New iPhone 4G rumors: 720p HD video recording and more

By Richi Jennings. May 6, 2010.

Another day, another iPhoneOS beta. As ever, this brings new rumors about iPhone 4G features. This time, it's 720p HD video recording, and more besides. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers get excited.

Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention a drunk Australian vs. a fence...
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Arnold Kim delves into the devkit:

One of the ... features ... in iPhone OS 4 are new APIs that give developers full access to Video capture. ... This could open the door to some interesting apps ... and more robust Augmented Reality ... when iPhone OS 4 finally becomes available.
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The iPhone 4 Beta SDK ... reveals the ability to capture video at higher resolutions than the current ... VGA resolution. ... Suggests that a future iPhone will be able to capture at 720p. ... The next iPhone ... [is] rumored to be dubbed the "iPhone HD" which would fit well.

John Herrman seeks clarity:

The evidence is fairly clear. ... These ... SDK ... presets ... don't guarantee HD video capture. But the iPhone ecosystem is contained enough that any reference to HD ... is significant. I mean, why would there be a stray reference? What would it once have referred to?
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The next iPhone is suspected to have an upgraded camera—we know it will have a flash—and 720p has been explicitly mentioned in rumors before. Also, it's currently on the market in a handful of other phones, so it'd be kind of a disappointment if the next iPhone didn't ship with it.

Sean Hollister is a voice of reason:

The iPhone SDK 4 beta includes the value "AVCaptureSessionPreset1280x720," leading some to believe [the iPhone 4G] will record video in 720p. Mind you, the iPhone 3GS was technically already capable of that.

Michael Bettiol lists other changes he's discovered:

Apple is finally going to allow you to transfer files to and from your iPhone straight from your computer. ... [But] we have not been able to get the feature to work.
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A new set of widgets that control the iPod application. To access it simply swipe to the left.
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[To] shut down applications ... running in the background ... simply press and hold the icon of ... and you’ll be given the option to close whatever ones you wish.
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Apple has finally realized that not everyone likes having the entire UI flip about thanks to the over-sensitive accelerometer. ... Swipe to the left and click the Portrait Lock icon.

Jeff Smykil just scoffs, but later changes his tune:

Apple has added what can be best described as a task manager for quitting applications. ... Some may remember that Steve Jobs indicated ... that task managers are evil and should be reviled, but apparently things have changed.
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Apple has told us "summer" for the iPhone and iPod touch version and "fall" for the iPad version. ... It's likely that we will continue to see changes buried within the betas. ... We're starting to get a little excited.

Meanwhile, Ravi Shankar adds 2+2:

iPhone 4 [has] both front and back cameras. ... The next logical step for Skype would be to support Mobile Video Chat. How about ... a mobile Chatroulette?
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Some of the new TV’s come with Skype. ... Think of a Multi Party Video conference using your big HD TV. ... Skype is ... making steady progress in the enterprise space. ... They may ... remove the limitation of 5 users ... for enterprise. Watch out Cisco, Tanderberg, and Lifesize.

And Finally...
Australian drunk vs. fence
 
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com.

You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.