Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Video calling on Iphone 4

JediZenMaster

JediZenMaster

Suspended
Original poster
Mar 28, 2010
2,180
654
Seattle
The Idea of video calling is pretty cool i think but i don't think it will be implemented the way people think it will be.

AT&T Currently has Handsets that support Video Share which is a 1 way video call. I Guess it's because of limitations of the network. So i figure the iphone 4 will support video calling via the front facing camera the same way.

And i am guessing that The Ichat/Skype Video calling feature would be on Wi-Fi only.

If anyone else has any other theories Chime in :p
 
no way i think apple will allow only 1 way video calling, i just dont see steve jobs announcing video chat, then saying its only 1 way


theres a chance that it might be wifi only, it wouldnt really matter to me, but im leaning more towards it can be used over 3g as well


i am curious how much quality will suffer over 3g opposed to wifi
 
well, If in fact video calling is Wifi only, All one has to do is,

1. JailBreak the phone, When Dev Team has a Break

2. install 3G Unrestrictor

3. Video chat anywhere on Edge, 3G, and Wifi.

Problem Solved. :cool:
 
tnisatard said:
no way i think apple will allow only 1 way video calling, i just dont see steve jobs announcing video chat, then saying its only 1 way
Click to expand...

You never know. He did go on stage and say that MMS wouldn't be available on AT&T until many months after the rest of the world got it. He also said said no tethering on AT&T in front of an audience.
 
no tethering on AT&T is still a problem.

Two way video calling will be jerky for a few generations but it will be most excellent, we will wonder how we ever got by without it.
 
Why would you bother putting an additional camera on the front of the phone if it were intended for one way video calling? This makes no sense.
 
Wouldn't be surprised if it was very low res and very low fps. I don't see AT&T allowing any high quality video chat for iPhones. Now if that exclusive deal finally comes to an end, then things could be a lot better in many ways.
 
I think it will be implemented awesome on Apple's part and will work over wi-fi and 3g. It will be horribly jerky on the 3g network though (even my webcam is slow over 3g). Perhaps with frame rates as low or lower than 1 frame per 2 seconds. That being said, if I can call Germany over Skype and have a video chat while I'm on the 3g network and get 0.5fps I will be most pleased. Even with a 2-3 second delay that will most likely come along with it.

If you're expecting video chat speeds of 30fps over 3g with no delay, you will be disappointed.
 
Too late to the Party USA

Japan has had video calling on mobile devices for the past 7 years.
India has it from 6 months.
China about to start video calling end of this year.

USA, where are you?
 
The thing most people don't seem to understand is that this is not "voice calling" in the way it has traditionally been implemented...as a pay-per-minute add-on feature offered by your carrier. This is videochat done over IP, using your phone's data connection and (hopefully) allowing you to chat not only with other iPhone users, but people on any computer. That's what will make the iPhone's video revolutionary.
 
thelatinist said:
The thing most people don't seem to understand is that this is not "voice calling" in the way it has traditionally been implemented...as a pay-per-minute add-on feature offered by your carrier. This is videochat done over IP, using your phone's data connection and (hopefully) allowing you to chat not only with other iPhone users, but people on any computer. That's what will make the iPhone's video revolutionary.
Click to expand...

That would be sweet :D
Finally I will get to use my laptops built in webcam and mic more often.
 
I cant see Apple releasing a crippled feature like this. MMS and Tethering were not flagship features for the 3gs, it was part of an OS update.

If video chat is going to be a flagship feature of the new phone hardware, It would be a big blow to US owners of iPhones wanting to get a new iPhone.


With the slingbox app & ustream app a reality now, why would video calling be such a hard thing to do?


Yes AT&T's network outright sucks for data. Calling has always been decent for me.

I am still extremely disappointed that tethering is not here, being a mobile computer tech, I need it. (Please don't tell me to get a droid, i know i could, but other iPhone features still keep me on the iPhone.)
 
doubleatheman said:
I cant see Apple releasing a crippled feature like this. MMS and Tethering were not flagship features for the 3gs, it was part of an OS update.

If video chat is going to be a flagship feature of the new phone hardware, It would be a big blow to US owners of iPhones wanting to get a new iPhone.


With the slingbox app & ustream app a reality now, why would video calling be such a hard thing to do?


Yes AT&T's network outright sucks for data. Calling has always been decent for me.
Click to expand...

It might have to do with 3G latency and upload speeds I would think.
With a wifi connection you wont have any problems uploading a decent amount of data while in the meantime downloading.
And even though AT&T's 3G speeds are great in my area the upload is not and Im sure many dont mind as long as the download goes quick.
Then you might experience alot of stop and go and freezing while trying to use video chat while away from Wifi.
Obviously all this is hypothetical ifs of what we can expect down the road :)
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS (JB3.1, unlocked): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.4 Mobile/7D11 Safari/531.21.10)

Mugambo said:
Japan has had video calling on mobile devices for the past 7 years.
India has it from 6 months.
China about to start video calling end of this year.

USA, where are you?
Click to expand...

Having lived in Japan that whole time, I can tell you that 1) video calling is prohibitively expensive and 2) the quality sucks so 3) no one uses it. Hopefully the iPhone HD's implementation will be better on all counts.
 
JediZenMaster said:
The Idea of video calling is pretty cool i think but i don't think it will be implemented the way people think it will be.

AT&T Currently has Handsets that support Video Share which is a 1 way video call. I Guess it's because of limitations of the network. So i figure the iphone 4 will support video calling via the front facing camera the same way.

And i am guessing that The Ichat/Skype Video calling feature would be on Wi-Fi only.

If anyone else has any other theories Chime in :p
Click to expand...

At the time of Video Share AT&T had a 3G network speed of 1.8 Mb/s, not that fast to support simultaneous video in/out and the call; however, fast enough to allow the call and the one way video. Right now, the entire 3G footprint is at 3.6 Mb/s speeds with the 7.2 Mb/s software update in place across the entire 3G network. However, we still see 3.6Mb/s because of the backhaul.

That said, it isn't difficult to guess Jobs will announce video chat for iChat on Wi-Fi, and when AT&T has the 7.2 Mb/s updates in place, let iChat hook via 3G. As for video call, not possible because of the current iPhone X-Gold 608 inherent upload speed cap. The current iPhone 3G and 3GS is capped at 384 Kb/s upload in 3G, not an AT&T limit, but an Infineon chip limit (manufacturer). My guess is that this next iPhone will support the next generation 3G uploads with a new Infineon baseband chip which should cap off at around 5.7Mb/s. If it doesn't have a new chip, then it will be iChat (as in AIM and such and Wi-Fi only) thing only and no video call.

If the new chip does happen, then maybe we will be able to have video call, but among supporting handsets (like supporting iPhones [3GS receives only], other Android handsets, BBs, and possibly WinMo devices). This will only be possible with the right chip in place and if AT&T allows it. I am guessing they will but will add new charges like video minutes to our monthly bills if we choose to.
 
jav6454 said:
At the time of Video Share AT&T had a 3G network speed of 1.8 Mb/s, not that fast to support simultaneous video in/out and the call; however, fast enough to allow the call and the one way video. Right now, the entire 3G footprint is at 3.6 Mb/s speeds with the 7.2 Mb/s software update in place across the entire 3G network. However, we still see 3.6Mb/s because of the backhaul.

That said, it isn't difficult to guess Jobs will announce video chat for iChat on Wi-Fi, and when AT&T has the 7.2 Mb/s updates in place, let iChat hook via 3G. As for video call, not possible because of the current iPhone X-Gold 608 inherent upload speed cap. The current iPhone 3G and 3GS is capped at 384 Kb/s upload in 3G, not an AT&T limit, but an Infineon chip limit (manufacturer). My guess is that this next iPhone will support the next generation 3G uploads with a new Infineon baseband chip which should cap off at around 5.7Mb/s. If it doesn't have a new chip, then it will be iChat (as in AIM and such and Wi-Fi only) thing only and no video call.

If the new chip does happen, then maybe we will be able to have video call, but among supporting handsets (like supporting iPhones [3GS receives only], other Android handsets, BBs, and possibly WinMo devices). This will only be possible with the right chip in place and if AT&T allows it. I am guessing they will but will add new charges like video minutes to our monthly bills if we choose to.
Click to expand...

Very interesting points brought up.
I didnt know that the 3G chips in the 3G and 3GS models where limiting the upload connection.
Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back