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

[Cousin Dirk]

For me, the iSight in my MacBook Pro is useless until TANDBERG produce a Mac version of ConferenceMe...

Ya, look at the iPhone, we are still waiting, multi-tasking, video chat, keyboard (a real one), etc, etc.

Multi-tasking - not going to happen until the battery life can support it

Video chat - see above, add in processor power

keyboard - I can't believe people are still moaning over the "lack" of a physical keyboard in the iPhone... if it's that much of a dealbreaker for you, there are plenty of other smart phones out there with physical keyboards.

 

[mlblacy]

underpromise, overdeliver...

True enough... it just seems like camera/video conferencing be a big feature to save as a surprise around release. I'd want to make that pretty clear when they had everyone's attention back in January, that's just me though.

They did, but not everyone who was paying attention was friendly. Apple is the most oft copied/maligned manufacturer. Keeping a few "big" surprises in hand is a brilliant tactic and serves to keep the competition off-balance and relegated to playing catch-up. The biggest "wows" are the ones least talked about though.... the cheapness of the pricing (half+ what was forecasted), and a concurrent halving of the data access fees (with no contract to boot). Those happy features sent more than a few folks leaving the keynote in a panic.

I am pretty confident this device will be huge. I have a desktop, and a laptop, and a few iPods.... but this device will happily fill a void/need. Remember, "Aps" didn't even exist two years ago... think about what can "be" two years from now... 3,000,000,000+ aps have been downloaded so far. Not bad for a market that did not even exist (initially launched July 11, 2008 with 500 aps/zero downloads).
cheers.

 

[sharkinfested]

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!

Augmented Reality games and apps would need a rear-facing camera.
I’ve only seen demos of AR and it looks pretty cool. It seems to me that the iPad’s huge screen would be a perfect venue for bringing AR into the mainstream. And I think it would have been the cutting edge technology that would have made this device a must have item.
The possibilities of AR are endless. Games are very cool - you kill zombies in your own living room, go to battle against a friend dressed in full knight’s armor, record a video for YouTube as Darth Vader, etc. But I also see practical applications like AR billboards and displays with additional information on products and services.
IMO Apple missed a huge opportunity here.

 

[jimitrott]

Re:

Yes, They will not sell a billion whatevers with that??!! If it does not make them a lot of money, Apple will not do it.

 

[Glideslope]

Until it has a camera built-in, then I don't think it is likely we have it this generation.

1st Gen 3G will have it. 2nd Gen Wifi only.

 

[eppel]

I wonder if the new Mac Pro's will have a built in camera..

 

[joemama]

I refuse to buy an iPad for myself or my family members until the built-in iSight webcam is included in it. For $500+ it should be in there, and I would have bought the best model for me and my relatives so we can communicate while we are in different parts of the country.

Here Here! No camera=no sale. I'm praying Apple adds one last minute. They are idiots if they don't. It HAS to have something more than the Touch to make people upgrade.

 

[pmz]

Amazing how an ancient an irrelevant feature gets such overdue attention.

Guess what? We'll all be able to take photos and video chat with the iPad... It has a physical camera accrssory called the iPhone that anyone remotely
interested already has.

Guess what? Two weeks after release there will be an app that let's you pair your iPhone to your iPad and use iPhones camera facing you and the iPad screen for video chat.

Lack of imagintion around here is pathetic at best. Ever notice developers don't waste their time with this website andnits whiny petulant commenters?

 

[kresh]

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.

haha! That reminds me of Apple's keynotes when they scan the crowd and you occasionally see someone holding up their laptop backwards using the built-in camera to video Steve.

 

[mlblacy]

er, excuse me, but....

...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.

Isn't this an issue with ANY camera (keeping it steady to take a pic). Actually it is a non-issue.

Furthermore, while some folks don't care to look at "unsharp, noisy images" others...


Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

 

[kiljoy616]

Think bigger

What are you guys seriously going to do with a camera on this thing?

If it's a front-facing camera.. then I understand, use it for Skype or whatnot, but a camera with flash? Are you telling me you'll be walking around with this thing and taking pictures? Then coming onto MR and complaining about the camera quality?

Think this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2uH-jrsSxs but in a so very much larger style. Even maybe letting another person see what your seen.

The possibility are really endless if you have two cameras that can do video. Then add something like this http://www.labnol.org/software/download/video-demo-microsoft-worldwide-telescope-universe/2434/ and as before endless possibility if apple does not cripple the ipad into a maxipad devise.

So second gen will be my take for purchase.

 

[cRuNcHiE]

I'm interested in the ipad as an educational tool. My toddler loves the toddler apps on my iPhone , the interactive songs, flash cards etc
It's Impoved her speech and hand-eye coordination massively!

She also loves taking photos of herself on my MBP but I don't like the idea of getting dribble on the screen or keyboard!

The ipad seems to tick all the boxes but to hear there's room for a camera that they didn't put in just makes me mad. I don't want to buy twice, especially if everything is in place for it already

It's like buying a car but having the space for the CD player welded shut with the speaker wires still going into the back of the space.

The more I hear about finding this or that to do with camera in the ipad makes me want to boycott it and just hackintosh a dell mini 10v while admiring a few extra £100 in my bank.

 

[mlblacy]

The headline was "Apple Might Slash iPad Prices If Initial Sales Are 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?

From Wired....
The iPad’s $500 starting price was lower than people expected, but Apple could still make price cuts if the device fails to gain traction among consumers, says an analyst.

Recounting his meeting with Apple executives, Bill Shope of Credit Suisse said Apple indicated it would consider lowering prices if initial demand appears to be slow.

“While it remains to be seen how much traction the iPad gets initially, management noted that it will remain nimble (pricing could change if the company is not attracting as many customers as anticipated),” Shope wrote.

If Apple did make price cuts shortly after the iPad launch, it would be reminiscent of the original iPhone release. Apple sold the original 8GB iPhone for $600 when it hit stores in June 2007; two months later, the company dropped the price to $400.

Wall Street analysts estimate Apple will sell between 1 million and 5 million iPads in its first year. Charlie Wolf with Needham & Company said that because Apple is defining a new category of devices, sales of the iPad are likely to ramp slowly, but “the $500 starting price point is low enough to attract a sizable portion of the early adopter crowd, consisting of iPhone and iPod owners.” Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/02/ipad-sales/#ixzz0gSKir8PM

 

[mlblacy]

and by the way...

Apple has said no such thing. A clueless journalist has (probably deliberately) misinterpreted something that Apple said...

"Clueless journalists" and "thoughtless graphic designers". My, you have a few issues. May I ask what YOU do for a living so I can poke some fun at your expense?

 

[bluedevil97]

Use with iPhone or nano?

Perhaps the unannounced feature is the ability to use your iPhone or iPod nano as a camera for the iPad, allowing conferencing, pictures, etc right to the iPad.

With the right dock, this could be pretty useful.

 

[mlblacy]

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

I am not exactly sure if THAT is the takeaway message, but let us know how that works out for you. BTW, what is the going rate for a two-year old netbook?

 

[840quadra]

Amazing how an ancient an irrelevant feature gets such overdue attention.

It is sad that it has to, but I can't see why it isn't included from a consumer prospective.

Guess what? We'll all be able to take photos and video chat with the iPad... It has a physical camera accrssory called the iPhone that anyone remotely
interested already has.

That is far from a solution. having a secondary device either physically connected, or wireles, for that function truly is an ancient way of doing things. iSight has been built into Macintosh computers for almost 5 years now. I can see why many expect it to be included in the iPad at launch.

Guess what? Two weeks after release there will be an app that let's you pair your iPhone to your iPad and use iPhones camera facing you and the iPad screen for video chat.

That's a great idea, but I assume that it will only be attractive to a small niche, while the rest will see it as a hack. I think being able to position your web camera is a nice plus though!

Lack of imagintion around here is pathetic at best. Ever notice developers don't waste their time with this website andnits whiny petulant commenters?

There are actually many smaller developers that frequent the site, and I can imagine that larger companies are on here anonymously to survey the market, and view a site with over 400,000 worth of potential customers.

 

[Island Dog]

I'm sure Apple realized the iPad announcement was a big "meh" to many, hence the article about them considering lowering the price if demand isn't met. If they do pay attention to what consumers are thinking, they should know by now not including a camera in the original presentation was a mistake. It's not too late to introduce one, but whoever decided to omit a camera was an idiot.

My $250 Netbook has a camera, and it is very useful for things like Skype, so to sit there and say it has no use is just ridiculous and fan-boyish.

I have been an Apple early-adopter, but I will pass on the 1st gen iPad this time unless we see some additions before launch. I would even bet the price will be lowered within 3 months of launch.

 

[adrian.oconnor]

Here Here! No camera=no sale. I'm praying Apple adds one last minute. They are idiots if they don't. It HAS to have something more than the Touch to make people upgrade.

Look, I know I'm being pedantic, and that you most likely don't care, but it's: "Hear, hear", not "Here Here". It's short for "hear him", which is an old fashioned way of saying "listen to him".

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

Perhaps the unannounced feature is the ability to use your iPhone or iPod nano as a camera for the iPad, allowing conferencing, pictures, etc right to the iPad.

With the right dock, this could be pretty useful.

A bit clunky, eh? And are people supposed to hold the ipad in one hand while "myspacing" the iphone with the other for video feed?

 

[Lesser Evets]

Anyone that doesn't realize omission of features was done to keep price down is an idiot.

The key point Apple had to hit was price. Nearly everything else was secondary to price. With such a low price, Apple can now expand outward and improve on the device quickly, upping prices once people believe the iPad is relatively inexpensive.

Camera on iPad is pretty fatuous, anyway. The amount of users that need a camera on such a device is minimal.

 

[bluedevil97]

I think being able to reposition the camera is much more important on an iPad than a traditional computer, since it can be repositioned in a way even a laptop usually isn't. Do you place the camera for landscape or portrait.

For a rear facing camera it doesn't matter as much, but for a front facing camera, it will make a difference.

 

[bluedevil97]

A bit clunky, eh? And are people supposed to hold the ipad in one hand while "myspacing" the iphone with the other for video feed?

Well, an iPad sleeve with a side or top pocket for a nano or iPhone would solve the 1 hand problem. It lets you chose landscape or portrait. A little clunky, maybe, but opens up choice of positioning and ties iPhones, iPads and nanos together even more. Could be wireless via Bluetooth with iPhone.

 

[adrian.oconnor]

Isn't this an issue with ANY camera (keeping it steady to take a pic). Actually it is a non-issue.

Furthermore, while some folks don't care to look at "unsharp, noisy images" others...

I think the poster was thinking about the ergonomics of the iPad in particular. Holding such a tall, thin camera steady would be difficult because those minor wobbles down at the bottom, where you're presumably holding it, would be magnified at the top, where the camera would quite possibly be.

I for one couldn't care less about having a camera built in to the iPad. This device, for me at least, is all about not needing to be sat at a computer to check emails or browse the web. It's about being less nerdy, not more, and that's why Apple are dead right not to cram the iPad full of geeky features. It's a shame there's no docking port at the top for people who do want a camera, because it'd be an idea candidate for an expansion option. Maybe it could still work using the docking port at the bottom (as a side-mounted camera in landscape mode).

 

[Journojulz]

I am still hoping for a '...one more thing' camera at launch

But if it doesn't, when they finally do launch it it will trigger a wave of second hand sales and get this thing into even more hands - each one being an advert for even more sales.

I really think apple is ready to shift mindbending numbers of this thing.....