It's honestly amazing that we had GPRS video calls in the late 2000s but still don't have them in the era of the smartphone. And a company like Google keeps reinventing messaging which was a solved problem in the early 2000s.
Google was positioned to make Hangouts the dominant messaging and video call app, then just... stopped. I'm kind of glad that's not an area dominated by Google, but I find the decision really bizarre.
It's honestly amazing that we had GPRS video calls in the late 2000s but still don't have them in the era of the smartphone
Not really.
There plenty of resources if you want to video call. WhatsApp, TG, Signal or even (lol) Skype, have videocalls.
It's just that why would you?
Most calls you definitely don't need video, and often it'd be a downright negative thing. You need to look at the screen and look presentable, as opposed to being able to do things while on the phone.
The reason videocalls aren't more popular is the same exact reason Google Glass isn't.
Well, yeah, no shit. Apps had to replace what was a native phone functionality. But it's still true we lost something. You need a data plan to make video calls while before you could have just your minutes. Of course, it's rare that someone has no data plan but still. Phone calls are still useful even if you mostly to calls via apps.
WCDMA, (384kbps/384kbps) but yeah. The standard is still in the 3GPP spec too. Phones could be using it now if carriers and handset manufacturers (mostly crApple) just reimplemented it.
Eh, if it's only on pixel phones, it won't be used. We need an open standard that can be used for PCs and phones alike. Telegram already has this feature for desktop/mobile/tablet and it works across OSs. Google and Apple need to catch the hell up.
I feel like I'm losing my mind - I thought the Google phone app had already had this feature for years. I could have sworn that when I tried to make a call, it offered video as well as audio. And yet it's not there now. Weird.
The Galaxy phone/contacts app literally has Google Duo/Meet/WhateverItsNameIsNow as one of the four main options, for each contact along with call, text, and info.
How can Google not figure this shit out with their endless rebrands and new product launches.
I've used carrier video calling before, the option appears when I call my wife. We both have Verizon, though, and I've never checked if I can do that with other people
I'm the only Android user in my family. We use Signal for messaging and video calls. Anything Google implements is not likely to be cross platform anyway.