“Apple is investigating methods of incorporating camera hardware into its Apple Watch product lineup, focusing specifically on systems that avoid the inherent pitfalls of embedding image capturing equipment in a device not well-suited to the task,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.
“According to a patent granted to Apple by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday, the tech giant is looking to broaden the feature set of its wearable by incorporating a novel camera system capable of automatically cropping in on subject matter, tracking objects like a user’s face and generating angle-adjusted avatars for FaceTime calls,” Campbell reports. “Apple’s U.S. Patent No. 10,129,503 for an ‘Image-capturing watch’ details a hardware and software solution that makes a camera-toting Apple Watch not only feasible, but useful. ”
“Perhaps most interesting is a contingency for rectifying unflattering ‘up nose’ angles. If a user were to employ Watch in a FaceTime call, and do so without holding the device directly in front of their face as promised by Apple’s auto-cropping tech, the resulting image would at times be captured from a low vantage point,” Campbell reports. “To negate ‘up nose’ shots, Apple proposes outputting a representation of a user’s face that appears to be taken from a straight-on perspective. As noted in the patent, Watch’s onboard processor might generate an angle-corrected image or representation of a user’s face by compiling stored facial data, perhaps information gathered during biometric registration.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Nostril fetishists* will be SOL.
Since Apple Watch Series 2 gave us GPS and freed us from having to schlep along our iPhones on runs, we can’t count the times we’ve wished we had a camera on our Apple Watches. Look at that sunset! Look at that ocean! Look at that three-legged one-eyed dog!
Things like that, not so much the Dick Tracy FaceTime stuff (but that would be cool, too), are why we’re so interested in things like the CMRA Dual-Camera Band for Apple Watch… Dare we dream? – cameras, possibly via an Apple Smartband? — MacDailyNews, October 12, 2017
*Yes, apparently it’s a thing.
SEE ALSO:
Apple Watch cries out for a camera – October 12, 2017
Hello, Dick Tracy! CMRA band delivers two HD cameras to Apple Watch – November 2, 2016
Alert Go Go Gomez.
Two cameras, allowing for forward view sharing, and to wear the watch on either wrist. Took me a minute there.
If you were unfortunate enough to fall for the CMRA scam .. the camera in the Apple watchband kickstarter vaporware product that bilked thousands.. this is almost funny. They had a short window.. maybe two years to get this product out and shipping before someone else did it.. like Apple. Now it appears the still non-existent product will be stillborn (if it ever shows up at all). Good idea… but incompetence at so many levels doomed it.
Whatever happened to the battery bands so many were predicting amongst other uses for the hidden connector.
I’ve been holding out to get an AW since it first came out expecting a version with this feature. If this comes out I can’t wait to play with it a-la Dick Tracy!