Palm Precorder brings video recording homebrew to the Pre
If you like your software homebrewed with just a hint of alpha then boy do we have an app for you. The WebOS homebrew community just released Precorder; an app that lets your Palm Pre record audio and 30fps 480x320 pixel video in H.264/AVC format -- you can even control the built-in LED for recording in low-light situations. Unfortunately, there's no video preview presented while recording but hey, it's alpha software bro... and it's free. Check a video sample after the break.
























This is great and something the Pre should have had out of the box. It's not perfect but it's free and still needs to be updated.
@ZeRoCo0L Well, when the manufacturers don't come trough, gotta love the homebrew community..
Probably didn't come with the Pre - Palm certainly is capable of developing such software - because it's a power hog or interferes with some other aspect of the underlying OS - like timeliness of realtime event handling etc.
It'll be interesting seeing enduser comments.
@ZeRoCo0L
True dat!
Awesome.
*watches video*
There's a Michael Vick joke in there somewhere...
@MastaQ
As wished for...
The Michael Vick Defense:
I swear, I didn't know what they were having dog fights! My friend asked me to tape something for him, but the video recorder on my phone doesn't have a preview display so I had no way of knowing what was going on. Can I go now?
So Palm Pre doesn't have video recording by default? Really?
What the...
The pre didn't come with video recording???? Are you serious?
I just picked up a Pre 2 weeks ago, and the sales rep, was pushing the availability of video recording soon, like it was no big deal. Well if it was no big deal why then was it not on the phone [like my 2.5 year old dumbphones already] in the first place. I hope Palm/Sprint is not pulling a Apple/ATT move and hoping to catch me in 12 months in an "enticing" upgrade.....
Is this an app that i can get on my palm pixie as well? And if so where would i find it, its not in the app catalog on my phone though i saw something on another site saying i would have to download 2 files to my pc then to my phone is that true?
@DerSteve
check out PreCentral.net all the info you'll ever need for the Pre and Pixi
The iPhone didn't come with MMS or video recording??? What?
omg
@electrobrains
Well, yes. But the iPhone was still good in other areas, so the marketing team brilliantly decided they could leave out some common features and make more money by selling them in the next versions.
The Pre is supposed to struggle with the market share much more than the iPhone, so leaving out common features seems like an unwise and unexpected move.
Same reason for which heavy-marketed PMPs from Apple and Microsoft only play like 3 formats altogether, while cheaper PMPs from another manufacturer plays pretty much everything and give you much more freedom in how you use them.
The Pre came with MMS - just not video recording.
Video recording on a phone isn't deal breaker for most people. I realize it's on 99% of dumb phones but have you ever tried to watch the videos those phones create? It hurts my eyes. If you want to talk about lacking features though let us not forget that it took the iPhone 4 phone generations to fix it's inability to send MMS something that the 1st gen phone was able to do thanks to the hacking community.
I don't like phones that lack features but it almost seems to be the trend now just to get the phone out of the door. I had a Pre for about a month now and I'm fine w/o the video recording feature but know that it'll be enabled soon in an update. Until then I'll just have to record video with my HD point 'n shoot and deal with better quality, zoom, better sound, and longer recording...whoa is me, I hate my life.
Sarcasm FTW
@l3admonky
"have you ever tried to watch the videos those phones create?"
Yes, of course. I've had many good laughs watching those crappy (as far as video specs go) videos. I would've missed a lot of fun if it wasn't for the phone cameras.
A phone camera is _not_ meant to be a complete replacement for a dedicated one. But the advantage is that it's always there in your pocket when you need it.
It's hard to believe a recently released phone with a camera would lack this feature. I blame the low standards set by the iPhone in this area (because frankly it's not a bad phone overall and it set some high standards in other areas, like apps).
@l3admonky For what it's worth, the fourth generation iPhone will come out in 2010. The 3GS is third generation.
Excellent points otherwise.
@l3admonky
*woe
As a Pre owner I love having a thriving hombrew community. The patches are great and the software is also great. If I can't find something in the App Catalog then it's probably on Preware (homebrew app catalog). And I think it's great that Palm is accepting the homebrew community and encouraging it to make its product better. The Pre is a great phone to begin with, but the homebrew community has made it so much better.
@haubey Oh, yeah, well, your phone is...uh...you're so...um...ok, fine, it's a good phone with a good dev community. There...ya happy?
@Panhandle
you need to download 2 files on your computer then connect your pixi/pre.
this is a one time thing and after that you have access to over 300 apps 700 themes and a lot more homebrew stuff. its like the unofficial app catalog all for free. its easy to do try it out
@(Unverified)
You're right. I don't have an iPhone so I was counting the initial release of the 8GB and 16GB versions as the 2nd Gen when they were really just 1st Gen phones with more memory.
Not having video hasn't been a deal breaker for me either. I've had my Pre since release day, and while I would welcome the addition of video, I'm pretty damn happy that it does other things well like multitasking. In fact, tru multitasking was a deal breaker for me when I was deciding between the Pre and the iPhone. I can keep my Google Maps session alive while switching between texting, e-mailing and accepting a call.
@orangedog
Er, the iPhone keeps your Google Maps session going in the background too. Safari does actually run in the background. And then you can also text, email and accept a call. And record H.264 video at 30 FPS.
Just saying that while there are reasons to get a Pre vs. an iPhone, you didn't successfully list any of them. And let's not even get into the app store.
A little off topic but this just makes me think of some other features this phone should have had out-of-the box, and still doesn't:
-BLUETOOTH VOICE DIALING
-Visual voicemail
-Ability to delete the crappy bloatware that comes on the phone (Hello? Who uses the NASCAR app?)
-Touchscreen sensitivity calibration
-Search within email