Two cameras much better than one

Interesting piece, but you overlook the real innovation that FaceTime brings: integration with the backward facing camera so that you can show what you see to the other caller. This is so much more interesting than the talking head you get with, eg, Video iChat. It's another example of Apple's insistence on adding value and getting the experience right. The iPhone was long criticised for not having a forward facing camera. Now it's got one, but it's the integration of the two that creates the killer app.

Costs

I reckon the reason a big reason it never took off was the prohibitive costs at lauch. 50p a minute.

Title

To be fair, if someone came up to me right now and asked me what was the best thing about the new iPhone, I could well say the same thing and it wouldn't necessarily mean that I thought video calling was great, it would just be that I thought it was the best thing in what's becoming an increasingly mediocre device.

Having said that though, there are a lot of goons out there who probably do think that video calling is awesome all of a sudden, just because Steve has said it is...

Remember 3G?

Wsan't video calling going to be the killer app that everyone was waiting to get with 3G ... .only when it arrived no-one used it.

I think the main difference with "facetime" is that if it uses WiFi and is an opt-in to an existing call then you don't have the cost barrier plus deciding to go "visual" is more of a joint decision on the call rather than a setting up a video call which perhaps comes over more as a demand.

That said, reliance on Wifi means its probably limited to use in context where you could already use a PC and a webcam.

yeah this is gonna last

Video calling is fun for about 3 calls

then you kinda think why ??

Mobiles are the wrong medium for video calling. if they want to introduce video calling the place to start will be the landline phone, but that ship has sailed

You sure?

>More than three quarters of brits surveyed said that video calling was the most impressive part of the new iPhone...

Keep in mind that Brits can be very sarcastic. I'm thinking this was tongue in cheek. Sort of like reviewing a book and saying, "I liked the cover very much."

The fact that anyone is impressed by this

proves just how gullible and stupid the Brits really are.

If I crap in a bag and give it a rediculous apple name, the sheep in this country would be all over it. Baaaaa!

Get yourselves a life people, remember individuality?

Pathetic!

Not those guys again -.-

"Tech blog Gizmodo even published a call for everyone else to adopt Apple's FaceTime protocol in the interest of interoperability, following the best tradition of blithely ignoring all that went before."

As well as following the other best tradition of ramming their collective tongues so far up Sir Steve's ass they tickle his brain when they speak. Christ, I hate fanbois.

Rant out of the way, this is hardly new technology. I remember a few years ago buying one of Three's very first handsets that offered video calling - the clamshell NEC e606. Granted I never used it as I didn't know anyone else with a Three phone but I did have the satisfaction of being able to watch video on it while everyone else was enjoying colour photos for the first time.

*yawns*

Its refreshing to see an article about FaceTime where the author remembers that 3G videocalling has been around for the best part of a decade, but failed to take off. I'd be surprised if this makes it big, given its (fairly large in my opinion) drawback, you need to be connected to a WiFi network while already in a call to another iPhone. So use is limited to....er... open WiFi points, in cafes/university/work and at home. And requires a degree of forward planning on the part of caller/recipient. I see this as the major hurdle for FaceTime, one which will cause frustration among users "what do you mean I can't video call, no WiFi, stupid f***ing phone, just do it".

Initiating the videocall whilst in a voice call is however a good idea, one which gets around the presence problem the author noted it was a minorly frustrating niggle about 3G video calling, calling someone to check if was ok to video chat, yes? hang up and videocall.

And at least it will be cheaper to videocall than over 3G, regular phone call cost...

Sooo

We all need to walk around with earpieces and mics on the off chance that we may get a video call assuming we're in an area with Wifi.

Fair enough if you set up a call - as in business etc but for day to day stuff I just don't see it taking off.

I wasn't aware of being able to use the forward camera which would be much more interesting as you would be able to receive detailed instructions from the Mrs about which apples she wants you to pick out at the supermarket.......

Well done Apple - I used to love this service

I must be the only person who loved 3G video calling back in the day with a SE V800. I called the kids, the kids called me. When travelling on business it was fab that my 3 year old son could show me his muddy knees while they were playing in the forest. Well done to Apple for resurrecting this service - but how many interesting places/views/events happen in wifi coverage. Why not use this superfast mobile broadband HSPA to deliver greater coverage and more occasions where you'd actually want to use this - I've seen enough of the inside of Starbucks !!!

Maybe the reason it's never caught on

Is that iPhone owners are better looking than regular chavs and munters.

This is a tech website

And that means we all know its just re-marketing a currently available feature.

But Joe Public really doesn't know about these things and therefore it seems very impressive feature. You can bet that their focus groups included the basic users and they gave a list of features that they could do and would be impressive.

Innovation is nothing without marketing it correctly.

Works for me

I use iChat AV all the time and I just see Facetime as a more portable medium to do that. I've had countless 3G video phones over the years and made maybe 2 calls. The technology was simply too unreliable and the quality terrible. With Facetime they appear to have it right. I don't see the lack of 3G connectivity as a downside as I don't want to take a video call on the move but when I'm sitting at home or in a hotel and want to talk to my kids/wife/family etc it will work fine.

Having said that I can't see myself making many iPhone to iPhone Facetime calls because most won't have an iPhone 4s but if it is linked up to iChat or Skype then it becomes a killer app. Rather than chasing my kids round the house with my Macbook Pro trying to film them with the webcam for my sister in NZ I'll be able to do it on the iPhone. I've been waiting for this since the first iPhone came out.

Ha ha

Man, WAP was awesome! Like the internet crossed with teletext on a digital watch.

differences between the past and the present

yes, everybody knows that video calling has been available on 3G for years, but, what was the quality of the camera you were using? (or not using as the case may be)

Here, we have the iPhone4, one of the large feature upgrades that people seem to be forgetting is the HD video recording.

If you compare the standard of video recording on mobiles from 3, 4 or 5 years ago, to the quality that you get from a portable HD video recorder, like the Flip series, I'm sure you will notice the difference, the same difference you will get with the iPhone4. Living in England, and having used o2 for the last few years, I know I wouldn't want to try and stream HD video over a 3G network. Streaming HD over WiFi between two specifically designed devices using a defined protocol, now that could very well be a different matter.

I think the main thing is to wait until the damn thing has actually been released, so we can see if its any good for ourselves. If 'FaceTime' is as much a pile of fetid dingos kidneys, as 'normal' video calling is, then I shall gladly eat my shoe along with my words, but until I have seen it for myself, I wont know for sure.

No new features?

## It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it, that's what get results ##

Bananarama got it right.

Apple's strength is in taking features, many of which have been around before in one form or another, and developing them into a complete package that makes normal people actually want to use them.

If things like tablet computers and video calling have been around since 2001, and yet no-one could be bothered to use them up until now, doesn't that tell you something??