it and it works great!
For those wondering - go to the precentral.net story - in the comment links there's a link to the forum with the zip and install info.
Precentral forum reg. required.
Download the zip - install both .ipk's (using WebOSQuickinstall)
reboot the phone (Orange+SYM+R)
launch the app, turn it on, hit the top 'start recording' button
record away (landscape orientation btw)
hit stop recording, hit the off button, dismiss app
Plug the pre into the computer - usb mode - copy the media file (date / time are the filename) (mp4)
- rename the file extension to avi
- open with SMplayer (find it online) - (wont work with vlc, etc)
Sound is a work in progress from what I can gather (YMMV)
what next??? MMS???
pffff
owner of a fruit phone*
Palm Pre already have MMS
wow, looks like a ton of you missed the implied "/s" in swim's post......
640x480@30fps will be a nice sweet spot...and I hope Palm adds it with next update. In the meantime I love the homebrew community...keep up the good work.
How does the video proves that the pre is recording video...I don't get it.
I can has cheezburger?
So you want to see someone videoing someone videoing with a Pre?
:-)
it's showing the guy holding a pre up to his bathroom mirror.. so unless it's a video camera that looks like a Pre, or he's got a camera in his watch, then it's the Pre that's taking the video.
(not the bee video.. the actual youtube video...)
@Kustom17
I don't know what the hell that means but I can't stop laughing.
@rob: http://icanhascheezburger.com/
@the article: what excuse has Palm got for not including video recording in the first place? My phone from 4 and a half years ago does video.
Lots of people's 4 year old phones do... but keep in mind it took until the 3rd generation of the iPhone to do this, and the smartphones competing with it (Pre, Storm, Hero, etc) are trying to match the feature set but focused more on the software than the raw capabilities of stuff like the video camera. However, Palm got several things right that took Apple forever, such as app store from the beginning, physical keyboard, camera flash, MULTITASKING, loud speaker, and many software features in the email program, in the 1st generation of their phone.
I have a hard time deciding what i love more, great homebrew communities, or market competition.
aw who cares, its all win for the end user.
hugs
+1. Well said.
awesome, the one thing I've been really waiting for.
It has similar hardware to the 3GS doesn't it? I would think if they (Palm) implement this it would be able to be comparable to the 3GS' quality.
Ha, this dude has a TV so he can watch it while on the crapper, classy video.
I dont watch that TV on the crapper, thats for brushing teeth.. I have a 36" in the toilet room behind the door. :P
mmmm
looking good! I can't wait till this has a working GUI
seriously and people criticize iphone for not having mms. all phones have some drawback but my 32 gig iphone with video recording and 75k apps and games to choose i would much rather have it than this phone. and most cars not have ipod connectivity which work with iphone also. but i guess if your on sprint its the best option.
to each his own, I have the chance to get a iphone, but I passed. why? because for one, sprint's plan are so much cheaper at this time, and I saved a lot. and two, when apple released the new iphone at wwdc, I was not too impressed. I thought they can still improve the hardware a bit, so I got a pre, and will wait and see what apple is cooking up next year. if it's much improved over this year's hardware, and being ported to Verizon. it would almost be a no brainer, assuming Verizon can come up with a competitive pricing plan.
wtf it doesn't have video recording by default?
no but do you see people criticize it for not having it? no , yet iphone gets it from every side for mms and video a while back. now iphone does one better than palm pre so they will find something else to say about iphone now. i just hate when people do that when every phone out there has something wrong with it. i dont hear too many people saying palms keyboard and screen are too small for certain tasks like gps. they just say oh i get free gps with my pre. id rather pay $80 for my navigon app and a 3.5 inch screen than depend on a network connection for my gps.
Did anyone else see the headline pic and think: "B*tches don't know bout my hack"?
im kinda Mad that my iPhone3G can only do 15fps i wish it had the Palm Pre 480 x 320 at 30fps dont wanna upgrade to an iPhone3G
Before hacking for the video support Palm needs to return the stolen USB vendor ID.
This should be the highest priority, IMO.
I'm not interested in Pre.
Let us see this guy! Cutie.
He has too many cosmetics in the bathroom - too feminine i think...
I don't think that footage is shot from the pre... Check out the angles when he is looking at himself in the mirror... It doesn't look right, the camera movements don't match up with what you see in the mirror.... Looks like a fake.
yes it is actually fake.
that is not a mirror but in fact glass, and they replicated objects on both side so it looks mirrored. then they got two guys. one with the pre standing behind the "mirror" and one with a video cam corder to do the exact same hand movements so it gives the illusion of it being a mirror. basic faking it 101.
Okay, maybe there's someone out there who can answer this question - maybe even someone from Engadget. It seems to be that this blog has had a tremendous amount of power to sway Palm in the past. I might even contend that Palm owes a great deal of credit to Engadget for helping them change course and even score big early in it's development with a number of glowing reviews. Far be it from me to complain, I'm glad to see a company responsive to a knowledgeable public.
So....if the Palm Pre has been easily hackable since the beginning, why doesn't Palm just work with these hackers. Wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to toss some teenage genius $10,000 for some fine coding that eventually makes the gadget better? Now I'm sure Palm programmers would have a hissy-fit - but maybe it will make them work that much harder to make the Palm Pre even better! Maybe I'm just idealistic in thinking that a group of people could actually make a SWEET handset....or maybe this was Palm's plan all along.
Any comments?