Bring Native HDR Photo Functionality to your iPhone 3G or 3GS Camera [Jailbreak Tweak]

One of the better features of iPhone 4 is its camera which can record high definition video and can take high-resolution pictures. With iOS 4.1, it even gets HDR photos. Sadly, Apple has stupidly not provided this feature for iPhone 3G and 3GS. No worries, though, just like every other feature, this one can also be backported to a jailbroken iPhone 3G and 3GS. If your iPhone is Jailbroken then these are the few steps to enable HDR on your iPhone 3G or 3GS as shared by Will:

HDR2

Note that this is only for iOS 4.1 as currently enabling HDR on previous iOS versions isn’t possible.And also, OpenSSH should be installed. One more thing, iOS 4.1 hasn’t officially been jailbroken yet. You can jailbreak iPhone 3GS with iOS 4.1 using PwnageTool (old bootrom) though.

  1. Make sure you have installed OpenSSH through Cydia. When it’s installed, SSH into your device (I recommend you also use the “passwd” command to change your password from the default “alpine”)
  2. If you have an iPhone 3G, grab the file located at /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/N82AP.plist
  3. If you have an iPhone 3GS, grab the file located at /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/N88AP.plist
  4. Add a key named “hdr-image-capture” with a boolean value of “true” to the “capabilities” section of this property list
  5. Save it, and use SSH to replace the copy on the device with your modified version
  6. Restart SpringBoard, or just reboot your device. You should now have access to the HDR setting in the camera application.

The difference in quality thanks to HDR is clearly visible in the above picture. But obviously, this quality would not be like of iPhone 4 as iPhone 3G and 3GS have 2 and 3.2 MP cameras respectively.

If you’re not willing to follow this procedure, wait for the official jailbreak to be available for iOS 4.1, along with which a Cydia Tweak will be available that enables HDR on iPhone 3G and 3GS.

[via 9to5mac]

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I am a student of computer science. My interests are software development and blogging. Been blogging since a year now. I mostly cover Apple news.

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