FaceTime is a tiny bit awkward, but a whole lot of fun

I wound up taking two FaceTime calls today, but a third failed. First up was our old friend Nik Fletcher from way across the ocean in the UK. I was shocked at the excellent quality of the call and the video. It was definitely nicer than a standard webcam.

To be clear, I'm not a huge fan of this concept. By that I mean that I still see social hurdles to this technology being widely adapted. If you've ever made faces while talking to someone on the phone, you'll know what I mean. Plus, having to hold the phone out in the air was a little tiring, but I'm sure the accessory market will create scads of "solutions" to this problem.

Drew Olanoff and I chatted next, and I did seem to notice a slight lag in the call. I noticed my Wi-Fi dip a bit as I moved about, but honestly I don't know what caused that. Still, the conversation flowed and was mostly natural, as though we really were face-to-face. My brother and I tried to connect, but he was supposedly logged in to a secure network and couldn't engage the FaceTime button, nor could he take my request. [Commenters suggest he may not have enabled FaceTime on his phone.]

As you can see from the pics, FaceTime is a clean and simple interface. There's a button to change cameras (now also in the Camera app), allowing you to give a virtual tour, or a peek at someone's crotch. (Thanks, Drew.) There's also a mute button for the speaker on your end. To begin a FaceTime call, you just click on the button that says "FaceTime" and wait for the other person to accept the request. Like Skype, you have to accept the request to video chat. Oh, and don't forget this is Wi-Fi-only for now, but we're told that will probably change someday. The future is ... soon!
Share