FaceTime is ChinTime

Apple launched its 4th generation iPhone today.  Another carefully orchestrated product launch by Apple, for sure.  Reportedly there were 600,000 pre-orders last week before Apple cut people off - an excellent way to create news headlines about the demand for your product.  Add in a few news stories covering the lines forming early this week in front of the Apple Stores composed of the Mac faithful who have nothing better to do with their time than to camp out so they can be among the first people to buy one at 7am today. I waited until after work today to stop by an Apple Store to check out the new phone.  Even if they sold out all the phones (which my local store confirmed to be the case), they would still have the display units available to try out.  And, in short summary, the phone does live up to its billing.  All the advertised features work as advertised.  The screen sharpness is stunning.  The phone feels great in your hand.  It's fast, and works just like you would expect.  Very nice job, Apple.

Except for one thing.  The front facing camera is a joke.  When Steve Jobs announced the phone earlier this month at the World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC), he saved his famous "one more thing" cliffhanger to announce "FaceTime" - the ability to place face-to-face phone calls with your friends who also have the new iPhone 4 model.  Today, the Apple Store had 2 phones set up to easily demonstrate this.  And, the demonstration confirmed for me exactly what I thought - it is lots of marketing hype.

So, tell me - where do you normally hold an iPhone or any other cell phone you might use for texting?  If you are like me, it is at the end of your arms about 12-18 inches from your face.  But you are looking down at it, not directly straight ahead. Your arms (from elbow to wrist) are parallel with the ground.  You aren't raising your hands up to the height of your face to look at the phone.

Did you ever think about what that front facing camera view would be showing?  Hint - it is your chin.  The most unappealing viewpoint for most people.  Add to that fact that this is a small wide-angle lens, and you'll get some extra image distortion thrown in for good measure.  That makes you look even less appealing to the person you are calling.  Of course, there are some people who will look good no matter what angle the camera is looking at them.  But the majority of us aren't going to look that great.  If you look at Apple's advertisement of this feature, you'll find models who are looking directly at the camera - the only way to get this angle is to hold the phone with your hands at eye-level.  Let me know how heavy your arms feel after a few minutes of this!

Trust me - the typical camera angle people will use for this feature is not flattering.  It is a novel Apple-only feature today, which gives Apple something to brag about and claim market leadership.  But it will likely become a novelty rather than a mainstream feature for cell phones in its current implementation.  However, if Apple were to integrate it with the iChat application for iMacs and laptops, so we can chat from anywhere at anytime, then the whole market may open up for face-to-face calling.  But I'm guessing it will not rise above being a novelty, even if AT&T lets the imagery pass on its 3G network some day…  Because even then, it's added bandwidth may count against your monthly allotment, so you'll end up paying for a feature to look at your friend's chin.  Wonderful.