Apple’s Next iPhone Could Have 3D Video Recording Capabilities

Now we’re still trying to get the iPhone 4 out of the door, heck it’s only arriving in 17 more countries tomorrow, but being the dedicated blog that we are, I already have some news and rumors on the next iPhone from Apple!
Yep, so the iPhone 5, or the iPhone 3D (I’m just guessing names here) could possibly have the ability to record in 3D! We’re barely even able to get 3D onto our TV’s at the moment, it’s really just reserved for the Cinemas at the moment. But you know Apple, always want to be one step ahead of the game.
Two new patent applications from Apple revealed this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office describe technology that would generate a three-dimensional model of an object or place based on a recording. Users could then navigate the 3D space “in an order other than that of the recording.”
According to these documents, a portable device (ie. iPhone) could record more than just video. Through a combination of video, GPS, motion awareness and or sensors, very smart software could generate a 3D map to reflect the movement of the device.

“By walking with the device in the user’s real environment, a user can virtually navigate representation of a three-dimensional environment,”

To me it sounds very like Google Streetview, and it even looks like it when you see the picture below

Instead of sending Google vans around the world, recording everything they see, the entire army of Apple Fanboys could go around with their iPhones and record the world around them in 3D. Then this could all be uploaded into one big database, and before you know it, you have a 3D map of the world, recorded using people’s iPhones!

“By walking with the device in the user’s real environment, a user can virtually navigate a representation of a three-dimensional environment, in some embodiments, a user can record an object or environment using an electronic device, and tag the recorded images or video with movement information describing the movement of the device during the recording. The recorded information can then be processed with the movement information to generate a three-dimensional model of the recorded environment or object.”

It’s interesting stuff and I think it would be a unique feature to any smartphone. But at the moment it sounds more like augmented reality, than an actual 3D video. Still it’s pretty cool and if you could fit that technology into a smartphone it’s even more impressive.
So I wonder what else will appear in the 5th generation iPhone? Somehow I doubt we will see this in it, but we can always hope!
What about you guys, would you even use 3D Video recording? What else do you think Apple could add to the 5th gen iPhone?