T-Mobile HTC Slide to provide non-FaceTime video chat with iPhone 4

Looks like they're getting ready:

Updated: Oct 27, 2010
What's New in Version 2.0.1
- Enabled video calling on iPod touch (4th generation).

Intall the app: Tango
Free video calls over wifi or 3G.
The have an iPhone and Android app. Just last night I did an iPhone to android call. Super simple.
I don't understand why Tango hasn't caught on. It's the perfect replacement for face time.

Apple really needs to open up the FaceTime protocol. Like oz_paulb said, it may be using open standards but no official API has been release to developers making it next to impossible for 3rd party developers. If Apple does not standardize video chat on mobile devices, it will never happen. No one wants to install Tango / Fring / Skype depending on what service their contact has. It should be as simple a dialing someone's number. Until then, I don't think FaceTime or any video chat will reach its full potential. I, for one, have only FaceTime'd a few people, as most of my friends / contacts don't have an iPhone 4. However, most of them do have phones capable of such technology. It's just a matter of standardization. Please Apple. Don't get greedy and turn this into another "Made for iPod" licensing scheme.

I don't get what all the fuss is about, or why we need to devise another method of video calling another phone, by another manufacturer, on another network.

Years ago when 3G rolled out in the UK one of the big features was video calling. I used to use it on my Nokia N80 on o2 to call my mate on 3. Not often, but the functionality and protocols are already in place and have been for years, and there's no reason why the iPhone 4 can't support them.

Then again, video calling is a bit of a niche feature. It's all good fun when you first get it but few people actually use it on a regular basis.

I have often wondered why its taking these developers so long to tap into FaceTime and incorporate into messenger/calling apps. I mean Fring and iChatr incorporated it into there app, so don't see the hold up. I would love for Skype, Y Mesenger, ebuddy, etc to get FaceTime in their apps

Are you referring to the new MyTouch - it has a front facing camera - I don't know of any "HTC Slide" announced by T-Mobile. I think this story was cut and pasted from another (inaccurate) source...

your post made no sense and the spam isn't appreciated.

more on topic, why call it facetime? facetime is the extra functionality that is built into the phone app. if another app is using the front camera for video calling it's just that, video calling or conferencing. if you have a web cam chat on your laptop, you don't call that facetime, do you?

in any case, I'm just waiting for skype or nimbuzz (my im client of choice) to implement video support, not sure what's taking them so long...

Did I miss something? T-Mobile announced the new MyTouch, not a Slide device on Monday.

Apple's opening the FaceTime protocol. Other phones and services could implement it, and it would be better if they do as it wouldn't require users to be signed into a chat service.

FaceTime is really not intended to be an Apple Specific feature. It is based on open web standards, that anyone could tap into, including existing IM and video message platforms.

What would be best would be if Yahoo Messenger merely adapted these standards, and they could talk across the chat platforms to Facetime, which already has a somewhat installed base. What will probably happen (and what this blog post does not address) is that You will need a Yahoo Messenger App to talk to other Yahoo messenger apps, and it will be the same silo of near incompatibility that has haunted Instant Messaging and such for decades.