Movie calling apps for the iPhone Four
As with the HTC EVO 4G on Android, there are two solid movie calling options available for the iPhone Four. Shawn Morton looks at FaceTime and Fring for the iPhone Four.
Last month, I highlighted two movie calling options (Qik and Fring) for HTC EVO 4G owners. Now that Apple has moved almost 1.7 million front-facing-camera-toting iPhones in the very first three days, there will be a phat surge in movie calling. Throw in the 3G antenna reception issues that are plaguing the latest iPhone, and movie calling may be the only way iPhone four owners can communicate (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).
As with the HTC EVO 4G on Android, there are two solid movie calling options available for the iPhone Four: FaceTime and Fring. Here’s a look at both.
FaceTime
Unlike Android, which supports movie calling through third-party apps, Apple determined to bake movie calling right into iOS4 with FaceTime. This means that you can initiate a movie call pretty much the same way that you initiate a voice call.
- Select someone from your Contacts list.
- Tap the FaceTime button.
If you’re already in a voice call, you commence a movie call by tapping the FaceTime button from the phone screen. Fortunately, Apple doesn’t make you guess which of your friends have an iPhone four — you are only introduced the FaceTime movie calling option if you attempting to call another iPhone four possessor. That’s a nice touch.
Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
Right now, FaceTime is only supported over Wi-Fi. While Apple didn’t come right out and blame AT&T’s network for that decision, it is pretty safe to bet that having 1.7 million iPhone four users firing up movie calls on launch day would have brought any mobile network to its knees.
As you would expect, the overall practice with FaceTime is very good. You get a nice full-screen view of the other caller. You also get higher movie and audio quality due to the use of Wi-Fi rather than 3G.
Apple’s press photo for FaceTime
While FaceTime is a excellent fresh iOS4 feature, it is only available to iPhone four owners due to the lack of a front-facing camera on previous iPhone models.
Fring
Fring made a bit of a splash back in late May by launching the very first movie calling app for the HTC EVO 4G, which didn’t launch until June Four, 2010. The Fring team wasn’t as quick to the iPhone four party; it was last week before they updated Fring’s iPhone app to support the front-facing camera. (CNET’s Jessica Dolcourt attempted the older version of Fring on the iPhone Four, and she wasn’t affected.)
Now that Fring has launched an updated version for iPhone Four, your movie calling options just got a bit better.
Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
In addition to supporting the front camera on the iPhone Four, Fring also supports movie calling over 3G. The most awesome feature, however, is cross-platform support. Fring will let you movie call inbetween iPhone four devices and Android devices like the HTC EVO 4G.
Movie and audio quality are very dependent on the strength of your 3G signal; but, if you need to do movie calling outside of a Wi-Fi network, Fring is your only choice.
Bottom line
While FaceTime offers the best integration and ease of use, Fring will permit you to reach across platforms and movie call with your Android friends as well.
Look for things to get a lot more interesting as other movie calling apps, like Skype, inject the marketplace.
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