One of the big features announced today on the Apple iPhone 4 was FaceTime. FaceTime brings video calling to the new iPhone 4 from Apple [AAPL] and allows users to use either the front facing video camera or rear facing video camera to make video calls to other iPhone 4 users over a WiFi connection.
Note that we mentioned “over a WiFi connection”. At WWDC, Steve Jobs announced that FaceTime in 2010 was a WiFi only deal, but that Apple is working with carriers to bring FaceTime over 3G networks.
FaceTime works right out of the box according to the Apple site. When making a call to someone you can click on the video camera and if available, the user on the other side will be prompted to switch to FaceTime. If they accept the video streams will be activated.
Although Apple announce FaceTime as a new service, it isn’t that new for some countries who have had 3G video calling capabilities since about 2003. However, it does look like Apple have the highest quality implementation of this along with the brand that could push it main-stream. My personal thoughts on this that it is more a novelty feature rather than one that will be used all the time. Still though, it’s handy to have. Lets hope some sort of cross app integration will be made possible or that apps like Skype will be able to make use of the forward facing video camera.
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