One constant problem with most Apple devices is that empty little voids stand on top and below most videos, especially those in widescreen. After the release of iPhone 5, one of the major complaints was that apps would have to be resized in order to fit the new screen. Apple already resized some of its first party apps such as iWork, iMovie and Garageband( not to mentions other stock apps that ship with the iPhone) to show third party developers the way. In the meantime, Apple would centre them and flank the apps with black bars. And this obviously, dims the user experience to a large extent.
But recently, Apple may just have hit upon a solution.
Apple filed a patent back in January, possibly coming up with a solution to their letterboxing problem, which refers to the gaps that appear on the iPhone screen when widescreen videos are played. By means of a photoshop-like technique, Apple copies colours from each frame of the video and then fills in the gaps with these colours, which makes the video appear like its spread to full screen, thereby creating a pretty useful solution for Apple. However, Apple still stands to face a risk, as the new technique could probably look terrible, and rob the sheen off the phone’s ability to play video.
Other companies have also succeeded in using these display extending techniques, such as Philips TV’s Ambilight and the illuminated strip on the Xperia U phone, but no smart-fill concept has really taken off.
The January patent actually supplements a patent filed in 2006, when the first Apple iPhone was being developed. Even currently in 2012, the iPhone 5 still has the same problem despite the increase in screen length and vertical resolution. While people who use older versions of the iPhone can use this solution and watch movies and videos in better quality, newer users of the iPhone 5 can use this for letterboxed apps that have not been resized to fit the new 4 inch screen, which will probably be many in number.
The new screen size should pose an interesting problem to developers, and it would be interesting to see what kind of solutions they come up with and update their apps.
