New Apple iPhone 4g?

[Siftah]

FaceTime is only between iPhone 4 users at the mo' but the technology is an open standard from Apple so expect to see it implemented on PC/Mac chat clients and other phones in future.

H.264, AAC, SIP, STUN, TURN, ICE, RTP, and SRTP

http://blog.imtc.org/index.php/2010/06/09/the-technology-behind-apples-facetime-standards/

Looking at that, there's no reason why this wouldn't allow you to dial in to your Cisco telepresence or PolyCom video conferencing suite in the office, connect to virtually any of the standards based video chat clients or just make a standard SIP call to any other VOIP phone - I can't imagine the mobile networks will be too happy about that, but it will be interesting to see what develops with it

 

[Aebous]

You iPhone 4 guys may want to read this:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/0,39029453,49306007,00.htm

I think they're overstating it a bit, I've seen it drop a little if I hold it really tight, but in practice it's getting better signal than my 3GS and much better data speeds (though the 3GS is on o2!)

Video of me demonstrating it here: http://gallery.me.com/siftah#100062 or YouTubed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sf-voXVZ5Q

I agree, after hearing this I've tried to duplicate both at work and at home (heard about it first from guys at work). I can't make it happen for me, I've looked at various vids that show it happening, put my hand in the same spot, and I get nothing. Maybe I got a good solid 4g and they got lemons?

I have yet to do facetime. No one I know has one well except ya'll....now if I could remember names with forum names.

 

[cj_eds]

If Apple had developed their own standards for Facetime it would have been re-inventing the wheel with numerous things like MSN, Skype and the video conferencing stuff like mentioned above already existing.
Was disappointed to see Skype wasn't available for my older HTC. Anyone know if Apple are allowing it on the iPhone4? If it's competition against face time then Apple don't have a good record there of allowing competitors in (not surprising really - why would you). Would be nice though if as said above it's compatible with other Voice/Video Over IP systems.

 

[Siftah]

I agree, after hearing this I've tried to duplicate both at work and at home (heard about it first from guys at work). I can't make it happen for me, I've looked at various vids that show it happening, put my hand in the same spot, and I get nothing. Maybe I got a good solid 4g and they got lemons?

I have yet to do facetime. No one I know has one well except ya'll....now if I could remember names with forum names.

It's quite easily reproducable once you know how - but it's a fairly weird position to be holding the phone. Certainly not a way that I, personally, would ever be holding it. Nor is the effect as dramatic as some people seem to be saying. You also need to have fairly sweaty hands to make it work really well or to be holding it fairly tightly.

There's been other phones where holding in a certain position reduces the signal strength, it's not entirely new. The main issue seems to be that with the iPhone you just need to electrically bridge the metal antenna band in one specific point and it can substantially reduce the signal.

The thing that makes me laugh is just how many people are jumping on the bandwagon of bashing it - I made a comment on twitter last night which I think got retweeted by Robert Llewelyn (Kryten from Red Dwarf) and I ended up with a flurry of tweets from people decrying the iPhone. Most of them had either not used the iPhone or hadn't got one. I find it hilarious that people feel the need to slag off a product they don't own themselves, or sing the praises of their own choice of mobile - what's that all about!?

Of the people I know who actually own an iPhone 4, none of them have expressed any disapointment about their purchase - though I know a lot of people have done, but they sold over half a million in a day so I guess even a small percentage of unhappy customers is going to sound big on the internet.

Anyway, I like my new shiny

 

[Siftah]

If Apple had developed their own standards for Facetime it would have been re-inventing the wheel with numerous things like MSN, Skype and the video conferencing stuff like mentioned above already existing.
Was disappointed to see Skype wasn't available for my older HTC. Anyone know if Apple are allowing it on the iPhone4? If it's competition against face time then Apple don't have a good record there of allowing competitors in (not surprising really - why would you). Would be nice though if as said above it's compatible with other Voice/Video Over IP systems.

Yup, Skype's been on the iPhone for a while. There are a couple of limitations though;
- You didn't used to be able to use it over 3G, which sucked. If you Jailbroke your phone you could run a hack which let it make calls over 3G and that worked well. Currently, Skype are doing calls over 3G and they're saying this is going to be free until Sept (I think) at which point they'll start making a small charge.
- There was never video calling ability as obviously, the iPhone didn't have a front-facing camera... I'm guessing that may now change...