Taiwanese tech news site DigiTimes is reporting today that sources have informed them that California-based company OmniVision has won the contract to produce 3.2 megapixel sensors for use in Apple’s upcoming iPhone hardware refresh, expected this June. DigiTimes has been correct in the past, though they don’t shed any light on the nature of their source. In this case, however, what they’re reporting isn’t exactly beyond the realm of possibility, since it looks fairly certain Apple will be introducing a new iPhone come June, and it makes sense to improve the camera, a source of complaint from many users.

Also not very surprising is the news that the iPhone will support video recording without the need to jailbreak the phone. It makes sense for Apple to include as many upgrade incentives as they can, and a better camera with video capability is a nice, tangible upgrade to entice customers who wouldn’t notice or take advantage of less obvious improvements under the hood.

An additional claim in the report, which might be taken with a little more skepticism, says that OmniVision has also been tapped by Apple to provide 5-megapixel sensors for another upcoming device, the details of which are not revealed. While some might be hoping that this is some kind of Apple netbook or tablet device, I think it’s far more likely that if true, this would actually be an extended contract to provide sensors for the iPhone to follow the update we’ll see in June.

Which makes me angry. Yes, it’s a good thing that Apple’s finally getting around to upgrading the iPhone’s camera, but there was nothing really barring them from doing so last time. And they’re still lagging with a 3.2-megapixel model this time around, instead of leapfrogging ahead and staying on the cusp with a 5-megapixel model. They’re holding back to hedge their bets for future upgrades, regardless of what they may claim about keeping costs down. I might start skipping models if they continue the trend of being so needlessly withholding.

Over the weekend, Apple hit us Mac owners with a slew of updates for their iLife ‘09 suite of applications, all of which were described by Software Update as providing little more than stability improvements and minor issue resolution. It would seem that Apple was being modest with its descriptions, however, especially regarding iMovie 8.0.1, which brings some new features and major fixes to the video editing software.

Custom Location Coordinate Support

iMovie ‘09 has a large built-in library of popular travel destinations and landmarks, but sometimes you want to be more specific than they allow, or you’re filming in a place rather off the beaten path. Now you can input your own geolocation information, via latitude and longitude coordinates. Because, if you’re filming absolutely nothing in the middle of nowhere, you want to be accurate about it.

Additional Export to HD Options

The proliferation of HD video means that more and more people are wanting the ability to easily export their movies in formats that are compatible with popular video sites like YouTube. You can now Share to YouTube or Export video at 1280×720, which is full 720p HD, in case you weren’t aware. I still don’t think YouTube’s HD backend is robust enough to make it truly usable, but at least now you can inflict stuttering video on your unsuspecting audience, if that’s what makes you happy.

Keyboard Shortcut for “Split Clip” Command

Better, easier editing control is nothing to sneeze at, even if it is only the introduction of a single keyboard shortcut. Being able to press “Command + Shift + S” instead of digging about in the menu should save cut-happy editors a ton of time.

In addition to the feature additions mentioned above, the fix also solves an ugly issue which affected the playback quality of 1080i video when exported to iDVD or Quicktime. That means you no longer have to add in the additional step of fixing the footage in other apps following an export.

Apple, next time you add such obvious improvements, instead of just poking about under the hood, don’t be so modest. We promise not to think of you as any less mysterious.