msmobiles.com - 3G services : video calling

Catalog > 3G mobiles and services > 3G services : video calling

3G services : video calling

In this article we describe video calling - a new feature available nowadays in 3G mobile phones. Since in Summer 2005 first Windows Mobile powered 3G phones will be released commercially, it is better that you get ready for 3G already now! Thanks to this article you will be able to take more informed buying decisions regarding 3G phones!

If you are buying a 3G phone you should pay attention that it has video calling feature on board! Nowadays most 3G phones offer video calling but you must ensure yourself that given phone has either camera in the front or rotable camera that can be rotated to the front (see also remarks about cameras for video calling below).

To initiate video call you must first type the number or select it from phone book. Once the number is entered you can either make traditional (i.e. voice) phone call or you can make video call (i.e. video + voice). Various phones solved video call dialing differently: sometimes it is just soft-button "Video call":

... which, when selected, initiates video call or user can press the standard "dial" button (usually green icon of the phone) to initiate audio call. Some other phones have this issue solved by proposing a menu "audio call / video call" and yet some other phones have 2 dial buttons: one dial button for initiating video calls and another button for initiating audio calls. Having additional button - just for video calling - is a nice addition, however it is not very critical - it should not be deciding factor when buying a 3G phone.

Once the dial button is pressed, the dialing process starts:

... and upon establishing the connection, you can see the other side with live video and at the same time you can see yourself (in smaller window or bigger window - depending on configuration):

If you are ashamed to present yourself to the other person, who is calling, you can use external camera (or turn your existing camera outside) or eventually you can set up some photo (for example photo of your hero from movie) so that other side will see some photo instead of live video of yourself:

Among camera settings you select how you would like the video call to look like and with quality it should be carried out:

Issue of camera for video calling is important, therefore here we would like to mention what possibilities exist:

2 cameras: one of lower resolution for video calling and placed near the display and in front of the phone, and second placed on the rear side of the phone - with higher resolution; these days the camera for video calling usually has VGA resolution (640x480) and the external one is megapixel usually.
one rotable camera (see photo below as example) - since sometimes this camera is also of good resolution (megapixel for example) this solution may be optimal in many cases!
attachable camera - especially for video calling - very impractical and we advise you never to buy such 3G phones.

One interesting aspect of video calling is international roaming: before buying 3G SIM card (known also as "USIM") from some operator you should check whether this operator offers video calling when you are abroad and when you use international roaming! Some operators do it with certain countries but not with yet other countries: examples: if you go to Austria with USIM from operator "3" in UK then you can use video calling but you can´t use it when you go Germany! Another example: if you have 3G USIM from Vodafone Germany then you can use video calling in UK but not in Japan, with USIM from Vodafone UK you can use video calling also in Japan! Another fact worth mentioning is that since Japan uses the same 3G standard as Europe - i.e. WCDMA based UMTS - it is possible to go with 3G phone purchased in Europe and use it, including video calling, also in Japan!

Conclusions: video calling, while not yet very popular among users of mobile phones, is becoming slowly "a must have" feature, so it is better to prepare for it! Over 10 years ago, when the first GSM phones were released not all of them supported SMS and then those users who had SMS feature were forcing the others to "get yourself phone with SMS or be alienated". Similar situation will be happening soon, when more and more people will have phones with video calling ! Shortly speaking: if you would decide to buy a phone that works in 3G networks, we recommend you not to buy such phone, that doesn´t have video calling !

A word of warning: don´t say that you don´t need video calling! You never know when you will need video calling and for what you will use it! One of typical examples of video calling usage is checking on your wife/girlfriend:

... and another example is trying to convince somebody that you are really in need, for example when you´ve locked yourself out of the house and you need your wife to come over quickly to open the door, but she is far away and doesn´t believe you and says "Give me one good reason why I should." - then you can use video calling to convince her quickly:

Well, never say "never" to video calling...