3G iPhone, Front-Sided Camera for Video Chat?

[MacEdit]

Lets get the basics first

As much as i would love to see video chatting on the iPhone;
We don't even get picture messages!

How would they go from not even having the ability to send and receive picture messages, but then add full ichat with video chatting.

I'll believe it when i see it.

In the mean time, can we please have some picture messages

 

[thejadedmonkey]

whoa, since it's not an iPhone, but the iPhone Pro, does that mean the 5 year exclusive contract with AT&T isn't valid on this?

 

[yoyo5280]

I wonder why it didnt have a Front camera from the start. Any old japanese phone does...

 

[joeshell383]

They could possibly limit it to Wi-Fi only, but that doesn't seem like Apple's style to complicate things like that.

Like the iTunes Wi-Fi music store? Or all the Internet functionality of the iPod touch?

 

[MacFly123]

I'm pretty sure everyone in the world has been expecting this for a while now and he calls this a scoop??? lol

 

[MacFly123]

Having two cameras would complicate the phone's regular camera functions. When you hit Camera to take a picture, which camera would it use? It would confuse some users, and being able to select the camera in the UI wouldn't be a great solution. I'm not saying this would or should stop Apple from doing it, but it's the sort of ting that gives their designers pause.

Just a quick mockup I did. It works just like flipping the album art over in the iPod app, but instead you touch the little icon on the upper right and it flips the cameras. It is all in the Camera 2.0 app and adds video capture and YouTube upload as well. Now that is about as easy as I could ever imagine and cool.

Sorry for the double post. I really wish someone would tell me how to combine posts if I accidentally post a couple in a row.

 

[jshbckr]

I can see ol' Steve kicking it off right now... starting to talk about how people enjoy talking to each other... but they really like to see each other...

"Seeing is Believing" The All New iPhone.

 

[Beric]

I can see ol' Steve kicking it off right now... starting to talk about how people enjoy talking to each other... but they really like to see each other...

"Seeing is Believing" The All New iPhone.

Heh, you got that right.

 

[winterspan]

dual camera, video call capable phones have been around in Asia/Europe for years!

What cell phones are able to do this now? I have never seen a phone with the camera on the front, the only way to do this (that I know of) is with the flip phones you can close it and the camera will be facing you, but on the front the screen is wayyyyyy to small to even consider this.

I can't believe there are so many posts from people who think this is some new amazing Apple invention!! You need to travel outside the walls of the US.
I'd wager at least the top 30% of phones in Asia and Europe are capable of having video calling, although the data use has been expensive. Most video calling capable phones have a nice 2-5Mpixel camera on the back and a small 640x480 (VGA) camera on the front for video calling.

The US carriers literally make the manufacturer strip out the forward-facing camera in models bound for the USA. In fact, many high-end Nokia, Sony Ericson, Samsung, and HTC phones are made with forward facing cameras for most of the world, and then a US variant is custom made WITHOUT a forward facing camera. It's totally pathetic. But whats worse is the complete ignorance of Americans to this fact! they are happy with their QVGA "Blackjack" or some other piece of windows mobile trash with a ~1 mpixel camera, no optical zoom, no forward facing camera, ~100kbit/sec EDGE connection, etc Meanwhile anyone in Asia or Europe can get on 2/7 mbps HSUPA/HSDPA with video chat for years now.

moving forward, AT&T needs desperately to roll out their 3G network to main ~150 markets AT LEAST and it better include BOTH HSDPA (3G download) AND HSUPA (3G upload). I've been able to get EVDO rev. A which is fast upload and download 3G service from Verizon for years now... Why is AT&T taking so frickin' long with their rollout? Seriously WTF!


AHHHH!!! It's so ***** frustrating... I may just have to move up the relocation plans to a new continent...

 

[butterfly0fdoom]

almost half the phones in our country and in most parts of asia and europe have two cameras, the one being in the front. it is, yes, used for video calling. kinda old news already. and for a company known for great innovations, apple was not able to use this technology from years ago...

At the same time, Apple's not a company known for making cellphones. Dual cameras may have become commonplace in Asia and Europe, but they're still uncommon in the US. To have the video calling, 3G is rather necessary. The CDMA carriers don't seem to keen on video calling, and AT&T is just starting to roll-out the service. The iPhone not having it really isn't that big of a deal, at least in the U.S.

 

[the.snitch]

Just a quick mockup I did. It works just like flipping the album art over in the iPod app, but instead you touch the little icon on the upper right and it flips the cameras. It is all in the Camera 2.0 app and adds video capture and YouTube upload as well. Now that is about as easy as I could ever imagine and cool.

Sorry for the double post. I really wish someone would tell me how to combine posts if I accidentally post a couple in a row.

Great interaction mockup - the mini flip thing in the top right would definitely make sense for flipping the cams

 

[3247]

Hasn't Jobs all but said a 3G version would be coming in 2008?

No, he said "later".
However, he announced the Asian version for 2008. For Japan and South Korea, this will have to be 3G.

I wonder why it didnt have a Front camera from the start. Any old japanese phone does...

Yes, it's pretty standard for modern 3G phones. iPhone v1 is not a 3G phone.

 

[Phil A.]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 16GB: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

here in the uk it would be more of a story if they released the 3G iPhone without a front facing camera than with one!

 

[aswitcher]

So how long does this FCC approval thing take for the 3G phone?

 

[yetanotherdave]

Limiting it to iCHat only for background running would suck. I don't use I chat because it doesn't have MSN, which is what the majority of people that I know use.

And you americans have phones without front cameras? In the UK the carriers all invested heavily in 3G, so were reluctant to sell phones without. You can get them, but I know I've had a frton camera phone for about 3-4 years now. Never used it mind, except as a mirror, despite my wife also having a video phone.

 

[sunfast]

Having looked at his predictions for iPhone at launch I'll be pretty circumspect about this!

I only hope that this doesn't appear as "iPhone Pro". To me that suggests it would come in addition to the current model, not as a replacement. And would consequently cost a fortune.

 

[yetanotherdave]

Having looked at his predictions for iPhone at launch I'll be pretty circumspect about this!

I only hope that this doesn't appear as "iPhone Pro". To me that suggests it would come in addition to the current model, not as a replacement. And would consequently cost a fortune.

It does seem unlikely for two reasons.
1) the regular iPhone has exchange and all the pro features coming.
2) apple are concentrating on unleashing the potential of the hardware they have with software. having two hardware lines seems unnecessary, especially as we've already seen what it might be capable of, and with news that it's more powerful than the PSP they've got a lot more potential there.
3) the iPhone is already very expensive. In the UK especially it shows as we are used to heavily subsidised phones. The N95 is free on many different and not particularly expensive contracts.

 

[JOHNGAETANO]

Too bad the goof next to Kevin Rose wouldn't let him speak.

 

[lamina]

I don't friggin care if it has a built-in play dough press so i can squeeze pretend pasta out of the rear of my iPhone. All I want is an iPhone with 3G support. That's it. Keep the iPhone the way it is, but add the 3G hardware in order to catch up with the rest of the planet.

 

[lamadude]

If iChat would be the only iPhone messenger, than it would be completely useless in most parts of the world. For example in Europe nearly everybody uses msn.

 

[Martin C]

So how long does this FCC approval thing take for the 3G phone?

Who knows. I hope Apple has it being approved before they announce it, so we don't have to wait 6 months for it like the first generation iPhone.

 

[iStefmac]

Can someone clear up why we post this on this site?

Someone who thinks that 3G will be in the next iPhone deserves his own article/thread?

Thats not really whats happening here is it? I must be dreaming.

 

[Yuppi]

I used video-calls in Germany, and I have to say it feels pretty crappy. This is partially because of the low quality of the front facing cameras and partially because of the high costs bound to it.
Here in Sweden the prices for video calls are quite high:
4,79 SEK compared to 0,79 SEK for a regular call. Same problem with MMS over SMS: 1,99 SEK to 0,79 SEK

What I would love to see would be the possibility to call a stationary Mac, maybe over WLAN. This way you can easily talk to your family which does not have to use the crappy front facing cameras.

But a front facing camera is absolutely nothing crazy for a 3G phone. But I think the application termination reason is very weak. For one Apple was demonstrating AIM chat on the SDK presentation and because it is said to be overridable.

 

[iStefmac]

For everyone taking this guy even a little seriously:

#1. Everyone, not just him, thinks/knows the next iPhone will be 3G (or better). Its a forgone conclusion.



#2 Why does everyone believe its even POSSIBLE to video chat with the iPhone, even a new iPhone on 3G?????????????????????

Have any of you actually ever USED video chat on the mac before? Its terrible!!!!!!!!!

If your connection is anything less than direct ethernet then forget it. Unless you like the worst imaginable sound quality, frequent drop outs, errors, and pixelation, and the overall sense of worthlessness. This is what you experience over WIFI!!!!!!!!!

Now add how ridiculously slow the iPhone is over WiFi......now add how much slower 3G is than Wifi.........

In the end it will be quicker to take a picture of yourself and email it to the person you're talking to. I'm not kidding, there is no way to implement this with the current tech standard.

Unfortunately the iPhone uses 2008+ desktop technology in conjunction with early 90's speed. Its bad, bad mix. And it prevents the iPhone from being as useful today as it will be in a few more years. There is world of difference between the EDGE iPhone and future ethernet-grade iPhone wireless tech.

Can't happen, sorry. We'll talk about this in 2011.

 

[iStefmac]

I'd wager at least the top 30% of phones in Asia and Europe are capable of having video calling, although the data use has been expensive.

Friend, your entire argument ends there. You made your point and everyone elses in the same sentence. You have no understand of Apple, period.

Apple does not invent new technology out of thin air. They take the best, most relevant current and future ideas and turn them into what they've never been before: usable.

If this happens, which it won't, it will be implemented in such a way that it will easy and affordable and convenient. Thus, vastly different from every other usage in the world.