The predictions about iPhone 4’s memory is true: it’ll have 512MB of RAM, which MacRumors says is double what the iPad and iPhone 3GS have. This is going to be a necessity with all the killer apps and features the iPhone 4 will have — such as video calling, mult-tasking and, heaven forbid, video editing. It’s true: the iPhone 4 will have an iMovie video editing app made explicitly for this device.
Now, the iStat app running on both my 3GS and iPad WiFi-only devices seem to indicate that I have a bit more than 128MB of RAM on each, but I’ll take MacRumors’ word for it that it’s actually 256MB. Both devices serve me relatively well, expect when I run the VNC remote desktop app while lounge on the couch, watching TV but wanting to check in on my MacBook Pro. Unfortunately, because I run 2 external monitors with my laptop, the iPad runs out of memory while running VNC. It’s these occasions that I wish Apple would have designed these devices for memory upgrades — even if it made them a bit thicker. Well, at least for the iPad, if not for the iPhone. (On a side note, Toshiba announced a 128GB NAND flash memory module. Would that be nice to add to your mobile device’s non-RAM storage? Alas, Apple products don’t allow that. It was another surprise iPhone 4 only has 16GB and 32GB models — not even a 64GB model, which was entirely possible for their production cycle.)
Of course, from a marketing point of view, I can understand why Apple doesn’t make these devices memory-upgradable, but what does surprise me is that they tend to hide the specs during the announcement of a new device. Many of Apple’s customers are tech savvy and WANT TO KNOW that the company’s latest gadget has whatever speed and memory under the hood, for a variety of reasons.
For example, when the iPhone 4 was announced, I saw conflicting details from non-Apple sources, so I was surprised to hear that there would be an iMovie for iPhone app when the phone only had 128MB (according to some sources). But with 4 times that, video editing starts to make sense. There’s no way the current iPads could handle a mobile iMovie app, but with iPhone 4’s 960×640 screen resolution, improved processor speed, multitasking, front and back-facing cameras, 720p HD video recording and so on, it seems a bit more plausible.
Of course, now I have to eat my words from 2007 that video editing on a cellphone was a ridiculous claim. Not that it couldn’t be done but that it could be done well and that it would catch on. But with iMovie on the iPhone 4, it definitely seems to make sense — at least for short videos. However, with my wife being a filmmaker and my own interest in film, I’m really waiting for the next iPad, in hopes that it can handle video editing. What about you? Is video editing on a cell phone something you would do?
That’s cool that we are able to receive the business loans and this opens new opportunities.