June 9th, 2010 at 10:00 am by David Farrar
I’ve been waiting for video calls to become standard, and the new iPhone looks like it will do just that.
I love how some of the imaginary technology that featured on shows like the Jetsons, is fast becoming reality.
Tags:
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iPhone
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June 9th, 2010 at 10:08 am
This world-wide masturbation over anything Apple does is frankly becoming pathetic.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Hey, I’m STILL waiting for my flying car! I feel ripped off by societal expectations instilled in the space-race 60s, deflated by the realisation that I’ll never sleep with Marina from Stingray, and gutted that my career path never led me to be the pilot of Thunderbird-2!!! Damn, life can be so cruel…
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:35 am
In the 1960s when television was still fairly new my mother and others commented that now they had a telephone and television why not put them together and have television telephones to see your callers. The phrase “video calls” was not used then. With little technical idea they thought they would have to be careful getting out of the bath to answer the phone. If my mother were still alive she would be amazed at Skype.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Video calling is a gimmick and won’t catch on. My 2c.
The reason? Lies, white lies, and half-truths.
Vote:You saw those Telecom adverts on bus shelters a couple of years ago: “Use this as the backdrop for that ‘I’m working late at the office dear’ call…”
June 9th, 2010 at 10:40 am
“If my mother were still alive she would be amazed at Skype.”
What amazes me most about video around the world on Skype is that it costs nothing extra but local texts do.
At work our International tolls are far cheaper than local calls. The Jetsons wasn’t that stupid.
“Video calling is a gimmick and won’t catch on. ”
When it comes to seeing your grandchildren in Switzerland it catches on. I use a mix of email, chat, Skype phone and Skype video. All for less per month than my local phone usage (with no video). Not the same as being there but still valuable.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:41 am
And in the 1960s they thought we’d all be driving nuclear cars by now.
Porno Jetsons is worth watching though…
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Standard…
.. over WiFi
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:44 am
I’ll guess video calling will not take off. The fact I don’t have to look awesome when taking a phone call is often a huge advantage for everyone.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:45 am
And we’re still driving 100kmph on our motorways since 1969.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Bring on the skycar and it’ll be Jetson’s ready set GO!!!
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Isn’t it 104 kph at the moment Sonny? In 1969 I think it was 55 mph (88.5 kph). Driving skills haven’t improved at that rate.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 11:10 am
So suddenly just because iCrap v4 has a front facing camera, video calling suddenly becomes standard? pfft. What tripe.
Front facing cameras have been on mid range to hi range phones for a while now. Guess the iApple fanboys have missed out on this eh?
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 11:40 am
My little nokia had/has the video calling and awesome battery life for the last three years.
Well done iPoo
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 11:47 am
What MikeE said – the video calling on the iPhone will only be over wi-fi for now. I used to own a Nokia N95 that had video calling over 3G – had a camera on the front for said purpose. I never used it, but I saw some folks using it on the train to video call home – the dad and kids on the train were talking to the mom at home. So, Nokia probably still has one over Apple in that regard.
I still have the iPhone 3G that I bought in Sept 08. It sucks how Apple updates them so often and leaves you behind. I bought it outright for about $980 so I could use prepay. I couldn’t afford to buy another one now. The new iPhone will also use a mini-SIM card, so I don’t know how that’s going to work. The providers here are trying to bring them out before then.
The phone does sound awesome, if only for the higher res screen (“Retina Display”) and the HD video recording and in-phone iMovie editing.
Having said that, a phone is a phone I suppose.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 11:49 am
It’s a nice looking piece of hardware but video calling has been around for aaaaaaages on Vodafone’s network with a bunch of phones that supposedly support. This will require both parties to have the brand new iPhone and only work when they’ve both got a wifi connection. Big step backwards if anything…
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 11:52 am
My little nokia had/has the video calling and awesome battery life for the last three years.
But have you actually used it? I got one of the Sony Ericssions that did it, years ago. It was a rather poor gimmick. I suspect the iPhone feature will work and be fun to use, which is generally how Apple’s products succeed.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Russell, I think the problem is that you can only use the new video feature with wifi. The only wifi I have access to is at home, therefore it’s easier for me (and I suspect, most people) just to use their laptop and webcam.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
“FaceTime video calling isn’t as sharp as I expected. It’s tremendously easy to use, just another button in the phone calling panel. But frame rates were just a bit jerky, maybe 15 frames per second, and the video looked pixilated. ”
“My demo guy confirmed it won’t interoperate with any other program – it’s just for iPhone-to-iPhone calling, which was disappointing. ”
Standard as long as you join the religion?
“It’s definitely a 1.0, and I’m hoping Apple will build on this initial version to provide higher-res chatting and connections with iChat on the desktop. ”
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364762,00.asp
Like Fletch, I’m happy to do my video calls from home, and then only some of my calls.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Russell, I played with the Nokia/Vodafone video calling when I first got the mobile 3 years ago because I doubted it’d work well and was pleasantly surprised to see it was fine. Its not something I find a use for however.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
porno jetsons?? hell yeah! the mum was HOT!
not sure if id go for her or lois from family guy.. lois has that dirty aspect….
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
What gingercrush said. The Reality Distortion Field wins again.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Flash Gordon and now the Jetsons… next Star Trek transporters.
Technology will always make as wish we were born today and not yesterday.
Mind you a lot of todays futuristic films… show the World of the future in a pretty bad state.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Re Porno Jetsons. I concur.
Vote:I have a pirated version, looks the same except it is called iPatch
June 9th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
I will be getting one the day it comes out!
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Video calling won’t take off, at least not in NZ due to the high mobile cost.
Look @ places like HK, Tokyo, we’ve had video calling for a very long time now (with the introduction of 3G network) and you hardly find anyone using video chat in these cities.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Tokyo, we’ve had video calling for a very long time now (with the introduction of 3G network) and you hardly find anyone using video chat in these cities.
Thats because the Japanese are shy introverts… Westerners are unashamed load extroverts look at me types..
For that reason keep the teenages of them.
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
As others have said, the technology has been available even in NZ for a donkeys age… and has never taken off…
My wife and I had phones previous to the iphones we have now that had the service, and for a long time had unlimited usage, but you know what; within 2-3 weeks we stopped using it on a regular basis…
a) calls are no longer private, it’s like a speaker phone, but with no way of knowing when you are suddenly going to be forced to make a speaker phone call (imagine being at work and then having to publicly discuss your weeks shopping, or worse, in front of everyone).
b) you feel a prize dick standing there with the phone in your out stretched arm…
On deciding to purchase smart phones when the previous phones died, I mentioned we wouldn’t be able to video call, and after both laughing our heads off, we agreed it was a complete waste of technology, and not something we would either miss.
Even if our phones died today, it would still not be something we would factor into purchasing a phone…
Vote:June 9th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Video and phones ?, hell no. No good when the wife calls and you are at the tavern when you are suppose to be in the tractor at the back of the farm.
Vote: