iPad SDK Support for Front Facing Camera, Camera Flash, Zoom and Video Conferencing

[qtx43]

I'm thinking here, just like the keyboard, is there any reason a camera could not be an addon module that plugs into the connector ?

Yes, I was think something similar, they could have a dock that has a camera.

And I could be WAY off, but given the likelihood that this will be used in Education / Medical / Corporate environments where camera's, and cell phones / laptops with cameras are not prohibited, would it not make sense to have the camera as an "option"? This would be both in terms of revenue ($50 extra to apple for the pleasure?) and keeping the the unit camera free as per MANY corporate security regulations. Thus allowing the device a significantly it a larger possible share in the Government / Military / Financial markets which it may otherwise be excluded from ?

That's a good point, cameras are not allowed everywhere.

 

[marksman]

Think about high security areas that don't allow cameras.

so no to cameras on ipads, and no to flashes for cameras on iPhones.

Jesus christ, stop taking so many pictures of video sexting with your mistress.

 

[deevey]

Also, I think that last minute prerelease price changes to published pricing are also unlikely. Apple has probably forecasted sales and margins for the new device. iPhone OS 3.x already supported some of the software features mentioned.

Yes the iphone OS has supported the software, but not on a usable screen size, i'm tried it as a midi controller, and it was a total joke .. however on a 10' they will kick proper ass and can especially see it being utilized as a kick ass (and reasonable) Point of Sale solution.

The very fact that there is so many camera functions (zoom, flash etc) spells that there may very well me something more serious imaging wise on the horizon that we simply havent seen yet (maybe some other type of docking station with ports etc ... rather than just the keyboard that was announced

I'm sure apples projections we're done YEARS in advance, likewise if there is the possibility of more addon dock devices possible to make additional revenue then they would have taken this into account too ...maybe we're all clutching at straws in the hope that this lil device will do EVERYTHING for EVERYONE .... MAYBE its just leftover code from the testing phase who knows?.. we're all just speculating on here anyhow , no one really knows anything

 

[alhumphrey]

Has any of you tried enlarging an image from your iphone or even an isight to the the size of an ipad. it cant be done the resolution is too low and the image too soft, its ok for a 3 inch screen the image is too small to notice. Its not as simple as adding in a higher megapixel camera either because of such a same sensor in the camera noise increases at a higher rate the more pixels that are added in to it and the pixels get closer together. chances are apple put one in to test built the ui for it then first time a photo was taken with it and the reviewed the image they went "oh **** we can't sell that"

Who wants to take and look at unsharp, noisy images and how you would keep the ipad steady while using the other hand to push the button, have fun with that cause its bad enough with the iphone unless its a sunny day.

 

[citi]

ipad wifi - no camera
ipad 3g - Camera.

The Iphone "exclusivity" rule need not apply because Ipad 3g is on AT&T

Just wait...it's coming and thats how they eliminate kids from taking upskirt pics in school.

 

[SandynJosh]

It's the iPod touch from last September all over again. I seriously hope they're holding out, but I have my doubts.

Could it be that Apple is not including cameras in the iPod touch and the iPad due to the pending litigation with Kodak?

Or maybe they will make the camera as a accessory and attach to the main port on the end where it could face either way.

Or they will offer a camera that communicates with the iPad through wifi or BlueTooth.

Not making a camera as an integral part of the device, frees it up for use in various corporate and governmental uses where cameras are not permitted...or even in schools, if a recent Penn. high school debacle is any clue.

There may be a wider market reason for its absence.

 

[SandynJosh]

Has any of you tried enlarging an image from your iphone or even an isight to the the size of an ipad. it cant be done the resolution is too low and the image too soft, its ok for a 3 inch screen the image is too small to notice. Its not as simple as adding in a higher megapixel camera either because of such a same sensor in the camera noise increases at a higher rate the more pixels that are added in to it and the pixels get closer together. chances are apple put one in to test built the ui for it then first time a photo was taken with it and the reviewed the image they went "oh **** we can't sell that"

Who wants to take and look at unsharp, noisy images and how you would keep the ipad steady while using the other hand to push the button, have fun with that cause its bad enough with the iphone unless its a sunny day.

I've seen large photos taken with the Droid camera, and they are sharp as a tack.

 

[AbblePC]

You do that! While I enjoy playing call of duty zombies on the bigger screen or Plants vs. Zombies or Street Fighter IV. Plus, I can utilizing the new calender to do my plans. Furthermore, I can browse the net at Starbucks while everyone stares at what I am doing.

Go ahead and wait for the camera. Anyways, I am planning to renew every year!!

Plus, I can always use an extra! They can also make good gifts later.

You RE-Gifter... Be my friend

 

[125037]

I was thinking exactly this and thanks for posting. Beat me to it. This makes ever more sense for such a device. I wouldn't be surprised if it was included.

Update: here's the old Apple Insider post: http://www.appleinsider.com/article...lcd_display_that_also_takes_photos_video.html

I could see using this also for "white board" real-time conferencing via a VoIP type application (not sure if there are any for the iPhone today...). That'd be a killer feature for me (I have a love-hate relationship with flow charts....).

The combination of the A4 with PowerVR SGX SoC might mean this is patent is finally for commercialization. By some indications, the iPad was in development prior to the iPhone (i.e. consider the iPhone a scaled down version of the iPad instead of the other way around); it's just that the technology wasn't there to bring it to fruition.

But are we forgetting about the empty camera slot? I'm not saying that we get in in Gen 1 BUT this is what kills your theory for me. But yes, that would be amazing.

 

[brendanspah764]

I personally think that Apple will and teh iSight camera onto this version of the iPad. It seems to odd for Apple to be releasing all this data on the SDK and not have it be used. I'll probably be wrong, but it's a hunch...

 

[gnasher729]

It doesn't make any sense to be "adding" this **** to the dev kit if the decision was already made to remove it from the hardware./QUOTE]

Oh people, turn your brains on. This isn't _added_ to the development kit. It is exactly the same software that is running on the iPod Touch and the iPhone, so the software support for a camera is in the iPad OS automatically. Apple would have to add development time and risk to _remove_ camera support for the iPad, without any gain.

And someone at Apple got the job to re-design all the icons and buttons and everything for the bigger size of the iPad. Well, that person didn't check with management when the came to the camera related icons, they just re-designed them for iPad size; that's a case where it's less work to just do the work than to go through all the channel to find out whether it's needed. Or more likely, the graphics designer never gave it a thought. That's why you have large camera icons.

 

[irnchriz]

Perhaps, after consultation with education establishments, Apple have decided to drop the camera from the iPad chassis and go for an externally mounted unit.

This unit would not connect to the dock port but to the headphone socket and the camera will rotate in it's housing. This keeps everyone happy.

 

[gnasher729]

Apple has already stated that they would drop the price if sales were slow.

Apple has said no such thing. A clueless journalist has (probably deliberately) misinterpreted something that Apple said. Do you seriously think anyone who is employed at Apple and wants to stay employed would take the words "if sales were slow" in their mouth?

 

[johnnyjibbs]

OR... the first gen DOES have a camera, we just don't know about it yet. I reckon the devices they have shown thus far were just prototypes to not give too much away to the competition. It would be easy for Apple to add a camera for the shipping version once the software to show it off is ready.

Here's hoping...

 

[Carniphage]

OR... the first gen DOES have a camera, we just don't know about it yet. I reckon the devices they have shown thus far were just prototypes to not give too much away to the competition. It would be easy for Apple to add a camera for the shipping version once the software to show it off is ready.

Here's hoping...

I was wondering this too.

But I wondered if the non-announcement was a commercial, and not a technical decision.

It makes sense for Apple, to introduce video-chat cameras into both the iPad and the iPhone. But, commercially, it would make more sense to announce the video-chat feature in the iPhone *first*.

Because, in the iPhone, it would be a major new feature.

C.

 

[SBlue1]

This is Apple, they always leave out features that make sense to the 2nd or even 3rd revision of a device.

another reason to buy a cheap netbook now and trade it away for the next ipad in a year or two.

 

[baryon]

A front facing camera would make sense: that's cool and useful. But a rear facing camera... Come on people! This device isn't small enough, it's going to look retarded when people lift it and take a photo with it with both hands. And think of the quality. The quality would suck anyway, just like it does on any other portable device that isn't a camera. And a Flash? Like those retarded LED flashes that light people's faces up and make them look like they're aliens or something? Come on, seriously, there's no point in using those... This is more like a laptop than like an iPhone size-wise, and there's a reason your laptop has no rear facing camera. You can always take photos with the front facing one if you happen to come across evidence of a murder and it's the only camera you have with you. But for other stuff, it's pretty lame!

 

[giosaccone]

giosaccone

Good good!

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

This device isn't small enough, it's going to look retarded when people lift it and take a photo with it with both hands. And think of the quality. The quality would suck anyway, just like it does on any other portable device that isn't a camera.

Quality? So I suppose this is why art galleries have had photo exhibitions based solely on cellphone photography? And perhaps this is also why there are now iPhone camera photography workshops?

Please, think, just a little bit.

 

[alice005]

Good good!

great!

 

[mavis]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS (JB3.1, unlocked): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

Hearing things like this makes me want to sit back and wait for the second revision, regardless of how much I would like to purchase an iPad.

I feel exactly the same way ...

 

[Master Chief]

"For example, the enclosure has an empty space for the camera"

My sources told me that only pre-production models of the iPad's [WiFi models only] had a front facing camera on that spot (no antenna like in the 3G models) and Mr. Jobs simply denied the introduction of the IPad where one model would have had a camera and another not.

And looking at http://www.apple.com/ipad/gallery/ that could indeed explain it. Yet I'm not totally convinced.

 

[2499723]

Thinking about this I would give one of these ipads to my parents if it provided ichat or skype. It would be so cool to have something with the simplicity of the iphone with what I believe to be a killer app: Video chatting! (I live in New York they are in the UK).


Sadly that's not happening so no sale :-(

My thoughts exactly. If the iPad had a front-facing camera, I would get one for my parents (except in my case, it's the other way around - I'm in the UK, they're in the US). =) As it stands, my mom HATES going on the computer, even though it's an iMac. Maybe she's intimidated by it, I don't know. BUT, she's really taken to the Nintendo DS. I think something with the simplicity and intuitiveness of the iPad would be a perfect device for her, but what's the point of having it unless it can offer decent functionality? My dad was planning on buying an iPad when it's released. I'll be recommending he wait.

 

[troller]

We're not sure why these features were dropped on the first version of the iPad, but we hope to see it again in future versions of the iPad or even iPhone.

Are you kidding me???
Thats the way how apple is making money since always....they dont sell you a complete great product, they sell it piece by piece because they know there are enough stupid fans out there who will buy this ipad and after that, the next "generation" with updates, what could have been already in the first ipad. Ripoff Strategy

 

[Kelmon]

I consistently fail to understand why anyone would want a camera on the iPad, either at the front or back. You aren't going to use something as relatively unwieldy as the iPad for taking photographs (frankly, it's hard enough to prevent camera shake with the iPhone) and you aren't going to use the device for video conferences. I could see the point of enabling the iPad to connect to camera devices but actually putting cameras in the device itself makes no sense to me.

I'll also note that I have a pathological hatred of on-camera flash since they are guaranteed to make your pictures look horrible. Natural lighting with good high ISO performance is much more preferable, and off-camera flash can be fun.