iPhone 4 does 720p HD video, iMovie
By Vlad Savov 
posted June 7th 2010 1:25PM
posted June 7th 2010 1:25PM
posted June 7th 2010 1:25PM
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Nice, i bet will be quicktime format too.
@techlord This is brilliant!
@werty1432k oh and iPad 2 needs a camera just so we can get iMovie on the iPad. That would be sweet.
How is iMovie already rated?
Shame they are charging for iMovie.. would have thought they would drop it in for free - at least for iPhone 4 owners, and maybe a much smaller amount like $0.99/1.99 for other iPhone owners. Its not like Apple need the cash right? lol
@techlord I'm sure it will export in a format Quicktime will play, not a format Quicktime is required in order to play.
@techlord if it records .mov they blew up
that format blows, i want mpeg4!
@manofchao5 Do you have any idea what you're talking about?
The MP4 container is based off the Quicktime .mov container, any dislike for it has nothing to do with the format itself but lack of support for it in other media players or previous experience with lower quality codecs used with the container like Sorenson video.
Comparing .mov, .wmv, .rm, .avi. mkv, .mp4, my preferred are .mov and .mp4. I have nothing but problems converting and editing the others.
@Engadget "but why is the upper limit of storage still 32GB? A more generous apportionment of memory would've gone very nicely indeed with that HD video mode."
8Mbits/s is fine for 720p H.264, which is 1MByte per second max (could be less with VBR) so 20GB out of the 32 gives you 20,000 seconds of footage = 5.5 hours. I think that's plenty for a phone.
@manofchao5
lol they blew up?
If they blow up then they blew it.
Hopefully it will be H264...
But, nice camera...too low on the megapixels though.
@kapanak it will be much better in low light though... my droid sucks at low light (i love it, just saying)
Megapixels aren't everything, Both my fathers Nokia and my iPhone have 3Megapixel cameras, but the results are astonishingly different.
@kapanak
Are you serious? What do you want a 12 megapixel camera that's only a few millimeters big? Talk about some shitty quality if you go that way.
@dickweed http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n8-3252.php
@N900
That link is unhelpful. It doesn't address dickweed's concern regarding the sensor size. Small sensors produce more noise and distortion, and no amount of megapixels will improve the image (ref: "Enough Already With the Megapixels" http://www.dansdata.com/gz059.htm).
Still, for those who are okay with the image quality, the Nokia N8 does take usable pictures. Just don't expect it to produce at the level of a dedicated camera (to my eyes, it's noticably better than a webcam). Sample images can be seen here: http://www.slashgear.com/nokia-n8-sample-photos-revealed-plus-full-hardware-specs-2783277/
For myself, I'd rather get better quality than more megapixels. To print out a 5x7/4x6 image only requires ~3MP, so 12MP is overkill on a cell phone with such a short focal lens. The visible quality difference between the 5MP iPhone and the 12MP Nokia will likely not be significant, since it doesn't even double the resolution (i.e. N8 doesn't produce 2 pixels for each one of the iPhone's pixels; doubling 5MP requires 20MP).
@BobStewart There is no way, with current sensor technology, to create such small sensors that don't suck in low light (i.e. high iso/sensor gain). IF it's any better than the Droid, it will be barely noticeable, and most of that difference is probably going to be attributed more to noise reduction algorithms than hardware performance.
@wrathkind Well, the difference between N8's pics and iPhone 4's pics should be noticeable. and here's why. iPhone has a manufacturer-made camera lens which are not usually that great. N8 has Carl Zeiss which is like one of the best optics in the world. And low-light pics would be absolutely great on N8 coz not only does it have a REALLY good camera lens, but it also has a Xenon flash. Single LED flash light works only for close-up pics, and that too doesnt make the pics look that great. if u compare iPhone 4 to lets say N95, N95 is definitely gonna take better pics coz of the really good optics and dual LED flash even though it has a 5MP camera. Or if you take the N82, 5MP, Carl Zeiss, Xenon Flash, its gonna be the best among these three. So yes, you should be definitely able to see a difference between N8's pics and iPhone 4's pics. It might not be a HUGE one but definitely noticeable upon proper look at it. :)
@statickeith
Fair enough; perhaps there will be a noticeable quality difference in the output. Still, we'll have to wait for test shots to see if such noticeable differences are actually "significant". I mean, in the end, these are still cell phone cams, and I don't see 12MP doing much to improve quality.
I think the phone's image processing algorithms (rather than the hardware) would have a bigger effect on the resulting images. The short focal length and the sensor sizes are massive bottlenecks for these devices, regardless of lens and flash. If the resulting images are rendered with similar quality I'm not sure that 12MP vs 5MP would be a sticking point for most people.
Also, do people actually print out their phone pics to the extent that the resolution difference matters? A QSXGA (2560x2048) display is only 5.2MP, and I think phone cam images end up on the Web more than get printed out. If people are looking to replace their point-and-shoots with a phone cam then I think anything above ~8MP ceases to matter (an 8x10 print using an unnecessary 300ppi requires only 7.2MP), again mostly because the image quality is already constrained by the fact that you're using a phone lol.
@wrathkind
Apparently the pixel size for the Iphone 4 and the N8 are the same, its just that the N8 has a much larger sensor. I am also guessing the wide angle lense is actually better than the one in the Iphone 4.
Also, judging from the sample shots of the Iphone, there is too much smoothing going on. Which makes the image of the nature scene look oilpainted, and display some lack of detail.
We wont know for sure untill we shoot the same shots with both of the devices, but I think we can safely assume that the N8 will take vastly superior images.
ooooh aahh
Ok but not spectacular. An LED Flash is disappointing.
@MarkAnderson
And you have to buy the video editing software? Ok, that sucks.
@MarkAnderson
Wait , you expected it for free? 5 bucks for it its cheap , there is no other app that comes close to what it can do
@Accelerator
I think pretty much every smartphone has video editing for free. Nokia's one is pretty good from personal usage. This is nice but free would have been nicer.
I am, of course, assuming that the iPhone has built in video editing and that you don't have to buy this to do editing on the fly though. Otherwsie that really is a rip off.
@MarkAnderson the iPhone supports onboard editing for free as well. iMovie for the iPhone is for making comparatively full-featured videos with transitions and titles, not just clipping something you shot before sending it to YouTube.
@MarkAnderson video editing on a phone is inherently stupid anyway. if you care about it, you're going to do it on the computer, or not film with your phone in the first place.
@cswright
So why offer it as an app then?
Fuck Evo...this is what I want....
@BrookLynnsFinest oooooh, that was kind of mean don't you think?
@BrookLynnsFinest
I wouldn't go that far, the EVO does have its advantages
Call me when it upgrades to another network.
@Slvrgun Then give us your number
are we... actually going to do this again?
every time steve makes a comment create a new article?
just update the iphone 4 article...
@HoldenMccrotch
I think I speak for many when I say "GO AWAY!" You Can view an engadget with no Apple news yah know. So Seriously, GTFO NOOB!
@HoldenMccrotch im backing holden on this one. i guess its big news but they arent all important enough to warrant 14 articles. every engadget editor is blowing a load about scooping their next big apple blurb
But will it do better than other 720p 30fps phone like Samsung Wave/Galaxy?
best camera ever released ...srsly
@Yep That's just false. This one is nice and will do the job, but the Evo & Incredible have better cameras.
@Bedlight more megapixelsdoesn't make them better cameras.
@ashleythehottiest ...but they are better cameras
@cswright
Not necessarily. I think Jobs may have mentioned this in the Stevenote, but when hardware makers add megapixels, they typically decrease megapixel size, so not much improvement is seen in the photos. The true test of a camera is how well it can capture photons. It seems like the iPhone has hit the nail on the head in that category. The only way I will really know is when I get my hands on one, but I'm extremely excited to do so.
@Seven2k
Yes my evo does this..but there is NO thing that comes close to imovie on Android. Dear God please make Google and Apple combine. I will for ever be you servant.
@DefPoet Google+Apple=iNexus with a side of world domination???
Not bad, pretty much features we all thought it would have. But come on, digital zoom? That's just cropping and resize.
@liquidkernel um.. What did you expect? Some kind of lenses that stick 3 inches out of the phone?? It's a FREAKIN' smartphone!
they also have 30fps, thought only 24fps...
Not bad so far.. But is very clear so far that the EVO caused Apple to put more stuff inside this phone..Which proves that the completion is good after all
@Sor1
We all knew these specs last year. EVO didn't change anything. Apple could care less about Android.
@Sor1
Seems unlikely...you don't throw features into something like this on short notice. This takes MONTHS even years of R&D.
@Slvrgun
Tone down your fanboyism. It's a phone.