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AugustOne - the only Microsoft PR agency that chats to the INQ
Iphone 3GS is capable of playing 1080p video
REPORTS THAT THE LATEST IPHONE is capable of playing high definition video at resolutions of up to 1080p have got the Interweb all of a buzz.
No doubt it won't be long before Macolytes are baiting potential Zune HD purchasers and owners of Samsung's 720p-toting Omnia HD.
Despite the official Apple line that the ubiquitous handset, which every other device maker on the planet is trying to replicate, is only capable of playing video files at 480x320, a poster on a Chinese tech forum Weiphone has suggested otherwise.
The poster reported that the Samsung chipset in the Iphone 3GS was indeed capable of playing back files at resolutions of up to 1080p and 30fps, a claim which has since been partially confirmed by the folks at Engadget, complete with video.
Conspiracy theorists all over the web are suggesting that Apple has deliberately disabled the feature in order to preserve battery life and prevent overheating. But given the recent track record that is probably a good thing.
However, although the device is technically capable of playing back 1080p files, it is in no way capable of displaying them. Why would you want to take up huge amounts of space on your Iphone's hard drive with files that you can only show at the screen's 480x320 native resolution? That's a lot of faffing about for downscaled video, despite the bragging rights.
It's true that you can hook up your device to an HD TV using the dock connector or an AV cable. But the AV option uses composite video, and the dock connector can manage S-Video at best which typically outputs at 480i, or 576i in some cases.
There is a silver lining, however. There are enough redundant and unconnected pins on the Iphone's 30 pin dock connector to, at some point in the future, allow full HDMI video output.
So you can look forward to watching full HD movies played from your Iphone (3GHD perhaps?) into your 42-inch plasma at some point in the near future, but not quite yet. µ
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3GS's resolution 480x320 is only 1/16 vs full hd resolution 1920x1080. The size of the frame buffer of 3GS is only 1/16. To display 1080p video on HDTV from 3GS without upscale is questionable.
iPhones already get pretty hot without even doing anything taxing.... now let's stress them as hard they can and see what happens.
You realize you're quoting Engadget the #1 Apple fanboi site, with poor technical know how and the ability to take a rumour and spin it into fact.
Jeez, even the original PSP from 2006 can play 720p files with possibly more than 25 Mbit per Second (upper limit not tested). But it doesn't mean anything if your device can't output it without rescaling.
At least Sony didn't try to impress with completely irrelevant infos...
if by near future you mean in 10 years.
and on the iphone 6GHD
Omnia HD still batters the poor old 3GS. some phantom feature that would crush battery performance isnt going to bother said omnia owners. plus the iphones rep for spontaneously combusting doing nothing-turning this on would probably be nothing short of china syndrome LOL
What good is HD video on a device with a display like the the iPhone? Even if it could somehow achieve 1920x1080, what is the point on a 5x3" screen?
And who are these idiots who are "abuzz" about such utterly worthless features?
Oh wait, don't answer that.
You are wrong ! Surprise, surprise, here is my refreshing and shocking present for you
3.5" from ideal for eyes 10" viewing distance is larger then your 42" TV from 4 meters.
And from 7" still acceptable for most people, 3.5" screen is like 80" TV, and Toshiba TG01 is like 90" !!!
So damn but popular iPhone has too bad UNACCEPTABLE resolution
the Iphone 3GS had a HDCP chipset on it. Without it the Iphone just can't show 1080p, not proprietary, DRM infected 1080p at least...
So 1080p functionallity has the same effect of a turbocharger in a bicycle.
The only thing that iphone lack is the blu-ray drive? how can iphone store 1080p movie and it wont even fit unless its encoded to mkv, and 16/32 gb is enough for few movies?
The article only mentions AV or S-Video resolution but there is a third cable that Apple sells that provide Component Video output for watching movies on your HD telly.
Having said that, the storage issues for 1080P make it a non-issue. I don't run into the heat issues on my 3GS so I can't comment that it would be a problem.
...is that you wouldn't have to transcode video to the lower resolution. Obviously the negative is required power and storage, but if you wanted to grab something quickly without going through the trouble of transcoding, there you go. I'll never do this, but maybe someone would.