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Comment by sbdaman | Hacker News Reader

"We've been putting the same 720p webcam in our laptops for 10 years so just go ahead and use your phone instead"

"We could increase the BOM cost putting a bigger camera in but the thickness of the laptop lid is so thin it would never be as good as the phone you most likely already own, so we made it easer for you to use that".

It's all a matter of perspective. :) I love the ability to use my phone as a webcam.

Perspective really is everything.

I think that most would be surprised to see a company selling a laptop for $1700 (CAD) in 2022 with a 720 webcam

https://www.apple.com/ca/macbook-pro/

Doing this, then advising you can use your phone's camera seems like an ugly hack.

It is also really awkward to be on a conf call using your phone as a webcam, then needing your phone because something important has come up.

Try https://getlumina.com/ for a phone quality looking webcam with nice background blur and center-stage type auto-framing. Or, Logitech Brio w/ Xsplit Vcam https://www.xsplit.com/vcam (but Lumina does a better job auto-starting with videoconf tools).

Alternatively, get Reincubate's Camo to do Continuity with both iPhones and Android phones, and tons more features:

https://reincubate.com/camo/

And yet they insist on putting a notch on all new MacBooks. Seems like adding a webcam-free option and expanding Continuity Camera support to Android would be a pretty easy win.

> expanding Continuity Camera support to Android

Hahaha. Don't hold your breath. It's not going to happen for a couple of reasons. The large variety of Android devices would make reliability and support quite challening, mostly at Apple's expense. Which brings us to the second point: Tim Cook says "buy your mom an iPhone".

(ref: https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/7/23342243/tim-cook-apple-rc...)

That doesn't explain why the $3K 27" iMac on my desk has a 720p camera. Big expensive Mac, with a camera off an off-brand Windows laptop.

Or the awful quality of the Studio Display webcam!

It's nice to have the option of buying and using a single brand of smartphone to use as your laptop's webcam; but I'd prefer to use the laptop's webcam as the laptop's webcam, or use my phone as a webcam. It's all a matter of perspective. :)

Well it only works with Apple phones so

I suspect the Venn diagram of people who use a MacBook and people who use Android has a very small overlap in the circles.

Almost every Mac user I know is in that category. Generally they use a company-issued Mac for work and have a personal Android phone.

That sounds like a US thing to me. I know many people who use Macs because they're good value for money, but also use $300 Androids because they're good enough and they're JUST PHONES after all. The cheapest plain iPhone 14 costs $1070 here (or $80 cheaper from my carrier, but that's with an expensive contract, so fuck that).

I got my first iPhone after over 8 years of daily-driving a MacBook, and it's the most expensive phone I've ever had.

> I suspect the Venn diagram of people who use a MacBook and people who use Android has a very small overlap in the circles.

Why? I'm in the overlap, and I don't think I'm that unusual.

This is actually the feature I upgraded for this morning. I always use a USB webcam on a stand in front of my 43" display. The laptop positioned usefully would block a huge part of my view. Now one less cable cluttering my desk and much higher quality (it's night and day honestly vs the Logitech I was using).

I want to see if they'll roll it out to AppleTV. Not being able to use an AppleTV for FaceTime, Zoom, etc just seems silly.

Now that we are all on video calls all day, the lower rez the laptop camera the better. Nobody uses their laptop camera for anything else.

This! Why does everyone think that other people in the meeting need to see them in high rez? The lower rez also uses less network bandwidth.

you need to be able to see them sweat!

"Stay tuned for our $100 phone holder for Macs. It has never been done before."

$24 on Amazon:

https://smile.amazon.com/Continuity-Ventura-MagSafe-Laptops-...

Or $19:

https://smile.amazon.com/Continuity-MacBook-Compatible-Magsa...

They work quite well with the Magsafe iPhones.

But Apple's version has extra features, like being pricier. It's also made out of cheap plastic in the name of environment.

Can you link to Apple’s version?

$30: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HQ642ZM/A/belkin-iphone-m...

I can use my iphone as a webcam now? This is great, I can just get rid of my actual webcam which is hot garbage anyway.

lolno, Apple laptops definitely did not have 1080p webcams 10 years ago.

Hah, meant 720p.

you mean 720p.

Yes. Oops.

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