The HDR (High Dynamic Range) technique has been around since the 1930s, but this is the first time that it has been offered as a default option on a smartphone. What does it mean and should you use it instead of the standard photo option? Let’s find out. (Non HDR shots on the left, HDR shots on the right).

When you take a photo with the iPhone the exposure is automatically set to render the best possible range of luminance based on the centre of the scene or, if you tap on a part of the scene, that area. As I’m certain you have noticed for yourself, this means quite a bit of experimentation to find the best compromise between under and over exposure. Under expose the photo and you risk crushing all the blacks and dark colours, over expose the photo and you’ll surely end up with washed out colours and very little detail in the highlight areas.

Of course, the iPhone 4 camera unit is no DSLR, the tiny optics and sensor means that most photos will be a compromise. If the scene has quite a flat dynamic range of luminance, such as in a well lit room, you may get a very good representation of reality. However, if the scene has a broad dynamic range, as is usually found on a bright sunny morning or late afternoon, then you will likely lose a lot of the detail in the shadows and highlights.

Apple’s HDR option for the iPhone 4 running iOS 4.1 gets around this by very quickly taking 3 photos at 3 different exposures and combining the results almost in realtime. There is a delay or about 3 seconds whilst the A4 processor does its thing. The results are quite striking. As you can see from the images here (for the full set head over to Flickr), areas that are devoid of all detail without HDR now retain detail in both the shadows and the highlights. That is the true power of HDR.

In short, Apple have given the iPhone 4 camera a significant boast with hardly any drawbacks. There are times when you will need to turn off HDR and they include fast moving objects, scenes that are interesting or beautiful because of their high contrast and fast paced photography when the 3 to 4 second wait is simply too long.

Apple have thrown down the gauntlet with their HDR implementation. It’s now up to the likes of Nokia, Samsung and HTC to respond. I’m convinced that realtime HDR is the way forward for smartphones.

The invitation tagline, ‘Come See Our Latest Creation’, the rumour that Steve Jobs believes this to be the most important moment of his life, Tim Cook’s recent admission that their new creation will bring ‘joy and surprise’, all point towards a product that has the potential to change industries.

What can we expect on the 27th?

A tablet computer with a multi-core processor, a multi-touch screen, an impressive battery life and a surprisingly affordable price tag. That’s my guess. I believe we can also expect Apple to announce a Print Store that will function in almost exactly the same way as the App Store. I expect Apple to provide the tools necessary to be able to create a publication for submission to the Print Store. There are two reasons why this might lead to a new era in personal publishing. First, the tools that Apple provide for the creation of Print Store Items will allow for an impressive array of fonts, styles and design elements presently not available to those designing with HTML. Secondly, the Print Store will allow publishers (that’s you and I) to charge for our publications. The combination of these two features will transform publishing and change the print industry.

Consider a couple of examples of how this might work in practice. Both these proposals are based on real publications and real customers that I’ve encountered working for a small print company.

Example 1

A retired army General has written his memoirs, a series of short stories based on his experiences during the last world war. Being a keen illustrator he has hand drawn four or five sketches to go with each story. The General desperately wants to get his memoirs into book format so he can distribute it to his old friends and family. In 2009 he had a couple of options. Create a website, or produce a minimum quantity of fully printed books. In 2010 he may have a third option. Create a Print Item for inclusion in the Print Store, price it at £1.99 but give his friends and family codes so that they can download it for free. He gets instant worldwide distribution, retains the look and much of the feel of a printed book, and the opportunity to make a few pennies should the book prove a success. Everybody wins.

Example 2

A UK manufacturing firm with global customer base want to make manuals and brochures available to new and existing customers. In 2009 they had two options. Add download links to PDF files on their website or get the literature printed and distributed via international post. In 2010 they may have a third option. Convert the PDF files to Print Store Items make them freely available and email their customers the link. The power of the Print Store Item in this scenario is that the company continue to update the Print Store Item as and when new manuals and literature is made available. The customer always has access to the most recent literature, they are even notified when it is updated with new material.

I can think of hundreds of example similar to the above. Even All About iPhone might consider a Print Store Item. An archive of all previous posts made available in one nicely designed magazine format for less than a decent cup of coffee.

Of course, until computing tablets are ubiquitous Apple would need to cater for those without tablets. They could tackle this in a couple of ways.

They might open up these Print Store Items for purchase and viewing on regular desktop computers and their iPhone/iPod platform. Or perhaps even offer a bespoke printing service much like they already provide from iPhoto for photos and photo albums.

It seems almost inevitable that Apple will go down this route, if not at launch then certainly soon after. I can’t think of a single pressing reason why they would not.

Let’s talk about hardware.

It’s easy to forget that Apple is capable some pretty strange designs. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the tablet was not symmetrical. Think about it, by putting most of the weight and bulk of the device over on one side, the tablet would be much easier to hold for extended time periods. Here’s another thought. If there was more bulk on one edge of the tablet would that not allow for some kind of styling for easier single handed grip and perhaps even an elegant kick-stand of sorts?

Apple’s Magic Mouse shows that Apple are not adverse to adding multi-touch to the external casing of a device. I can envision the tablet having a multi-touch area on the case that might be used for very simple thumb gestures like scrolling or page turning. How it will handle text entry is of little concern to me, they must have nailed this otherwise Mr. Jobs wouldn’t be so excited about it.

Is it possible that the screen might dock with the frame via a locking mechanism and Mini DisplayPort. The frame could have a dock on both the long edge and short edge.

As a avid Apple follower of some 18 years, I can honestly say that I’ve never seen such interest in a new product launch. Here’s hoping that Steve doesn’t disappoint!

Follow me on Twitter (@jamesburland) for plenty of Apple related chit-chat over the next 24 hours.

I’ll give you three common scenarios – all real life examples – that should resonate with many readers.

Scenario 1: Holiday Travels

We’ve recently spent some time visiting friends in Poland. I had the iPhone 3GS and Nokia N86 with me at all times.

Although the Nokia N86 is noticeably kinder on its battery than the Apple iPhone, both are battery eaters! As this was our first time in Poland, we spent a great deal of time travelling from one landmark to the next, all of which were miles away from a fixed power outlet. As we travelled from one location to the next, I used the Proporta 3400 to top up the battery of the iPhone and N86. In this scenario the goal was not to fully charge a smartphone battery from empty, but rather to keep a couple of devices alive with regular short boasts. So how did it perform?

Very well indeed actually. Despite it’s large capacity and numerous device adaptors, the Proporta is small gadget that can be slipped into any jacket pocket without bother. The swappable heads system means that it can charge a wide range of smartphones, from the proprietary iPhone socket to the more common Mini and Micro USB sockets.

As an aside, because of the range of charing heads the 3400 can charge some games consoles such as the DS Lite and also various popular makes of dedicated Sat Nav devices.

Scenario 2: Extended Gaming

My phone habits have changed somewhat during 2009. I now find that my main gaming device is my iPhone. Recently I have been playing ngmoco’s amazing Eliminate, a 3D shooter with online multiplayer capabilities (My Plus+ username is jamesburland, feel free to add me). As you can imagine this is an application that can destroy battery life. I’m sat playing Eliminate in the lounge and I can’t really be bothered to go and move my charger from my office.

Fortunately the Proporta 3400 is man enough to keep the battery alive for the entire evening. The only negative thing that I can say about using the Proporta in this regard is that the bulky iPhone power adaptor kind of gets in the way somewhat. It’s nothing like as bad as the Kensington (I’ll come on to that a bit later), but it would be nice to see Proporta ship the 3400 with a iPhone adaptor that was a tad smaller and with the cable coming out the side rather the back.

Scenario 3. Sat Nav Assistance

Both the iPhone and the Nokia Nseries devices can perform as excellent satellite navigation devices. Nokia’s smartphones come preloaded with Nokia’s own mapping and navigation software and the iPhone can be beefed up significantly in the travel assistance department with various third party solutions.

During the Summer we visited friends in Wales. Over the course of the weekend we covered around 300 miles driving between tourist attractions. Being able to keep the phone charged in order to provide Sat Nav services was vital. Even a fully charged iPhone is only good for about around 3 hours continuous navigation, but with the help of the Proporta 3400 we were able to drive around most of the day and still have juice to spare to upload some pictures to Twitpic.

Yes there are plenty of other charging solutions available, but none offer quite the same balance of power and adaptability. I’ve already mentioned the Kensington Battery Pack for iPhone and iPod. It’s quite a nice solution as it also provides a way of keeping the iPhone propped up for movie viewing. Unfortunately, at just 1000 mAh the Kensington Battery Pack doesn’t even provide enough juice to charge the iPhone once.

In conclusion, the Proporta USB TurboCharger 3400 is cheap yet powerful way of extending the operational life of your smartphone.

I’ve been sitting on this article for quite a while, but the recent iTablet rumours and then the announcement of Sony’s new low-cost digital e-book readers moved me to finished it off and get it posted quickly!

The print and graphic design industries were the first that Apple really cornered. The killer combination of the Macintosh’s user interface, powerful QuickDraw API and Apple’s one-of-a-kind LaserWriter printer which included a built-in PostScript interpreter positioned Apple dead centre of the burgeoning DTP revolution. Though Apple made many mistakes throughout the early 90s, those critical components gave Apple a foundation that proved to be unmatchable.

Since Steve Jobs’ return to Apple in 1997, building strong hardware and software foundations in order to corner markets is now a company ethos which is rarely experimented with. Music, music videos, TV shows, movies, podcasts, audiobooks, video games and now software distribution; if Steve Jobs believes that Apple can build an end-to-end solution using the companies key strengths then it seems almost inevitable that it will.

This brings me back to print. Apple are now in a unique position to end the 600 year reign of ink on wood pulp. To be fair, the printing industry has been in decline since the Internet became ubiquitous, but only Apple have all the technologies in place – both hardware and software – to topple the giant once and for all. Here’s how they might do it.

There are three reasons why the Tim Berners-Lee’s invention hasn’t yet conquered print. Quality, ease of use and price. After 600 years of progress print is a mature technology, pick up any glossy magazine and you’ll see an array of fonts, colours, design styles and photography that really isn’t possible on the World Wide Web. The problem is partly to do with hardware (print resolution is about 2400 dots per inch and screen resolution is about 133 pixels per inch) but mostly to do with software, HTML just isn’t up to the task of pixel perfect font, graphic and photo positioning and styling. PostScript and its modern cousin PDF is however.

Remember the key elements that led to the DTP revolution? A slick user interface, a powerful API, unique hardware that included the all important PostScript support. With the iPhone and iPod Touch Apple are once again ready take centre stage within the print industry, but unlike before, this time it will be with a mind to transforming it completely.

Let’s talk about what Apple needs to bring to the table.

In terms of software and services I think it’s fair to say that Apple are 90% sorted. From design to distribution every angle is covered. The App Store was the final piece of the software puzzle. As for hardware, that’s where Apple will need to bring a handful of genuine innovations.

The screen would need to be A5 (210mm x 148.5mm) with a pixel density of at least 133 pixels per inch. The battery life would need to be good, very good. A standby time of 7 days and usage time of about 6 hours. Both the screen and the outer casing would need to be rock solid, stronger even that of the iPhone. Ideally it would be based on the same hardware specification as the iPhone 3GS making it a powerful web browsing and entertained device in addition to its primary function as a replacement for paper.

These specifications present a serious challenge, but it’s a challenge that I think Apple can meet, even in 2009. Perhaps Apple’s biggest problem is the price point. To mount a genuine attack on ink and paper they may have to sell this tablet device at almost cost price, or even at a loss in order drive sales aggressively in the first year. Less than $200 would be ideal, but $350 might just be low enough.

At some point within the next ten years, a company with a similar skill set to Apple will put all the pieces together in a package that people will desire in their droves. Will that company be Apple? You never know, perhaps 2010 will see the rebirth of the Apple iBook.

Back in June just prior to the 3GS announcement I wrote,

“But what if Phil Schiller and company take to the stage tonight and announce the much rumoured iPhone Video? What if it has autofocus? What if it has VGA resolution? What if it has a rock solid 30 frames per second frame rate? What if it has an effective video editing solution? What if it captures stereo sound? What if it has digital zoom that actually works? What if…”

As we now know the iPhone 3GS brought many of these features to the table. Autofocus, VGA, rock solid 30 frames per second and even a basic but powerful editing and distribution solution.

In short, Apple did indeed “crack the video nut with much the same panache as they did the pocket computer user interface…”. The results are impressive by any standard.

I’m still getting to grips with what the new camera unit can do, but in the meantime I thought it would be nice to share some video clips with you, just in case you are still undecided about upgrading to the 3GS.

The YouTube video at the top of this article should give you a general feel for quality and capability, but please feel free to download the original clips for a more thorough inspection. All are unaltered.

Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
Sample 4

For a more general overview of the iPhone 3GS that includes a video demontration of the photo and video capture interface, be sure to check out the latest episode of Steve Litchfield’s “The Phones Show“…

Click here to view the embedded video.

As the writer of Nokia Creative, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time over the last 3 years recording my life with Nokia’s pocket rockets. Whilst the iPhone is a creative tool, few things can be as satisfying as snapping the perfect photo, or editing the highlights of your summer holiday video, all shot on a smartphone. In short, I miss out on that part of my daily life when I only have my iPhone with me. Sure the iPhone can take some great photos given perfect conditions, but it doesn’t compare to the likes of the N95, N82 or the new N97. In my mind Nokia still make the best smartphones (I view the iPhone as a pocket computer) simply because so many of them have a superb camera.

But what if Phil Schiller and company take to the stage tonight and announce the much rumoured iPhone Video? What if it has autofocus? What if it has VGA resolution? What if it has a rock solid 30 frames per second frame rate? What if it has an effective video editing solution? What if it captures stereo sound? What if it has digital zoom that actually works? What if…

The truth is that most analysts are expecting the new iPhone to feature video capture in some form. Beyond that, nobody (outside Apple) actually knows the details.

My personal view on the matter is this. Apple left video capture out of the original iPhone spec because the hardware just wasn’t up to the task. Some pint-sized stuttering video just isn’t Apple’s style, the company has far too much heritage in the video industry to just whack in some half baked video solution just to keep the geeks happy. Quicktime, Final Cut Pro and Shake are the primary tools of the video trade, Apple has a broad skill set to bring to bear on the tricky issue of pocket video capture and editing. I for one am expecting big things.

So then, if Apple do manage to crack the video nut with much the same panache as they did the pocket computer user interface or application development and distribution problem, what advantage would a Nokia, Samsung or Sony Ericsson device offer?

One thing is certain, they’ll be a lot of crossed fingers when Phil Schiller takes to the stage later today. Some will be hoping for video capture, others will be praying for none.

If the next iPhone could perform all these tasks what would be the point of a dedicated home gaming console such as the Wii, PS3 or XBOX 360? We already know that the 3.0 update will bring seamless multi-player support, painless syncing to 3rd party hardware such as gaming controllers and wireless bluetooth headphones, dance mats, Guitar Hero hardware, etc.

It doesn’t take too much imagination to begin to see how the iPhone (and iPod Touch) could mount a serious challenge to all other Living Room entertainment hardware.

Imagine this scenario.

Transformers 2 has just been released for rental in 720p HD on the iTunes Store. At work you initiate the rental on your new iPhone. Whilst you’re working your iPhone (connected to your work WiFi) is busy performing a background download of the video file. Just before you are due to leave for home you read about the brand new Transformers 2 iPhone and iPod Touch game. You begin the download and prepare for some iPhone gaming on the train home. During your hour long commute you complete the first two levels of the Transformers 2 game that has the look of a top flight PS2 game. On arriving home you plug your iPhone into your large LCD TV via the Mini DisplayPort to HMDI cable and watch Transformers 2 in glorious HD with all your family. After the movie is over you go back to the game, but this time you engage in some multi-player action with a friend who lives 2000 miles away and your son who is upstairs on his iPod Touch.

If you can do all this using just one device that fits in your pocket why would you fork out another £300 for a PS3 or £200 for an XBOX 360?

The iPhone solution means no continual buying of credits, no trips to the local game store, no car journeys to Blockbuster to pick up a Blu-Ray disc, no wasted space under your TV, no annoying fan noise, no scratched discs, no XBOX Live membership fees, no clumsy interface navigation, no trawling through game mags and websites looking for game reviews, no power cables, internet connection cables and controller cables, no positioning of Wii sensor bars, no replacing batteries in your controllers… the list goes on and on.

And what would you sacrifice? The jaw dropping graphical detail of both the XBOX 360 and PS3 and that’s really about it. Of course you could argue that you would miss some the best 5 star games available, but something tells me that if the iPhone did receive such a boost in polygon performance then the high profile 5 star games would not be too far behind.

The most stunning thing about this flight of fancy is that only thing standing between it and reality is hardware. Unlike every other manufacturer that comes to mind, Apple already have all the software components in place; from Quicktime to the App Store, from Mobile OS X to the amazing developer tools, Apple is ready. Only a huge foul-up of epic proportions will stop this from happening with the next 18 months.

Getting the correct software in place is a far larger undertaking than putting the appropriate hardware in place, just ask Microsoft, Nokia, LG and Samsung. For Apple the heavy lifting is already done!

I mooched around my local GAME (UK video game store) the other day, looking for a classic gaming experience on the XBOX 360. Besides the usual line up of violent games based on the premise that killing lots of things is exciting, there was nothing. Yes, I realise that I really should have bought Street Fighter IV, but just as I was making my way to the counter I realised that I could purchase at least fifteen decent iPhone games for the £34.99 asking price. It was at this point that it struck me. The iPhone is now my primary gaming machine. To be honest, I’m still reeling from this revelation. As someone who is a self-professed polygon junkie, you’d think that the iPhone wouldn’t even come close to satisfying my gaming needs. But it has, here’s why…

1. Developer tools and ease of distribution
The Sony PSP should have been the most popular gaming device on the planet. In terms of hardware what Sony achieved with the first PSP was nothing short of stunning. I can still remember reading the rumours of Sony’s first handheld device and thinking to myself how ridiculous is was to even entertain the idea that Sony could put so much power is such a small device… and yet they did.

The PSP is by no means a failure, but Sony simply can’t compete with the massive momentum infused into the iPhone gaming scene at present. I cannot think of *any* gaming platform that has been blessed with so many quality titles within such a short space of time. This rapid development and distribution of games has led to a broad range of gaming experiences that has already cemented the iPhone as the number one gaming platform for new developers. Even if all iPhone gaming development came to a standstill this evening, there would still be enough quality games available to keep most users happy for another two years or more. History will show that the iPhone killed the PSP (and perhaps even the PS3, but that’s another story for another day), of that I’m certain.

2. Price
The App Store has changed the structure software pricing forever. When a decent gaming experience can be had for just 59p, clearly paying £40 a mediocre home gaming experience is just nuts! In short, current home console games have to provide over twenty times the value of a decent iPhone game in order to be worth the price. This just isn’t the case for 90% of console games.

3. Free updates
Some iPhone games have gone from being nice tech demos to near perfect games in the space of just a couple of months. Just two or three meaningful free updates can propel an iPhone game into a whole different orbit. Fastlane Street Racing is an excellent example. When I reviewed it last year FSR was not much more than an amazing tech demo. But those who purchased it at the time will now find that it is also an accomplished racing experience.

Apple’s stunningly simple update facility enables you to take a chance on some games in way that has not been possible until now.

What are the wider implications for the industry if Apple grace the next iPhone hardware with double the polygon performance and a fully featured TV out option? That’s what I’ll be asking in my next article.

I’d love to hear of your personal iPhone (or iPod Touch) gaming experiences. Have you found more and more of your gaming time taken up by Apple’s legendary pocket computer?

Be that as it may, the current iPhone hardware could do with a bump. Here is my list of hardware changes that I’d like to see introduced with the next iteration of the iPhone legend.

1. 480p video capture
Those of you that are regular readers of Nokia Creative will know that the reason for my passion with those fantastic phones from Finland is partly because of their comparatively excellent video capture. It would appear that the current iPhone hardware is incapable of capturing video at 30 frames per second. I expect the next hardware to be more than up to the task. A 16:9 480p capture would be lovely, but I’ll make do with VGA if I have to.

2. Faster graphics processor
Whilst I do believe that the current iPhone is capable of PS2 quality graphics, only a handful of developers will ever squeeze that level of polygon performance from it. I’m expecting the next iPhone hardware to have – at the very least – twice the polygon performance of the current hardware. This would mean that the bleeding edge of home console polygon performance (circa 2004) would be available in the palm of my hand – quite a thought!

3. Faster CPU
Surely this is a given? CPU performance must increase at regular intervals. The current iPhone ARM CPU is clocked at 412Mhz, expect to see the next iPhone hardware pass the 600Mhz barrier. I’m hoping for something more spectacular, like dual core at over 1Ghz, but the more pragmatic side of me thinks that a bespoke CPU at those kind of speeds will have to wait until the middle of 2010.

4. Better screen resolution
This a really tricky one. On the face of it, upping the screen resolution is an obvious way to boast sales. But as Nokia will confirm, things are never quite that simple. There are now 30,000 iPhone applications that have been written specifically for the resolution of the current iPhone hardware, which has a screen resolution of 480 by 320 pixels. Upping the screen resolution in the next iPhone hardware will mean that those 30,000 apps will have to be stretched or centred (with boarders). Stretching the display will result in a soft image, and placing the application’s screen output in the centre of the new display will mean boarders of some sort. Neither option is perfect, and neither option is something that I can see Steve Jobs approving.

The screen resolution will have to improve at some point, so what are the options? The best solution that I can think of is to double both the vertical and horizontal resolution in one fell swoop! A 960 by 640 pixel display has two big advantages for Apple. First, those 30,000+ applications written for the previous iPhone hardware will look almost as good as on the original hardware – If you’re going to have to scale the screen data, then doubling produces that very best results. Secondly, Apple have been pushing video at 960 pixels wide as good alternative to 1280 pixels for quite some time. Though not a proper HD resolution, 960 pixels wide is certainly much better than the fabricated nHD standard that Nokia keep promoting.

5. Better battery life
If you are reading this there is a good chance that you have to charge you current iPhone at least once every 24 hours. Quite how Apple will increase battery life whilst decreasing the size of the iPhone hardware is beyond me. But then, that’s why Apple’s engineers are just about the best in their field. I expect to see at least another 20% battery life without any increase in the physical size of the iPhone.

What do you think? Have I missed anything? Would you expect to see a physical keyboard, or a much better camera in the next iPhone hardware? Be sure to let me know.

Think for a moment about the wealth of video content available to iPhone owners. You’ve got YouTube, BBC iPlayer, Joost, Daily Motion and of course the treasure trove of video content that is the iTunes Store – movies, TV shows, music videos, video podcasts, etc. What other phone, or indeed other handheld playback device, has access to so much video media?

Not too surprisingly then the iPhone is a stonkingly good media player. I’m sure I’m not the only one that has watched many hours of video on the iPhone’s glorious display. But there are times when you want to share the experience. Thankfully Apple endowed the iPhone with a pleasing TV output mode. Often overlooked the TV output feature is quite powerful, providing control over aspect ratios and image scaling. Combining TV out with a half decent TV will get you more than acceptable results for the most part, even when viewing video from some of the streaming services such as BBC iPlayer.

Imagine then using this TV output feature to watch your favourite movie or TV show in bed, on a display not limited to the size of that 10 year old portable TV that you really should have dumped by now! But rather, on a display roughly equivalent to the entire width of your king-sized mattress! That the kind of experience is made possible thanks to a new breed of pocket projectors that use LED technology.

The Optoma Pico Projector PK101 is perhaps the best pocket projector available at the beginning of 2009. In a pleasingly designed case, not much bigger than the iPhone, the PK101 contains a cutting edge projection unit based on LED and TI’s DLP technology. Capable of projecting an image about 1.6M across, the PK101 uses 3 LED technology to produce an image that has the kind of colour accuracy you’ll not see in other lesser pico projectors such as the 3M’s Mpro.

Check the video above for a full review, but if you’re in hurry here are the main points you need to take away with you:

• Projects an image up to about 1.6M across!
• Works best in a dark room.
• The built-in speaker is pretty much useless.
• Battery life is around 45-60 minutes for each battery.
• Can be charged via USB.
• Has manual focus, but no other image controls.
• Is shockingly good quality for its size.
• Can be used for a quick family photo slideshow, 1978 style!

It’s hard to find fault with the PK101. I guess if you were being picky you could say that the battery life is a tad short and the internal speaker far too quiet. But for its size and price (between £250 – £300) it really is something quite special. In fact, it’s almost worth the asking price just to see how far jaws drop when you treat your friends and family to some iPhone entertainment Pico style!