Video Recording Comes To Older iPhones
Posted 12/15/2009 at 6:48am
| by J.R. Bookwalter

Before you rush to check for an amazing new iPhone OS update for your older iPhone that enables magic video recording abilities, read on! Courtesy of the App Store, there are now options available for original iPhone and iPhone 3G users who haven’t upgraded to the iPhone 3GS and its swanky video camera.
Of course, iPhone users who have jailbroken their phones have had the ability to record video for quite some time thanks to the Cycorder app available via Cydia, but let’s face it -- jailbreaking isn’t for everyone. That’s why it’s good news to discover two new apps on the App Store geared toward getting some extra mileage out of those older iPhone cameras.
The first is
Camcorder for iPhone 3G and 2G, a 99¢ app (for a limited time) that promises real-time video recording on your older equipment. It offers a 320x426 resolution and unlimited recording time, but
according to TUAW, the frame rate is pretty slow and the audio is “just okay.”
The real bummer, though, is that you can’t do anything with the videos once captured, except for watch them on your phone or delete them. Apparently the movie data is backed up with your iTunes data, but only techno-geeks can get easy access to it that way. Hopefully the developer will add some additional functionality to the app in the future.
Another option is
iVideoCamera, which also runs on the iPhone 3G or 2G but gives you the ability to save to your camera roll and even share videos to Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and others coming soon. Unfortunately, the resolution of the video is lower at 160x213 at 3 frames per second and limited to about one minute in length, but something is better than nothing, right?
iVideoCamera is also 99¢ and both apps require iPhone 3.1 and up. Of course, if you already have an iPhone 3GS, you need not apply.