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Facetime 3 months from now will be the biggest "I never use it" feature

I agree that facetime will become a "Watch what my phone can do" feature that is rarely used, but honestly, I wanted a front facing cam for taking self photos without having to turn the camera around everytime to see if I got myself in the shot.

Although, I do think down the road, the facetime feature could be opened up to other apps and perhaps they could arrange something with AT&T to make it work over 3g.
 
I don't use the youtube app, voice memos or compass apps but I'm glad the functionality is there.


gimmick or not - who really cares. It's better to have it and not use it than not have it the ONE time you really wish it was there.
 
Carniphage said:
If they roll-out Facetime for desktops and notebooks, it will probably get used a little more. Apple should retire the dreadful iChat.

But Skype will probably beat Apple to that particular outcome.

C.
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Skype, or MSN Messenger, or Yahoo.

Would expect all of them to rush out support ASAP, and benefit from it significantly.

Bigger question for me is that Steve made so much of it being an open standard... erm... but there already is a video chat standard. Heck, it's built into the 3G spec. One would hope that when 3G support comes, it uses *that* spec rather than Facetime, and hence works to other devices as well.

Phazer
 
Truthfully, I doubt I even use it once.

I just want / need a phone that has a decent battery, and doesn't freakin lag.

This 3G has me pulling my hair out lately.
 
The fact that people are using less voice and more txt and emails should be a clear indicator that video chat will be a novel feature but not used esp. when its so limiting. wifi ONLY and iphone to iphone ONLY.
But its a feature that doesn't cost extra so why complain? I rather have it and not use it then not have it and want it.
 
I think its pretty lame that you have to be making a phone call in order to start a wifi video chat. It kinda ruins it for long distance people.

Does anyone know if the front camera is open to devs?
 
Ok.

Apple makes the iPhone 4.
Almost every phone on the market has a touchscreen because of the influence of the iPhone. They want to cash in on it also.
They've made tablet computers successful.
They'll make video chat successful also.

FaceTime is open source which I guess means every other manufacturer will have a front facing camera on their phones within the next year with FaceTime. It won't just be iPhone to iPhone.

Duh.
 
Mkz said:
FaceTime is open source
Click to expand...

No it's not. It's built in open standards and Apple are going to try and get the whole thing standardised but that's very different to open source. Any other company who wants to implement the standard will have to write their own code (which is the source).
 
robbieduncan said:
No it's not. It's built in open standards and Apple are going to try and get the whole thing standardised but that's very different to open source. Any other company who wants to implement the standard will have to write their own code (which is the source).
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That's what I meant. Doesn't matter anyway, everything I said still applies.
 
robbieduncan said:
We've had mobile-to-mobile video calling on 3G networks since they launched in the UK. Most 3G handsets have supported it (obviously not the iPhone). I've never seen or even heard of anyone using it.
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Just because people didn't use it before doesn't mean it is something people don't want. How many people used to email-on-the-go or browse the internet before the iPhone? How many people used to play games on a mobile phone or purchase apps before the iPhone came out?

Heck, non of the products Apple make weren't made before. Smarphones, multitouch, tablets all existed before. Apple just came along and made them better. Only then, people started using them. That might or might not be the case with FaceTime. But dismissing it because "no one used to use it" is not a very clever argument.
 
What's the point of facetime if it only works with wifi? It's so dumb that I don't see the point. Sure, starbucks will have free wifi, but now I have to sit there and listen to someone else's conversation in speaker phone? It's just not a good feature, and I won't make much use out of it.

heck, i don't even use my web cam, and I use skype on the computer for at least 2 hours every week.
 
greenfields said:
Call it a hunch, but I think there's a good reason the majority of facetime shots were of parents / babies ... it will be used all the time for one parent to let the other see the baby while they're on business, and the baby to see the parent too.
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i'm actually excited about it for this reason. i can see myself using it on a continual basis to see some live shots of the kids
 
facetime being limited to wifi does make it rarely usable, but think about it, in 3 months some new 3rd party app will be out that will make video chat feesable
 
Yep, I would even be able to handle it being iPhone to iPhone, but wifi only is a killer.....

.....just until it gets jailbroken and 3Gunrestricter is installed! :D
 
corriewf said:
I don't remember Steve saying anything about giving access to the front facing cam for chat apps. Could be wrong though.
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I didn't hear him saying anything about NOT giving access to the front facing cam for chat apps - or any other kind of apps.

I'm assuming that both cameras will be available for any app that wants to use them. So, somebody else could beat Apple to the punch, if they come out with a video chat app that fits ATT's murky bandwidth criteria and that the App Store will approve.

I think this points-out the tenuous relationship between Apple and ATT. It was pretty embarrassing for Steve to have to say "WiFi only". This, after ATT made him a liar, and then temporarily made him not-so-much a liar, but still a liar... (unlimited data plan on iPad).
 
Ice-Cube said:
Apple would probably release something like Back-to-my-mac for the iPhone where you can activate that camera remotely to see who the hell stole your iPhone.
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hahah, that would be good. if your phone is missing instead of simply sending a message you initiate a video link and see who's holding your phone.
 
jtara said:
I didn't hear him saying anything about NOT giving access to the front facing cam for chat apps - or any other kind of apps.

I'm assuming that both cameras will be available for any app that wants to use them. So, somebody else could beat Apple to the punch, if they come out with a video chat app that fits ATT's murky bandwidth criteria and that the App Store will approve.

I think this points-out the tenuous relationship between Apple and ATT. It was pretty embarrassing for Steve to have to say "WiFi only". This, after ATT made him a liar, and then temporarily made him not-so-much a liar, but still a liar... (unlimited data plan on iPad).
Click to expand...

Well, Apple has locked access to certain functions in the phone before. Don't expect 100% that it will happen.
 
chuckles:) said:
I think its pretty lame that you have to be making a phone call in order to start a wifi video chat. It kinda ruins it for long distance people.

Does anyone know if the front camera is open to devs?
Click to expand...

According to the website you can initiate a FaceTime session directly from your contacts OR during a voice call.
 
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