Can you hook up a Nanoflash to the flip phone? At least you could get 4:2:2 out of it. :0

They may eventually get bored with the novelty of recording everything on video. Over 20 years ago when my eldest daughter was born I bought a Sony Video8 camcorder & recorded her every move. Later on I recorded plays & concerts at her school. I recorded some outdoor concerts & music festivals. I eventually realised that I was not enjoying the gigs & concerts as I had previously because I was viewing them on a 2 inch screen & stopped taking the camcorder along.

Subsequently that Video8 camcorder was replaced with a Hi8 camcorder but unfortunately that machine died about 7-8 years ago so even if I could find all those tapes of my daughter & several years coverage of the Cropredy Festival I actually have nothing to replay them on.

Beware if you purchase one

Some iPhone 4 models dropping calls when held left-handed, including ours (video) -- Engadget

Besides the whole video component of this phone, at least here in the States, buying requires you to sign up for indentured servitude to AT&T. They are absolutely the most horrible, unreliable, rip-off cell provider in the country.

It amuses me too that in this awful economy with so many unemployed and broke, that people will spend multiple thousands of dollars a year just to have a toy like this that lets them always be connected 24/7. The iPhone is a cool toy but that is really what it is, an unnecessary toy that people have conned themselves into accepting as a necessary part of their lifestyle. And the fact that in the U.S., they have to pay exorbitant amounts of money to use a provider who constantly has dropped calls, spotty service and who routinely double and triple bills people and gets away with it because people are too in love with their toy to hold AT&T accountable, makes me scratch my head. I had AT&T as my service provider for three years and they routinely would double and triple bill me, then cut off my service when I wouldn't pay the second or third bill in a single month. It was borderline extortion, it happened over and over and short of me making fighting AT&T my full time career, there wasn't much I could do about it other than to drop them and move to another provider.

The iPhone is definitely cool but the service provider portion of the ownership makes it not even in consideration for me. Too much money for bad quality service. Here in LA, several of the producers I work with tell me that their iPhones are close to useless because of the poor AT&T service. What is the point?

Dan

As cool a toy as the iPhone is, AT&T won't get another penny from me if I can help it, been there, done that, seen the crazy accounting.

Other providers have some pretty cool Google android based phones... having a micro computer (effectively) in my pocket does have its attractiveness... if the price is cheap enough, as it often is when the various providers run specials, grabbing a "smart phone" makes some sense.

The thing that's been on my mind lately is that "content providers" probably need to start gearing content delivery (at least as an option) to the "small screen", meaning the 2.5"-5" sort of LCD/OLED they can put on a phone fairly easily and cheaply. I've begun to suspect that for many people these "microcomputer/phones" have the potential to replace a computer for a large portion of the "average use", just as many have abandoned "land lines" for a cell phone.

If my suspicions are correct, these small, touch based, net enabled "toys" may rapidly replace the desktop/laptop - so for the content producer, the target changes drastically from a 1024x768 or 1280x720 (what used to be 640x480) back to a small, lower resolution widescreen format. And as already noted, "competition" for eyeballs becomes that much greater as the "consumer" becomes the "creator".

Interesting times...

My biggest disappointment so far is the iMovie app; it's much more basic than I thought it was going to be (and I wasn't expecting Final Cut Pro!)

For people complaining about AT&T. Just wanted to let you know you buy iPhones legally unlocked in Belgium (because simlocking isn't allowed by law). They do cost you around 600-700 euros though.

There's a company in Kelowna, B.C. called Vericorder who's made an editing app for news gathering called 1stVideo. It seems to have some good potential for mobile journalism and cuts-only editing.

It was featured in The Vancouver Sun a few days ago:
A hand-held TV studio

Nooooooooooo!
 

Oh crumbs, it's 1989 all over again. Desktop publishing and the nascent 'self publish' print model. All going to pot.

When I set up my company in 2006, we had plans for editing from client-supplied rushes. Two jobs was all it took for a quiet withdrawal from that offering. You can edit the material, and you can make a story out of it, and you can improve it beyond recognition - but the huge disconnect between what you can cut out of their rushes vs what you can cut from well-shot rushes took clients by surprise - and not in a nice way.

I've cut stuff shot on Flips - conference delegates interviewing other conference delegates - and what took the client by surprise was the sheer time it took to process the video and audio into something watchable. Noisy video doesn't compress well, audio with a rear-facing microphone doesn't sound good in interviews.

And 720p isn't 'HD' in any way except in 'on box marketing'. Good SD can be bumped up to 720p and look better than 720p shot badly - or even well, using something like a Flip.

Certainly 720p is due to be the SD of the web, but the limit isn't the 720p, it's the 1 Mbit per second constraint - and even if your software tells you you can download 8 Mbits per second, 1-2 Mbit is the only way you're going to get past congestion, contention and packet shaping.

Urgh, lost the thread here.

I'm upgrading early to iPhone 4's video because it's 720p and more importantly 16:9 - I am giving my Flip camera to my 6YO son because he can use it better than I, and I was happier with the 640x480 video from the iPhone than I was from the HD Flip. Especially audio.

Therefore... 'Harumph' --> the considered response of a grumpy old bottom-burp.

Apple also sells the unlocked iPhone direct in other countries in Europe e.g. UK & France.

Here in France all three mobile providers offer the iPhone & they will unlock them for free after you have been a customer for 6 months prior to that a small charge is made. In the UK unlocking is either free or a small amount (15-20 pounds) although you are still obliged to continue to subscribe for the period that you originally signed up for (12/18/24 months).

Video of actual editing video on the new iPhone IGM: iMovie app for iPhone 4 (Video Review/Tutorial)

Lucky Brits, the new iPhone is available for a mere £99 when you sign up for a £30 per month service plan. Brits can also purchase the phone unlocked and have options for 12, 18 and 24 month plans as well as pay as you go because there are six service providers in the UK market.

If I lived in the UK, I would own an iPhone. Over here, I make do with my iPod Touch and a cheap T-Mobile pay as you go. Kind of ironic that in Apple's own market, the iPhone is a huge rip-off with the worst service provider on the market. The AT&T system is massively overwhelmed and owning an iPhone in LA is a frustrating exercise in dropped calls and slow data downloads.

Shame.

Dan

BTW, those of you desperate enough to let AT&T bend you over should read this. You may have some big surprises when you check your AT&T bill The real cost of AT&T's basic data plan | ZDNet

Dan

Found this link on an iPhone-related site:

And there you go - someone with production experience, a little (pun intended) bit of grip equipment, and a story...

Micro-productions on a micro budget, produced on micro cameras. Definitely will alter the landscape.

I was playing around a bit with the video function today. In low light situations the frame rate drops from 30fps to 24 fps.

I shot a few different things and so far there doesn't seem to be a variation (i.e. 20fps or 27fps).

Not that big of a deal really, but I thought I'd mention it. Maybe somebody will create an app where you can lock frame rates.

...if Apple allows that sort of thing.