Aral Balkan

OK, so I caved in and got an iPhone 3G S approximately half-a-day after it was released and not before bitching up a storm on Twitter about o2's upgrade policies (I finally ponied up for the pay-as-you-go version which means that I'm approximately £450 poorer now and will be living on beans for the rest of the month!) But you know what? It's totally worth it because with the iPhone 3G S I've found the ultimate video blogging tool that I'd been searching for for ages.

First, some history. The Nokia N800 and nearly every recent phone by Nokia, Sony, etc., could have done what Apple did with the iPhone 3G S but they didn't. Canon, Sony, and other camcorder manufacturers could have done it, if only over WiFi, but they didn't. Qik came very close to realizing the ideal but, at least for me, video quality was the reason I stopped using it (and I don't care that the video is live, as long as it's uploaded immediately; "immediacy" is the key word here, not "live"). What Nokia, Adobe, Sony, Canon, Flip, etc., have failed to realize and what Apple has delivered beautifully with the iPhone 3G S, is a mobile tool that lets you shoot, trim, and share your video on YouTube in high quality and without a lengthy transcoding process.

I predict that every video blogger in the universe will be shooting on an iPhone 3G S, if only as their second camera. And I wouldn't be surprised if even the most professional outfits begin shooting and sharing more and more of their video on the iPhone 3G S due simply to its convenience.

And what about quality? You judge: here's a hand-held snap of my MacBook Pro's screen that I took with the iPhone 3G S, in a cafe, with ambient light.

And video quality? Again, here's a short video I shot with the iPhone 3G S and uploaded to YouTube in the same cafe. (The whole process – shooting, trimming, and uploading – worked beautifully.)

I can only imagine that the iPhone 3G S is going to result in a surge of user-generated video content. I am, however, quite disappointed to see that a similar one-click upload to Flickr option doesn't exist for stills (and I can only assume that this is because Apple wants to push its own MobileMe service). Regardless, though, I've found my ultimate video blogging tool and I'm a happy (if somewhat poorer) bunny.

Comments

• Until a few minutes ago, I really didn't get why Apple decided to keep the video-feature hardware related, instead of allowing the iPhone 3G-users to capture video. However: seeing these shots really amaze me. I stand corrected... But now I'm wondering: how does this look when streaming to Qik? ;)

  by Ronny on 2009-06-26 23:04:32

• Just a note. I looked at the video and images on my iPhone via O2 and thanks to their quality scaling they looked crap. Looking at them now on my laptop they look great! I am really surprised they can down scale youtube videos...

  by Rob on 2009-06-20 21:46:07

• Anyone have any idea how to easily (1-3 steps) post video from iphone 3gs to Blogger? Looks like tarpipe doesn't support it.

  by Mat on 2009-07-06 19:23:50

• I was listening to an interview with Chris Cramer who has just been appointed as editor to Reuters Multimedia division. He was clear that in future the majority of news will be created by the public using camera phones. Sounds like it could be "iNews" - must say the quality is impressive. Any feedback on stabilization - is there any type of stabilization to smooth video/images if your are moving/shaking?

  by johan on 2009-06-21 20:39:57

• Aral, you've been able to do this for quite a while on Nokia devices (yes, quality might have sucked, but no less than the crapiness that was 3G iPhone camera). I know because I was shooting video last year across some Nokia ... and the year before on my mobile devices. It's gotten progressively, better. Things like qik, shouzu and others have existed for a bit of time before iPhone 3GS ;) Amazing how Apple is able to seemingly "invent" this stuff ... reinvent, maybe. Take a look at some early proto N97 videos shot by Bill. Tell me they are not nice: http://www.mobileperry.com/2009/04/eating-your-own-dog-foodfiguratively.html The great thing is Apple is a trend setter now, so you're right, mobile video blogging will be a huge area this year into next (I think). It goes with the hap, trendy folks who buy the device in US. :) Overall, the important piece is not particularly the iPhone device ... it's the platforms iPhone has a great experience ... but so does the Pre and underlying webOS ... and Android keeps chugging away at attempts ... Nokia needs to step it up, though. :) I think we are in the early days of SmartPhone wars, and although some claim Apple has already won (short term), the jury is still out long term (I think). That being said ... yep, I'll probably be buying one of these new Cupertino devices blessed by Jobs. :)

  by Scott Janousek on 2009-06-20 15:59:21

• Hi Aral: There's something close to 1 click uploads to Flickr if you use Tarpipe.com. You send an email to them and it automatically posts to wordpress, flickr, twitter, facebook, etc. It's the active blogger's best friend.

  by Bruno Figueiredo on 2009-06-22 20:33:31

• Iphone 3G is so packed of features and it really looks cool too. I own one iPhone 3G and i am planning to buy another one for my girlfriend.

  by arthritistreatment_techguy on 2009-09-03 09:16:44

• recently, i got interested about Video Blogging and starting my own Video Blog. i am still researching on the net about the tips and tricks about video blogging

  by Ronan K on 2009-10-30 07:26:10

• my iPhone was actually a gift from my girlfriend. i really love this phone and i think that this is the best phone that money can buy. i like the features and the design.

  by bodydetox on 2009-07-30 01:52:36

• Nice work.

  by james on 2009-10-01 13:36:13

• I found your article while searching for information about iPhone video blogging. I am surprised how little attention this subject has received and wanted to contribute to your discussion. I recently covered NAB 2010 with the intent of live video blogging with the iPhone 3Gs. Check out my rig and the things that worked and didn't at: http://photocinenews.com/2010/04/19/iphone-video-blogging-what-worked-and-what-didnt/

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  by Britney on 2011-02-17 20:53:42