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sjn419

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 4, 2010
272
38
In the demos I saw you start out by making a regular call then you press the video chat button. Are you using the network for the call or wifi I dont get it
 
They also state "from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4". So it's almost like an app. Looks like you won't be able to video chat with someone on another carrier or even with a different phone.....yet.
 
This is what I'm thinking as well.

If you'll notice during the keynote, Jobs mentions AAC for audio.

I'd say this thing is going to be VOIP.

no, its not VOIP, its facetime. and before you flame me and call me a fanboi, read on.
apple actually created this protocol, instead of adopting another standard one, and they submitted it to some standards board and made it an open industry standard (called facetime). it utilises a variety of audio and video standards. AAC is just one of them.

They also state "from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4". So it's almost like an app. Looks like you won't be able to video chat with someone on another carrier or even with a different phone.....yet.

the yet bit is very important. because facetime is an open industry standard, it will be adopted by other manufacturers and will eventually result in a global network of video chatting, which works over wifi and cellular networks (apple is negotiating network bandwidth with carriers, which is why it is currently wifi only) and it will all work on one protocol, meaning it will be compatible across nearly all devices and networks. that is apples vision for facetime.
 
I think you will have to make a call over the network and your phone will "know" when your on wi-fi and automatically enable/disable the Facetime button... I think the way it will work is that it WILL use ATT minutes but NOT data.
 
looks like video chat is Wi-Fi only. won't use data or phone minutes at all.

If you must first make a call (which is the way it was demoed) then you will have to use at least a minute. The $10,000 question is: does the phone line disconnect after you switch to IP FaceTime or does the line stay "open" and count as minutes for the entire FaceTime session? It could be that the phone line stays "open" to give AT&T (and other carriers) an incentive to support FaceTime in the future so it becomes a standard.;)
 
I don`t understand how will we be able to make those Facetime calls to people in foreign countries, on different phone carriers. Will we have to dial their number first?? That doesn′t make sense - who would want to pay those expensive fees for long distance calls? Maybe you have to do it only the first time, so it connects iPhones/contacts for later video calls?

I hope Skype will be able to implement this into their app so that you can video chat with anyone that has Skype, but on the same interface as Facetime. THAT would be amazing!
 
I hope Skype will be able to implement this into their app so that you can video chat with anyone that has Skype, but on the same interface as Facetime. THAT would be amazing!

THIS. I will stay competely satisfied with FT over wi-fi if I can just get a skype with video app... (Ooh I didn't even think about skype over 3G with video BUT I will still be happy with wi-fi skype if I can cross platform video) :)
 
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