For many years, we have watched TV episodes and movies debut future technology like this. For example, many of these episodes and movies show people talking on small,portable phones and having video conversations. Even The Jetsons cartoon in the 1970s had this as a future concept.
The iPhone 4 makes that future thinking a reality today. There are a few apps that enable you to make video calls on your iPhone using the front-facing camera. At this time, only one app allows you to use both the front-facing camera and the rear camera: FaceTime.
Video Calling with FaceTime
FaceTime is the proprietary feature app highlighted in many of Apple’s iPhone 4 commercials. Essentially, FaceTime is free over Wi-Fi calling that allows you to see the caller on the other end of the conversation through the phone’s front-facing camera.
NOTE: For now FaceTime is only available for iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 calls, and it’s only available over a Wi-Fi network. Apple says it is exploring expanding this service, so it works over standard 3G networks in the near future; however, this will also depend on carriers.
Enabling FaceTime calling on your iPhone
When you first use your iPhone, FaceTime is not yet enabled. To enable the iPhone to receive and make FaceTime calls, follow these steps:
1. Go to your Settings icon and touch it.
2. Scroll down to the Phone option tab.
3. Toggle the FaceTime switch to the ON position.
Using FaceTime
Once FaceTime is enabled, you will see it as an option with every call you place from the iPhone. The FaceTime icon will be part of the option display on all phone calls. FaceTime will only work, however, if the other caller is on an iPhone 4, and the FaceTime feature is enabled on both phones.
To initiate a FaceTime call, follow these steps:
1. Make a call just as you normally would on your iPhone 4.
2. Touch the FaceTime button (where the Hold button usually is), and the app will ask the caller on the other end to Accept the FaceTime call.
3. Or, you can simply Accept the FaceTime call from the other caller (see Figure 12-1).
Figure 12-1. Accepting a FaceTime call.
Once a FaceTime call is initiated, follow these steps to conduct a video conference:
1. Hold the phone away from you a bit.
2. Make sure you are "framed" properly in the window.
3. You can move the small image of yourself around the screen to a convenient spot.
4. Touch the Switch Camera button to show the FaceTime caller you are looking at. The Switch Camera button will now use the standard camera on the back of the iPhone.
5. Touch the End button to end the FaceTime call.
6. Touch the Mute button to temporarily mute the call.
Figure 12-2. Switching camera views on a FaceTime call.
Video Calling with Fring
FaceTime is not the only way to make video calls on the iPhone 4. For example, you can also use Fring, an app that has already been in use on Android phones.
Fring is a bit different from FaceTime because it can be used to make video calls through existing accounts, such as the Facebook chat program.
We do believe that Fring will be able to make video calls through other programs in time.
Here is an explanation from its application’s maker from its web site at www.fring.com/fring_is/what_is_fring/:
Fring is a free mobile application that lets users communicate with friends on popular networks over their mobile phone’s internet connection.fring users make free mobile calls, video calls, live chat & more, from their mobile phone with all their friends on fring & other internet services like Skype®, MSN Messenger®, GoogleTalk™, AIM®, ICQ®, Facebook® & Twitter, all through one central, integrated phone book. fring is completely free. It’s free to download and free to use to make calls, video calls, instant messages and more, all via your mobile phone’s internet connection (over ‘IP’).
There is a special Fring app for your iPhone that you can get for free in the App store. Just go to the App store (see topic 26: "The Amazing App Store" for more information on how to do this) and search for Fring.
Once the app is downloaded and installed, you will be prompted to create a new Fring account or log in in to your existing account.
Fring calls are made to people on your Buddy List. Follow these steps to add people to your Fring Buddy List:
1. Touch the More button in the lower right corner.
2. Touch Add New Buddy.
3. Choose whether to add a buddy By phone contact or by a Fring User ID.
4. The Buddy will now show in your contacts with a unique Buddy icon.
TIP: It is much easier to add contacts to Fring if you know a person’s unique Fring User ID. All you need to do is ask a person for that information, and then add it to your Contact information for that individual. When you select to add a contact By phone contact, Fring will search the Fring database for that individual.
Placing a Call Using Fring
Placing a call using Fring is easy. Follow these steps to do so:
1. Start the Fring app.
2. Search for buddies with Fring in the Buddy List or touch the Stream button to see recent Fring activity with Buddies.
3. Once you find a Fring Buddy, touch the Video icon to make a Fring video call (see Figure 12-3.)
4. To end the call, just touch the End Call button.
NOTE: You can also initiate a Fring chat session by touching the Fring Chat icon or by placing an audio only call to someone’s cell phone. Fring can also be used to call other devices such as Android and Nokia phones that are running the Fring software.
Figure 12-3. Making a video call using Fring.
