I didn’t think I’d be very likely to buy the iPhone 11. My plan to date has been to hold out another year with my iPhone X… But something we learned yesterday through a 9to5Mac exclusive will likely be enough to persuade me to upgrade this year.
Namely, that the third camera, a wide-angle one, will have some rather interesting software support.
This extra space will be occupied by a camera capable of capturing a wide-angle image as Bloomberg first reported.
Besides being used as a creative option for pictures and movies, this wide-angle ‘iPhone 11’ camera will enable a feature called Smart Frame, which captures the area around the framed area in pictures and videos so that the user can adjust the framing or perform automatic perspective and crop corrections in post. The extra information will be retained for a limited period of time and discarded automatically afterwards, for privacy reasons.
But any wide-angle lens introduces distortion. You might like the effect (it’s an artistic choice), but generally you’ll need to correct it in something like Photoshop. And it’s that which this year’s iPhones appear to be automating.
perform automatic perspective and crop corrections in post
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, iPhone 11 is going to be all about the camera(s) and that’s going to sell a lot of units to people who thought they might be waiting until next year’s 5G iPhone.
As we wrote yesterday and earlier today, “Smart Frame is going to be a tent pole feature… Expect this batch of iPhones, the last one prior to the start of the iPhone 5G super cycle in late 2020, to focus on the triple camera array, Smart Frame, and other camera-related features as the main selling point.”
Great! If it also comes with Touch ID and a headphone jack, I will buy it. If not, then not.
Your not the target market…headphone jack…ever heard of AirPods dude…a way better experience…I can still use head phones on my 10 …this argument is so stupid…even my Bose head phones work with the jack adapter…better go back to your flip phone
Funny thing is … I just had my 6s work phone brick on me yesterday. Took it to IT and they determined that it is going to be replaced – – and the replacement is the 7. Why the 7? Because it still has the Touch ID. Apparently, our security folks don’t consider Apple’s Face ID to be sufficiently secure. Thought that that was quite interesting.
Oh, and wireless bluetooth headsets are also banned. Again, security. Sorry AirPods.
In any event, this whole “compelling” clam has me scratching my head.
First, “perform automatic perspective” …
That’s become a trivial digital task to do — but more significantly, the claim that “any wide-angle lens introduces distortion.” is false: its what happens when you use a cheap lens. As such, this so-called ‘feature’ to me is reading along the lines of “we digitally fix the image in post so that you’re not aware of just how compromised this camera sensor system is.”
Next, to similarly feature “…and crop corrections in post”
Granted, this isn’t all that horrible of an idea on certain levels, but again, it isn’t technically profound to do. And while it would be nice to have an automated self-leveling feature on a higher end FF dSLR when taking landscape photos … rather than having to manually adjust the tripod while watching the bubble level … that’s not really how smartphones are being used. Sure, Grandma will like it when doing a video of blowing out the candles on the grandkid’s 4th birthday cake …
… but given how common it is to see the style of very crooked selfies and the like, particularly within the younger targeted customer demographics, it seems more likely that it will screw things up while trying to be “helpful”, thereby becoming a liability that more discerning customers will get fed up with and disable (not unlike ‘live images’).
Time will tell.
Apparently, our security folks don’t consider Apple’s Face ID to be sufficiently secure
So your IT dept are idiots?
Yuh. IT – in other words, the same people who promoted and vehemently supported the Dark Ages of Personal Computing throughout the corporate world. What the heck do they know about security?
And Micro Floppy
I prefer reel tapes.
Those 800 bpi open reel tapes are just not proven enough yet; maybe given enough time they will be. Paper tape is so much more reliable and a proven medium.
/s
That’s the sound of everyone laughing at you, Randy.