HD Video on the Touch

Posted by Gavin Brockis on Monday 22 November 2010 at 3:45pm
Tags: audio | cameras | equipment | mobile | sound recordings | video | youtube |

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In a recent development designed to bring the iPod Touch closer into line with the iPhone in nearly all but telephone functionality, Apple have equipped its latest incarnation with both front and rear facing cameras and a microphone, opening up a whole new world of digital media applications for it, and I've been considering the implications. While the quality of the stills camera is very far from matching that of many models of smartphone and point-and shoot camera, which commonly offer megapixels galore, the video and audio performance is excellent, and critically you don't need an expensive contract (or expensive iPhone) to enjoy some of the benefits of the iOS operating system when creating, manipulating and delivering video.

Though the camera is capped at a slightly disappointing 960x720 pixels when capturing still images, it is however capable of capturing 720p HD video in widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio! This 1280x720 video resolution is the YouTube HD default, and a perfectly acceptable resolution for all but the most demanding uses. With up to 64Gb of internal memory (depending on model), which exceeds even the iPhone's maximum capacity, this now also addresses the issues of limited memory of many mobile video devices. Combined with the upgraded 960x720 Retina display, and the iMovie on-board editing application which gives the ability to export MP4 masters at three common resolutions and upload directly to the web via wi-fi, the iPod's new camera suddenly offers quite a rich video feature set, where before there was none.

The addition of a microphone to the iPod is also very significant, as not only are audio recording apps now available, as well as audio with video, but VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) apps like Skype and Apple's own FaceTime can now allow internet-based voice and even video calling when the iPod is in wi-fi range. The iPod has had a range of compatible external microphones for some time, but this surely will lead to wider recognition of its potential as a portable digital audio recorder and bona fide communicator...

However, the iPod still has no GPS - presumably because the primary envisaged use of GPS is for use with Maps and 'SatNav' style location services, which realistically still require 3G 'always-on' internet to function effectively - so geo-tagging of images is sadly not available (though some degree of location services may be available by wireless network triangulation). But this is a tiny niggle in an otherwise impressive new set of features for media creation and recording, which places the iPod Touch as a viable alternative to consumer level audio and video recording devices, while offering some tantalising additional functionality by virtue of its wireless internet capabilities and more flexible software architecture.

[Camera and microphone added to iPod Touch 4th generation in September 2010]

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