ABC News and Xeni test FaceTime

iPhone 4's FaceTime video calling: better than Skype? Xeni and ABC news try out the WiFi-only feature in this TV segment. Looks kinda choppy to me -- but better than Skype. [ABC News] Also: the bigger picture on why Apple made this. [DF]

• [Anonymous]

  “Strap them on to kids so you can see where they are all the time”

  Hmm, we should strap these on to politicians and make them keep them on 24/7.

  Solve a lot of hooker mysteries pretty quick.

• [DrPretto]

  WiFi ONLY?
  HTC EVO and Samsung Galaxy S are better, they can do videocalls using their front camera, not only wifi, ALSO 3G and 4G(EVO).

• [Gilgongo]

  Please can somebody explain the DF post to me? He appears to be saying that with FaceTime, Apple have introduced IP telephony to the iPhone. This, he concludes, means that one day, we’ll all start making calls over wireless and not cellular networks. That’s like saying when everything uses batteries, we’ll never have to pay the power companies money to run our homes on electricity.

  But it seems such a clueless (not to say pointless) “analysis” of the situation that I feel I’ve misunderstood something.

  • [mko]

    He’s really just excited about the implications of people being able to chat with each other over the internet using small handheld devices without the need to purchase a monthly mobile phone plan.
    I’m excited too.
    It’s already happening to a certain extent as more people use google voice and skype on their mobile devices without paying att/verizon/etc a dime.

    I disagree with the battery analogy, I don’t see people throwing away their wifi connections after they use them up. I do believe this is just a starting point. A Clearwire equipped “phone” doesn’t seem impossible right now. Wifi will increase in range and bandwidth and small devices will be built to take advantage of this as demand grows.

    In the future we will pay only for an internet subscription and not worry about having a phone number.

    • [mko]

      I forgot to mention that it is entirely possible that att/verizon/etc may become our sole internet providers in the future and they will have to alter their business models to compete with (hopefully) long range, high bandwidth consumer configurable wifi that can be set up anywhere there is internet access.

• [Rindan]

  My Evo does this without a wifi network. It can also can take calls no matter how I hold it. I don’t have to use AT&T. Got an app for that?

• [Gilgongo]

  @mko “In the future we will pay only for an internet subscription and not worry about having a phone number.”

  Perhaps, but why that would excite anyone other than a comms geek is beyond me. Are you suggesting that this is going to be cheaper or something? Again, that’s at best a maybe (hint: the current net neutrality debate is not going well in that regard).

  But really, I’m sure Usenet users enjoyed predicting glory days when we they didn’t have to rely on daily UUCP connections. Whatever, dude.

  • [mko]

    Whatever, dude to you too! I see that you are actually not misunderstanding anything, excuse me for trying to clarify.

    Though I will add two more points because it is an interesting subject to me. Right now many people are paying ~$80+/month for a smartphone plan AND ~$40+/month for their internet connection. If the phone plan could be eliminated, yes, people would be paying less.
    In addition, when you use the internet to communicate with somebody they can be anywhere in the world and all they would need is an internet connection and a compatible application.

• [Chesterfield]

  I complained about the shakey video in yesterday’s skate park clip. Next to this, Xeni is a frickin’ tripod. This guys video was almost unwatchable.

• [Rob Beschizza]

  Also, that guy’s delivery reminds me oddly of Christian Bale’s internal conceptualization of brash Americans.