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— The launch of the iPhone 6s has been yet another hit for Apple. The sparkly new iPhone comes with hardware upgrades (as all consumers expected), but there are larger features within iOS 9, the newest version of Apple’s iPhone software, that hope to leave the competition in the dust.
One such innovation is 3D Touch, a tactile shortcut for opening apps and reading messages. There’s also faster fingerprint recognition and improved photo processing.
There’s one feature that was shown off during launch that is near and dear to my heart. Live Photos.
What are Live Photos?
In layman’s terms, Live Photos from Apple is a feature that takes your standard snapshots and brings them to life. Your still photos are now given a real-life rendering when you activate 3D Touch within the image. Coming from the Android world, think of Live Photos as an “auto-awesome” photo. Coming from the geek world, think of it as an animated GIF.
Before the pitchforks come out, I know the Live Photos feature is not an animated GIF or auto-awesome, technically speaking. When looking at the file on your device, it’s a .mov video file.
The technology behind creating Live Photos is clever, but is it truly noteworthy? Is this a great feature, or just another gimmick that signals our mobile device manufacturers have run out of innovative ideas? Heck, is it a security flaw? The camera seems to still be shooting even when you think you’ve captured the snapshot …
The Smartphone Photographers Community discussed the camera software updates in iOS 9 as well as our thoughts on Live Photos. What are your thoughts on the feature? Is this just another gimmick? Leave a comment below and be sure to tag me on Twitter with your thoughts.
Featured image: Screenshot courtesy of Apple, All Rights Reserved
Body image: Screenshot of Apple Keynote, All Rights Reserved
