3) FaceTime (beta) Video Conferencing
Yesterday Georgia Mosier and I demonstrated the use of Apple’s new FaceTime software to hold a video conference between her home in VA and the NMUG meeting at the library in Naples. There was a lively ~20 conference seen and heard by all attendees.
FaceTime is a recent Person to Person video conferencing ability that Apple first made available for the iPhone 4 and the newest iPod Touch. FaceTime works over the Internet; it is not a cellular service.
One of the items announced at the Oct 20th Apple event was extending FaceTime to those with a Mac computer. The Mac requirements are for Mac computers with a camera (of course) and running OS 10.6.4 (or higher). If you are running a prior OS you can’t run / install FaceTime.
The software is a Beta release. That means it is still in development and may have some rough edges. My experience is that the software works quite well but Georgia and I found some ‘bumps’ while getting ready for the demo.
Firewalls matter. If you are operating behind a firewall, you will need to add FaceTime to the set of applications that can get through your Firewall
Routers matter, apparently. I don’t know why but I was unable to activate a conference when Georgia called the club computer (while at the library) but it did work at home. I was able to call Georgia from the library and she could answer the call. So something with the Library’s router was blocking the linkup.
You can connect to anyone with an email address and telephone number in their vCard in your Address Book (provided they are running OS 10.6.4 and have installed the FaceTime beta software.) I think this is a vestige from FaceTime’s start as an iPhone application. At any rate, add a telephone number if the vCard doesn’t have one.
The connection is over the Internet. Both computers were connected via Wi-Fi.
You initiate a call by selecting the person from a list of contacts (your total Address Book), or a list of Recent calls, or a list of Favorites. You populate the Favorites by going into the set of contacts.
FaceTime works using Internet email addresses. It is NOT restricted to @me or @mac type addresses.
Is FaceTime a replacement for Skype? Only for those associates of yours that have an iPhone 4, or a Mac running OS 10.6.4. It is video conferencing with a subset of the world.
One member said he had heard a rumor that Apple was going to offer FaceTime for Windows. I don’t think that is likely but I’m not on the Apple product planning committee.
Is FaceTime a replacement for iChat? Only for your 1 to 1 video conferencing needs. FaceTime doesn’t do screen sharing, file transfer, etc.
How is the video quality? Frankly, I think the video quality EXCEEDS that of Skype and of iChat. I believe the reason is that a Direct Computer to Computer linkage is established. Skype and iChat have servers in the middle that impede transfer rates. There was NO stutter or pixelating with FaceTime.
I put the video into landscape position and Full Screen. The image quality was outstanding.
The aspect ratio is the same as the iPhone screen (Of course)
FaceTime permits you to have more than one email address that people can call you on. So I’ve put in my @mac, my @me and one of my @gmail email addresses to accept calls
One FaceTime is first set up, it is an available application (even if not running). An incoming call will start FaceTime and present you with a screen telling who is calling and asking Decline? or Accept.
There is an option in FaceTime preferences to turn off the auto answer
Overall, quite impressive
Jerry