All Articles Tagged 720p

Can the iPhone 3GS play back 720p and even 1080p source videos, perhaps even output them to an HDTV? Looks like it might, according to WeiPhone.com who claim to have gotten just such functionality working via the FileAid app.

Of course, we’ve heard the iPhone 3GS chipset was capable of recording in 720p before. Hey, this time last year we even heard the older, less-powerful iPhone 3G might be able to handle 1080p.

So, while not surprising, it’s important to remember that the iPhone 3GS has a 320p (480×320 to be exact) display, so actually playing the files on the device — aside from heat and battery life concerns — would result in downscaling to such an extent that it’s pretty much pointless (perhaps why Apple doesn’t surface it as a feature at this point?)

It is interesting to consider, however, that Apple has another music event just a couple weeks away, and that Microsoft is making noise about the Zune HD outputting 720p to an external display. If Apple could flip a switch in iPhone 3.1 and enable 720p or 1080p overkill out via AV cables (better yet — HDMI cable!) then that’s one less checkbox in competitors’ corner, and one more feature for iPhone and iPod touch users to enjoy.

(Of course, bigger video means more storage, like 32GB in an iPhone and 64GB in a presumed third-gen iPhone touch… Hmm… Maybe I was only partially crazy to predict an iPhone HD last year?)

[via iLounge]

Engadget reports — based on the tear-downs we’ve seen — that the iPhone 3G S’ ARM Cortex A8 processor is capable of a wee bit more than Apple has thus far enabled.

Currently running at 600MHz, it actually supports a top clock speed of 833MHz and here are the kickers: 720p video recording and real-time video conferencing.

We’ll likely not see the clock speed ramped up for power-saving reasons, nor the video conferencing due to the lack of front-facing camera. But the 720p video recording?

Apple, flip the switch!