Next iPhone May Include Video, Voice Control and Magnetometer
The next iPhone is likely to offer video recording, voice control, auto-focus camera, and a digital compass. According to MacRumors, since the release of the iPhone 3.0 firmware, developers have been churning through the configuration files trying to find any hints of future iPhone functionality.
A new screenshot shown here courtesy of MacRumors provides conclusive evidence that the next iPhone will indeed offer video recording capabilities:
The Camera app in the iPhone will provide a similar look and feel, but will feature a switch on the bottom right to allow the user to toggle between photographs and videos. Other stuff found by developers in config files are auto-focus camera capabilities, voice control, and a digital compass (magnetometer).
Video capabilities, voice control and the auto-focus camera aren’t really anything revolutionary, as these features have long been available on other cell phones. What sounds interesting to me is the inclusion of a digital compass. A digital compass can determine absolute position values, something the current built-in accelerometers are unable to do. An example of utilizing the magnetometer would be pointing your iPhone’s camera at a building and having the phone tell you what it is by combining information from the digital compass, GPS, and accelerometer. Another example would be pointing your iPhone towards the night sky and having it tell you what stars and constellations you’re looking at.