Facetime WTF moment

[androiphone]

I'm curious why you chose to forgo reading all the above posts stating that FaceTime was available for developers.

Oh, trolling, right.

yes facetime is going to be open to everyone (for other people to build an app for say a mac or pc) , but as far as we know the whle camera API is closed so there is no opportunety for someone to make a skype video call app or any other such app.

(I really hope the camera API is open skype video would be far more useful to everyone)

 

[goosnarrggh]

Apple was the first to use a standards-based audio/video solution over a network. I'm pretty sure they'll get in.

Nope. Definitely not the first.

The 3G videocalling feature is already open standards-based, and has been for years. In many ways, it is a restatement of the original wired videophone standard, so it could likely offer compatibility with both wired and wireless videophones.

Trouble is, it's based on standards that Apple has chosen not to endorse.

Specifically, the 3G videocalling protocol is described by 3G-324M.

Looking into it a little more, I see that 3G-324M specifies that several different video codecs can be optionally used, but the H.263 codec is mandatory to provide a guaranteed fallback for interoperability. Apple is heavily invested in that codec's successor, H.264. They have a hardware codec for H.264 built into iOS-based devices, and for power management reasons they generally do not permit other video codecs to be emulated in software on iOS.

That probably plays a big contributory factor into Apple's resistance to implementing 3G-324M -- they don't want to waste battery life with a software based H.263 decoder, and they don't want to waste silicon by embedding hardware codecs for both H.263 and H.264. So instead, they favoured creating a new standard for video calling, based on the codec they'd already invested in and not requiring additional codecs they weren't interested in.

 

[corriewf]

Steve said "on Wi-Fi until the end of 2010... ...to let the carriers get their stuff together".

So if tethering is any indication, we won't see FaceTime on cellular data until 2012, and I'm being 100% serious about that.

That's what I'm afraid of.

 

[londondude]

i dont see the big deal. video calls was big news years ago in UK and i was a foll and got a phone with it. i used it 3 times and it was a waste of money.

 

[Squid7085]

This is why we need the iPhone on another carrier in the US. Because say it were on T-Mo or Verizon, they would probably say "Okay, we will offer Facetime over 3G." at which point AT&T would be forced to offer it as well, or bleed subs.

 

[corriewf]

This is why we need the iPhone on another carrier in the US. Because say it were on T-Mo or Verizon, they would probably say "Okay, we will offer Facetime over 3G." at which point AT&T would be forced to offer it as well, or bleed subs.

I was really hoping this was the reason AT&T has been doing all these changes lately. Is the Us the only country without multiple carriers?

 

[bboycrew]

Not yet. Do you have tethering?

See where he's coming from??

my n900 tethering for free on tmobile check video calls via skype google talk and sip over 3g and wifi phone to phone or phone to computer check that was easy and n900 uses linux open source

 

[crackbookpro]

Ok so facetime looked great! How smooth an awesome.......until Steve said wifi only...I then do a iWTF moment. This is a cell phone right? He does know that this is a mobile device that won't have access to wifi most of the time when facetime would be applicable. Then on top of that at the end he says wifi only for 2010!!!!! Yikes! Another iWTF moment.

This tells me several things:

1. No 3G video calls for half of the life of the phone. 6 months.
2. This could be another feature that AT&T drags their feet to turn on, like MMS. Could be a year, two years.
3. Steve said working with carriers, that means $$$$$. More fees for video calling. I could be looking at anywhere from $10-$20 extra per month for my wife and me.

I loved everything about the iPhone but cmon, this should have been ironed out 6 months ago with the carriers. I don't want to wait 6+ months to use a feature and then have my jaw drop when AT&T probably over charges for it.

AT&T is the reason fo' sho'...

 

[bboycrew]

my n900 tethering for free on tmobile check video calls via skype google talk and sip over 3g and wifi phone to phone or phone to computer check that was easy and n900 uses linux open source

why wait for apple and at&t to offer something just get a phone like n900 that offers it now fully unlocked phone for any gsm carrier world wide plus tmobiles no contract plans seal the deal for me my n900 comes with root enabled no need to jailbreak in to a phone i paid money for they even encourage u to hack with their push 900 hacker contests they hold each year and nokia sponsors pays for the hosing fees of maemo.org so the community can host community apps in the repositories there its a nice close knit community that will welcome any 1 with open arms check out the scene at maemo.org

 

[bboycrew]

AT&T is the reason fo' sho'...

people dont like the decisions they make yet line up year after year for their phones i bought iphone and 3g didnt like the rules and regulations wifi this wifi that and out my money where my mouth is and went with a unlocked nokia n900 and couldnt be happier the freedom i get is good free tethering and video calls over 3g and wifi cant beat that and unlimited data text and 500 mins for under 60 bucks gotta love it

 

[AbSoluTc]

It seems people forget just how many people OWN iPhones. Can you imagine the amount of bandwith that would be sucked down if even a fraction of those people started doing face time, let alone HALF of them? The strain on the network would be unreal. It would bring it to it's knees if not kill it.

Sure as **** if I was AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint - I would be hesitant to allow that myself. On top of that you have voice calls, data, tethering and whatever else. It's a lot of crap going on in the airwaves around you.

Would it be fun and "cool" to have face time (iChat) on 3G? Yes. However, there are very few places I go that don't have WIFI honestly. It's pretty interesting.

Doesn't bother me that it's WIFI only at all. At least I have the option

 

[joshellis625]

-snip-

This tells me several things:

1. No 3G video calls for half of the life of the phone. 6 months.
2. This could be another feature that AT&T drags their feet to turn on, like MMS. Could be a year, two years.
3. Steve said working with carriers, that means $$$$$. More fees for video calling. I could be looking at anywhere from $10-$20 extra per month for my wife and me.

-snip-

This is what I'm worried about. If they charge for something like this then I'm gonna be pretty pissed.

 

[koruki]

Sounds like a carrier specific issue. In NZ we had official iPhone tethering on day 1, video calling since 3G was rolled out.

 

[jon86]

I presume one of the reasons for the North Carolina data centre was for FaceTime, as it's all (currently / presumably) hosted by Apple. I wonder what FaceTime would be like using a MiFi...

 

[wmorones]

so with the facetime i was wondering ppl with Mac computers can we facetime with them since they have ichat and on wifi?

 

[corriewf]

so with the facetime i was wondering ppl with Mac computers can we facetime with them since they have ichat and on wifi?

They said iPhone to iPhone.

 

[McGiord]

Just wait a little -> jailbreak -> AT&T HA..HA!

 

[corriewf]

Just wait a little -> jailbreak -> AT&T HA..HA!

Yeah I am wondering if 3G unrestrictor will work on this. Of course with me already tethering to my iPad for free, I may be pushing my luck with AT&Ts data plan.

 

[fabianjj]

Like the poster above you said, I dunno if 3G networks can handle the 5 mp camera, even in your country.

The Evo does it over 3G but I think it uses 4g for the 8 mp back cam.

Well the video stream would not be 5Mp just because it's the maximum resolution of the camera, I think it would be very unlikely for anything above VGA resolution.

Also, at least in Sweden, our 3G networks are WAY faster than the Sprint wimax, even in a small city where I live where we haven't even gotten the faster speeds yet

 

[NT1440]

1. No 3G video calls for half of the life of the phone. 6 months.
2. This could be another feature that AT&T drags their feet to turn on, like MMS. Could be a year, two years.
3. Steve said working with carriers, that means $$$$$. More fees for video calling. I could be looking at anywhere from $10-$20 extra per month for my wife and me.

1. What?
2. No carrier in the US handles more data than AT&T, and even they don't have the network able to handle the millions of iphones that will be using this feature. The not in 2010 thing is because AT&T is working hard to upgrade their network for the loads (which will be enormously beneficially to them and users in the coming years) but these things take time.
3. Pure speculation.