FaceTime audio is the standard to beat. It’s just absolutely incredible.
How Does FaceTime Work?
81–90 of 169 posts
Re: How Does FaceTime Work?
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there anything that sets FaceTime apart from cheaper competitors like WhatsApp / Signal video calling in this aspect of ease of use? (I say cheaper because you don't need to buy an iDevice to use those)
Don't you also need to buy a phone/computer/tablet to use whatsapp or signal? How does whatsapp is cheaper than facetime? But anyway, yeah, I noticed Facetime's both video and audio calls have better quality, in my personal experience. Also, most if not all my friends and family use iDevices, so I dont need to convince them to install signal/whatsapp/telegram etc... But YMMV.
>How does whatsapp is cheaper than facetime?
Whatsapp ,Skype, Telegram, Google Duo, etc apps work fine on Android phones which are lots less expensive than Apple Devices that are needed for Facetime
Re: How Does FaceTime Work?
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't you also need to buy a phone/computer/tablet to use whatsapp or signal? How does whatsapp is cheaper than facetime? But anyway, yeah, I noticed Facetime's both video and audio calls have better quality, in my personal experience. Also, most if not all my friends and family use iDevices, so I dont need to convince them to install signal/whatsapp/telegram etc... But YMMV.
Yes but a practical new Android phone with reasonable spec (I don't mean cheap Chinese oems with 1gb ram) can be had for $100 and can run WhatsApp/signal fine. The cheapest iphone is $399 iirc, the high entry costs that disqualifies a lot of people even in the US and certainly abroad where apple tax difference compare to base currency of usd399 exceeds regional sales tax differences (mexico for example)
True. That $399 iPhone SE is sold for $540 in Mexico at the Apple store. And middle-class Mexicans have between 1/3 to 1/10 of the buying power of an American counterpart.
Re: How Does FaceTime Work?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
This substantially the opposite of my experience so I’d bet there is some factor for proximity to CDNs or traffic shaping done by your ISP. FaceTime is rock-solid; Zoom is also good but has noticeably lower video quality (but good noise handling). Meet’s native apps are good but their browser UI is coded to break Firefox so I don’t use it much.
So it sounds like Facetime's Firefox support is better in your experience?
The benefit of FaceTime being an open standard.
Re: How Does FaceTime Work?
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Semi-related question since I'm looking to get my grandma setup. Waffling between an iPhone and iPad, maybe an iPad mini but don't know if the air would be better (lighter I think). What device does your grandma use to FaceTime? Do you know does she do anything else with it?
Just three days ago I've set up my 93 year old grandfather on a Lenovo Smart Display 7. I think it has multiple benefits over an iSomething: - Always plugged in - no need to remember to charge - Shows our family picture albums that I can remotely update via my Google Photos - It is loud. Left the volume at 3/4 - Sits on a table and you're never holding it wrong™ - No settings to mess up, two previous tablets were too…
I had to google it to see what it looked like, looks great if all you care about is photo + videocalls.
In the end i guess it all depends on the persons ability to manipulate and see things.
I've pushed my parents hard into the Apple ecosystem and it has worked out great.
My mom first got the iPhone 4, before that she had a nokia flip phone, she could use it from day 1. Nowadays I buy the newest iPhone, and after 1-2 years or so I sell it to one of my parents for a 'nice' price. The iPad I made them buy (and they upgraded it once) is very popular.
But the most used Apple product is the AppleTV. It has enabled them so watch the news when they want, and Youtube has given them access to content (travel) they'd never had before.
Sharing photo albums, facetime video calls, imessage and ease of use is just on a level I don't think exists with android - of course, sometimes theres the small hiccup.
But they are not 93 years old so the mileage might vary :)
Re: How Does FaceTime Work?
#86I remember back in the day when FaceTime was announced Apple made a big deal about it using standard protocols throughout the stack ( SIP and maybe WebRTC?) and dangled the hope that there could be 3rd party apps that connected with FaceTime.
We were so young and naive then.
Re: How Does FaceTime Work?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand your point, you can't start a Telegram call if you aren't a Telegram user as well.
He means that you need Apple hardware to start a Facetime call.
That's my point too, you need hardware anyway for a Telegram call. Whatever device you use has an inherent cost.
Re: How Does FaceTime Work?
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
This substantially the opposite of my experience so I’d bet there is some factor for proximity to CDNs or traffic shaping done by your ISP. FaceTime is rock-solid; Zoom is also good but has noticeably lower video quality (but good noise handling). Meet’s native apps are good but their browser UI is coded to break Firefox so I don’t use it much.
So it sounds like Facetime's Firefox support is better in your experience?
I’d flip it the other way: Google decided to remove the benefits of portability, similar to how Zoom removed the benefits of being able to use their service without installing a client first.
FaceTime is limited to Apple devices until iOS 15 allows anyone with a browser to join a call, so you’d think they’d be emphasizing the benefits of portability more.
Re: How Does FaceTime Work?
#89I remember back in the day when FaceTime was announced Apple made a big deal about it using standard protocols throughout the stack ( SIP and maybe WebRTC?) and dangled the hope that there could be 3rd party apps that connected with FaceTime. We were so young and naive then.
The presentation said something like they planned for it to be "open" or something. I believe that was the first the dev team had heard of it.
People have guess that patents prevented it from actually being an open standard. Coincidentally, some of those patents expired in the last year or two and the last should expire this year. But I kind of guess the window has passed for it becoming open.
Re: How Does FaceTime Work?
#90> For those of you old enough to remember landlines, it reminds me of those [...] When we all switched to cell service audio quality took a huge hit I don't understand - are landline phones not in use anymore? I only use a landline phone to communicate with the family, because I simply cannot stand the audio quality of cellphones for calls which last longer than a few minutes. Edit: In Germany, there are about 40 M a…
Landlines are expensive in a lot of places. Looking it up, a landline would cost me $70/mo which is significantly more than my mobile plan.
I think different countries have different norms around things like landlines - or even texting. In the US, people ignored texting for a very long time and preferred to call people even if it was just a short note.
In terms of audio quality, VoLTE has improved that quite a bit when both sides will inter-operate with HD voice. Older stuff often used 8-12kbps and primitive codecs to encode your voice which simply a lot of compression. I know Speex has had some great results at low bitrates, but that's a far newer codec. However, I believe VoLTE's AMR-WB codec still chops everything about 7,000 Hz. T-Mobile US and Verizon have both implemented EVS which goes up to 14,000 Hz.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-make-your-cell-phone-cal...
Of course I'd find a Sascha Segan article when looking to confirm some information. It has some great recordings to compare and you can see huge differences depending on carrier implementations. The Sprint-Sprint test shows very poor quality. The T-Mobile 2G test also shows how old networks just used poor codecs with limited bitrates. You can even hear distinct differences between the T-Mobile-T-Mobile call and the Verizon-Verizon call where the Verizon call just sounds significantly less rich.
Back in the day, calls used a huge amount of network capacity. Even today, because calls need a more guaranteed bitrate, networks need to leave some extra room for them. 128kbps of streaming music isn't the same as 128kbps of real-time voice because the network can deliver 15 seconds of music and then it can deliver the 16th second of music any time in the next 15 seconds. Real-time two-way communications don't have that luxury. Still, bumping up the bitrate on communications makes a big difference and networks today should be more than capable of handling it.
I don't know what German operators have implemented, but cell phones have come a decent way in terms of audio quality, though carriers being lazy and interoperability problems can mean that consumers don't always get the benefits in the real world.