Built-in camera for the iPad would require rotation of video, no?

[Phrasikleia]

Perhaps someone has already pointed this out, but I don't see a thread about it.

One of the fundamental features of the iPad is its ability to conform to the user (however Jobs phrased that). There is no "up" with it; you don't have to conform to it or think about how to hold it.

This feature gives the iPad more mass appeal, meaning that anyone from a three-year-old to an elderly Luddite can probably use one to some extent. The three-year-old can play educational games or look at pictures, and Grandma Luddite can finally correspond via email and can read her favorite magazines or books.

Now it would be nice to be able to video chat with Grandma Luddite, but if there is a camera built into the device, she has to hold it a certain way. Otherwise, she'll be upside down or sideways in the video. On-the-fly rotation of live video is a lot to ask of a device right now, no?

The obvious solution is to have a separate camera, connected wirelessly or else on a long leash. (Yes, much like the ones we used to have for desktops.) The camera could then sit wherever the user wants it, and you can still hold the iPad however it ends up in your hands. That way you can also use whichever camera you want instead of being stuck with whatever one came with the device. You can have a really nice camera in the living room of your home and a travel version the size of an iPod Shuffle for use on the go--whatever.

Or if you have no need for one, you'll have no camera at all.

I think the modular approach makes a lot of sense.

 

[Gav2k]

If the camera was placed on the top so when rotate it was on the side it would be covered by your hands but if the moved it to the top right corner it would be perfect. As for rotation issues for the camera I can't see that being an issue really.

 

[Legolover64]

Great point. I wish I had more experience with Quartz, but I think rotation is a much less taxing operation on video than many of the things Photo Booth does thanks to OS X's amazing powers to manipulate live video. It wouldn't be too big of a deal, but it would take up some processor cycles which would make it maybe not so great of an idea...

Also, I am a HUGE fan about the universal rotation for anything. I really hope iPhone OS 4.0 brings this to the iPhone/iPod touch!

 

[xUKHCx]

I don't really see it being an issue, the camera can be orienated to which ever way the device was when you opened the application. I doubt people would mind if there was a short delay in the video rotating if you were flipping the device around when it was on.

There are other considerations such as place of use that may have come into the decision to leave the camera out.

 

[Phrasikleia]

I don't really see it being an issue, the camera can be orienated to which ever way the device was when you opened the application. I doubt people would mind if there was a short delay in the video rotating if you were flipping the device around when it was on.

There are other considerations such as place of use that may have come into the decision to leave the camera out.

I had forgotten about the placement issue, which only compounds the problem of how to include a camera and make the user experience as carefree as possible.

If it isn't too taxing on the system to orient video on the fly like that, then the modular camera possibilities become even more interesting. It too could be placed any-which-way-up on any surface or clipped to the iPad or what have you. However, I wonder if it's really that easy and wouldn't tax the CPU too much. I really don't know.

I really see the iPad as the first part of a modular system, and I find that idea more exciting than any gizmo weighed down with features only some people want all the time.