iPhone 3.0 beta caught hiding video editing graphics?

The founder of Austrian site Benm.at claims to have found multiple unused graphical controls that relate directly to video editing. Among the controls are grab points that would let users define the start and end of clips as well as repeating, tile graphics and references to an 'edit bar.'

Brought to English readers through Gizmodo, the rumor doesn't yet show an actual video editor but further supports evidence of video capturing as a staple feature in iPhone 3.0.

People familiar with Apple's plans have previously told AppleInsider that the camera in the next-genration iPhone should include video capture abilities, an assertion supported by a screen cap for MobileMe sync that alluded to uploading video.

More recently, alleged Taiwan insiders have also said that the camera itself may be upgraded to 3.2 megapxiels, suggesting that upgraded hardware video performance is just as important to Apple as software features.

The list of supposed video editing graphics. | Image credits: Benm.at.

Apple has typically downplayed the importance of the iPhone's camera and has kept the same 2-megapixel camera since its handset's introduction in June 2007; the absence has drawn criticism from those noting that significantly less expensive phones have had video recordings in place for years. More direct competitors to the iPhone, like LG's Viewty, have even made on-camera editing a central feature rather than one feature among many.

42 Comments

aplnub 2385 comments · 20 Years

About 15 years ago

Let's just shoe horn in a 5 MP camera and be done with it. I find 4 MP is the least I can use and be happy.

wessan 37 comments · 17 Years

I hope they split iPhone into 2 classes - one focused on being as small as possible (while keeping the same screen) and second with included a decent camera with glass lenses etc. I believe we could expect pretty cool photo applications with interesting functionality if the camera was good enough and the processor powerful enough.

addabox 12567 comments · 22 Years

Quote:

Originally Posted by aplnub

Let's just shoe horn in a 5 MP camera and be done with it. I find 4 MP is the least I can use and be happy.

I'm curious about this, assuming you're serious.

What is it about 4MP, on a camera phone, that makes you happy over, say, 3.2MP? Are you making very large prints from your phone?

I ask because the difference in resolution, even without the oft discusses downside of simply cramming more pixels onto a tiny imager, would be invisible for the uses phone images are generally put to-- as an MMS attachment, or uploaded to Flickr, or a Facebook page, or simply shown around on the phone's screen, etc.

I doubt most people could tell the difference between a 3.2MP camera and a 4MP camera until you were comparing 8x10 prints, and even then the difference would be subtle.

Are people making 8x10 prints from their phones?

As has been discussed (to death) elsewhere, a good (or better) lens and superior processing can yield a far better image from a 3.2MP imager than a mediocre lens and processing can from a 4MP, or 5MP one, so it actually doesn't make any sense to speak of having some threshold of MP to get a satisfactory image, without knowing about the entire image chain.

psychodoughboy 129 comments · 21 Years

I'd be more excited to hear about processing speed and RAM improvements. Video editing on the iPhone is pretty cool, but I can't see myself using it much at all (video chat, on the other hand, would be stellar). Would much rather Apple go for the bullet points that the Pre has over the iPhone at the moment and one-up Palm entirely, rather than focus too too much on video.

bloggerblog 2507 comments · 16 Years

I'd be happy if Apple even kept the same resolution as long they can get the image to carry more detail, i.e. be sharper without any filters. The current iPhone camera loses most of the resolution to blurring, I usually have to bring the image resolution down to 1/4 and then sharpen.