Neither Bluetooth on your Mac nor Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on the iPhone seem to have any bearing on whether Continuity Camera works properly. Ensure that the Mac and iPhone are using the same Apple ID, and that two-factor authentication is turned on.As always, don’t install betas on any device you need to be reliable. Install the public betas of Ventura and iOS 16 (iPhone 8 or later, but you’ll need an iPhone 11 or later to take advantage of advanced features I will get to in a bit).Check that you have an iPhone XR or later.You need to do a few things before you can use Continuity Camera: The good news is you can order your own PopGrip if you’re eager to experiment with Continuity Camera right away. It does not work at all with my beloved 23.7-inch LG UltraFine Display (see “ Apple Debuts LG’s All-New 23.7-inch UltraFine Display,” ), though, so I’ll have to figure out something else there. In the Continuity Camera context, the grip grabs-imperfectly but serviceably-the top edge of a MacBook lid or a Studio Display, placing the iPhone in a near-perfect position for video chats. It’s an oval slab that clamps magnetically to the back of an iPhone and incorporates that classic telescoping two-finger circular grip. I’m told I’m also on this list, and while I wait for a delivery, I found something helpful in my tech gear stash: PopSocket’s PopGrip for MagSafe. The mounts are not yet available to the public, but some lucky tech writers have been sent pre-release versions. The accessories clip to the top edge of a Mac notebook’s lid or a Studio Display and hold a recent-model iPhone using MagSafe, with the handset’s rear camera array aimed at the user. A Reincubate post studies a myriad of options.Īpple will soon provide its own solution in the form of mounts it has commissioned from Belkin. In order to use Continuity Camera, you first need to figure out how to mount your iPhone so it is in a proper position for video chatting, ideally just above the upper edge of your laptop lid or your standalone display. Unsurprisingly, Continuity Camera has some rough edges given its pre-release status-one feature called Desk View is far from fully baked-but it looks promising. Much like the new Stage Manager for the Mac (see “ First Impressions: Stage Manager on the iPad and Mac,” 18 July 2022), it is a feature I suspect I’ll continue to use long after I have stopped experimenting with it in my tech writer role. I’ve been testing Continuity Camera for the past few weeks. Familiar iPhone and iPad camera features such as Center Stage, Studio Light, and Portrait Mode are built into Continuity Camera, making it more than just a better camera. It’s one of the new features in the still-in-beta iOS 16 and macOS 13 Ventura and is a potentially compelling video conferencing enhancement for several reasons: it’s free, easy to set up and use, and provides advanced capabilities without being overwhelming. Now Apple has its own take, called Continuity Camera (see “ Ten “It’s About Time” Features from WWDC 2022,” 6 June 2022). Similarly, Reincubate provides the ingenious Camo virtual-camera system (see “ Turn Your iPhone into a Powerful Webcam with Camo,” 24 July 2020), but the product’s complexity and cost-beyond a basic free tier-will scare some Mac users away. Elgato offers Epoccam software to pull this off. It’s unclear if Apple plans to improve webcam specs in future models, but there’s an alternative that works now-repurposing the iPhone’s optically superb cameras as a Mac webcam. The same goes for Apple’s Studio Display external monitor, which has its own built-in camera. Apple has finally bumped the webcams in the latest Mac models from the laughably old 720p resolution to 1080p, but they still yield disappointing image quality. This is partly due to the historically subpar quality of computer webcams like the FaceTime HD cameras built into Macs (see “ The 2020 MacBook Air’s FaceTime HD Camera Is Still Lousy,” 8 April 2020, and “ Why Are Webcams So Lousy?,” 25 January 2021).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |