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Why no FaceTime camera upgrade?!

I'm not buying the lack of space aspect as being the reason that the FT cam wasn't upgraded. Two reasons.

1. The rear camera was updated from 2MP to 5MP.

2. I find it hard to believe that they haven't figured out how to make a better FT camera sensor fit in the same space. They've had a year to work on it.

I basically chalk it up to Apple not really caring about Facetime too much. They probably have data to suggest that Facetime isn't too popular among users and that the rear camera got more usage.
 
tr43z0r said:
Everyone's screaming bandwidth... How is it different from watching a high quality YouTube video/Netflix etc.?
Click to expand...

Um.. It's very different. Youtube/netflix is a one way down buffered stream. Not that complex at all.
Facetime is
*one way down realtime stream to local device
*video capture to local device
*realtime compression of local captured video
*simeltanaeus upstream of local video.

To top it off, unlike your netflix/youtube, there has to be zero latency in order for all this to work smoothly. Not an easy task to begin with but even less easy when you start scaling resolutions up on a really small embedded cpu.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Well, that's two things the new iPad (2013) is probably getting next year...128GB and a updated front facing camera.
 
jwhazel said:
Um.. It's very different. Youtube/netflix is a one way down buffered stream. Not that complex at all.
Facetime is
*one way down realtime stream to local device
*video capture to local device
*realtime compression of local captured video
*simeltanaeus upstream of local video.

To top it off, unlike your netflix/youtube, there has to be zero latency in order for all this to work smoothly. Not an easy task to begin with but even less easy when you start scaling resolutions up on a really small embedded cpu.
Click to expand...

Okay fair point. I guess we can test this by switching to the rear camera during a FaceTime call. If the quality is better than the front camera we'll no it's not bandwidth.
 
tr43z0r said:
Okay fair point. I guess we can test this by switching to the rear camera during a FaceTime call. If the quality is better than the front camera we'll no it's not bandwidth.
Click to expand...

I fully admit this is not a scientific test, but I have tried this on me and my wifes iphone 4 on our home network (throughput and latency issues mitigated here). The rear camera looks just about as bad as the front. Slight difference, but the resolution appeared to be just as blocky. I.e if anyone remembers what RealPlayer video looked like 12 years ago, thats what it reminds me of.


Its not the bandwidth of the connection that matters. Its trying to compress and decompress two simultaneus video streams in real time. If Apple could do a good job of it with current hardware, I dont see any reason why they wouldnt.

Edit: I admit the front facing camera can be used for other things like photobooth. Why they didnt upgrade for stuff like that, I have no clue. Best reason i can come up with is cost. The size issue doesnt make any sense seeing as how they crammed a 5mp multi element cam in the rear.
 
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tr43z0r said:
My only disappointment (and a very slight disappointment) with the new iPad is tha it has the same front facing camera as the iPad 2.

I couldn't care less about the rear camera; I only use it during FaceTime. I think using an iPad to take photographs is ridiculous, and that people doing it look ridiculous.

Anyone else disappointed by the lack of an HD FaceTime camera?
Click to expand...


Well, Apple can't upgrade everything all at once. They'd have no ideas for the next iPad :p
 
I wonder if we will be able to FaceTime over 4G LTE or will ATT/Verizon not allow it.
 
I was a little bummed about no upgrade on the front camera. But not enough to keep me from getting the new iPad.
I am really excited about the rear camera and being able to take decent pictures with an iPad.
 
pat park said:
I was a little bummed about no upgrade on the front camera. But not enough to keep me from getting the new iPad.
I am really excited about the rear camera and being able to take decent pictures with an iPad.
Click to expand...

Apple knows this but needs to wait for the next ipad to put it in. It makes people desire to have the next best thing next year. And so on, so on.
Just get a BB playbook 3mp front and 5mp back for $200
 
lief said:
Apple knows this but needs to wait for the next ipad to put it in. It makes people desire to have the next best thing next year. And so on, so on.
Just get a BB playbook 3mp front and 5mp back for $200
Click to expand...

That's like buying a bicycle instead of a car because the only thing you don't like is the style of the air conditioning vents.
 
I realize I'm always going to feel excited and disappointed with apple's new models. I want it all now and they hold back for future upgrades. But some things just seem mean and one long tease like this and no siri.
 
tr43z0r said:
That's like buying a bicycle instead of a car because the only thing you don't like is the style of the air conditioning vents.
Click to expand...

No way, it's like getting a car without leather or sunroof. You like those extra comforts. And when you don't have them, it's just less enjoyable. But you still buy it because you need a car.
 
ftaok said:
I'm not buying the lack of space aspect as being the reason that the FT cam wasn't upgraded. Two reasons.

1. The rear camera was updated from 2MP to 5MP.

2. I find it hard to believe that they haven't figured out how to make a better FT camera sensor fit in the same space. They've had a year to work on it.

I basically chalk it up to Apple not really caring about Facetime too much. They probably have data to suggest that Facetime isn't too popular among users and that the rear camera got more usage.
Click to expand...

Your not going to believe this but the iPad 2s camera was .69MP! Crazy I know but look it up.
 
PurdueGuy said:
You can only do FaceTime over WiFi. And then you should have at least as good a camera as a computer. Something better than VGA!
Click to expand...

I don't know what it's like in America, but here in the UK most internet connections would struggle to upload HD video real time. And I'm sure it's like that in most of the world. When I facetime I'm sure it's not using the full capabilities of the camera, it's lowering the quality to improve the call and reduce lag, it works.
 
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