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.
I’ve always had video calls on my native messenger since they became a thing.
They’ve never “gone” anywhere.
I’m from Finland, where Nokia is from. Mobile phone usage was higher here than pretty much anywhere since the 90’s. The later Nokias had video calls, but as you say, they wouldn’t have gone on the data plan, but charged as minutes (but not normal minutes, just like MMS was more expensive than std SMS).
The apps became more popular exactly for that reason; everything was on your data (which is unlimited), and not charged as SMS or minutes. A lot of the people I know don’t even do regular phone calls anymore, just using WhatsApp to call.
So yeah, no-one just used videocalls. What’s the point?
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.
“What was a native phone functionality”
I’ve always had video calls on my native messenger since they became a thing.
They’ve never “gone” anywhere.
I’m from Finland, where Nokia is from. Mobile phone usage was higher here than pretty much anywhere since the 90’s. The later Nokias had video calls, but as you say, they wouldn’t have gone on the data plan, but charged as minutes (but not normal minutes, just like MMS was more expensive than std SMS).
The apps became more popular exactly for that reason; everything was on your data (which is unlimited), and not charged as SMS or minutes. A lot of the people I know don’t even do regular phone calls anymore, just using WhatsApp to call.
So yeah, no-one just used videocalls. What’s the point?