FaceTime (for iPhone) Review

There are lots of video chat apps out there, and they all do something different. Fring (Free, 2.5 stars), for instance, allows you to make group video calls, while Qik Video Connect (Free, 2.5 stars) lets you leave video mail. But these, like most of the video chat apps on the market, lack one key ingredient: solid video calls. Apple's free FaceTime may not sport the same bells and whistles as other chat apps, but it delivers the best overall video call experience—by far. It's the next logical step after phone calls, and it succeeds brilliantly, earning it our Editors' Choice for mobile video chat apps.

Availability and User Interface
FaceTime is available for both iOS and OSX users; for this review, I'm just testing the iOS experience. I did the majority of my testing using an Apple iPhone 4 (4.5 stars, $199-$699), though I also made video calls using an Apple iPad 2 (4.5 stars, $499-$829) and a 4th generation Apple iPod touch (5 stars, $299-$399).

On the iPhone 4, FaceTime is built directly into the phone's Contacts. When selecting a contact, you are given the option to make a standard voice call, or to make a FaceTime call. For the iPad 2 and iPod Touch, FaceTime comes as a standalone app, since there is no phone interface over which to route it through. On any device, contacts can be added via email address or telephone number.

FaceTime is the simplest, most intuitive video chat there is. Making a FaceTime call using an iPhone 4 is just as simple as making a regular phone call. Simply select a contact, then tap on FaceTime to initiate the call. The interfaces for both the iPad and iPod touch are similarly intuitive, allowing you to add contacts, view recent calls, add favorites, and make video calls with just a few simple taps. It can all be figured out in seconds, even by first time users.

Similar Products

4.0

Excellent

Skype (for iPhone)

$0.00 at Apple App Store

 

See It Read Our Skype (for iPhone) Review

Video Calling, Performance and Conclusions
I primarily tested FaceTime using an iPhone 4 with a solid wireless connection, making calls to FaceTime users on an iPad 2, iPod touch, and a desktop iMac. Out of all the video chat apps I've tested, FaceTime delivers the best overall video chat experience by far.

Calls connect almost instantaneously, and are incredibly fluid and smooth. Video quality is great—clean and crisp across every device I tested. Audio quality is good too. Sound is clear and natural, and it stays in sync with the video feed. Video chats over FaceTime feel responsive, and lack the sense of delay that makes chatting over other apps feel awkward.

I didn't experience any dropped calls, and I rarely experienced any noticeable slowdown in chats. It happened once, but the app quickly brought itself back up to speed, which I attribute to the finicky network I was connected to rather than the app itself. Most importantly, out of all the video chat apps out there, FaceTime is the only one that makes you feel like you can use it for an actual conversation, rather than a neat trick or a novelty. I was recently in a business meeting where FaceTime was used to bring in a third party that couldn't be there, and it really was a seamless experience.

FaceTime does have two big strikes against it. The first is that it's only compatible with devices running iOS and OSX only. While Apple has taken great care to craft such a usable video chat experience, we don't live in an Apple-only world. Sure, I know plenty of people that have at least one Apple device that supports FaceTime. But my grandmother doesn't, and neither do my cousins that live across the country in California. Secondly, FaceTime is limited to making calls over Wi-Fi only. This is likely because Apple doesn't want to take a hit in video quality or responsiveness. While I've found Wi-Fi to deliver a much better video call experience in my tests of other video chat apps, Skype 3.0 was able to deliver a pretty solid call over a 3G network. It would be nice if FaceTime could do the same, as it would allow iPhone users the ability to make a video call from almost anywhere.

These small quibbles aside, FaceTime is still the best video chat app out there. Skype 3.0 (Free, 4 stars) is close, but it still doesn't match the fluidity of a FaceTime call. Fring's group video chats are interesting, but its video quality and overall chat performance leave much to be desired. FaceTime is the first video chat app I've used that made me feel like I was doing more than just making a video call—that I was actually communicating with someone, face to face.

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