These Pictures of You
“I’ve been looking so long at these pictures of you, that I almost believe that they’re real.”
Anyone who thinks Apple’s new ‘Live Photos’ element of the iPhone 6s (and 6s Plus) is a gimmick is a fool that doesn’t understand Apple — and may not understand human nature and emotions. I actually think this is one of the more brilliant features Apple has released in a while.
Yes, technically, the feature isn’t really anything new. It’s sort of a cross between a short video and an animated GIF. The “innovation” is in the interaction: the ‘3D Touch’ implementation to trigger the live motion.
When I describe it like that, it sounds stupid. Hell, when you see a demo of it, as many people did on stage during Apple’s keynote a few weeks back, it may look trivial. But if you happen to have one of the new iPhones, go take a Live Photo of a loved one.
Go on, I’ll wait.
Now, 3D Touch to trigger the live element of the picture. It’s amazing. Every. Single. Time.
Part of what’s cool is the “Harry Potter newspaper” element of the feature. That is, static pictures which suddenly come alive. But the true power comes from the re-creation of a memory, in front of your eyes, on your iPhone. It sounds like I’m overplaying it, but I’m not.
You know the scene in almost every movie where a person is looking at an old picture of a loved one when suddenly it triggers their memory of the moment and we’re taken back to a live version of the scene? In a small way, that’s Live Photos. It’s hard to see right now because these iPhones with the functionality are brand new and so the memories are still fresh in our heads. But just imagine what these Live Photos will be like when you look at them in a year? Or ten years? They’ll be memories, captured in time.
It’s no accident that people with children immediately realize the value in this feature. With each passing day they see their children growing up in front of their eyes in ways that those of us without children can’t quite comprehend. To you and I, time passes slowly and people age slowly. Children morph from day to day. And so having a live look-back at your child even a few days removed is immensely valuable and meaningful.
And then those parents are also probably better at extrapolating out how these Live Photos will look in a few years.
Apple, once again, has taken a fairly straightforward technology and created something so much better than what others have done before with the same technology. It’s not just the bits, it’s how you use them. And, more importantly, how you present them.
Yes, anyone could just take a video of their loved ones and it would be an actual live look back into their lives. But most people aren’t very good at taking video. They take footage that’s way too long. Or it’s staged. Or they miss things. With Live Photos, Apple figured out a rather ingenious solution to all of those things in a nice, tight picture package. It’s brilliant.
Trust me here. You will in a few years anyway.
