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BadboyHouse

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 1, 2011
261
1
I'm sure I read that FaceTime over 3G will require a 4S. Is that right? What is it that the 4S has that the 4 doesn't that means FaceTime on 3G will only work on the 4S?
 
Probably because the 4S supports 4G networks such as HSPA+

I think this nails it, the 4 has slower speeds. Back when I was running a jailbroken 4 I tried FaceTime over 3G and it was mostly unusable often dropping and stuttering.

It works OK on the 4S but I think it will do really well with LTE on the 5.
 
They will say the A4 cannot handle processing and sending the video or something. Not sure how it works but the 4S and 5 have A5/A6.

Does the iPad 2 support Facetime over cellular? If not then this theory is moot.

But the iPad 2/3 and 4S/5 and iPod touch 5g support turn by turn I believe. Something they all have in common is the A5 of higher.
 
Probably because the 4S supports 4G networks such as HSPA+

Even here in the US the iPhone 4s only supports "4G"* on 1 of the 3 major carriers. If it works on Sprint 3G, then it should work on AT&T 3G as well.

*I know it isn't really 4G, but for the sake of the argument, I'm going to ignore that.
 
One "speculated" reason was that FaceTime over 3G uses higher video compression for smoother video, which the A4 cannot handle. Again, this is only speculative, an no official reason was ever given
 
I used to use Facetime over 3G on my iPhone 4 via a MiFi - there was nothing wrong with it.

I agree with what others have said, to sell more 4s's...
 
The 4S has HSDPA+, and the 4 only has HSUPA. It matters. It's not related to the processors, it's related to the wireless radios.
 
OMG where to start...
HSPA+ is NOT 4G. Only in the US do they even try and call it that.
The UN ITU (United Nations International Telecommunications Union) headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland defines HSPA+ under the 4G umbrella. USA just follows suit. Some ignorant nations that want to confuse and complicate things for their citizens, typical government, don't follow international standards. *shrug* Blame the Swiss.


Probably because the 4S supports 4G networks such as HSPA+
The 4 has 7.2mbps 3G on GSM (ATT)
The 4S has a mere 3.1mbps 3G on CDMA (Verizon/Sprint)

So that doesn't add up.

The 4S has HSDPA+, and the 4 only has HSUPA. It matters. It's not related to the processors, it's related to the wireless radios.
See above.

One "speculated" reason was that FaceTime over 3G uses higher video compression for smoother video, which the A4 cannot handle. Again, this is only speculative, an no official reason was ever given
Plausible.

No other reason but that they want you to buy a new iPhone.
Most probable.
 

But...that's not at all related to what I posted? How can you compare what the 4 and 4S get on different networks? That's not a comparison. The 4S gets faster network performance on the same network, all other variables constant. Is it that hard to understand?

From Wikipedia:
The iPhone 4S has an improved cellular (GSM) antenna design over the iPhone 4. The new antenna is divided up into two pieces within the stainless steel band that wraps around the sides of the phone. Therefore, if the iPhone 4S is gripped in such a way as to attenuate one piece of the cellular antenna, the radio will switch to the other piece that isn't being gripped.[40] The iPhone 4S can support a maximum theoretical download speed of up to 14.4 Mbps with HSDPA+.
 
But...that's not at all related to what I posted? How can you compare what the 4 and 4S get on different networks? That's not a comparison. The 4S gets faster network performance on the same network, all other variables constant. Is it that hard to understand?

The 4S on Verizon and Sprint get the same network speeds as the 4 does. Only on AT&T does the 4S get access to the faster speeds from HSPA+.

As someone else already pointed out, video compression is your likely answer. The 4S is the first iPhone with a dual-core processor. Cellular using a more complex video encoding technique (for smaller data use), means you need more CPU power available to keep the feed in real-time. Video compression is also one of those things that is easy to spread across as many CPU cores as you have.

Odds are Apple uses H.264 for Facetime for both WiFi and Cellular, and is using additional space-saving features of H.264 that come at a cost of the CPU required to encode it.
 
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