The iPhone 4 can shoot HD videos, but you can’t really share your pocket masterpieces without compressing them first. Transfer Big Files has released an iPhone app to rectify this problem.
Transfer Big Files is a cloud storage service akin to Dropbox and Box.net, though with a few unique twists. First, you don’t have to sign up to send files to a Transfer Big Files user. If you do create an account, you can easily make a “DropBox” page that lets anyone else send you files.
The second advantage is Transfer Big Files’s new iPhone app, which allows iPhone 4 owners to upload full versions of their HD videos and photos. Despite what its name might suggest, the Transfer Big Files app can upload only videos and picture files from your iPhone (it does not yet use iOS 4’s new Document Sharing features to accept files from other apps like Mail). Of course, any iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or later can upload files with Transfer Big Files, not just iPhone 4 owners.
That said, the company claims that its app is the first to allow uncompressed HD video to be wirelessly uploaded from an iPhone, and brief testing with a handful of video upload apps, including Dropbox, doesn’t dispute that claim (if you do know of an iPhone app that can wirelessly upload HD video over 3G or Wi-Fi, let us know in the comments). The only other way I know of getting full HD video off an iPhone is to plug it into a Mac or PC.
Of course, with great power comes a great loss in battery life and data plan usage. Wirelessly uploading such large files will likely put a noticeable dent in your battery meter, not to mention your monthly AT&T data allowance if you do it over 3G.
You’ll have to register for at least a free account in order to use the iPhone app; it also gets you the company’s basic feature set, including SSL encryption for all transmissions, no monthly bandwidth limits, and e-mail confirmation when recipients download files (keep in mind, however, that there’s only a five-day storage limit on all files you upload and share). The first 100,000 users who sign up for a free account from Transfer Big Files’s new app get 5GB of total space, more than double the typical 2GB allotted to free accounts. Paid accounts start at $5 per month for 10GB of space, customer support via e-mail, and no restrictions on how long you can store your uploaded files.
Transfer Big Files is available now in the App Store for free. It requires an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or later.