New iPhone Patents Revealed

via MacRumors

Apple may be gearing up for the release of iPhone 3.0, but that hasn’t stopped it from planning the new features for iPhone 4.0 and beyond. One thing that Apple does really well is planning out new products well in advance. Even when it is testing a model, Apple engineers are already think about a few generations ahead. The new patents found by Mac Rumors indicate just that. There are two features that stand out here: video-recording capability and enhanced motion detection system.

It seems Apple is enhancing the motion detection system in the upcoming iPhones. Apple wants to make it easy for folks to interact with the iPhone whether they are in a car or running. For that to happen, the iPhone needs to get a bit smarter and change modes depending on the activity level of its owner. The new patent clearly shows Apple moving into this direction.  That’s what the patent has to say about this new feature:

One problem with existing portable media devices such as cellular telephones is that users can become distracted from other activities while interfacing with the media device’s video display, graphical user interface (GUI), and/or keypad.

Video recording seems to be another big feature for the next generation iPhone. As more people go mobile, there is a real need for iPhone owners to be able to record videos and even participate in video conferences while they are on the go. The addition of video recording capabilities seem to indicate Apple moving in that direction.

With all the features that Apple is coming up with, one has to wonder how many iPhone generations Apple has left in it. Surely there won’t be a 10th generation iPhone, right?