Hi CC,

The mobile I have at the moment is the HTC HD2. It's the first phone I've had for years that doesn't do video calling and the reason I chose this phone is because I don't work away from home and haven't done for a couple of years now.

When I was working away from home, (and it used to be for weeks at a time) I didn't have a Wi-Fi connection, but didn't need one as I had free video minutes on my mobile, which I used to phone the wife and kids in the evening, because being able to see them whilst saying hello and goodnight is much better, (in my opinion) than "just hearing some voices"

Am I also right in thinking that video calls can only be between two iPhone 4s, and they cannot video call other types of mobile?

IT may depending on where you are using WiFi. Imagine this - you take your phone abroad, and pay the hotel for a WiFi slot. Your call will be a hell of a lot cheaper than if you were using the local phone company to relay the call.

Also, video calls would eat hugely into your data allowance. All of a sudden that 500MB cap O2 et al are using seems quite tight. By restricting it to WiFi you get a data cap of a different magnitude (if at all). You are more likely to get far better coverage. 3G here is patchy at best, but again, get to a WiFi hot spot, and you’re in gravy.

Yes, that's the situation. Apple have said they will publish the spec/standard they are working to and then any other phone maker/app coder will be able to write a 'facetime' app for another phone or possibly even for the PC.

You can use it with Google Talk now, it's a little complicated to get it to work but you can do it

So I guess the question is... if I want to video call an iPhone would I have to use Wi-Fi?

Yes and only to another iPHone 4 handset.

http://gizmodo.com/5572031/facetime-doe ... ogle-voice
2nd update shows it working, not sure if Google Voice + video calling is on Android handsets though

I had video calling on my Motorolla V975 about 5 years ago, I then had it on my Nokia N70 and then on my LG Viewty. I used it a bit on the Motorolla, mainly for novelty factor, but then the novelty wore off and I never used it again.

The O2 contract I was on with the V975 had a video calls built into the contract, treating them like minutes rather than megabytes, so it wasn't prohibitively expensive to use...I just didn't.

Hi John



I can totally see that. I don't have kittens myself but if I did "hugs from daddy" would be so much cooler with video.



Others have answered this but my take on it is this.

Initially iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 only. However open standard so others can include it if they want.


I think that Apples take on video may take off. For a start it is free. In fact it is cheaper than free because as soon as you hit the video button you stop using contract minutes and it becomes effectively VOIP thus saving on your contract minutes.


I don't really have a use for video calling. It is hard to maintain a persona as an international cat of mystery if everbody knows what you look like.

I have to agree. In the past video calls were hugely expensive, and that put me off completely. Though at the time I did not know anyone with a compatible phone. Though with the cost being free effectively and so many more compatible phones soon there will be no problems about using it. Though for some occasions it will be very handy.

But surely you would only be video calling, (or accepting video calls) from people you know... in real life, I mean, not through the Interwebz and or forums.

Yes, but they all believe I spend my time in a smoking jacket and dickie bow drinking cocktails. I don't want them to see me with my hair in rollers.

OMG CC is Nora batty!!!!

Hugely expensive? Every contract I've had either took them from my free minutes or were included in my free minutes, so effectively the same price as a voice call or "free", depending how you interpret it, hardly expensive. The first phone I've had in the last 8 years without video calling included in my normal talk minutes is the iPhone.

As others have said, it is the novelty value that gets you to use it once or twice, but after that, you never use it again... Although, when I had my Windows Mobile phone, I had fun calling my iPhone owning friends and seeing them getting the message that they couldn't accept the call, when they tried to answer Petty? Me? Never!


But, at the moment, there are hundreds of millions of compatible video phones and 600,000 iPhone 4s...

I have never seen one used. Ever.

iPhone 4 has sold about 1.5 million on it's first day. It won't be too long before someone starts to use FaceTime. Though I guess I won't see anybody using it either as it requires WiFi.