Why is Photostream Wi-Fi Only?

[Statelymwhite]

This could be such a cool feature if only they allowed the option to use it over cellular (3G/4G). If my wife takes pics of my kids at school, I'd love to automatically get the pics while at work.

Apple, please at least give the cellular option!

 

[saving107]

Because some people don't want to pay more for their Data plans and 200MB/$15 is good enough for them on a monthly basis, enabling Photo Stream over 3G would eat up their data in no time.

 

[FSMBP]

This could be such a cool feature if only they allowed the option to use it over cellular (3G/4G). If my wife takes pics of my kids at school, I'd love to automatically get the pics while at work.

Apple, please at least give the cellular option!

I bet Apple would, but seeing as how people are unaware of a 8MP photo's file size, along with the fact Photo Stream uploads every pic you take (even your test shots you take), Apple doesn't want people complaining that their 2GB plan was destroyed by Photo Stream.

 

[BJMRamage]

I bet Apple would, but seeing as how people are unaware of a 8MP photo's file size, along with the fact Photo Stream uploads every pic you take (even your test shots you take), Apple doesn't want people complaining that their 2GB plan was destroyed by Photo Stream.

Maybe Apple should have have a non-auto version choice. "Update Pics now" instead of instantaneously. This way you could take several shots and then update....or update those checked off like when you share/move photos to a new album.

 

[Statelymwhite]

Having the option for 3G would be nice, but I can see how this could be a data hog.

 

[Hammie]

They could put the 3G option but compress the photos so you are not sending a 6-10MB picture. (Although it is probably already a compressed jpg at about 2-4MB in size.) An 8mp picture is 3546 x 2304, which is about the perfect size to print a 11 x 14 print. For the iPhone screen, reducing the size to be equal to a 1-2mp shot will be more than adequate. This would have the jpg file size somewhere in the the 100-300KB size. Much less, than the full 8mp resolution.

 

[CosmoPilot]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'm not opposed to having the option, but a cool by-product of Wifi only is the ability to take several photos out in the wild, then delete the not so good pics. When you finally reach a wifi connection, only the pics u kept on the camera roll get uploaded.

Uploading an 8MP photo @ 3.1MB (file size) a piece would take forever if u had several photos.

 

[gentlefury]

The thing I don't understand is why is 3G not an option...you can sync music, apps and books with 3G....why not photos?? Kinda kills the whole point of photo stream. They made it sound like, you snap a pic and it goes to all devices. But its not, you have to be on wifi. So you snap a pic and go home, then its on your devices....why? I have unlimited data! Let me sync with 3G!

 

[179202]

I actually didn't know this. I have photostream turned off on my iPhone due to worrying about going over my data allowance. Now I know this, I'm going to turn it on right now

 

[hspace]

One nice thing about the Wi-Fi only photostream, however, is that it gives you time to remove bad or experimental pictures before you get home and they all get uploaded.

 

[darster]

I'm sure the mobile phone providers would not be too happy with it automatically downloading through their network. Since the iPhone still uses the slower 3G network, I'm sure users of all 3G devices would complain about how slow the networks had become, and the last thing mobile provider want is a lot of complaints about a slow network. Same reason they don't want FaceTime streaming on their networks.

 

[fizzwinkus]

An 8mp photo from an iPhone 4s averages around 5MB.
How are you going to explain to someone that they are over their AT&T 200mb limit after taking 40 photos, with their iPhone battery at 40% after spending an hour uploading that amount over 3G, and as they can't use it to check a simple web page because of photo stream?

 

[gentlefury]

An 8mp photo from an iPhone 4s averages around 5MB.
How are you going to explain to someone that they are over their AT&T 200mb limit after taking 40 photos, with their iPhone battery at 40% after spending an hour uploading that amount over 3G, and as they can't use it to check a simple web page because of photo stream?

Again, some of us have unlimited data. So give cheap people a choice to use 3G or not.

 

[Kurfer]

This could be such a cool feature if only they allowed the option to use it over cellular (3G/4G). If my wife takes pics of my kids at school, I'd love to automatically get the pics while at work.

Apple, please at least give the cellular option!

Because not every photographer is using a garbage iphone camera taking pictures of kids at school.

Photostream also works from an iphoto or aperture library and the last thing I want to do when I import 24mb photos from my 5DmII is have them send over the 3G network to my phone.

The thing I don't understand is why is 3G not an option...you can sync music, apps and books with 3G....why not photos?? Kinda kills the whole point of photo stream. They made it sound like, you snap a pic and it goes to all devices. But its not, you have to be on wifi. So you snap a pic and go home, then its on your devices....why? I have unlimited data! Let me sync with 3G!

It's called technology has not been invented yet, could you imaging if every photo ever taken with apple hardware was traveling across the 3G networks of today? The wireless world just isn't ready, just as one user already mentioned the iphone camera photos are 5mb each and that's a garbage camera at best. Real cameras are 5 times the size.

Be thankful

Again, some of us have unlimited data. So give cheap people a choice to use 3G or not.

Bad post, unlimited data vs limited data does not equal cheap. It means you had the data plan before someone else. Not everyone has the option for unlimited data, call someone cheap when you openly admit you're willing to trade your unlimited plan and shell out 100's of dollars a month in data overages. People like you are why the data plan is no longer unlimited. Because you are not a disciplined user and technology isn't advanced enough to handle millions of clowns glogging the 3g networks with blurry, grainy iphone photos.

 

[PNutts]

Because not every photographer is using a garbage iphone camera taking pictures of kids at school.

The wireless world just isn't ready, just as one user already mentioned the iphone camera photos are 5mb each and that's a garbage camera at best. Real cameras are 5 times the size.

Be gone troll / camera snob. What don't you understand about a 8 MB point and shoot camera on a phone? And the assumption that 8 MB isn't enough shows a significant misunderstanding of digital photography. You call it a garbage camera. Whatever. To me it's the camera that I'm using to take pictures of my kids, my life, and whatever else I stumble across. My old 14 MB is gathering dust. So you enjoy your expensive toy and I hope you don't ever have an "I wish I had a camera moment". Because my phone is with me 24x7. Last night I was playing catch with my six year old in the front yard and I took a quick 720p video and posted it to YouTube for the family (from the yard during catch). I took pictures and a quick video of the girls dancing on a platform at the schoolyard where we rode our bikes on a whim. Or at the restaurant when one of them started grabbing stuffed animals out of a Christmas display. Or when I'm walking back from the bus stop and see a cool leave or flower. Or the dog standing on it's kennel looking for the mouse that just ran across the room. I hope you're always carrying your your camera in it's knapsack and not missing those fleeting moments. I can only image how many times you shout, "Wait! Don't move! I want to get my camera!" Yes, I traded quality for quantity and I'm OK with the quality at the size I view them.

Disclaimer: I used to semi-professionally shoot weddings and events using medium format film. So my question to you is, why are you satisfied with only 21 megapixels? That's a garbage camera.

 

[darster]

Be gone troll / camera snob. What don't you understand about a 8 MB point and shoot camera on a phone? And the assumption that 8 MB isn't enough shows a significant misunderstanding of digital photography. You call it a garbage camera. Whatever. To me it's the camera that I'm using to take pictures of my kids, my life, and whatever else I stumble across. My old 14 MB is gathering dust. So you enjoy your expensive toy and I hope you don't ever have an "I wish I had a camera moment". Because my phone is with me 24x7. Last night I was playing catch with my six year old in the front yard and I took a quick 720p video and posted it to YouTube for the family (from the yard during catch). I took pictures and a quick video of the girls dancing on a platform at the schoolyard where we rode our bikes on a whim. Or at the restaurant when one of them started grabbing stuffed animals out of a Christmas display. Or when I'm walking back from the bus stop and see a cool leave or flower. Or the dog standing on it's kennel looking for the mouse that just ran across the room. I hope you're always carrying your your camera in it's knapsack and not missing those fleeting moments. I can only image how many times you shout, "Wait! Don't move! I want to get my camera!" Yes, I traded quality for quantity and I'm OK with the quality at the size I view them.

Disclaimer: I used to semi-professionally shoot weddings and events using medium format film. So my question to you is, why are you satisfied with only 21 megapixels? That's a garbage camera.

Great post!

 

[haruhiko]

Why is there a 20MB limit over 3G for the App Store?

It's getting really ridiculous as Apple doesn't block In-app purchases to download hundreds of MBs over 3G, i.e. Magazines.

 

[BJMRamage]

Oh crappers.

So in my house making dinner, and I shoot as I go to post to a blog. then see some are blurry and want to delete but alas they are already in my photo stream (have WiFi in house) and I can neither delete these on my iPhone or iMac. stuck with them. What is worse is I like to tweak these on iPhone (Snapseed) and then post the tweaked versions to the web. BUT Snapseed will then save another version which goes right into Photostream.

Yes, I could Block/turn off Photostream.
I could turn off WiFi in the house.

But I really just wish I could either delete afterwards or have an option to wait until I hit "Submit to Photostream" button so I can see which are slightly blurry, or really off color. I take 2-3 shots per "image I want to capture" and then look over the fine details...my hand sometimes shoes, the steam sometimes blurs the photo but I don't want to wait/check/delete right away to block the transfer.


Come on Apple. let me choose what I want to do here. I like the idea but it too needs tweaking.

 

[gentlefury]

Because not every photographer is using a garbage iphone camera taking pictures of kids at school.

Photostream also works from an iphoto or aperture library and the last thing I want to do when I import 24mb photos from my 5DmII is have them send over the 3G network to my phone.



It's called technology has not been invented yet, could you imaging if every photo ever taken with apple hardware was traveling across the 3G networks of today? The wireless world just isn't ready, just as one user already mentioned the iphone camera photos are 5mb each and that's a garbage camera at best. Real cameras are 5 times the size.

Be thankful



Bad post, unlimited data vs limited data does not equal cheap. It means you had the data plan before someone else. Not everyone has the option for unlimited data, call someone cheap when you openly admit you're willing to trade your unlimited plan and shell out 100's of dollars a month in data overages. People like you are why the data plan is no longer unlimited. Because you are not a disciplined user and technology isn't advanced enough to handle millions of clowns glogging the 3g networks with blurry, grainy iphone photos.

Firstly, it has been invented and is standard in most other countries. Secondly. I said if you have a 200MB plan you are cheap. Most carriers offer a 2GB plan. I could use 200MB in an hour....overages would be ridiculous! Yes, I preordered my Verizon iPhone the day it was announced. Therefore I have, and get to keep my unlimited plan...but if you pick the 200MB plan on an iPhone, I don't see why you even have one.

 

[Kurfer]

Be gone troll / camera snob. What don't you understand about a 8 MB point and shoot camera on a phone? And the assumption that 8 MB isn't enough shows a significant misunderstanding of digital photography. You call it a garbage camera. Whatever. To me it's the camera that I'm using to take pictures of my kids, my life, and whatever else I stumble across. My old 14 MB is gathering dust. So you enjoy your expensive toy and I hope you don't ever have an "I wish I had a camera moment". Because my phone is with me 24x7. Last night I was playing catch with my six year old in the front yard and I took a quick 720p video and posted it to YouTube for the family (from the yard during catch). I took pictures and a quick video of the girls dancing on a platform at the schoolyard where we rode our bikes on a whim. Or at the restaurant when one of them started grabbing stuffed animals out of a Christmas display. Or when I'm walking back from the bus stop and see a cool leave or flower. Or the dog standing on it's kennel looking for the mouse that just ran across the room. I hope you're always carrying your your camera in it's knapsack and not missing those fleeting moments. I can only image how many times you shout, "Wait! Don't move! I want to get my camera!" Yes, I traded quality for quantity and I'm OK with the quality at the size I view them.

Disclaimer: I used to semi-professionally shoot weddings and events using medium format film. So my question to you is, why are you satisfied with only 21 megapixels? That's a garbage camera.

Nice insults, megapixel means nothing to me. I could care less, it's the sensor that makes the iphone camera USELESS. It's horrible plain and simple. Where did I say that megapixel means how good the camera is?

You're too angry to reply to me with any rational thought. Step away from your computer, you can't handle the internet. Please use paragraphs next time I stopped reading your **** half way through...hurts my damn eyes.

If you were a real professional you would know that a 5D Mark II is not known because of it's 21 megapixels...there are MANY other things that make that device a dream. Go take more blurry photos of your boring family.

----------

Firstly, it has been invented and is standard in most other countries. Secondly. I said if you have a 200MB plan you are cheap. Most carriers offer a 2GB plan. I could use 200MB in an hour....overages would be ridiculous! Yes, I preordered my Verizon iPhone the day it was announced. Therefore I have, and get to keep my unlimited plan...but if you pick the 200MB plan on an iPhone, I don't see why you even have one.

That's fine, I care not to argue about a plan. I have yet to pay for a phone plan in my entire life (that's what employers are for). My argument still stands that the wireless carriers infrastructure can't support mass users uploading photo libraries. It's already bursting at the seems as it is, isn't AT&T wanting to limit "unlimited users" now with some type of bandwidth rate limiting?

 

[donnaw]

...but if you pick the 200MB plan on an iPhone, I don't see why you even have one.

I won't get into the whole 'camera' thing but you should realize that a lot of people don't use a lot of data. Some of us use our smartphones to organize our lives. Some of us have wifi accessibility often enough that data is not needed much at all. I could actually do without any data plan. I could get my email, weather, stocks off wifi often enough. But I need a smartphone because i use an ewallet, I have spreadsheets, I have documents. I started with an Ipaq a very long time ago and was very happy to get my first smartphone in 2005 because I could stop carrying 2 gadgets. Your attitude about data useage may apply to you but it does not apply to everyone and for you to assume everyone has the same needs you do is rather arrogant.

 

[PNutts]

blurry photos

Nope. Take a look at Apple's sample full resolution photo of a squirrel. You can clearly see it's nuts.

http://images.apple.com/iphone/includes/camera-gallery/downloads/IMG_1031.JPG

 

[btbrossard]

Holy crap, lots of crankiness here.

I would love to see a photostream where you can CHOOSE what photos get sent to your other devices.

And a CHOICE as to whether you want to download/upload over cellular data or not.

Just as PNutts can choose what type of camera to use. The best camera is the one you have with you.

EDIT- who wants to get that close to a squirrel? Look at those nails. That one in the back is getting ready to attack!

 

[MadGoat]

Can you imagine taking 10 photos, uploading to photostream via 3G and killing your battery in less than half an hour.

 

[rdowns]

This could be such a cool feature if only they allowed the option to use it over cellular (3G/4G). If my wife takes pics of my kids at school, I'd love to automatically get the pics while at work.

Apple, please at least give the cellular option!

What's wrong with email or SMS?