With only a few more days until the “Phil-note” at WWDC’09, our excitement is slowly starting to rise, so let me quickly summarizes what us photographers can or should expect from the show.
It’s wildly rumored (to me, it’s a certainty) that Apple will announce a new iPhone. Rumors point to an upgrade of the current 2 megapixel phone, with the new iPhone coming with a 3.2 megapixel camera. Not only that, but Gizmodo points to test shots that showcase significant image quality improvements in iPhone 3.0’s firmware. That would be as important as more mega-pixels — as DSLR photographers, we know how much firmware upgrades can improve image quality and camera performance.
Additional rumors from AppleInsider point to autofocus capabilities in the next iPhone. Although I cannot assess the credibility of these rumors, I would think that auto-focus is especially needed, if the next iPhone supports shooting videos (also wildly rumored and part of the iPhone 3.0 beta SDK – Update from the Editor: TidBITS published a blog entry (AT&T Plans for Mobile Data Onslaught) where they attribute expected data growth to the higher-megapixel camera plus video uploads). Thus, my expectations are up that autofocus support will be included. No hints yet on whether there will be multiple autofocus points, how to pick these (maybe just touch the screen where you want to focus on?) and how to turn autofocus off…
The various beta versions of the iPhone 3.0 SDK all highlighted some improvements in the camera app (display of a thumbnail of the last image that you took) as well as the iPhone photo album (copy/delete multiple images at the same time, sharing via email). Given that the iPhone beta is feature-complete, I don’t expect any unannounced surprises. So far, I’m underwhelmed by the improvements to the software, but thankfully there are third party apps. We also expect to see timely updates for some of our favorite iPhone apps (Pro Camera, Photogene or Tiffen’s Photo Fx) once iPhone 3.0 is out.
The rumor mill has been pretty quiet about a new iPod Touch 3.0, but my expectations are high. I hope that the next Touch will finally include a camera (not sure about that, since the Touch is so much slimmer than the iPhone. Can Apple easily fit the camera hardware into the iPod Touch form factor?) If so, the camera should be the same as the iPhone’s. If my fellow iPhonePhotoShow.com blogger Joe is right about a new “iCamera” (IMO, a very long shot), I would expect even better camera firmware (anti-shake similar to Pro Camera), in-iCamera editing and advanced photo album functionality. And should Apple announce an “iPad” (a tablet-style computer, basically an iPhone Touch in a much larger form factor – again, a long shot IMO, but very likely at a later time), it should at least contain the iPhone 3.0 camera, firmware and apps and hopefully even more.
Personally, I really look forward to the keynote next week. Only then will we know. But at this time, I’m confident that I will be excited after the “Phil-note”. And I might even have to plan on standing in line for half a day at an Apple store soon…
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