I tried Hangouts, Skype and Viber and was thoroughly disappointed with the quality. Opposed to Facetime, the sound was delayed preventing a normal conversation, and the picture was extremely pixelated. This in spite of having a good 4g signal and later a strong wi-fi signal.
Is the fault somehow on my side or is the Android videocalls seriously lacking behind Facetime? If the latter, why?!? What holy grail did Apple discover to make video calling so smooth and what prevents android from adopting this technology?
Facetime uses H265 on newer devices, this allows double the quality on the same connection. Wait till Duo by Google comes out in the Summer. The Verge had a chance to use it and they've said it is the quickest video chat app they've ever seen, better than Facetime
As far as I understand H265 is only supported on iphone 6 and up. Whenever I use facetime on my iphone 5, it is smooth as butter and never any audio delay.
So even before H265, apple must have used a technology which never was embraced by any android developers. I just wonder why.
Well - seems there is hope with Duo. Fingers crossed or I will have to keep my iphone just for facetime.
You can also try Tango, which has good (not best) quality when you have a good connection.
I get excellent video quality with Skype but it works a bit different than Facetime. The skype video call will start pixelated and will get better over time. After about 1 minute you should see it improves significantly. Remember that both sides of the convo needs to have good connectivity speed.
Sent from my Pixel C using Tapatalk
I find Viber to be pretty good, they all have good and bad moments, when Viber does't work well, I try Skype, when that doesn't work, Facebook Messenger, one of the 3 always seems to come through. Not ideal, but, for the price of free, can't really complain.
Try Tango. worked for me in the past. Or use snapchat's video calling feature. reception sux sometimes.
Related
Hi everyone,
I've had my Vibrant with me at a local music festival this weekend, and thought it would be a fantastic time to exercise the HD video capture. Unfortunately, every single video I've taken has had such terrible audio that it's unwatchable. I kept digging around in camera settings but found that there's no way to adjust the mic sensitivity. Anyone else have a similar experience or any idea of a workaround?
In my experience the Vibrant's got excellent mic sensitivity and the sound quality is even quite good. Unfortunately, this means that things like concerts are going to be distorted. I've actually seen very few video cameras that can properly record a live concert, much less ANY cell phone.
I absolutely understand that recording a live concert through a microphone designed around voice for telephony is not going to be in any way, shape or form, ideal. I feel like the Vibrant could do better. I just wonder if it's something that could be corrected for in software, if it's a hardware limitation, or if it's just my particular unit. My dad was also with me at the festival, and recorded the same shows using my old Blackberry 9700. The Blackberry did a markedly better job.. It's not what I would call good by any means, but the video isn't intolerable to watch for memory's sake. I just find it frustrating since the phone takes such incredible video. I agree that it does very well in low volume situations, and I absolutely love the phone overall.
I have a couple of comparison example videos on Youtube from the festival but due to my new user status I can't post a link to them. PM me if you're interested.
I also took my phone to a trance festival, the image is amazing but the sound is rubbish. I was also standing very close to the speakers so I don't really blame the mic since it's not really built to handle such a strong volume input.
If there is a possible way to fix it software wise that would be great, but I'm no that optimistic about the chance it's fixable that way.
I agree, the sound just pops... Same song recorded by the og droid was MUCH BETTER... of course my video LOOKED amazing.
I agree my wife and I recently went to the Honda Civic Tour. I used my Vibrant while a friend used one of those little flip HD cameras. We both got the same picture quality however, her sound was amazing. The thing I find funny is those cameras only cost like $249.
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant using the XDA app.
TGA_Gunnman talks about the same thing here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734515
Though doesn't say exactly which one of the settings is what adjusts the mic gain.
I too would be very greatful to know how to turn the thing down.
-Greg
Using the Netflix App on the Focus.
Wi-Fi:
Let me say how very very pleased I am!! I used it last night and felt the opposite, was to impatient. When you first start a movie it may look horrible, very very blocky. But slowly over the next 1-3 minutes the picture quality will continue to get better and better till it looks, well... perfect. The audio is sinked perfect. It looks HD to me.
1-3 bars on AT&T 3G: (inside house no Wi-Fi activated)
Same end results, just took 3-6 minutes to reach full video quality. It didn't regress any at all after it reached an apparent HD state in video quality. Audio sinked perfect from the second it starts showing video.
This was a selling point for me, with this beautiful SAMOLED screen. I'm sold!!!
That's good to know. The quality doesn't really need to be better than 480p though, since that's the display resolution of all WP7 phones.
I'll probably go with the 2GB/month service and it seems 2 movies is all I can watch a month on the phone over 3G assuming I don't access the internet too much when outside.
I didn't even find netflix in the marketplace, thanks for making me grab it! Stoked.
Netflix Video Quality
I have only tried NETFLIX via 3g in my home, I am not even sure how many bars I am getting, but I never have reception issues there. I can't compare on WiFi because my network is hidden for now.
Anyway, my image quality is good, but not great. The frustrating part of it is that there are moments (long moments) of stunning quality. This seems to indicate to me that the issue is buffering and not the phone screen quality.
I'll keep messing around when I have time. The picture is definitely good enough to watch a movie with, but obviously nowhere near the potential of this amazing screen.
Oh and the whole buffering, acquiring license time mentioned earlier was nowhere near 6 minutes.
Was running last night and today, avgr 2 -3 bars , I am really happy with the quality of the picture, the que time is not bad as well.
Only complaint is the my bluetooth speakers will work with Netflix or Iheart radio. They do work with the Media play.
There would appear to be quite a video quality difference when streaming via WiFi rather than 3G. I suppose that should have been expected, but the difference was far more apparent than I would have guessed it would be. Maybe eventually there will be a different level of buffer offered for the 3G option.
Also, I have noticed that the video quality gets better about a minute into playback. Maybe this is the buffer getting up to speed, but on both streaming modes, playback improves steadily over the first minute until a good quality is achieved (spectacular in the case of WiFi).
Lots of experimenting now and I absolutely agree with the OP. The software seems to thrive off of a less than a minute of playback with WiFi to get a stunning screen quality and about a minute or so more to achieve exceptional quality via 3G.
At first I was underwhelmed by 3G playback but it really gets sharp after a few minutes.
Very impressive.
I agree. It looks very well even over 3G.
how do you video chat i just noticed that skype is only for calls and oovoo is not compatible...
I use the google talk app. IMO the video quality is better than Skype from my Macbook Pro. I've also heard that Gingerbread will support from a phone with front facing camera in a future update. Now the trick is just getting everyone I know to switch from Skype...
is oovoo going to release a version for honeycomb?
Anybody else notice low mic volume from the galaxy's end? Even when recording a video I can tell it's really quiet.
If Tango is available, might want to try it... You can video chat to all your punk iphone using friends! =)
Also used the Gtalk video and it works really pretty nicely. And is stupid user friendly
Xclio said:
Also used the Gtalk video and it works really pretty nicely. And is stupid user friendly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How was your mic volume level? I need to know to make sure it's not just my unit that's crazy quiet.
Hello folks,
I have noticed that the video call experience on Android yields pixelated grainy images regardless of device and network I use.
I have tried Hangouts, Skype and various other video call apps on: two different Samsung Note 3's, a Samsung Galaxy S4, a Nexus 7 2013 and a Nexus 4.
I have attempted using WiFi, HSPA+ and also using LTE. Regardless of the device, the app, AND the connection, the quality of the video was horrendous at best.
And then I tried using FaceTime, which produced high quality HD video. I was mind blown.
I fully know that the front facing cameras on each and every single device I have is high definition capable.
So tell me... why are we forced to suffer terrible quality video call while a simple iPod touch can stomp on us like toy soldiers?
Facetime is awesome BUT only works with iOS. I found hangouts to be good but people seem less likely to vid chat
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I love my s7e to bits but one thing which I miss dearly after parting with my iPhone is the ability to have good quality video calls. Seems it can't be done with android.
Tried every option - hangouts is no worse or better than the rest. Whether you can see each other and hear a complete sentence is hit and miss. Facetime is decades ahead - why? It's outrageous that no effort seems to be put into upping the game. Thinking of getting a cheap iPhone just for facetime. Daft but the only way.
Werent there talks about improving the quality of hangouts?
I make video call straight from the dialer - No issues of breakup etc.... It's all depends on the signal quality of where I am and the person I;m calling...good signal, good quality and visa versa..Don't use hangout at all
Skype works really well for me. I have slow wifi and no problems with the quality at all