Why no Video Recorder ?

[Darthzilla]

CAnsomeoen explain to me why no one has developed a video recorder app ? Theres a billion crappy photo filter effect apps, and i know there jailbroken video recorder apps ...so why hasnt one made it into the store yet ?

Is it simply a case that Apple isnt allowing it ? Or working on their own ?

 

[Tallest Skil]

Apple isn't allowing it.

 

[Darthzilla]

does anyone know why or speculate why ?

 

[fishkorp]

Developers don't have low enough level access to the camera using the official SDK. All you can do is bring up the "take a picture" prompt, then snap a photo, then the user has to confirm if they want the photo or not. In order to capture video you'd need to use the private (aka forbidden) stuff that will allow capturing continuous images.

 

[firewood]

5 random wild guesses:

Video recording might exceed the power (or thermal) limit needed to stay within the specified battery (or device) life.

Video recording could open a potential security hole or privacy violation that Apple (and most users) does not want opened.

Video recording might expose a bug in the current chip set.

Maybe they plan on completely changing the video recording interface in the next device revision, and any app which uses the current interface will be completely broken when a user upgrades.

Maybe they don't know if any of the above might be true, but want to play on the safe side with their SDK rules.

 

[bbplayer5]

Cycorder on Cydia proves its possible. Apple just wants to keep dictating what we can and cant have. When another company finally puts out some competition, they will open the phone up. Until then, enjoy the BS..

 

[Darthzilla]

Its so silly. Maybe Apple is working on one of their own ? Maybe they will do it on the next version ? And thats why they havent doen it yet.

it is total BS

That and no MMS

 

[Vegastouch]

Jailbreak and you can have it.

 

[razorianfly]

That and no MMS

Well, there kind of .. is .. MMS now. Globally. - http://is.gd/hd9m

R-Fly

 

[mkrishnan]

Developers don't have low enough level access to the camera using the official SDK.

Yeah, it seems like a few interesting apps are basically unmakeable on the App Store / with the official SDK because of this. For instance, the iSight on the computers can be used to scan 1D barcodes by sampling across multiple frames to overcome the lack of macro focusing (AFAIK), whereas the apps that scan barcodes typically either require you to upload the photo to the iPhone from another device or else use a macro adapter to do it.

 

[BaldiMac]

Cycorder on Cydia proves its possible. Apple just wants to keep dictating what we can and cant have. When another company finally puts out some competition, they will open the phone up. Until then, enjoy the BS..

What a paranoid inference?! Why can't it be the simplest of explanations? Apple has a list of features to implement for the iPhone, and video recording hasn't reached the top of the list.

They have a limited amount of programming and engineering resources. To add something would require them taking away resources from something else. They aren't "dictating what we can and cant have." You could buy whatever phone you want with whatever features list that phone has available. Apple is simply making a decision as to what features they think will sell the most iPhones without taking away from the overall quality of the device.

 

[bbplayer5]

What a paranoid inference?! Why can't it be the simplest of explanations? Apple has a list of features to implement for the iPhone, and video recording hasn't reached the top of the list.

They have a limited amount of programming and engineering resources. To add something would require them taking away resources from something else. They aren't "dictating what we can and cant have." You could buy whatever phone you want with whatever features list that phone has available. Apple is simply making a decision as to what features they think will sell the most iPhones without taking away from the overall quality of the device.

MMS - stated by Steve Jobs that its old technology. This is BS, hes a moron if he thinks that.
GPS turn by turn - He doesnt want you to have it, no explanation.
No video recording - Who knows...

And they wonder why people jailbreak!!


That might be the most ignorant post I have ever seen. You think Apple doesnt have more programmers than Joe Blow in his basement writing MMS apps? Please.. It would take 1 person at apple to make this application. It would also take 1 person to create a video recording app. Do not tell me Apple doesnt have the programming power to do this. They havent put ANY software out that doesnt make them money. What did we get from them so far? AppStore and itunes, both of which make them money every time you buy something from them.

They are in this for just the money, and its evident by how they treat the consumer. Until they feel threatened they will not loosen the chains.

 

[BaldiMac]

MMS - stated by Steve Jobs that its old technology. This is BS, hes a moron if he thinks that.
GPS turn by turn - He doesnt want you to have it, no explanation.
No video recording - Who knows...

And they wonder why people jailbreak!!


That might be the most ignorant post I have ever seen. You think Apple doesnt have more programmers than Joe Blow in his basement writing MMS apps? Please.. It would take 1 person at apple to make this application. It would also take 1 person to create a video recording app. Do not tell me Apple doesnt have the programming power to do this. They havent put ANY software out that doesnt make them money. What did we get from them so far? AppStore and itunes, both of which make them money every time you buy something from them.

They are in this for just the money, and its evident by how they treat the consumer. Until they feel threatened they will not loosen the chains.

Ignorant? You are surprised that a corporations primary motivation is to make money, and you call my post ignorant? Apple has the highest consumer satisfaction ratings in the computer industry and the mobile phone industry. How they "treat their customers" seems to be better than anyone else.

I was discussing video recording in my post (see the title of this thread), not MMS. I believe that MMS is something that Apple has chosen to exclude. MMS is a way for the phone companies to charge people $.25 to email a photo! Even if you have an unlimited data plan! I don't think Jobs is a moron for trying to distance Apple from such a customer unfriendly technology.

Video recording has much more of an impact on the device hardware. All of the items listed in firewood's post above have to be dealt with.

Apple has the "programming power" to write an MMS app or a video recording app. But all of their "programming power" isn't just sitting around waiting for something to do. To work on one feature requires taking resources from another feature. To believe otherwise is ignorance.

 

[kas23]

Ha. The reason we have no mms is because Steve Jobs is looking out for us. Great . Then why am I paying the same price for my texting plan as anyone else on at&t with a texting AND mms plan? Seems to me that if he cared about us so much, then why wouldn't he just exclude SMS too - after all, can't we just email each other instead?

The reason their consumer satisfaction is so high is due to apologists like you. And btw, how would mms and video recording apps take away development resources when these apps are already developed?

 

[BaldiMac]

Ha. The reason we have no mms is because Steve Jobs is looking out for us. Great .

Why is that a bad thing?

The reason their consumer satisfaction is so high is due to apologists like you.

I'm not an apologist. I simply offered an explanation that is more likely than "Apple just wants to keep dictating what we can and cant have."

And btw, how would mms and video recording apps take away development resources when these apps are already developed?

Are you referring to the jailbreak apps? I don't think that I'm going out on a limb to guess that Apple isn't going to purchase a jailbreak app.

Additionally, Apple has more concerns, responsibilities, and expectations than any unofficial app. See firewood's post for possible issues.

 

[BaldiMac]

Then why am I paying the same price for my texting plan as anyone else on at&t with a texting AND mms plan? Seems to me that if he cared about us so much, then why wouldn't he just exclude SMS too - after all, can't we just email each other instead?

AT&T sets pricing on text messaging. It may have been part of the negotiations with Apple, but we'll never know exactly what was on the table.

The difference between SMS and MMS is popularity. I couldn't find any recent stats, but MMS use has been around 10-15%. SMS use is around 75%.

 

[kas23]

I would quote your post, but I'm on my iPhone (no ability to delete large amounts of text, no cut and paste). Apparently, features like Google Street View are higher on the list of "concerns, responsibilites, and expectations" than cut and paste. No need to say anything further about Apple's priorities....

And no, Apple doesn't have to purchase a jailbreak app, but my point is that if Apple allowed video taping initially, then it likely would never have been a jailbreak app in the first place. A third party would have developed it and submitted it to the App Store. The only work Apple would have had to do would be to calculate their 30% cut. All jailbreak apps exist because Apple doesn't permit them to legitimately exist.

 

[kas23]

AT&T sets pricing on text messaging. It may have been part of the negotiations with Apple, but we'll never know exactly what was on the table.

The difference between SMS and MMS is popularity. I couldn't find any recent stats, but MMS use has been around 10-15%. SMS use is around 75%.

My point was that Apple was not trying to save anyone money and was not looking out for the consumer by excluding mms (as you specifically said they were trying to do). An mms+SMS plan on AT&T is the same price as an SMS only plan. So, the addition of mms wouldn't have cost any more money than I am paying currently.

As for your opinion of mms use, it is just as accurate as me saying that 90% of the people on this forum use mms. Heck, 3 posters in this very thread are asking for it and this thread isn't even about mms, it's about video recording.

 

[DreamPod]

Apparently, features like Google Street View are higher on the list of "concerns, responsibilites, and expectations" than cut and paste. No need to say anything further about Apple's priorities....

So, you think Apple owns Google now? I mean, Google added the street-view feature to their app, just like they are adding it to other cell phones. Apple did not.

if Apple allowed video taping initially, then it likely would never have been a jailbreak app in the first place. A third party would have developed it and submitted it to the App Store. The only work Apple would have had to do would be to calculate their 30% cut.

And spent a lot of money doing months of testing to make sure the app didn't damage the phone or cause excessive wear. See, the iPhone camera was not designed for taking videos. To force it to do so is extremely hard, which is why there are only two unlicensed apps which do it and both took a long time to develop. They have to access very low level hardware code so they can make the shutter open and close over and over again VERY quickly. I'm sure Apple's hardware testing tested the shutter for standard photo use, not constant use up to 15 times per second (the best speed video apps can do). And wouldn't you just love to have a bug in an app break your phone's camera?

Right now the official SDK doesn't give apps direct hardware access to ANY hardware at all. By doing this Apple makes the device much more secure, stable, and have decent battery life. As a developer would I love to have direct access to hardware, sure (specifically, direct access to the screen for faster rendering), but as an iPhone user, I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[DipDog3]

I'm sure Apple's hardware testing tested the shutter for standard photo use, not constant use up to 15 times per second (the best speed video apps can do). And wouldn't you just love to have a bug in an app break your phone's camera?

What???

 

[kas23]

So, you think Apple owns Google now? I mean, Google added the street-view feature to their app, just like they are adding it to other cell phones. Apple did not.

Sorry, you're 100% wrong. The iPhone's Google Maps App was made in-house by Apple. Google did not develop either of those applications, but just supplied APIs and map data.

http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2008/12/07/google-maps-iphone-os-22-feature-flow/

http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/Steve_Jobs:_Real_Apps_are_Better_Than_Web_Apps

 

[macduke]

Hi everyone. I just thought I would throw in what I've been saying for long time.

First of all, the current iPhone camera technology is inferior. Try taking a photo of a fast moving object, such as a propeller or a car driving by. It will be distorted diagonally, producing quite an interesting (and fun!) effect. This is because the iPhone uses a really cheap CMOS imaging chip. While CMOS is great when done well, such as in expensive dSLR cameras, most consumer cameras use CCD chips that are faster than the CMOS chip in the iPhone and iPhone 3g.

I believe the next iPhone will feature major improvements to the camera. There will be a 5mp -ish camera on back with better glass, and a vga camera on front that will do video iChat. It will probably take video somewhere around 720x480 max in h.264.

Something else that would warrant them holding off on video, aside from battery life and storage space is the memory and the microphone. Everyone knows the iPhone runs out of memory at the drop of a hat with its built in 128mb. The next iPhone will have at least 512mb (hopefully 1gb), as rumors that it will use new processors (up to quad core mobile) combined with the lack of other core hardware updates from version 1 to 2 should confirm that it will at least feature more memory. In addition, we will most likely see a microphone that will be better at picking up audio that is further away. These two things will combine with the better camera, I believe, to produce the iPhone Video.

Also, I actually have a conspiracy theory going that push notifications will never happen. They are simply waiting for the next, more powerful version of the iPhone that will simply allow background processes. We're only about 5-6 months away from the next update.

Still no MMS, still no bluetooth profiles for music, probably copy and paste, probably a more responsive and accurate accelerometer, maybe something new we've never thought of to have in a phone. I also hope the camera will incorporate some of the new micro auto focus drives that are now available, but its unlikely. I'd actually prefer auto focus over video.

Sorry for turning this into a "next version of the iPhone" post. But Apple stages their upgrades in a way that makes the new features valuable upgrades so they will make more money. But that's why they have what...28 billion or so in cash?

 

[QuarterSwede]

And spent a lot of money doing months of testing to make sure the app didn't damage the phone or cause excessive wear. See, the iPhone camera was not designed for taking videos. To force it to do so is extremely hard, which is why there are only two unlicensed apps which do it and both took a long time to develop. They have to access very low level hardware code so they can make the shutter open and close over and over again VERY quickly. I'm sure Apple's hardware testing tested the shutter for standard photo use, not constant use up to 15 times per second (the best speed video apps can do). And wouldn't you just love to have a bug in an app break your phone's camera?

I'm fairly certain that the iPhone's CMOS sensor has no physical shutter. It's all virtual. Therefore no harm can be done.

 

[BaldiMac]

My point was that Apple was not trying to save anyone money and was not looking out for the consumer by excluding mms (as you specifically said they were trying to do). An mms+SMS plan on AT&T is the same price as an SMS only plan. So, the addition of mms wouldn't have cost any more money than I am paying currently.

I don't know what Apple is trying to do. It was just a theory based on the comment attributed to Steve Jobs that MMS is old technology. I never said that Apple was trying to save us money. I said that I thought MMS is a hack technology designed by the phone companies to charge us to email photos even if we have a data plan. I support Apple if the are seeking to establish email for this purpose rather than supporting MMS "because everyone else does."

As for your opinion of mms use, it is just as accurate as me saying that 90% of the people on this forum use mms. Heck, 3 posters in this very thread are asking for it and this thread isn't even about mms, it's about video recording.

Except that you made up the 90% number. I actually googled statistics on MMS usage. As I said, I couldn't find anything current on MMS usage. The most recent statistics I found were from the end of 2006 (12%) with some other vague references that it was in the same area now.

I do hope this thread gets back to discussing video recording.

 

[QuarterSwede]

I don't know what Apple is trying to do. It was just a theory based on the comment attributed to Steve Jobs that MMS is old technology. I never said that Apple was trying to save us money. I said that I thought MMS is a hack technology designed by the phone companies to charge us to email photos even if we have a data plan. I support Apple if the are seeking to establish email for this purpose rather than supporting MMS "because everyone else does."

Actually, MMS doesn't even cost the cell companies a dime. It's hops a ride on a carrier wave (or something like that) so they aren't using any more network usage than if you hadn't sent the message. It's quite a scam.

That’s why a message is so limited in length: it must not exceed the length of the message used for internal communication between tower and handset to set up a call. The channel uses space whether or not a text message is inserted.

Source - Wired Blog