Video chat is going to be worthless until...

[Tiako]

I can just pick up the phone and dial any phone that has a front facing camera.. I love how we have the ability to but I still can't video chat with any of my friends who have the new iphone.. I don't know anyone with the Evo.

 

[neoshi]

Ever try fring with a skype account?

 

[htcevolee]

Everyone here has a EVO. =0)

 

[Tiako]

Ever try fring with a skype account?

Didn't know it worked cross platform.. Links to evo chating with iphone?

 

[Tiako]

Everyone here has a EVO. =0)

My friends don't

 

[heavychevy]

You can chat Iphone to EVO. Use the search feature.

 

[neoshi]

Didn't know it worked cross platform.. Links to evo chating with iphone?

If your IP friends get Skype on their phones (iPhone Apps ? download Skype for iPhone and iPod touch) and you get Fring, add your own Skype account, voila you have a connection. There are bugs on our side with Fring though, like adding people needs to be done through the computer Skype app, then updated on Fring via signing on/off, unregistering/registering our account. But it works.

 

[bossxii]

Video chat is a novelty item people love to complain about when phones don't have a front facing camera, then when they do, they realize it is just that, a novelty they will quickly grow tired of.

Until every wireless carrier has LTE type speeds and can handle the kind of data it requires and any phone on any network can use the same standard protocols it's pretty much useless.

Sure their are some people, such as a dad that travels all the time and gets to see his kids when on the road etc... but laptops/home computers have had this feature for years and it's still not what people first ask for. Apple's Facetime seems to be a step in the right direction of a one button, don't have to think about it system, but of course ATT can't handle the data so it's limited to Wifi for a few years anyhow.

When HTC and the rest of the handset makers have a simple easy to use, standard solution that is as simple as touching a button, like you switch to speakerphone etc... to enable a "Facetime" type of transition, then it may become more popular and mainstream. That imo is probably 3 to 5 years away.

 

[ARR22]

Video chat is a novelty item people love to complain about when phones don't have a front facing camera, then when they do, they realize it is just that, a novelty they will quickly grow tired of.

Until every wireless carrier has LTE type speeds and can handle the kind of data it requires and any phone on any network can use the same standard protocols it's pretty much useless.

Sure their are some people, such as a dad that travels all the time and gets to see his kids when on the road etc... but laptops/home computers have had this feature for years and it's still not what people first ask for. Apple's Facetime seems to be a step in the right direction of a one button, don't have to think about it system, but of course ATT can't handle the data so it's limited to Wifi for a few years anyhow.

When HTC and the rest of the handset makers have a simple easy to use, standard solution that is as simple as touching a button, like you switch to speakerphone etc... to enable a "Facetime" type of transition, then it may become more popular and mainstream. That imo is probably 3 to 5 years away.

3-5 years? We have the tech now as we speak. It just needs to be tweaked and refined. In 3-5 years our phones will have quad core processors ,3D screens, HD Resolutions, Nano Cell Batteries, 1080p video recording, HD Radio,128GB plus flash memory, ETC. Technology is on a rapid pace like never seen before.

 

[htmlcssguru]

Sooner than later there will be a 3rd party app in the market that will truly handle the video chat features directly from peer-to-peer. Right now it's bouncing through Fring's servers or Qik's servers instead of simply going through the network from source to destination. The iPhone's FaceTime works that way, peer-to-peer, but only if you have 2 people with iPhone 4's and IF you are by wifi. Won't work on AT&T's network (too much bandwidth usage).

The Skype video calls are actually pretty good quality. The problem is there isn't a specific Skype app for it which is why you have to use Fring. Once there is a Skype app then that will resolve much of the speed issues. However, it still requires the people on the other end (whether a phone or a PC) to have Skype installed.

The biggest hurdle in video chat is always going to be compatible software. The caller and sender have to have the same setup for it to work. I can't call an iPhone from EVO unless we both have Skype (and, he's in a wifi spot).

 

[Tiako]

If your IP friends get Skype on their phones (iPhone Apps ? download Skype for iPhone and iPod touch) and you get Fring, add your own Skype account, voila you have a connection. There are bugs on our side with Fring though, like adding people needs to be done through the computer Skype app, then updated on Fring via signing on/off, unregistering/registering our account. But it works.

Does ATT allow skype to work off of 3g?

 

[nkawal]

I was able to use fring on my EVO with a friend who has another EVO. Then I linked my skype account to my fring account on the evo and was able to have a video chat on my EVO with my girfriend who has skype on her netbook. So it works, Skype for iphone should work also.

 

[Tiako]

Sounds like this will be too much of a pain for my iphone friends.. You know how iphone users are with electronics..

If it just doesn't work then they don't want to mess with it.

 

[bossxii]

3-5 years? We have the tech now as we speak. It just needs to be tweaked and refined. In 3-5 years our phones will have quad core processors ,3D screens, HD Resolutions, Nano Cell Batteries, 1080p video recording, HD Radio,128GB plus flash memory, ETC. Technology is on a rapid pace like never seen before.

It has nothing to do with the phones, it's the wireless networks. At least in the US, they are driven by profits and profits ONLY. They will upgrade to LTE as slowly as they can so they can continue to soak up profits from the current data plans. The phone hardware is not the issue, pretty sure if you read my post, that was clear.

 

[ARR22]

It has nothing to do with the phones, it's the wireless networks. At least in the US, they are driven by profits and profits ONLY. They will upgrade to LTE as slowly as they can so they can continue to soak up profits from the current data plans. The phone hardware is not the issue, pretty sure if you read my post, that was clear.

Right, thats why I said it need to be tweaked and refined. I just dissagree with you time frame IMO.

 

[bossxii]

Right, thats why I said it need to be tweaked and refined. I just dissagree with you time frame IMO.

I hope I'm wrong on the time frame as well... but considering how slow even 4G has taken to roll out in the US it's just my thoughts on it. If not mistaken Sprint started rolling out 4g in Baltimore back in Oct 08? It's taken 2 years to reach a few dozen cities and from what I understand Wimax is cheaper than 3g cell sites, smaller and can be placed in many more places. LTE based on what i've read, which is clearly someone else's opinions none the less are talking a min of 2015 until the US is fully rolled out into LTE coverage from all the big 3 or 4 carriers.

I'll be the first one that is happy if I'm wrong, but if history is any indication of how fast the wireless companies will move to roll out faster data networks, were in for a nice long wait.

I'm curious what you think the timing will be and why? I'm assuming you feel it will be much shorter. Everything I find to read about "4g" in general points 3+ years until it would be considered fully deployed. Love to see anything stating it's on the way sooner.

** I miss understood your "tweaked and refined" comment to mean the software and hardware on the smart phones needed help, not as the networks. Clearly the networks need help. I don't however see anything short of "new" full LTE networks being rolled out to support heavy data usage that features such as video calls will need.

 

[ARR22]

I hope I'm wrong on the time frame as well... but considering how slow even 4G has taken to roll out in the US it's just my thoughts on it. If not mistaken Sprint started rolling out 4g in Baltimore back in Oct 08? It's taken 2 years to reach a few dozen cities and from what I understand Wimax is cheaper than 3g cell sites, smaller and can be placed in many more places. LTE based on what i've read, which is clearly someone else's opinions none the less are talking a min of 2015 until the US is fully rolled out into LTE coverage from all the big 3 or 4 carriers.

I'll be the first one that is happy if I'm wrong, but if history is any indication of how fast the wireless companies will move to roll out faster data networks, were in for a nice long wait.

I'm curious what you think the timing will be and why? I'm assuming you feel it will be much shorter. Everything I find to read about "4g" in general points 3+ years until it would be considered fully deployed. Love to see anything stating it's on the way sooner.

** I miss understood your "tweaked and refined" comment to mean the software and hardware on the smart phones needed help, not as the networks. Clearly the networks need help. I don't however see anything short of "new" full LTE networks being rolled out to support heavy data usage that features such as video calls will need.

Well Im only speaking for Sprint's Wimax, Clearwire is in control of the deployment. Sprint is just on for the ride. Its in Clearwire's interest to deploy quicker since they are coming out with their very own Wimax handsets. Not to mention they provide wireless broadband as their stand alone product. Companies including Clearwire want to grow and increase revenues. Its common buisness sense that in order to do so they need more subscribers thus more coverage. I predict in 2 years Sprints Wimax coverage will be on par with their 3G coverage. I cant say the same for LTE. Just my 2 pennies, nobody can really forecast the future.

Im aware that sprint owns 50% of clearwires shares but they are still an independent entity with other big players at play.

 

[EarlyMon]

Video chat is a novelty item people love to complain about when phones don't have a front facing camera, then when they do, they realize it is just that, a novelty they will quickly grow tired of.

Bzzzzzpt! Wrong.

Millions of people rely on Skype video for business and industry, I'm one of them.

Whether I'm adding that missing dimension of face expressions to my conversations (as I did yesterday and today) or using it to compare laboratory hardware configurations at two different sites (as I did two days ago), video conferencing is not just some novelty.

It's saved me countless times from miscommunications with people and with having to hop a plane just to put my own eyeballs on something for 15 minutes.

Skype gives me platform independence - Win, Mac, Linux or phone - and Fring/Skype - with any of its warts - just plain works.

Say I'm in an airport with my laptop packed up - or away from my desk. Someone calls me (as they often do) with a problem, and I don't have to unpack/login/find-wifi or run back to my office. All I need is a place to set out my kickstand (hands free for notes, etc), and not even that in a pinch.

Instead of all that, I now get to say: "Are you on Skype? Good, stand by, let's vid right now." Seconds later, I'm there.

And it particularly doesn't suck when I'm on travel and want complete privacy and convenience while the grandkids blow me kisses.

And if any of the more well-to-do teens are using it phone-to-phone to do their thing, what do I care? In fact - as far as I'm concerned, that's a playtime activity that builds a valuable job skill, and what could be better than that?

Nah - not a fad, not a flash in the pan, not a useless novelty.

PS - Fring/Skype looks *great* in 3G alone - people cannot believe I'm using a phone. Works just as well on wifi.

PPS - I'll monitor the network next time, but with H.263/H.263+ use - pretty sure Skype is NOT overloading the backbone any more than YouTube is - certainly no more than Sprint TV, Sprint NASCAR, or any of that stuff.

If more and more and more people were using their Evos and the like for Skype video chats, do you think Sprint would suppress it, or build more infrastructure to support it?

If more and more and more people got turned on to the Evo for this feature alone, causing even higher Evo demand, do you think it would help us or hurt us when we complain as a group for more options and features?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_conferencing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.263

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype_protocol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype

 

[jerzeywill]

I wish oovoo, yim, aim, and skype had good video chat apps on Evo. That be hot.

 

[EarlyMon]

I wish oovoo, yim, aim, and skype had good video chat apps on Evo. That be hot.

Fring as a front end for Skype IS a great video chat app.

 

[gesanjose]

Get Tango! Just confirmed video chat from EVO to iPhone via 3G.

 

[KingFatty]

Last I checked Tango had an issue that prevented the phone from sleeping so that it could listen for incoming calls, and therefore killed battery life. Has Tanog addressed this wake-always-no-sleep issue yet? I'm waiting to install till they fix this issue.

You can check your battery stats to see if your phone even went to sleep at all.

 

[drexappeal]

Get Tango! Just confirmed video chat from EVO to iPhone via 3G.

I was able to use Fring with my best friend (who's an iPhone). No issues. Initially, it didn't work because the iPhone was having problems, not my EVO.

After he updated, we tried it and it was pretty good. Lag was minimal.

 

[Rigmaster]

Tango has some bumps to clear up, but so far it looks better than most of the currently available options. It works across platforms, which is huge. Hope they get it going soon.

Qik was a big disappointment. I knew it would be though.

I wouldn't bet against Google having something up their sleeves too.

 

[TF1984]

TANGO was just updated today at 2:50pm EST, the dev told me last weekend this update would correct the wake lock battery problem.

I've installed it and plan to give it another go...