iPhone 3.0: Publish Video?

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

Go to Photos. Choose a photo. Tap the action button. Choose "Send to Mobile Me" and a screen slides up labeled... Publish Video? Hard to believe that's a simple typo, or even a bald-faced trick. But if it isn't, is it a sign the Video Recording -- One of the features still missing in action following this week's iPhone 3.0 Preview Event -- may be coming to the iPhone come "summer"?

We can't believe Hollywood would ever let us publish their videos, so what else does that leave us? And if Video Recording is coming, will that also be available for iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G owners, or can we speculate that Apple maybe didn't announce it yet because it will be exclusive to a next generation iPhone (with a better camera and supporting architecture?) set for release around the same time?

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

10 Comments
  • New hardware maybe?
  • So what screen would pop up if you selected a video... Publish Photo?
  • It won't happen with either first or second gen. iPhone needs a new type of internal memory with more write times or external memory support for apple to make it write video out of the box. It really is a hardware issue.
  • @sam
    Although I know what you're talking about, Apple could enable video recording for existing iPhones. Just look at the existing video recording apps available for jailbroken iPhones for proof that it can be done. That said, the hardware issues you refer to are probably enough of an issue for Apple that they won't do it with the existing hardware, which sucks for me.
  • jailbreak your iphone and download cycorder. I have had it for at least a year. Use it all the time. Works perfect.
  • @Sam
    You're right although the first n second iPhones can use videotrecording via jailbreak, they mess up the internal memory too greatly. New hardware apples only option, this is gona suck for 3g users, as it did for me a first gen.user when the 3g came out
  • Very good point. I think they only addresed the main features both first and second gen iPhones will get. This is a sign that there could be some hardware changes in the camera. 3.0-5.0mp + Flash. Sounds too good to be true but you never know. We just have to wait untill June / july.
  • Also, when you actually publish a photo, it asks if you want to view it in a pop-up and asks you to log-in to MobileMe, only to redirect you to the "Sorry, MobileMe is only available via computer" screen. So obviously a mobile version of MobileMe is coming along with this new video publishing and video recording abilities! Sweet!
  • How does Cycorder 'mess up' the internal memory? Please elaborate. I've been jail-breaking since Cycorder came out and have loved it. The quality is excellent compared to average phones that take video. Sounds like a lot of talk without much real expertise going on here... You know all that does is cause more fools to be running around quaking these same half-truths and muddying the water for the rest of us.
  • Cycorder messes up the internal memory because Flash memory can only take so many "writes" to each memory cell before it kills the cell off. Writing a huge amount of data to the internal memory, as you have to do when recording video, is reducing the lifespan of your storage memory as more cells are being used than normal, and you will find that your phone will start to lose memory capacity. While it is true that modern flash memory can take a lot of write cycles, over a million, depending on how the video write system is architectured you could find that the memory cells are being written to several times in one session as the video is saved from the sensor, compressed then processed. If you change your phone every 2 years, it shouldn't pose a problem for you as you are unlikely to meet the cell lifespan.