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Skype Video Calling for iOS over Wi-Fi and 3G
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I tried it last night over wifi. Video quality is horrible, audio is nice. Me and my girlfriend were on the same wifi connection (50 Mbps) and it was still choppy, laggy, blocky, etc. FaceTime is easily the best video chat i've tried.. even over a computer.
There seems to be a significant difference in the quality of video calls between Skype and Facetime. I ran Facetime calls from London to west coast USA a few months back and the quality was unbelievable (high frame rate, low latency and no glitches). First test of Skype on the iPhone (via WiFi) seems to indicate a lower frame rate. Skype is probably throttling bandwidth.
I find video calls to more a gimmick than anything. My personal opinion of course. I used facetime a total of 3 times and that was only to see if it worked. I really don't need to see someone to talk to them and I think it actually takes away from a conversation.
I can see some usefulness like while shopping for a specific item you can show the person your shopping for what your looking at, etc. but that requires 3G. It's just as easy to take a pictures and MMS it and wait for a text reply. It's neat (which all gimmicks are) but I really just don't see a huge reason for it outside of the business world which I suppose is a big world.
I can see some usefulness like while shopping for a specific item you can show the person your shopping for what your looking at, etc. but that requires 3G. It's just as easy to take a pictures and MMS it and wait for a text reply. It's neat (which all gimmicks are) but I really just don't see a huge reason for it outside of the business world which I suppose is a big world.
And skype can be used with iPhone to PC calls unlike FaceTime. Which is why it will be used more than FaceTime
The video quality is very poor, tried on the same network (25mbps download, 1Mbps upload speed)
Way behind the curve.
Bad video quality even over wifi.
Macro blocking and freezes. Not as nice an interface either.
Oh well, it's a alright backup option to Facetime.
Bad video quality even over wifi.
Macro blocking and freezes. Not as nice an interface either.
Oh well, it's a alright backup option to Facetime.
I had a iP4 to iP4 Skype Video chat today with a friend that lives about 120 miles away (San Diego to West Los Angeles)...we started the call on Wifi (which was very clean and smooth with a great FR) and then decided to give 3G a try...the video was still very good however the audio was not quite as clear but still very listenable (I had a fairly full signal and my friend had two bars)...
The problem I noticed was that I started the call with 35% battery on my iP4 and after about 25 minutes I was down to 13%...I'm figuring that the 3G was killin' the battery...
Overall, I was really quite satisfied with Skype video's performance but the battery drain is definitely something to think about...
The problem I noticed was that I started the call with 35% battery on my iP4 and after about 25 minutes I was down to 13%...I'm figuring that the 3G was killin' the battery...
Overall, I was really quite satisfied with Skype video's performance but the battery drain is definitely something to think about...
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Thought the "iOS 4.0 tested" wouldn't drain the battery anymore, guess not, anyways why does it still say it's only for iOS 3 when it first starts?
I Was Impressed
I am in Southern California, and I just finished a call with a friend in northern Virginia. She was on wifi, I was on 3G. Perhaps my standards are lower, but I was quite impressed with the quality. I was further impressed because I reside in an area of Los Angeles up against the foothills with less than stellar reception (ironically, it's scads better than VZW).
I am in Southern California, and I just finished a call with a friend in northern Virginia. She was on wifi, I was on 3G. Perhaps my standards are lower, but I was quite impressed with the quality. I was further impressed because I reside in an area of Los Angeles up against the foothills with less than stellar reception (ironically, it's scads better than VZW).
I'm very happy with the quality, but then maybe my standards aren't as high as others.
My question is, does this slowly use mobile data whilst running in the background? My mobile operator app shows that I've used 1mb in the last three hours and I haven't used the phone in any way other than to leave Skype running in the background, not a big drop but it all adds up.
Between 3pm yesterday and 7am this morning I'd used 16mbs, is Skype doing that?
My question is, does this slowly use mobile data whilst running in the background? My mobile operator app shows that I've used 1mb in the last three hours and I haven't used the phone in any way other than to leave Skype running in the background, not a big drop but it all adds up.
Between 3pm yesterday and 7am this morning I'd used 16mbs, is Skype doing that?
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I don't know why people are complaining. Unless Skype was going to implement FaceTime tech, it was bound to be less quality. Hell, Skype from PC-PC over wifi is not as good as FaceTime...but it works.
I tried it tonight while at work. I made a 3G video call to a friend who was using his MacBook Pro on wifi. Worked great. Had a stutter here and there but nothing crazy...and it actually WORKS compared to Tango.
Only thing I'd like Skype to fix is the damn battery issue when in background.
I tried it tonight while at work. I made a 3G video call to a friend who was using his MacBook Pro on wifi. Worked great. Had a stutter here and there but nothing crazy...and it actually WORKS compared to Tango.
Only thing I'd like Skype to fix is the damn battery issue when in background.
Can you use Bluetooth for audio on video calls with skype? I tried a call earlier tonight to my sisters Mac and the call worked fine but audio was only through speAker. I couldn't find any setting to change and my Bluetooth was connected to my iPhone.
Sorry if this was already answered.... Didn't read the entire thread but couldn't find an answer on google either.
Sorry if this was already answered.... Didn't read the entire thread but couldn't find an answer on google either.
2 big reasons - kids and grandkids. Not for all, sure. But when I travel I like to see the kids and FaceTime works great for that and mom bought an ip4 for the same reason.
Doesn't work on jailbroken iphone4 with facetime mod
Just a warning for people who've installed the facetime FPS mod from cydia. The latest update breaks the video calling functionality of Skype.
Full details here: http://slashdot.org/submission/1432080/Facetime-FPS-Mod-Update-Breaks-Skype-Video
Just a warning for people who've installed the facetime FPS mod from cydia. The latest update breaks the video calling functionality of Skype.
Full details here: http://slashdot.org/submission/1432080/Facetime-FPS-Mod-Update-Breaks-Skype-Video
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
I've used it twice today - works as well as the pc app. Quality is lower but still fine w me. Had one conversation for about 30 min with pc in eastern Europe and one 10 min with Australia. Took a minute to get used to the lag - about two to three seconds difference between voice and video. This is awesome.
I've used it twice today - works as well as the pc app. Quality is lower but still fine w me. Had one conversation for about 30 min with pc in eastern Europe and one 10 min with Australia. Took a minute to get used to the lag - about two to three seconds difference between voice and video. This is awesome.
i love that promo screenshot, well beyond being simulated, it's more like: "here's a fantasy for what video calling would be like if your phone's camera was dslr"
(i'm sure apple did the same thing for facetime, but it seems extra funny here given how choppy the skype video supposedly is)
(i'm sure apple did the same thing for facetime, but it seems extra funny here given how choppy the skype video supposedly is)
This argument has never held any water as it presumes everyone spends the same amount of money on computers/gadgets over the same period of time. People who spend the most amount on money on tech are buying Apple gear which makes Apple profitable. Apple does not care if only 10% of people buy their products as long as is is the 10% who buy a new computer/phone every year and spend a lot of cash doing it. Plus everyone knows Apple's margins are higher.
Skype needs to work well on Apple or else people will switch to Facetime and as I said these are people with $$.
Update: this has been fixed now. Update to the latest version to fix Facetime FPS w/skype problems.
Skype STILL eats battery to the point to make it actually useless as an always-on chat client or phone (lost close to 20% battery overnight on an iPT4) and it STILL doesn't use proper iOS push notifications.
Garbage, just garbage. This combined with the Skype outage (caused by a bug in the client) has confirmed to me that Skype is just lousy at software development. And Apple actually invited them on stage once. How embarrassing.
Garbage, just garbage. This combined with the Skype outage (caused by a bug in the client) has confirmed to me that Skype is just lousy at software development. And Apple actually invited them on stage once. How embarrassing.