Apple Announces FaceTime for iPhone 4 Video Calls

[pistolero]

iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 WiFi only??? What was the point? Having a feature with the potential to be a huge benefit is now extremely disappointing....and useless

huh?

people just love to complain

this is a convenient way to do video chat with your PHONE, no laptop needed to set up a webcam. Of course it will eventually be supported over 3G once ATT upgrades their network to a faster speed.

as for the people complaining about no video chat to ichat: duh, obviously the camera will be accessible for developers to write an application for video chat compatible with yahoo/msn/gmail/aim/skype/ etc.

 

[FightTheFuture]

Facetime is crippleware:
1. uses a phone number. Why couldn't it use mobileme, skype etc instead?.

This is one thing I like about their implementation. The use of phone numbers. It makes it more streamlined and casually easy for phone to phone video calls. No setup required, no middle man, just your existing phone number. We've had video chat capable phones forever now but it never took off. I think this method will bring cell phone video chat to the mainstream like no other phones could.

yeah - actually, i think entropy found the good in his own entropic statement.

• not everyone has an AIM account (especially outside the US)
• not everyone has a Skype account

everyone who has an iPhone4, however, has a telephone number.

this is exactly why people use txt messaging more than AIM on their phones.

 

[deconstruct60]

Facetime is crippleware:
it

1. uses a phone number. Why couldn't it use mobileme, skype etc instead? Obviously Apple is still locked into an AT&T only contract. This sucks for everyone.

1. 
   
   Where did you find this. Or used one in a demo? [ seems to make sense given the Apple features page which says do not need screen name or any configuration at all. ]
   
   I suspect it uses a phone number as an ID number because it is easy to yank out of the contacts lists and most people automatically provide it when they call you . I was wondering how when you add someone to your contacts how does it know where to reach some other person later to make a "call".
   
   I suspect it uses the "video call server and tells it wants to talk to 555-1234" and then a notification goes out to "555-1234" over apple's notification servers. Otherwise would only be able to use it if gave it an ID of the person. The id cannot be a name like "bob barker" because there are a bunch of "bob barkers".... skype , mobibleme ,etc all make is so that everyone has to set up and configure an and working off the same authentication server(s). I think they are being a bit lazy to get folks an "instant" account and id number by using phone number. Ta da no authentication server besides what already using for notifications.
   
   
   Personally, I don't think the hard part of video chat was finding out someones username and putting it into the contacts list entry.
   
   
   

   [*] it is only iphone4 to iphone4. What, no ichat with my macs at home?

   
   You just answered that question when stated it works with phone numbers. The imac doesn't have phone number. Anything without a phone number it isn't going to work because don't have the ID of the person want to talk to.
   That would seem to nuke iPads and Touches too (even if did have chat oriented camera).
   
   
   

   [*]Wifi only

   
   Therein lies the rich irony. Apparently, need the phone part to get a unique ID but can't use the phone network. LOL.

 

[sniffies]

Why not cripple it even more?

WiFi only √
iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 only √
16GB to 16GB only
32GB to 32GB only
white to white only
black to black only
same area code number to same area code number only

Why not?

/sarcasm

 

[deconstruct60]

The biggest disappointment is that the "Facetime" feature doesn't work for any other iPhone except the 4. Why can't a 3GS (or 3G) not accept a call and at least be able to see the other person?

Attach a picture to the contact. Will see a static picture of them. Involves absolutely no network bandwidth.

The non facetime call is an AT&T infrastructure call. Apple has jack diddly to do with it. What you are proposing is a change to the telephony infrastructure. Not going to happen.

Besides pushing data will mean that every phone call... even those unanswered would burn up more of your data quota. No idea why should allow random folks off phone burn up your data quota.

 

[deconstruct60]

Think people... Ok so video chat is not "new", no *****...but to apples largest target audience, and Homeland.. it is new.

Then why doesn't Apple fess up that it isn't new? If look at the video clips they are gushing over this as if it was a Nobel Prize winning creation. Oh making video calls is magical... I never dreamed we'd be able to make these .... oooooh if there weren't any other new features ... facetime is the most remarkable thing since sliced bread.

Their over the top commentary only invites the kind of blacklash it gets.

Could have stressed they eliminated config and leveraged the H.264 hardware. Done. Not a new idea, just a non standard implementation that they think if worth of a "better" standardization process. There already exists a video conferencing standard and they blew it off. No justification and of course would clearly highlight that isn't bleeding-edge new idea or implementation.

 

[darbyclash34]

God I swear its like watching a bunch of Retards humping a doorknob in here sometimes!!

Think people... Ok so video chat is not "new", no *****...but to apples largest target audience, and Homeland.. it is new.
People aren't video chatting here in the states. Period. I never see anyone using it in Downtown Seattle. Ever.
So if they have to start it out on Wi-Fi only I'm all for it. For one I remember when the Iphone didn't have an app store, heck even 3G, which is such the standard now a days. And a mere 2 years goes by and apple still has these chumps on their heels. No one is touching the app store yet...and most likely wont. The facts are that the Face Time only works over Wi-Fi...but how long is that going to last?
You have to be immensely dense if you think the tech is going to stop at just WiFi...come on people am I the only person that has gone through new firmware updates that allow for new or better functionality?! Get real and quite bitching ...Im not saying that its not in an infantile stage (no over-network video calls, no Iphone to macbook video calls...yet) but that's just it...Its the effing baby that will grow up to stomp most of you nay sayers into the ground, Seriously just watch...If it wasn't popular before I think apples aim is to make it the mainstream thing we are all used to and taking for granted 2 years from now!
I love the people that tare At&t apart but don't take the time to think how any other carrier would be handling the iphone user base's data usage...Flat out they are already handling tremendously more data than the other US carriers combined. So anyone that thinks FaceTime should just be running wide open on the data infrastructure as is...is...well dumb. There I said it. Your dumb if you expect this to appear over night and for AT&T's network just be able to take it.

I don't own an iPad, and honestly I find it hard to justify owning one when I have an iPhone..but does that mean they aren't selling? Because I have no use for it currently? I Cant even think of another company that sells volumes of a new niche product like apple can...try it.

So there is little doubt in my mind that apple wont make this work.. Let this mature a little. I personally think that if Video chatting is not the "norm" yet that its actually smarter for apple to only be using stable WiFi connections and let users get use to this new feature while AT&T beefs up their network for the inevitable video chat via 3G. We have all determined that it is in fact not impossible to do 3G video chatting since "the world has been doing this for 6 years...blah blah" so why on earth would it make sense for the technology to just stop with WiFi here...it wont people.

Be thankful for:
-no more curved back
-Crazy strong glass..(anyone else catch that)
-Integrated antennas into the steel support frame. sweet
-A4 Chip..
-Bigger Battery
-Insane screen revamp
-Improved camera system
-HD video recording (maybe Im behind the times but if you told me yesterday that I would be able to shoot 720p video at 30fps from an iphone...i flat out wouldn't have believed you)
-Additional Front facing camera all while being THE THINNEST SMART PHONE
-Gyroscope
-5mp Camera with LED FLASH
-OS4 FREEEEE
-Highly recyclable hardware...thank you apple, I care about my planet and appreciate that if millions of these are gonna get cranked out and inevitably thrown away at some point, that they are highly recyclable and dramatically less toxic!!

/Rant

This person clearly has some sense. The first iPhone was released with a lot of "must have" features left out, and over the course of the three major software revisions it saw it gained a lot of functionality. We can only expect the same from this current version. I too was disappointed at the iPhone to iPhone limitation. I'm sure it will be addressed shortly. The requirement for using it Wi-Fi only I thought was a given at this point. Any American AT&T user knows this is simply not an option over the current network. Hell, voice calls suffer significant performance problems, you really think video calling is going to be just fine over the same airspace? And for all those complaining about Wi-Fi only, you know when you were on travel just 15-20 years ago, you were lucky if someone happened to be home to answer the phone when you called. You know have the option of using your mobile phone, while in a wi-fi hotspot (not that hard to fine in my experience) to actually SEE the people you are calling, all from a handheld device. Get over it. If you NEEDED to see the people you were talking about, you'd have found a different damn device. This isn't it. Most of the people using this service don't NEED to use it (I question whether or not anyone actually NEEDS it), it'd be great to use it. And while it'd be awesome to use it as freely as 3G connectivity allows, I mean seriously, who the hell really cares? Was your old iPhone doing any video calling at all? No, it wasn't. If this limitation is it for you, then just don't buy the damn phone. For a lot of people, even this early implementation seems great. It's future possibilities seem even greater. If it doesn't satisfy your fantasy of having video chat at all times and constantly available, then just don't get the new iPhone. Quit complaining, it's a product brought to market to do what it does, and we all know that it has future potential to do much more. But accept it for what it is, realize that you probably don't actually need this feature all the damn time, and just chill the hell out.

 

[deconstruct60]

Did the first iphone have any of its current features? Did many features improve over time? Did carriers give into demand of some things over time?

Did Apple announce they were going to make the 1st iPhone an industry standard. The problem here is that something should be mature enough to be made a standard. By own admission this isn't proven nor fully flushed out. The rush to standardization is more an apparent marketing ploy so that folks don't label it as some limited proprietary solution; which is actually is. If it were just an proprietary iphone feature, then sure over time it can get more flushed out. However, shoveling "we're still working on this" runs contrary to ready to be implemented by multiple vendors.



It also seems to make a bunch of written in stone assumptions. Must be attached to a phone number. Must use H.264. Both of which have their own associated lockins. Not free and open standards. The first will block it from non phone devices or at very least require they pick up one. Putting a base on H.264 is one reason it won't work on slower networks. Won't be surprised if doesn't work so hot on Wifi b and requires g/n to work well. Skype has classically used On (which google bought and is now basis of WebM ). Upside have flexible codec to deal with varying worse/better network conditions. Downside hasn't been pushed to hardware yet.

 

[peperoni]

After reading the first comments on page one I am posting this ... I am so amazed at so many people bitching and complaining about a break through feature like this. Guess what ... Don't use it then.

Maybe people are whining about this because it's crippled beyond reason and therefore even if they wanted to use it, it just ain't good enough. Why no support for STANDARD 3g video call (with lower quality just like youtube-app) and no support for the likes of skype? I don't see any reason why not. Useless crippling so that I can't use this at all.

Yes, because nobody travels anywhere there are wifi networks available.

I'd bet you'll be able to connect to a desktop version soon also.

Yes people are sometimes in wifi coverage. But what are the odds that just the person you want to call is 1. using WLAN and in coverage 2. you are too and 3. the person has 4gen iPhone? I think significantly lower than if the person has a skype app open, is in 3g network with almost any smartphone or is on WLAN with iPhone 4. Why needlessly restrict this any more than it needs to? Video calls are always been kinda a gimmick so if Apple wants to make it work, I don't think can restrict it like this.

I knew it was going to be WiFi-only. Why are so many people bitching and moaning about this????? NO cell network could handle that kind of data stream from a bunch of users at the same time. Get real everyone! Even when traveling on the road and trying to iChat AV back home with my wife and son, we get a horrible choppiness to the video, IF we can even connect due to hotel router firewalls!

Strange how normal video calls using the standard UMTS 3G-spec work just fine? Yes it downgrades the video quality, but it WORKS.

I'm not sure. It was a guess because I had the impression any capable phone could video conference with any other capable phone.

There must be some one out there who knows? Anyone!?

That's true. The 3G UMTS specs define the videocall so that you can call from any capable phone to any capable phone (read almost any smartphone and most higher end dumb phones).

Don't Webcams and Skype generally imply that you have to be sitting at your computer or carrying around a laptop in order to use the video chat?

If it's enabled on an iPhone then that's much more convenient because you can carry it around with you, e.g. to the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, or use it easily from a hotel room.

But on the other side webcams and skype implies that you don't need to hold the phone awkwardly in front of you. Also videocall needs more private setting, if you don't want everyone to hear and see you conversation.

Also Apple has the motivation to create a new standard....for now it will encourage friends of iPhone users to buy iPhones to be able to video chat with them. By the time (and if) other producers decide to adopt the standard, Apple will have already sold millions of FaceTalk phones. Making it an open standard is a good PR move, but since the competition is unlikely to adopt it, it becomes a feature that encourages more people to get an iPhone.

Competition already has a open standard, infact several of them! For example the UMTS specs define one, then there's SIP and skype. No need to artificially restrict when you can be open.

This is one thing I like about their implementation. The use of phone numbers. It makes it more streamlined and casually easy for phone to phone video calls. No setup required, no middle man, just your existing phone number. We've had video chat capable phones forever now but it never took off. I think this method will bring cell phone video chat to the mainstream like no other phones could.

This is like videocall phones have always worked. Direct video calls via the phone number and the move has been to integrate skype, sip, etc. to the normal phone book, so that all call are started in the same way wether they were normal voice, normal video+voice over 3G or e.g. Skype.

 

[ZebulonSWE]

Back in 2003

No one seemed to answer my question that I posted earlier...

But once again, haven't you guys over in the US had video calls before? In Sweden we had it back in 2003 (It could have been earlier) over the 3G, but no one use it anymore... Only the hearing impared.

It's a shame that it was after "One more thing...". Otherwise, a good key note.

 

[DontMacTheGyver]

No one seemed to answer my question that I posted earlier...

But once again, haven't you guys over in the US had video calls before? In Sweden we had it back in 2003 (It could have been earlier) over the 3G, but no one use it anymore... Only the hearing impared.

It's a shame that it was after "One more thing...". Otherwise, a good key note.

Same here in Germany. I used the 3G video chat (over front face camera in my Nokia) a year ago, but only a few times. For the average consumer its just useless.

 

[kitt78]

anyone know what the background music is on the facetime video on the apple website? it starts at 0:50 - 2:50 and has cellos in it.

thanks

It's Secrets, by One Republic. Great choice of music there!

 

[matttye]

Only over WiFi = fail.
Only iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 = EPIC fail.

 

[Resist]

FaceTime as an iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 only app is very limiting. However, I get why it is WiFi only right now, we can thank AT&T for that not Apple. But I'll bet this changes down the road, the Slingbox app drama comes to mind.

Anyone know what kind of download speeds are needed with WiFi for FaceTime to work correctly? I ask because I have stayed at some motels with WiFi and their Internet access was very slow, to the point that my 3G speeds were actually much faster. Hard to believe, but true.

 

[apolloa]

Ah bless. I see the people who have NEVER had video chat available to them are on here. We are all stating this as a crap feature BECAUSE WE HAVE ALL HAD IT FOR 5 YEARS OR MORE AND NO ONE USES IT!!!!

Do you get it? Do you understand now? It's NOT a brand new feature as the videos on Apples website portray, it WON'T work over the 3G network till who knows when so it's actually worst then pretty much any 3G feature phone I can buy right now let alone any smart phone.

Go on, flame away as I know you will..........

 

[Zulu1]

You guys are funny,

They intorduce an Alpha version of a new product at a DEVELOPERS conference and you complain becuase it can't do everything right out of the gate. You can bet the iPad will get this feature and they can gradually roll out everything everyone wants and make money at each step of the way. Let's say they introduced it with all features everyone wanted, I bet there'll be a ton of complaints "it's got too many features I will never use"...

Anyway Tampa Tom had a good point; what's it cost to buy a Company's name from them? As well Apple has to license "IOS" from Cisco - MAN they have a lot of money.

Now where's the API so I can turn on your camera to see what you are doing

 

[bartzilla]

Meh... I'm not too impressed. WiFi only is a huge drawback...

Agreed. More like FailTime than FaceTime if it doesn't work on 3G. I had a phone *years* ago that could do this on 3G. Is there really a technical reason this won't work on 3G or are those of us outside of the states being punished because of Apple's US-centric outlook and the US phone infrastructure being made out of rusty tin cans and string.

Then why doesn't Apple fess up that it isn't new? If look at the video clips they are gushing over this as if it was a Nobel Prize winning creation. Oh making video calls is magical... I never dreamed we'd be able to make these .... oooooh if there weren't any other new features ... facetime is the most remarkable thing since sliced bread.

Their over the top commentary only invites the kind of blacklash it gets.

Also agreed. I for one think there might have been a richer vein to mine in "video chat on phones isn't new... but we've made it actually usable"

 

[jmggs]

I have been using video calls since 2007 with a 3g network with no problems at all. What a feature in iphone just lolololol

They are announcing just like is a revolutionary feature, and its limited to wifi. so lololololol

this must be a joke Apple.

 

[angevil]

At first, people were complaining that why the f would they even want video chat and now they complain that it is limited.

It is impossible to make it function easily between any phone that has video camera because each phone will have different apps for that. I think FaceTime is great and I hope some of my friends will buy the new iPhone so I can talk to them with video.

I think it is not tied to a phone number, but to an iDevice. It will have to work with new probable iPads with front facing cameras and across different countries.

And I′m sure Skype will use front facing camera on the new iPhone for the next update and we′ll have video chat with more options soon..Many people have a Skype account today. That would be a nice solution to video chat with anyone on a computer or another smartphone. Skype will be on many smartphone markets, if not all, right?

 

[jmggs]

It is impossible to make it function easily between any phone that has video camera because each phone will have different apps for that. I think FaceTime is great and I hope some of my friends will buy the new iPhone so I can talk to them with video.

if apple have do it with open standards anyone can use any phone with video chat to communicate.

Isn't apple that have talked about flash that is not a open standard? next step voice phone calls only work between iphones lol

 

[bartzilla]

It is impossible to make it function easily between any phone that has video camera because each phone will have different apps for that.

Abject nonsense. Many 3G phones have supported video calls for a while without this problem.

 

[DavoMrMac]

More devices to come

I have read through most of this thread, a lot of people are sooooo negative.

Apple have done FaceTime as video chat done right. It is WiFi only to start with, due to network agreements. It will eventually be 3G too.

Also, I picked up on the 10 million FaceTime Devices sold this year quote by Steve Job. Does this mean we will see FaceTime on the Mac desktops, so computer-to-iPhone conferencing.

I wrote my opinion piece here; http://www.geekanoids.co.uk/news/2010/6/8/wwdc-2010-apple-iphone-4-facetime.html

 

[NokX]

why didn't they call this application iChat and make it work like the blackberry messenger with video chat? makes no sense why they wouldn't roll over a brand name like that. facetime? stupid name.

i still like the feature, though. going to be pretty solid.

 

[gwangung]

Ah bless. I see the people who have NEVER had video chat available to them are on here. We are all stating this as a crap feature BECAUSE WE HAVE ALL HAD IT FOR 5 YEARS OR MORE AND NO ONE USES IT!!!!

Do you get it? Do you understand now? It's NOT a brand new feature as the videos on Apples website portray, it WON'T work over the 3G network till who knows when so it's actually worst then pretty much any 3G feature phone I can buy right now let alone any smart phone.

Go on, flame away as I know you will..........

I'm thinking that Apple's reasoning is "yes, folks have had it before, and no one uses it because it wasn't done well. Facetime is video done well."

Whether or not that's true or not will be seen. But IF it's done well, it WILL take over the market and become a standard, limited or not---because a) it has a major player pushing it, and b) it is done well.

 

[SkippyThorson]

So... no iChat to iPhone videochat?
WHY!?

That was my only gripe for the day. I was really hoping it would be called iChat (for iPhone), and be easily used to talk to any Mac with a cam.

I don't really like the name FaceTime, personally, but then again, I was thrilled over the name iBooks, so I'm a bit of a sucker for legacy names. I think it should have been iChat regardless.

That, and I only have one friend planning on upgrading to iPhone 4. So far.