The Ups and Downs of Tablet Movie Talking
You can’t turn around these days without finding a way to movie talk. You can movie talk on Facebook and Google+, on PCs and Macs, on Skype and Fring, and on uncountable mobile devices. Companies are betting on movie talk substituting text-based talk, which itself has supplanted phone calls and voice as the primary means of communications. No one’s betting more on that shift than tablet manufacturers, which are making movie talk an ever-more integral part of their offerings.
If tablets and movie are the future, we determined to see how the future works, and how quickly we all need to get over making phone calls in our underwear. We grabbed some of the tablets around the PCMag Labs, and put their video-calling capabilities to the test to see which ones are viable talking options, and which simply are not.
There were some overall takeaways from our tests, in addition to some platform- and device-specific findings. You can’t turn around these days without finding a way to movie talk. Movie talk may be catching on swift, but it’s not yet a flawless system. Different companies use different, non-compatible applications, and the quality of the practice varies insanely.
We’re a long way from the equivalent of picking up the phone and dialing anyone in the country, or being able to text anyone just by using their phone number. Movie talk is a hodgepodge of applications and usernames, and there’s no good way to integrate things yet. If movie calling is going to catch on, it’s going to need to standardize to the point where my TouchPad can call your iPad, or your computer, or your phone. We’re not there yet, not even close.
All that said, however, movie talk is already a joy and useful way to communicate, tho’ some platforms are more joy and more useful than others. We investigated webOS, iOS, Android, and BlackBerry video-chat offerings to find the good and bad of every platform, so hit the slideshow or read on for our findings.
The iPad uses FaceTime, an Apple-specific, video-chat application that works on iPads, iPhones, iPods and Macs.
The Good: FaceTime consistently had the best movie quality of any video-chatting app I tested. It lagged less and looked sharper. It’s also utterly effortless to use, with a ordinary and excellent interface, and cleverly identifies people by their email addresses so you don’t need to look for yet another username.
The Bad: It’s Apple-device-only. It’s a separate app, pulled away from all text-based talking, and doesn’t integrate as well with the address book or other apps as it should. Calls can also only be made over Wi-Fi, which is good for call quality but terrible for convenience of use.
The Verdict: FaceTime is the best video-chatting app available on a tablet, but Apple’s poor track record of making its applications friendly with other platforms means it’s not likely to be the standard.
The HP TouchPad uses Skype for all its calling, both voice and movie.
The Good: Skype is integrated all over the TouchPad, from contact lists to the Messaging app. You can initiate a call from anywhere, call real phones with Skype Out, and more. It’s much closer to a total phone app than just movie talking.
The Bad: Movie talking only works in portrait mode, and in my tests the person on the other end complained about the camera quality. The lack of a rear-facing camera means you can’t use it during movie talk to display items at which you are looking.
The Verdict: Skype is the current grand poobah of movie talking, and will likely proceed to be so thanks to its latest integration into Facebook (tho’ that integration is more a technology than an actual Skype client), but the TouchPad’s video-chatting hardware and Skype app aren’t up to par.
The Galaxy Tab, like all tablets running Android Honeycomb (Trio.0 or above), uses Google Talk for movie talking.
The Good: Google Talk is one of the most cross-platform talk programs available, since it’s both a standalone app and embedded in Gmail. That means you can use your Android tablet to talk with people on other tablets, as well as computers and smartphones. It also uses your Google account, so as soon as you log in to your tablet you’re logged in to Google Talk. Numerous accounts are supported, so you can talk with all your friends on various accounts.
The Bad: Google Talk movie is typically low-res, which looks bad on such a large screen. You can only use a Google account, which means no Skyping. Android tablets have a nasty trend of having off-center cameras, so you have to hold the tablet at a weird angle to be seen decently.
The Verdict: Google Talk has the best chance of any app, other than maybe Skype, to be the cross-platform standard for movie talking, but Android tablets need to step up their hardware game for it to be a good practice.
The BlackBerry PlayBook didn’t ship with a video-chatting app, but it’s now available in the App World and as a software update.
The Good: However it wasn’t available at launch, the BlackBerry PlayBook Movie Talk app is now available, as a software update or in App World. Camera quality is good, so movie looks good. Movie can stream from either the front- or rear-facing camera.
The Bad: PlayBook Movie Talk only lets you talk with other PlayBook owners, so odds are good you won’t be able to find a talk acquaintance. The camera faces straight forward, but the lens is off center, so, like Android, you’ll have to hold it at a goofy angle to framework your face decently. Calling only works over Wi-Fi.
The Verdict: The PlayBook’s camera is good, but the video-chatting app is utterly barebones, doesn’t work with anything other than other PlayBooks, and doesn’t do anything other apps don’t.
For the top stories in tech, go after us on Twitter at @PCMag.
The Ups and Downs of Tablet Movie Talking, News & Opinion
The Ups and Downs of Tablet Movie Talking
You can’t turn around these days without finding a way to movie talk. You can movie talk on Facebook and Google+, on PCs and Macs, on Skype and Fring, and on uncountable mobile devices. Companies are betting on movie talk substituting text-based talk, which itself has supplanted phone calls and voice as the primary means of communications. No one’s betting more on that shift than tablet manufacturers, which are making movie talk an ever-more integral part of their offerings.
If tablets and movie are the future, we determined to see how the future works, and how quickly we all need to get over making phone calls in our underwear. We grabbed some of the tablets around the PCMag Labs, and put their video-calling capabilities to the test to see which ones are viable talking options, and which simply are not.
There were some overall takeaways from our tests, in addition to some platform- and device-specific findings. You can’t turn around these days without finding a way to movie talk. Movie talk may be catching on quick, but it’s not yet a ideal system. Different companies use different, non-compatible applications, and the quality of the practice varies frantically.
We’re a long way from the equivalent of picking up the phone and dialing anyone in the country, or being able to text anyone just by using their phone number. Movie talk is a hodgepodge of applications and usernames, and there’s no good way to integrate things yet. If movie calling is going to catch on, it’s going to need to standardize to the point where my TouchPad can call your iPad, or your computer, or your phone. We’re not there yet, not even close.
All that said, however, movie talk is already a joy and useful way to communicate, however some platforms are more joy and more useful than others. We investigated webOS, iOS, Android, and BlackBerry video-chat offerings to find the good and bad of every platform, so hit the slideshow or read on for our findings.
The iPad uses FaceTime, an Apple-specific, video-chat application that works on iPads, iPhones, iPods and Macs.
The Good: FaceTime consistently had the best movie quality of any video-chatting app I tested. It lagged less and looked sharper. It’s also enormously effortless to use, with a elementary and excellent interface, and cleverly identifies people by their email addresses so you don’t need to look for yet another username.
The Bad: It’s Apple-device-only. It’s a separate app, pulled away from all text-based talking, and doesn’t integrate as well with the address book or other apps as it should. Calls can also only be made over Wi-Fi, which is good for call quality but terrible for convenience of use.
The Verdict: FaceTime is the best video-chatting app available on a tablet, but Apple’s poor track record of making its applications friendly with other platforms means it’s not likely to be the standard.
The HP TouchPad uses Skype for all its calling, both voice and movie.
The Good: Skype is integrated all over the TouchPad, from contact lists to the Messaging app. You can initiate a call from anywhere, call real phones with Skype Out, and more. It’s much closer to a utter phone app than just movie talking.
The Bad: Movie talking only works in portrait mode, and in my tests the person on the other end complained about the camera quality. The lack of a rear-facing camera means you can’t use it during movie talk to display items at which you are looking.
The Verdict: Skype is the current grand poobah of movie talking, and will likely proceed to be so thanks to its latest integration into Facebook (tho’ that integration is more a technology than an actual Skype client), but the TouchPad’s video-chatting hardware and Skype app aren’t up to par.
The Galaxy Tab, like all tablets running Android Honeycomb (Three.0 or above), uses Google Talk for movie talking.
The Good: Google Talk is one of the most cross-platform talk programs available, since it’s both a standalone app and embedded in Gmail. That means you can use your Android tablet to talk with people on other tablets, as well as computers and smartphones. It also uses your Google account, so as soon as you log in to your tablet you’re logged in to Google Talk. Numerous accounts are supported, so you can talk with all your friends on various accounts.
The Bad: Google Talk movie is typically low-res, which looks bad on such a large screen. You can only use a Google account, which means no Skyping. Android tablets have a nasty trend of having off-center cameras, so you have to hold the tablet at a weird angle to be seen decently.
The Verdict: Google Talk has the best chance of any app, other than maybe Skype, to be the cross-platform standard for movie talking, but Android tablets need to step up their hardware game for it to be a good practice.
The BlackBerry PlayBook didn’t ship with a video-chatting app, but it’s now available in the App World and as a software update.
The Good: However it wasn’t available at launch, the BlackBerry PlayBook Movie Talk app is now available, as a software update or in App World. Camera quality is good, so movie looks good. Movie can stream from either the front- or rear-facing camera.
The Bad: PlayBook Movie Talk only lets you talk with other PlayBook owners, so odds are good you won’t be able to find a talk mate. The camera faces straight forward, but the lens is off center, so, like Android, you’ll have to hold it at a goofy angle to framework your face decently. Calling only works over Wi-Fi.
The Verdict: The PlayBook’s camera is good, but the video-chatting app is enormously barebones, doesn’t work with anything other than other PlayBooks, and doesn’t do anything other apps don’t.
For the top stories in tech, go after us on Twitter at @PCMag.
The Ups and Downs of Tablet Movie Talking, News & Opinion
The Ups and Downs of Tablet Movie Talking
You can’t turn around these days without finding a way to movie talk. You can movie talk on Facebook and Google+, on PCs and Macs, on Skype and Fring, and on innumerable mobile devices. Companies are betting on movie talk substituting text-based talk, which itself has supplanted phone calls and voice as the primary means of communications. No one’s betting more on that shift than tablet manufacturers, which are making movie talk an ever-more integral part of their offerings.
If tablets and movie are the future, we determined to see how the future works, and how quickly we all need to get over making phone calls in our underwear. We grabbed some of the tablets around the PCMag Labs, and put their video-calling capabilities to the test to see which ones are viable talking options, and which simply are not.
There were some overall takeaways from our tests, in addition to some platform- and device-specific findings. You can’t turn around these days without finding a way to movie talk. Movie talk may be catching on prompt, but it’s not yet a ideal system. Different companies use different, non-compatible applications, and the quality of the practice varies frantically.
We’re a long way from the equivalent of picking up the phone and dialing anyone in the country, or being able to text anyone just by using their phone number. Movie talk is a hodgepodge of applications and usernames, and there’s no good way to integrate things yet. If movie calling is going to catch on, it’s going to need to standardize to the point where my TouchPad can call your iPad, or your computer, or your phone. We’re not there yet, not even close.
All that said, however, movie talk is already a joy and useful way to communicate, tho’ some platforms are more joy and more useful than others. We investigated webOS, iOS, Android, and BlackBerry video-chat offerings to find the good and bad of every platform, so hit the slideshow or read on for our findings.
The iPad uses FaceTime, an Apple-specific, video-chat application that works on iPads, iPhones, iPods and Macs.
The Good: FaceTime consistently had the best movie quality of any video-chatting app I tested. It lagged less and looked sharper. It’s also utterly effortless to use, with a plain and excellent interface, and cleverly identifies people by their email addresses so you don’t need to look for yet another username.
The Bad: It’s Apple-device-only. It’s a separate app, pulled away from all text-based talking, and doesn’t integrate as well with the address book or other apps as it should. Calls can also only be made over Wi-Fi, which is good for call quality but terrible for convenience of use.
The Verdict: FaceTime is the best video-chatting app available on a tablet, but Apple’s poor track record of making its applications friendly with other platforms means it’s not likely to be the standard.
The HP TouchPad uses Skype for all its calling, both voice and movie.
The Good: Skype is integrated all over the TouchPad, from contact lists to the Messaging app. You can initiate a call from anywhere, call real phones with Skype Out, and more. It’s much closer to a total phone app than just movie talking.
The Bad: Movie talking only works in portrait mode, and in my tests the person on the other end complained about the camera quality. The lack of a rear-facing camera means you can’t use it during movie talk to display items at which you are looking.
The Verdict: Skype is the current grand poobah of movie talking, and will likely proceed to be so thanks to its latest integration into Facebook (however that integration is more a technology than an actual Skype client), but the TouchPad’s video-chatting hardware and Skype app aren’t up to par.
The Galaxy Tab, like all tablets running Android Honeycomb (Three.0 or above), uses Google Talk for movie talking.
The Good: Google Talk is one of the most cross-platform talk programs available, since it’s both a standalone app and embedded in Gmail. That means you can use your Android tablet to talk with people on other tablets, as well as computers and smartphones. It also uses your Google account, so as soon as you log in to your tablet you’re logged in to Google Talk. Numerous accounts are supported, so you can talk with all your friends on various accounts.
The Bad: Google Talk movie is typically low-res, which looks bad on such a large screen. You can only use a Google account, which means no Skyping. Android tablets have a nasty trend of having off-center cameras, so you have to hold the tablet at a weird angle to be seen decently.
The Verdict: Google Talk has the best chance of any app, other than maybe Skype, to be the cross-platform standard for movie talking, but Android tablets need to step up their hardware game for it to be a good practice.
The BlackBerry PlayBook didn’t ship with a video-chatting app, but it’s now available in the App World and as a software update.
The Good: However it wasn’t available at launch, the BlackBerry PlayBook Movie Talk app is now available, as a software update or in App World. Camera quality is good, so movie looks good. Movie can stream from either the front- or rear-facing camera.
The Bad: PlayBook Movie Talk only lets you talk with other PlayBook owners, so odds are good you won’t be able to find a talk acquaintance. The camera faces straight forward, but the lens is off center, so, like Android, you’ll have to hold it at a goofy angle to framework your face decently. Calling only works over Wi-Fi.
The Verdict: The PlayBook’s camera is good, but the video-chatting app is enormously barebones, doesn’t work with anything other than other PlayBooks, and doesn’t do anything other apps don’t.
For the top stories in tech, go after us on Twitter at @PCMag.
The Ups and Downs of Tablet Movie Talking, News & Opinion
The Ups and Downs of Tablet Movie Talking
You can’t turn around these days without finding a way to movie talk. You can movie talk on Facebook and Google+, on PCs and Macs, on Skype and Fring, and on uncountable mobile devices. Companies are betting on movie talk substituting text-based talk, which itself has supplanted phone calls and voice as the primary means of communications. No one’s betting more on that shift than tablet manufacturers, which are making movie talk an ever-more integral part of their offerings.
If tablets and movie are the future, we determined to see how the future works, and how quickly we all need to get over making phone calls in our underwear. We grabbed some of the tablets around the PCMag Labs, and put their video-calling capabilities to the test to see which ones are viable talking options, and which simply are not.
There were some overall takeaways from our tests, in addition to some platform- and device-specific findings. You can’t turn around these days without finding a way to movie talk. Movie talk may be catching on prompt, but it’s not yet a ideal system. Different companies use different, non-compatible applications, and the quality of the practice varies insanely.
We’re a long way from the equivalent of picking up the phone and dialing anyone in the country, or being able to text anyone just by using their phone number. Movie talk is a hodgepodge of applications and usernames, and there’s no good way to integrate things yet. If movie calling is going to catch on, it’s going to need to standardize to the point where my TouchPad can call your iPad, or your computer, or your phone. We’re not there yet, not even close.
All that said, however, movie talk is already a joy and useful way to communicate, tho’ some platforms are more joy and more useful than others. We investigated webOS, iOS, Android, and BlackBerry video-chat offerings to find the good and bad of every platform, so hit the slideshow or read on for our findings.
The iPad uses FaceTime, an Apple-specific, video-chat application that works on iPads, iPhones, iPods and Macs.
The Good: FaceTime consistently had the best movie quality of any video-chatting app I tested. It lagged less and looked sharper. It’s also utterly effortless to use, with a ordinary and excellent interface, and cleverly identifies people by their email addresses so you don’t need to look for yet another username.
The Bad: It’s Apple-device-only. It’s a separate app, pulled away from all text-based talking, and doesn’t integrate as well with the address book or other apps as it should. Calls can also only be made over Wi-Fi, which is good for call quality but terrible for convenience of use.
The Verdict: FaceTime is the best video-chatting app available on a tablet, but Apple’s poor track record of making its applications friendly with other platforms means it’s not likely to be the standard.
The HP TouchPad uses Skype for all its calling, both voice and movie.
The Good: Skype is integrated all over the TouchPad, from contact lists to the Messaging app. You can initiate a call from anywhere, call real phones with Skype Out, and more. It’s much closer to a utter phone app than just movie talking.
The Bad: Movie talking only works in portrait mode, and in my tests the person on the other end complained about the camera quality. The lack of a rear-facing camera means you can’t use it during movie talk to display items at which you are looking.
The Verdict: Skype is the current grand poobah of movie talking, and will likely proceed to be so thanks to its latest integration into Facebook (tho’ that integration is more a technology than an actual Skype client), but the TouchPad’s video-chatting hardware and Skype app aren’t up to par.
The Galaxy Tab, like all tablets running Android Honeycomb (Three.0 or above), uses Google Talk for movie talking.
The Good: Google Talk is one of the most cross-platform talk programs available, since it’s both a standalone app and embedded in Gmail. That means you can use your Android tablet to talk with people on other tablets, as well as computers and smartphones. It also uses your Google account, so as soon as you log in to your tablet you’re logged in to Google Talk. Numerous accounts are supported, so you can talk with all your friends on various accounts.
The Bad: Google Talk movie is typically low-res, which looks bad on such a large screen. You can only use a Google account, which means no Skyping. Android tablets have a nasty trend of having off-center cameras, so you have to hold the tablet at a weird angle to be seen decently.
The Verdict: Google Talk has the best chance of any app, other than maybe Skype, to be the cross-platform standard for movie talking, but Android tablets need to step up their hardware game for it to be a good practice.
The BlackBerry PlayBook didn’t ship with a video-chatting app, but it’s now available in the App World and as a software update.
The Good: However it wasn’t available at launch, the BlackBerry PlayBook Movie Talk app is now available, as a software update or in App World. Camera quality is good, so movie looks good. Movie can stream from either the front- or rear-facing camera.
The Bad: PlayBook Movie Talk only lets you talk with other PlayBook owners, so odds are good you won’t be able to find a talk friend. The camera faces straight forward, but the lens is off center, so, like Android, you’ll have to hold it at a goofy angle to framework your face decently. Calling only works over Wi-Fi.
The Verdict: The PlayBook’s camera is good, but the video-chatting app is utterly barebones, doesn’t work with anything other than other PlayBooks, and doesn’t do anything other apps don’t.
For the top stories in tech, go after us on Twitter at @PCMag.