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FaceTime for Mac: Video hands-on
After some initial downloading hiccups (but thanks for those extra copies of the iWork demo, Apple) the FaceTime Mac beta is up and running. Setup is dead simple -- enter your MobileMe or Apple ID, or sign up for one if you don't have it. Sign in and you're ready to go. Your email address is your service locator, that's how folks will find you. There's no resolution settings, no tweaking to do -- considering that most of your chat partners are on iOS devices, that makes perfect sense. When your contact list comes up (pulled from Address Book), just start typing a name and the list will scroll to the contact. Double-click to call. You can add favorites to distinguish between iPhones and desktop FaceTime setups. Josh noted that you can also start a call from Mac OS X via URLs like facetime://appleid or facetime://email@address or facetime://phone# -- just put them in Safari's address bar. In the Preferences, you can add secondary email addresses that callers use to locate you; you'll have to validate those before they're active. The beta status of the app is evident in some text corruption in those fields, but video and audio seem smooth. You can quickly switch from portrait to landscape, but that's about it. Click through to the rest of the post to see a quick screencast demo call with Megan.
FaceTime becomes a desktop application
Facetime made its grand debut as part of iOS4 (specifically on the iPhone 4 hardware). It expanded to a nice user base once the fourth generation of the iPod touch was released. In today's event, it was announced that in the first four months of Facetime's existence, said user base grew to 19 million people. Now those 19 million people will be able to talk to all the customers of Apple Computer who actually purchased a computer! As of today, the beta for FaceTime will be available for computers as well. Steve did a quick demonstration of FaceTime with Phil Schiller who was on his iPhone 4, and it looked pretty smooth. So far the only notable piece of the announcement is what was missing: A Windows client, or at least integration with an existing messaging application. It is starting to look like iChat's days might be numbered, since we heard no mention of it and now the way forward appears to have a new icon.
FaceTime coming to OS X, beta available today
We just spotted the FaceTime logo, or a version of it, lurking in the OS X dock during Apple's iMovie 11 demo. New version of iChat with FaceTime compatibility? We'd put money on it. Update: It's real! It appears to be an all-new app, instead of a version of iChat AV. You use your Mac's Address Book and make calls right from the app. If your chat counterpart is in portrait or landscape the display automatically adjusts, and you can also go to full screen. Better yet? It's out today, in a beta form. Find out more in our hands-on. %Gallery-105525%
TUAW predictions for the "Back to the Mac" event
Apple's "Back to the Mac" event is almost upon us. While the world eagerly awaits Apple's unveiling, we at TUAW are sticking our necks out and predicting (with tongue slightly in cheek) what we think Steve's gonna announce when he takes the stage.
Report: six percent of Americans have made a video call
A recent Pew Research study found that 6% of Americans have participated in a video call with a mobile phone. That number has risen since the iPhone 4's introduction, and is now comparable to the 19% of Americans who have used video conferencing in one way or another. The study was conducted in mid-August and mid-September, just two months after the iPhone 4 was released in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan. Pew Research found that wealthy users (those making above US$75,000 per year) under 50 years of age were most likely to have made a video call with a mobile phone. While new to the US, video phone calling has existed in other countries for some time. However, poor display resolution and call quality has prevented it from catching on in any significant way. Meanwhile, some iPhone 4 users are unable to place a FaceTime call due to restrictions placed by their carriers. Apple has released a list of iPhone 4 carriers from around the world, with a footnote identifying those that do not officially support FaceTime, including: Jordan Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Egypt We received tips about FaceTime not working in UAE recently, but this is the first official confirmation from Apple that we've found. Apple's language says that FaceTime is not available "From this carrier." We're sure Apple would have FaceTime working everywhere. One wonders why these individual carriers have said no.
Tango app dancing to a happy tune
That was fast. The Tango video chatting app for the iPhone has topped one million downloads in the ten days since it launched in the iTunes store. The free app allows phone-to-phone video chat, but unlike the Apple FaceTime app, Tango doesn't require WiFi. It works just fine over 3G networks, and also unlike FaceTime, it allows chatting with people on many models of Android phones too. The company reports 40% of the downloads of the app are from the U.S., but users in 125 countries have grabbed Tango.
T-Mobile HTC Slide to provide non-FaceTime video chat with iPhone 4
FaceTime is one of the most visible features of the iPhone 4, with much of the advertising for the newest iPhone showing off the emotionally-rich video chat capabilities that FaceTime provides. But if your friends are on another network or don't have an iPhone 4, it's impossible to use your phone to video chat with them. Yahoo! and T-Mobile would like to change that. T-Mo announced earlier in the week that an upcoming Android phone, the HTC Slide, will come with two cameras arrayed much in the same manner as those on the iPhone. The Slide will also provide video chatting with any other phone equipped with two cameras, including the iPhone 4. Since FaceTime is an Apple-specific feature, how is T-Mobile going to do this? Through Yahoo! Messenger. The current iOS app doesn't appear to currently support video chats, but Yahoo!'s admission that the capability would be available for the iPhone 4 indicates that an upcoming version will take advantage of the built-in cameras. Yahoo! Messenger will not only provide video chatting with other mobile devices, but it should also make it possible to share some "face time" with Yahoo! Messenger users on Macs and PCs as well. It's expected that the HTC Slide from T-Mobile will be available prior to Christmas, hopefully bringing the new versions of Yahoo! Messenger for iOS and Mac OS X that will make possible video chatting for the holidays.
Savant stuffs iPod touch into multifunctional Touch Remote, includes VoIP and FaceTime promises
That's no render we're looking at, Savant assures us, it's the most recent photograph of the company's Touch Remote prototype. This crazy do-it-all peripheral comes with an embedded fourth-gen iPod touch -- no word on whether you'll be able to remove it, though it looks unlikely -- and mirrors the abilities of Savant's iPad home control and automation app. That means that once you get your lights, climate control, network cameras, and home cinema hooked up to Savant's control hub, you'll have yourself a neatly streamlined remote to save you doing anything yourself again. Or so goes the theory, anyhow. Savant augments the offering with promises of VoIP and FaceTime integration by the time the Touch Remote ships to retailers in the first quarter of next year. MSRP is set at $399, which may or may not be feasible given that the iPod touch by itself costs at least $229. We shall see. For now, you can see the prototype device on video after the break.
Want FaceTime on 3G? Try Tango
Tango is a video and audio chatting app that does what FaceTime should have done. It works on a 3G (or a 4G) network. This free app was released last week and I have been testing it over the weekend. It performs pretty much as advertised using it on my iPhone 4. You can make and receive calls over either a WiFi network, or over the cellular network. Even better, the app works with a variety of Android phones including the Droid, HTC Hero, Evo and Nexus One so you're not stuck with just iPhone users. When you get the app you register for a free account. Your name and email address is all that's needed, and the Tango contact list will instantly display friends who have signed up. Contacting them is as easy as clicking on their name. You have the choice to do an audio-only call or a video call. Both iPhone 4 cameras are supported, and just like FaceTime, you can switch cameras while a call is on progress. How well does it work? I tried a call to an Android phone running Tango and it worked fine. An acid test was a call from a friend visiting China. He called me from the Great Wall, and the video was passable and audio was fine. He said he was in an area with intermittent 3G and Edge, and his connection kept switching, but given the conditions it did work well. If the Tango app notices network issues, it puts up a warning on screen. Eventually the video locked up and the call dropped, but it was better than expected under challenging international conditions.
Screen Grabs: FaceTime hits prime time on Hawaii Five-0
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com. Did you know that there's a 're-imagined' version of the classic 1970's television series Hawaii Five-O currently airing on CBS? Well, neither did we, but there is, and apparently, this guy (pictured above) talked to that smaller guy (also pictured above) on FaceTime on an episode which aired recently. We hope everything went well. [Thanks, Silvio]
Found Footage: A look at European FaceTime ads
Apple's advertising for the FaceTime video chat feature on the iPhone 4 is emotional and effective, and now the ads are making it to the European market. All of the ads are backed with the universally-known voice of Louis Armstrong singing "When You're Smiling," and there is no audible dialog, so these ads can be used in just about any European market. So far, they've made it to the U.K., Italy, and Spain. The ads are sponsored by carriers 3Italia, Vodafone, and Orange. Click the Read More link to view the videos. [via Macstories.net]
iPhone 4 hits UAE and Qatar, but without FaceTime installed
The iPhone 4 launched this weekend in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, but buyers wound up with a surprise -- their handset's front-facing cameras couldn't do FaceTime. The National reports that the video chat feature is missing from phones sold at UAE carriers Etisalat and du, as well as those from Vodafone Qatar. Carriers are blaming Apple for the missing feature, and spokespersons from both Etisalat and Vodafone say they're speaking to Cupertino about reinstating FaceTime post-haste; It was reportedly advertised on Middle Eastern versions of Apple's iPhone website until around September 20th, when all references to FaceTime were removed. TUAW reports that some UAE denizens have actually tested FaceTime on phones bought abroad and found it working just fine, but that the functionality disappears after installing the local version of the iOS 4.1 update. RIM's Mike Lazaridis famously warned that countries threatening to ban the BlackBerry might thumb their nose at other forms of internet transmission too, but if's far too early to tell if Apple was pressured into removing FaceTime or chose to for another reason entirely. It's worth noting that both the UAE and Egypt (also missing FaceTime website ads) have banned certain VoIP services in the past. [Thanks, Mohammed]
Confirmed: No FaceTime in UAE, reported working in SA unless phones are updated
We just got some confirmation on our story earlier this week that FaceTime had gone missing in parts of the world, mostly around the Middle East. @dutweets is the official Twitter account for du, the telecom operator for the iPhone in the United Arab Emirates, and in a tweet just a little while ago, the account confirmed that FaceTime is currently unavailable in that country. The iPhone hasn't even officially launched there yet, but the account also says that FaceTime "won't be working as of the launch" (which takes place tomorrow), so even official customers there won't have access to the video chat feature. Unfortunately, there's no detail yet on why -- we've heard that there may be local restrictions on VoIP technology that would block these kinds of communications. And this is only confirmation for the UAE, though it's probably a pretty good guess that other outages are legit as well. Stay tuned -- we'll keep an eye out for official confirmation in other areas, as well as a reason why this decision was made. Thanks, Joe! Update: The Next Web Middle East has a confusing writeup that suggests Apple pulled FaceTime because it was assumed assumed the feature would run afoul of the region's regulations around VoIP. The suggestion is that Apple made this move unilaterally, without consulting the carriers. Update 2: We have a report from a Saudi Arabian source that FaceTime is working in the kingdom. However, subsequent reports show that once the iPhones are updated from the shipping iOS version, 4.02, to the current 4.1 version, the FaceTime feature drops away.
FaceTime goes missing in Saudi Arabia, much of Middle East
Update 9/24: It looks like the early indications may be correct. One of the UAE's carriers tweeted that FaceTime will not be available there. Update 8am Tues: Several commenters have raised points about this story, most of which fall into two categories: "I already have an iPhone in Country X and FaceTime works fine" & "I work for the cell carrier in Country Y and we're not blocking FaceTime." We appreciate the feedback, but neither of these data points is directly connected to the story. For users who already have iPhones in the affected countries, you didn't buy them there -- at least not officially -- and gray-market or unlocked phones from other regions would naturally have FaceTime. From the cell carrier perspective, 'not blocking FaceTime' is irrelevant, since FaceTime is Wi-Fi only and does not transmit over 3G. One point that may be relevant: restrictions on VoIP technology in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which could create a regulatory block for FaceTime. --- Looking forward to that new iPhone 4 in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Yemen? If the preview pages on the various international editions of Apple.com are any guide, you may be missing a key new feature. A Facebook thread from SaudiMac points out that the website graphics for all those countries, plus several others in the Middle East, have lost their FaceTime graphic. You can see the before & after versions of the Saudi site above. This adjustment to the product sites -- just ahead of the anticipated late September launch of the phone in these countries -- may represent merely a cosmetic tweak, keeping the cultural sensitivities of these largely Islamic countries in mind. Or it might mean the feature itself is going to be blocked for iPhone users there; note that it's not just the image that's changed, the current versions of the iPhone pages omit the description of FaceTime as well. We don't know yet, and although we have an email in to Apple's media relations team for comment, chances are we won't hear anything official. If you've got a line to an Apple reseller or cellphone carrier in one of the FaceTime-redacted locales, please send us a quick heads-up. Thanks Khaled
Rumor: FaceTime on the way for iChat and Windows
Ever since the FaceTime announcement as an 'open platform,' the question's been hanging over us: when do we expect desktop support for the new videoconferencing approach? "Soon," is what French website Mac4ever is reporting today. They have a pretty good track record, so the prediction is worth noting. The article says Apple will soon release a version of iChat that will allow Apple desktop and laptop owners to video chat to iOS devices with FaceTime. Further, the speculation is that Apple will do the same thing for Windows users wanting to talk to FaceTime users either on Macs or iPhones. Apple has stated that it expects to see FaceTime protocols widely used. If the rumor is correct, that goal should be well on the way to being fulfilled. I can't wait. [via 9to5Mac]
FaceTime headed for Mac OS X and Windows next?
It seems more than a little odd to us that Apple hasn't bothered to make FaceTime compatible with its own longstanding desktop video chat service, iChat, but we've at least supposed that it's an inevitability with whatever upcoming Mac OS X update or software bundle that Apple deems appropriate. Now Mac4Ever, who was spot on with a pile of rumors last year, but hasn't succeeded with its recent prediction of an iLife '11 launch in August, is saying that Apple is prepping FaceTime both for Mac and PC. We don't know if that means building a whole copy of iChat for Windows, or just making FaceTime compatible with some existing PC video chat service, but it would certainly improve the odds of us ever finding a legitimate use for FaceTime.
Qik happy to work with FaceTime APIs; anticipates 75 million copies preloaded next year
What's new with Qik, the cross-platform video chat and sharing service that made a splash on Sprint's EVO 4G? Oh, not much -- just some plans to make sure the app is the most popular client around. Qik reps just told us the company's definitely planning to integrate FaceTime compatibility (sound familiar?) as soon as Apple rolls out those free APIs, and is presently engaged in deals to make sure Qik comes preloaded on devices from most every major carrier and handset manufacturer worldwide. Presently preloaded on the aforementioned EVO 4G, Epic 4G, Samsung Omnia II and Nokia's N97 and N97 mini, the app is estimated to come standard on a total of 75 million devices by the end of next year. How many of those phones (and tablets?) will have front-facing cameras is a question for another day. Update: Qik pinged us today to let us know that FaceTime isn't a sure thing -- rather, they're just looking to take video sharing and calling to as many systems and platforms as they can, and they'll certainly look into FaceTime when Apple makes APIs available.
New iPod touch has vibration motor (Update: No, it doesn't)
FCC pictures of the brand new iPod touch's internal tech show that the device has a vibrating motor inside of it. According to Apple, the motor will be used with FaceTime, but presumably, it'll work when any app calls for vibration. That should help for gaming -- neither the DS nor the PSP has any sort of vibration feedback, and that's a feature that has become more or less standard on game consoles. This also brings the iPod touch in line with most of what the iPhone has. Besides the cell service (obviously), the GPS, and the mute switch, the iPod touch really is, as even Steve commented at last week's event, "an iPhone without the contract." Update: According to iFixit's teardown of the iPod touch, the component identified is actually a microphone and not a vibration motor. Mac Rumors points out that Apple has updated the iPod touch's FaceTime page to remove all reference to vibration. It appears vibration continues to be an iPhone-only feature for now.
Mr. Extreme Closeup suggests next-gen iPad is testing FaceTime... right now
Honestly, from this distance it's hard to tell what's going on, but 9 to 5 Mac says we're looking at a next-gen camera-equipped iPad fielded specifically to test video calls. As you may recall, iPhone software surfaced with a very similar menu just weeks before the iPhone 4 came out, which either means someone was inspired to create a clever 'shop, or that we just got our first real glimpse at iProd 2,1. Oh, and Mr. Extreme Closeup? He's our friend Blurrycam's old college roommate, didn't you know?
iPod touch gets revamped: retina display, FaceTime, HD video recording
Current iPod touch wasn't thin enough for you? Look no further than... well, the new iPod touch just announced today. Naturally, Apple has re-upped its "iPhone without the phone" to include the Retina Display from the iPhone 4, an Apple A4 core, 3-axis gyroscope, Game Center, and FaceTime support thanks to the addition of a front cam. Oh, and speaking of cams, it's also got a rear cam capable of HD video -- but you'll be paying a bit more than you will for that cute little nano: $229 for 8GB, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB (yep, 16GB and 128GB are both no-shows). Ships next week, pre-orders start today; follow the break for the full press release. Check out our full live coverage here! %Gallery-100936% %Gallery-100967%
