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Why isn't there a built-in visualizer in the iPhone 4S music player like on iTunes?

B

Bobby Corwen

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
2,723
474
ITunes_8_visualizer.png


Why doesn't the iPhone 4s have a visualizer built in? I'm sure the hardware can support it. It would be nice to have something to look at on the go besides just plain ol' cd cover art.

Especially now with having HDMI out it would be very cool and handy.
 
Bobby Corwen said:
Image

Why doesn't the iPhone 4s have a visualizer built in? I'm sure the hardware can support it. It would be nice to have something to look at on the go besides just plain ol' cd cover art.

Especially now with having HDMI out it would be very cool and handy.
Click to expand...

Keeps people from bitching about the battery even more.
 
have you ever noticed how many resources it takes to use the visualizer? Sure it could do it but the battery would be dead in about 30 minutes.
 
lordofthereef said:
All of that is going to drain your battery less than keeping the screen backlit and constantly rendering all that crap all while just playing a simple song...
Click to expand...

Is it really much different than watching a music video from your library? Plus some nominal processing power from sound synching mathematics.

Remember they had visualizers in the days early WinAmp when computers were super weak and they still worked on there...
 
lordofthereef said:
All of that is going to drain your battery less than keeping the screen backlit and constantly rendering all that crap all while just playing a simple song...
Click to expand...

You're right, which is why they've tried to prevent games like Infinity Blade from being released...
 
Mackbook702 said:
You're right, which is why they've tried to prevent games like Infinity Blade from being released...
Click to expand...

You are clearly not getting the point, AT ALL.

A game, one expects to drain your battery. You throw this visualizer on, all you are doing is listening to music, right? And all of the sudden 10 songs later your battery is at 50%. Not to mention the fact that this would be a feature even more useless than facetime and siri, which people already say they don't use, and the latter of which is already said to burn your battery.

By the way, you should stop trying to be sarcastic. You are no good at it.
 
I do wonder why they can't have a handy-dandy visualizer button on the iTunes remote for the big screen TV for...parties and such.

Oh wait, they do.
 
The only way I could see them implementing this is if it was a "default" option when put into a dock.

Having it when not charging/undocked would just eat up battery due to the screen always being on, and resources being used. For most people that'd be counter to the purpose of the phone. Plus what if you forget to turn that feature on, put on your music, and put your phone down and it just rips away at the life.

I could, though, see them implement this in a way that if you plug it into a dock and the dock is detected it enables the feature if the music player is on, or at least gives you the option "Would you like to enable Visualizer Playback?" type thing in the music player.
 
Bobby Corwen said:
Image

Why doesn't the iPhone 4s have a visualizer built in? I'm sure the hardware can support it. It would be nice to have something to look at on the go besides just plain ol' cd cover art.

Especially now with having HDMI out it would be very cool and handy.
Click to expand...

If you don't like it, there's a simple solution, get a different phone that has the features you want!
 
Bobby Corwen said:
Remember they had visualizers in the days early WinAmp when computers were super weak and they still worked on there...
Click to expand...
And they were plugged into the wall for pretty much unlimited power. The simple fact is, using a GPU eats up power.

I can remember the days of using the milkdrop plugin in Winamp and it causing my computer to slow to a crawl in full screen. Even then it was using a lot of GPU power to render all that.


digitard said:
The only way I could see them implementing this is if it was a "default" option when put into a dock.

Having it when not charging/undocked would just eat up battery due to the screen always being on, and resources being used. For most people that'd be counter to the purpose of the phone. Plus what if you forget to turn that feature on, put on your music, and put your phone down and it just rips away at the life.

I could, though, see them implement this in a way that if you plug it into a dock and the dock is detected it enables the feature if the music player is on, or at least gives you the option "Would you like to enable Visualizer Playback?" type thing in the music player.
Click to expand...
Now that's a reasonable and logical solution.
 
Bobby Corwen said:
Image

Why doesn't the iPhone 4s have a visualizer built in? I'm sure the hardware can support it. It would be nice to have something to look at on the go besides just plain ol' cd cover art.

Especially now with having HDMI out it would be very cool and handy.
Click to expand...

I'm sure the 4S can support it. But your battery wouldn't last too long.
 
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lordofthereef said:
Bobby Corwen said:
Image

Why doesn't the iPhone 4s have a visualizer built in? I'm sure the hardware can support it. It would be nice to have something to look at on the go besides just plain ol' cd cover art.

Especially now with having HDMI out it would be very cool and handy.
Click to expand...

Keeps people from bitching about the battery even more.
Click to expand...

LOL I know where you're coming from there.
 
And what's the purpose of visualization anyway? iTunes have it and I hardly use it. Do you like to watch it while listening to music? That's sad.

If I play music on my iPhone, whether I plug it in onto my stereo hifi amp (when home) or my IEM (when outside) and I don't watch iPhone screen when play music.

So why would iPhone need visualization? Enlighten me
 
Just what we need, in addition to the SMS, Facebook, and Twitter zombies who walk around with their face glued to their phones; iTunes visualizer zombies, who can neither hear or see you as they plow their way through crowded places.

Next up, iPaperBag. Put on some headphones, then put the bag on your head and take a stroll.
 
I thought you were as smart as Steve Jobs? You'd know then that it's not the customers job to know what they want, because, like you, they really have no idea.
 
Bobby Corwen said:
Why doesn't the iPhone 4s have a visualizer built in?
Click to expand...

There are several visualizer apps. "Music Visualizer - Rabbit Hole" seems to have good ratings & some of them mention the 4S specifically. "Visualizer" by Lok Tai looks like a dud, apparently never updated to support multitasking so won't run at the same time as the music plays :p
 
This coming from the guy who says he can program a better boot sequence because he's b****ing about the time it takes to go from 0% charge back to using the OS.
 
iSayuSay said:
And what's the purpose of visualization anyway? iTunes have it and I hardly use it. Do you like to watch it while listening to music? That's sad.

If I play music on my iPhone, whether I plug it in onto my stereo hifi amp (when home) or my IEM (when outside) and I don't watch iPhone screen when play music.

So why would iPhone need visualization? Enlighten me
Click to expand...

Repeat OP.

We don't watch the iPhone screen when we play music.
We don't watch the iPhone screen when we play music.
We don't watch the iPhone screen when we play music.
We don't watch the iPhone screen when we play music.


...well I look at the cover sometimes, a bit more often at the playlist to see what is next but that's it and they are just glances.

BTW I hardly use the itunes visualizer either. :rolleyes:
 
iSayuSay said:
And what's the purpose of visualization anyway? iTunes have it and I hardly use it. Do you like to watch it while listening to music? That's sad.

If I play music on my iPhone, whether I plug it in onto my stereo hifi amp (when home) or my IEM (when outside) and I don't watch iPhone screen when play music.

So why would iPhone need visualization? Enlighten me
Click to expand...

Just because you would not use a feature, it shouldn't exist?

I see no point in having a person's picture pop up when they call me, so I don't use the feature. How is this different?
 
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