HD Video on 4th-Gen iPhone?

[Paul Daniel Ash]

After the weird now-you-see-it, now-you-don't release of the latest iPhone OS beta yesterday, devs started poring through the SDK in search of clues about new iPhone features. Some video-capture settings give hints that the fourth-generation iPhone will be capable of taking HD video at 720p, adding weight to the belief of many that the next model will be called the "iPhone HD." Also, a new dialog in iTunes that suggests that the next version of the iPhone OS may allow file transfer as well as some other much-needed interface improvements show that iPhone 4.0 work is proceeding quickly.

New presets that show up in the Image Capture framework in the iPhone OS beta 3 SDK appears to support video capture at 1280x720 resolution: 720p HD video. MacRumors reported on the discovery of the presets - "AVCaptureSessionPreset640x480" and "AVCaptureSessionPreset1280x720" - which would presumably refer to an app's standard VGA and HD settings. Persistent rumors have indicated that the new iPhone will have a 5-megapixel camera, and the "lost-and-found" prototype showed a much larger lens on the device's back case.

Michael Bettiol at Boy Genius Report discovered a new option in the Apps tab of iTunes when a 4.0 iPhone is connected: a 'File Sharing' section. The native Mail app is the only one that showed up when Bettiol clicked on it, but it could be that only that app has the API support built into it at this time. Kudos to Apple for finally building in a feature we've had since the first jailbreak.

There is also - finally - a way to lock the screen orientation so that you don't switch between landscape and portrait mode. The lock is activated by an icon on the new multitasking dock, which also now features iPod controls and a much more convenient task manager. Previous betas have forced you to press and hold running app's icon in the multitasking dock to kill it. Now, once you press and hold a single icon, all the running apps' kill switches are activated, allowing you to kill them individually, in much the same way you can delete apps in the current iPhone OS.

The addition of task manager is an interesting development, in light of Steve Jobs's statement at the iPhone 4.0 announcement: "In multitasking, if you see a task manager... they blew it. Users shouldn't ever have to think about it." Maybe he decided that they shouldn't have to… but that they shouldn't be prevented from thinking about it, either. Choice is a good thing.

[Eagleye]

HD would be sweet, but 5 megapixels? thats it? we got phones now with 12mp...(sony ericsson) I think they could really do better if they tried a bit harder.

[TheOrioles33]

I would bet money on it being called the iPhone HD.

[FoneWeasel]

HD would be sweet, but 5 megapixels? thats it? we got phones now with 12mp...(sony ericsson) I think they could really do better if they tried a bit harder.

Higher megapixel in a phone is really worthless. Until the size of the actual CCD becomes bigger (requiring the phone to be bigger), you will see very little, if any, difference between the cameras. If you compare a 5MP to a 10MP on a phone you'd be hard up to find much difference other then the overall size of the pictures.

[southfrisco]

I would bet money on it being called the iPhone HD.

I will take that bet. How much are you willing to put up?

With the Zune HD I would highly doubt that Apple will take such a naming convention and follow in M$ footsteps. I am not saying it won't have HD video recording capability, I just don't think it will be named HD.

It would have to have more than just HD video recording. The screen would need HD resolution and you would need to be able to download HD video OTA from iTunes which you currently can not with the wireless speeds we are stuck with.

[wolverinemarky]

yea i hope the 5mp cam is a myth and they go way higher to blow everyone out of the water

[sandstorm77]

i know for a fact that it is not called iphone HD.....If it were going to be called that, apple would have already bought the website. and it is already taken by someone else!

Domain Name: IPHONEHD.COM
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: Domain Names, Web Hosting and SSL Certificates - Go Daddy
Name Server: NS11.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS12.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 02-mar-2010
Creation Date: 01-mar-2008
Expiration Date: 01-mar-2011

[southfrisco]

yea i hope the 5mp cam is a myth and they go way higher to blow everyone out of the water

5mp is actually a good bet. Apple never blows their wad on hardware. Laster year it was 3.2mp when everyone else was going 5mp. This year it will be 5mp when everyone else is going 8mp and higher.

Apple is revenue driven and they go for low cost components. Why go with a 8mp lens when you can get a great deal on 5mp lens because others are buying up the 8mp lens components? Think about it.

EDIT ADD: BTW I just saw a few pictures taken with the HTC HD2 with flash (this has a 8mp lens). The pictures are a little fuzzy and a horrendous yellow tint falls over the subject due to the flash. Cameras on phones suck no matter what the mp is.

[sandstorm77]

i bet its going to be called iPhone Video

[TheOrioles33]

I will take that bet. How much are you willing to put up?

With the Zune HD I would highly doubt that Apple will take such a naming convention and follow in M$ footsteps.

Good points!! I FOLD!!

[TheDirtyDiddler]

It's going to be called "iPhone Adobedestroy".

[southfrisco]

Good points!! I FOLD!!

Damn! How about we bet on an Oriole game?

EDIT: @TheDirtyDiddler, my vote is the iPhone PR for public relations nightmare. Or substitute your favorite bar drink for PR like iPhone "A Little Piece Of Heaven" or iPhone "A Kick In The Crotch" or iPhone "Saga 7" or iPhone "Willy"

[nashlib]

I'm gonna go with it being called - iPhone 3GS

...... What. They named it already. Damn I hate cryo hibernation....now don't tell me iphone has video recording too......


Oh damn.....I hateeeeee

[doitchinkstyle]

apple has been pretty loose recently with all these slip ups. i understand they release the OS4 beta so developers could get a jump on it, but yeah apple allowing all this information to well...leak out?

[Go Gators]

5mp is actually a good bet. Apple never blows their wad on hardware. Laster year it was 3.2mp when everyone else was going 5mp. This year it will be 5mp when everyone else is going 8mp and higher.

Apple is revenue driven and they go for low cost components. Why go with a 8mp lens when you can get a great deal on 5mp lens because others are buying up the 8mp lens components? Think about it.

EDIT ADD: BTW I just saw a few pictures taken with the HTC HD2 with flash (this has a 8mp lens). The pictures are a little fuzzy and a horrendous yellow tint falls over the subject due to the flash. Cameras on phones suck no matter what the mp is.

My friend has the HTC HD2 and the pictures he's taken with it are amazing! No yellow tint. No fuzziness. Just amazing pictures. Best I've ever seen from a phone. There must be something wrong with the HD2 camera you saw or they don't know how to use it correctly.

[zinjen]

i know for a fact that it is not called iphone HD.....If it were going to be called that, apple would have already bought the website. and it is already taken by someone else!

Domain Name: IPHONEHD.COM
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: Domain Names, Web Hosting and SSL Certificates - Go Daddy
Name Server: NS11.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS12.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 02-mar-2010
Creation Date: 01-mar-2008
Expiration Date: 01-mar-2011

This is not necessarily true.. Apple can put an acquisition on that domain in less than 30 days from the actual launch. Especially "Apple".

[thetoothfairy]

Apple just release the new iPhone! HD would be nice, I am just excited to for the new release!

[Maerlyn13]

5mp is actually a good bet. Apple never blows their wad on hardware. Laster year it was 3.2mp when everyone else was going 5mp. This year it will be 5mp when everyone else is going 8mp and higher.

Apple is revenue driven and they go for low cost components. Why go with a 8mp lens when you can get a great deal on 5mp lens because others are buying up the 8mp lens components? Think about it.

EDIT ADD: BTW I just saw a few pictures taken with the HTC HD2 with flash (this has a 8mp lens). The pictures are a little fuzzy and a horrendous yellow tint falls over the subject due to the flash. Cameras on phones suck no matter what the mp is.

Actually, I own a HTC HD2 Telstra T9193 on ATT Network. It has a 5MP camera, not 8MP like the Samsung Omnia HD. Dont know what is wrong with your buddies HD2, but the pictures I take come out great. Its no substitute for a good 12MP SLR mind you, but if I could carry a SLR in my pocket and still use it as a phone also, I would. Maybe your buddy should check his camera settings and apply some hotfixes. Ive never seen the flash give a yellow tint. A general complaint was a blue or pink tint, but HTC Fixed that, and with a custom rom, the camera is perfect. The flash is as bright as a xenon flash also.

[bagek]

iphone 4 ??? 5MP, mulit-tasking....meh...when are they going to have a native app that rates the stink levels of your farts to compete with your friends? That would be legit

[Poseidon79]

People always tend to think Apple is now lagging behind with things such as multi-tasking and hardware upgrades. The fact is Apple won't give the consumer something until it's up to their standard. They could have done multi-tasking years ago but the battery drain was horrendous! Other phones have it... but their battery sucks. Apple now comes along and releases energy efficient multi-tasking and trumps all their competitors. Apple's 3.2MP camera takes better pictures and video than most other phones with 5-8MP cameras because of better rendering and quality parts. You can give a phone a 25MP camera but pair it up with a crappy lens and CCD chip and the pictures will come out crappy. I'd much rather lag behind the curve and stick with Apple products that get it right rather than just throwing all these features onto a phone that don't perform well in the end.