As I look at all of the reviews of the Keynote and all the commentary and most particularly, all of the many dismissals of the 2018 iPhones as worthwhile upgrades, I am struck by how Apple missed a huge opportunity during yesterday’s Keynote.
For those of you who have only used iPhones and have never tried to use an Android phone that could record your home videos in beautiful immersive stereo sound, you have no idea what you’re missing.
And even if you do, it may not be something that’s important to you. But to me, a mother who has barely any photos and no movies of my own childhood, the ability to capture not just the look of memorable events for my family but their sound just as I heard it at the time is a big deal.
For years I watched and listened to the flat lifeless audio of the videos taken of special once in a lifetime moments of my family’s life and enjoyed them but was pulled in only visually. Then I decided to try the ill-fated Note 7 and subsequently the S7 Edge and finally heard what I’d been missing.
The one that stands out to me was a huge Fall Festival held at our school. I recorded the bobbing for Apples and costume parade and other fun events on my S7 Edge. At the time I was recording, the sounds were rich and alive all around me. I had kids giggling and yelling in front of me. Another child laughing and joking to the side. Yet more behind me.
When I came home and put my headphones on and played the movie back again, I was astonished. I didn’t hear the usual flat one directional audio in which all the sounds were mixed together into a dim murky soup.
Instead I felt like I was back in time again, with the sounds very closely matching what I heard and the directions I heard them coming from at the time.
I wished like anything that the cameras I had when the kids were babies and toddlers could have recorded the audio like this. It really brings the memories back to life. Sound can be such an important aspect to these memories.
If you’re able to upgrade this year, and you enjoy making videos, I think you will be surprised at what you’ve been missing and happy at what you now have. Apple was way, way overdue to offer this feature. And I am so glad they didn’t exempt it from the Xr model. I hope they have done a good job with this feature. If poorly implemented, it can make a hash of the sound. I’m looking forward to testing this feature for myself. From what I caught of the demo they showed, it should be good.
I wish Apple had spent more time selling everyone on the significance of this feature. I wonder if they breezed past it because many Android phones have had this for years.
For those of you who have only used iPhones and have never tried to use an Android phone that could record your home videos in beautiful immersive stereo sound, you have no idea what you’re missing.
And even if you do, it may not be something that’s important to you. But to me, a mother who has barely any photos and no movies of my own childhood, the ability to capture not just the look of memorable events for my family but their sound just as I heard it at the time is a big deal.
For years I watched and listened to the flat lifeless audio of the videos taken of special once in a lifetime moments of my family’s life and enjoyed them but was pulled in only visually. Then I decided to try the ill-fated Note 7 and subsequently the S7 Edge and finally heard what I’d been missing.
The one that stands out to me was a huge Fall Festival held at our school. I recorded the bobbing for Apples and costume parade and other fun events on my S7 Edge. At the time I was recording, the sounds were rich and alive all around me. I had kids giggling and yelling in front of me. Another child laughing and joking to the side. Yet more behind me.
When I came home and put my headphones on and played the movie back again, I was astonished. I didn’t hear the usual flat one directional audio in which all the sounds were mixed together into a dim murky soup.
Instead I felt like I was back in time again, with the sounds very closely matching what I heard and the directions I heard them coming from at the time.
I wished like anything that the cameras I had when the kids were babies and toddlers could have recorded the audio like this. It really brings the memories back to life. Sound can be such an important aspect to these memories.
If you’re able to upgrade this year, and you enjoy making videos, I think you will be surprised at what you’ve been missing and happy at what you now have. Apple was way, way overdue to offer this feature. And I am so glad they didn’t exempt it from the Xr model. I hope they have done a good job with this feature. If poorly implemented, it can make a hash of the sound. I’m looking forward to testing this feature for myself. From what I caught of the demo they showed, it should be good.
I wish Apple had spent more time selling everyone on the significance of this feature. I wonder if they breezed past it because many Android phones have had this for years.