FaceTime?
Take video calls, make them compatible just with other iPhones, make them work on wifi instead of 3G, and make Marketing think up a name and you have FaceTime. And this is an improvement?
Vodafone, O2 and Phones 4U have all said they'll be selling Apple's new baby by the end of the month, but no-one is talking pricing just yet. Vodafone and O2 have both told us they'll have the iPhone 4 on sale on the 24th June, and both companies are still working on pricing and tariff options. Vodafone has already created a …
Dan,
if this was just a marketing renaming you would have a point. it's actually similar to what they have done with Bonjour (devices recognition technology) by making it available as a standard. (Royalties free??)
Just on Apple sale numbers there will soon be millions of users and knowing the Google guys it wont be long before they adopt it too.
Let's face it, video calling has been here for eons and nobody uses it. Maybe this time people will..
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> Let's face it, video calling has been here for eons and nobody uses it. Maybe this time people will.
Are you suggesting people are suddenly going to start using it because it's based on another, and in this case less compatible and portable, technology? I suspect end consumers couldn't care less about which standards are employed in technology implementations, about as much as they couldn't care less about video calling last time round (it's largely been dropped by handset manufacturers now due to lack of take up by users).
And why would every other phone manufacturer want to incorporate FaceTime on their phones thus complicating them more when they already make phones which do video calls without the need to be logged into a wifi spot?
I'm also not sure about how if you restrict videocalls to get FaceTime then people will want to start using them.
This is going to be like those icons which you could embed into text messages on Nokia phones; nice for those who had Nokias but that's about it.
The reason FaceTime will be launching WiFi only is that the FaceTime calls are free, and therefore the 3G networks are going to need some convincing to allow them on their networks when they will essentially cut off their potential revenue for paid 3G videocalls. Given that the WWDC keynote is always US-centric, it wouldn't surprise me if the no-3G was an AT&T restriction anyway (like how they were so slow with MMS and tethering), and it might not necessarily follow that it will be wifi-only elsewhere.
That said, I don't imagine it will necessarily take off anymore than 3G videocalling did. Just because it's free and higher resolution, doesn't mean you look like any less of an ass when using it in public.
With regards to the UK launch date, I wonder if Steve will just do what he did with the iPad - a few days before the stated launch day: 'er, sorry, due to high demand in the USA you can't have any now. We're more important".
With FaceTime, I predict a booming market of glamour ladies offering FaceTime video calls. Or it will become like Chat Roulette. Yuk. Either way, I forsee lots of monkey spanking; yes, that's a euphamism
I wonder which innovative App Developer will make use of the gyroscope to enrich the experience.
Facetime is a security and compliance product for recording communications in and out of organisations. I didn't know the product name was up for grabs, but then maybe Mr Jobs thinks he is big enough to take anything he wants.
http://www3.facetime.com/productservices/prodservices.aspx
Been on 3 since they began so I can't really understand why the video calling feature would be seen as anything but just catching up with the rest of the universe.
Also on a side-note, just read a post about how :hover is now basically useless (as is javascript mouseover) thanks to the bright sparks at Apple not realising anything about how people interact with the web and choosing to enforce a new 'standard' because they are clearly our new Gods.
Call me a troll if you like but I chuffing hate Apple and the way the iPhone and iPad work.
You have it nailed there... you can hover using my tablet PC, but then that is because the stylus is capable of differentiating between the light touch of moving over the surface and the harder touch of an intentional press.
Here's the thing... How many websites use either :hover or mouseover or some variation? Apple must now expect everyone to change just to make their site compatible with the iPad.
Sounds like a serious case of "We know better than everyone else".
Moron's in my humble and ignorable opinion.
Mouseover is already an abomination of webstandards. Mouse over *should* display the alt-tag in the case of images, or show the destination in the case of hyperlinks.
Anyway, this isn't bloody new, or unique to the iPhone/Pad. As I recall, Opera Mini has the same constraint, and I'll be honest, I tend to avoid sites that are overly reliant on hover/mouseover. Besides which, HTML is built to be forward compatible. If a browser doesn't support a tag properly, it doesn't get used and shouldn't impact the ability to read the sight.
I'm guessing you also believe that using tables to dicate layout is a good idea too...
You have to wonder if the Iphone falls under the "fit for purpose" clause on the Sales of Goods act:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html
# Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F
(0° to 35° C)
# Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F
(-20° to 45° C)
I know there is a "buffer" built into these figures but .......
Which basicaly means in UK winter you need to keep it in your pocket and only use bluetooth to communicate with it. Even with it switched off, its still in real trouble in large parts of Europe!
I'm reading lots of blah from people - quite rightly - saying that video calls are nothing new.
True. But when was the last time you saw someone making one - who wasn't a geek?
If you remember, smartphones had also been around for some time before the iPhone came along. And how often did you see someone using one before 2007 - who wasn't a geek (or a harassed office worker on a Blackberry)?
Now look - everywhere you go, people have iPhones. Apple made smartphones popular. If anyone can make video calling popular, it will be Apple. Yes, it's limited to wifi only, but I'll bet plenty of people will find that ideal: wifi at work, wifi at home = see the baby while you're working late.
What will be interesting is whether access to the front camera is available in apps - Skype video calling, perhaps?
<sigh> Are you training to be a lawyer or something? If so you should get your money back...
Like ALL manufacturers Apple set the operating environment operating specs according to the results of there testing and the recommendations of the many component suppliers. The specs for the iPhone are not particularly out of the ordinary for this type of equipment
If you had bothered to do a little googling you would have found these results for the Blackberry 8520, for example. Oh and remember that the iPhone is a smartphone and like other smartphones the operating limits are a bit tighter than 'ordinary' old phones
Recommended Temperature Parameters Blackberry 8520
Handheld - Operating: 0 to 50°C / 32 to 122°F
Handheld - Storage: 10 to 30°C / 50 to 86°F, with battery
Travel charger - Operating: 0 to 45°C / 32 to 113°F
doesn't matter what the specs say, under UK law, its either fit for purpose or not.
Bit like when companies offer you a warranty .... for everything this is on top of your consumer rights which for some items (cars for example) are covered up to 6 years - already proven in a test case.
As I said in another post, they may be using this as a "get out of jail" to try and bluff non-consumer rights aware people into thinking "tough, its broken, see there it says so in the manual" ... people just like you for example.
Of course, if you would like to know more, please feel free to google consumer rights or pop over to the consumer action group website where we will all be glad to help enlighten you.
If Apple convince all websites to remove hover and mouseover I will gladly pay homage at my local iShrine. Tags, adverts, useless information - please just let me read what I went to the webpage for - and may flash adverts die a quick and horrible death. I don't want to "interact" and I definitely don't want an "enhanced online experience" (not even from one of those sites).. I remember when all this was fields (in an .asp)
I think the author is getting confused as to what O2 will be offering. They will be having a limited time opportunity to upgrade early to the iPhone 4 - and it certainly won't be discounted. The deal will be that there will be a reduced upgrade fee (of £20 per month remaining of existing contract), but other than that the price will be the same as for any other customer - details of the early upgrade offer are now on their iPhone 4 pages. There has been no suggestion that I have seen that the handset prices themselves will vary between the UK operators.