# Why no video cell phones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057 "2008-11-17T00:29:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/1 "2008-11-17T00:29:41Z")
OK, so my flying car is not here yet. But my cell phone can record video with its built-in camera, so why can’t I call someone and have a streaming video call, like on Skype or other Internet messaging services? You know, like in 2001 A Space Odyssey. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/2 "2008-11-17T00:33:22Z")
One word - bandwidth. You don’t have nearly enough to send real-time video with a cell phone. At best you might get a few frames a second, which would give really poor quality while using a relatively large amount of the total resources available to your cell provider. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/3 "2008-11-17T00:35:02Z")
Holding it the way a phone is usually used , they would see a close up of your ear. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/4 "2008-11-17T00:58:40Z")
Video phones exist. Bandwidth, as mentioned, is the limiting factor, but technologies using more of the spectrum are coming into their own with 3G / 4G / WiMAX looming, data rates are definitely high enough in principle for video phones, but even so it is doubtful that you will see broad video phone use due to practical limitations–theoretical transfer rates are rarely achieved in practice at this point. 3G ostensibly supports up to 5 Mbit/s on the uplink, but Wikipedia suggests practical rates are in the hundreds of kbit/s. WiMAX has much greater theoretical limits, but only for line-of-sight transmission, dropping down to rates similar to Wi-Fi when there is no line-of-sight transmission available (sitting in a coffee shop). Still, if you can get streaming video on your laptop, you can get it on a phone, in principle. But getting _and_ sending requires much more uplink bandwidth than is typically allotted for mobile devices. Think of it this way: it’s easy to send video in one direction. We call it “television.” It’s been around forever. But video in both directions is not so simple in the bandwidth available given the number of users around. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/5 "2008-11-17T00:59:01Z")
Never mind; was typing a question while **erislover** was already posting the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/6 "2008-11-17T01:05:22Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > OK, so my flying car is not here yet. But my cell phone can record video with its built-in camera, so why can’t I call someone and have a streaming video call, like on Skype or other Internet messaging services? You know, like in 2001 A Space Odyssey. My old [Nokia N81](http://europe.nokia.com/A4494085) has a smaller camera on the front for videocalls. I haven’t tried it because my current plan doesn’t support videocalls. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/7 "2008-11-17T01:34:04Z")
There were several models available in Japan with video phone features at least a few years back. I haven’t taken a look at recent ones, so don’t know of current availability. They aren’t/weren’t very popular because, of course, you can’t do a video call unless the other person also has a video-capable phone. It also takes a lot of bandwidth, and the picture and motion quality is lacking because of that. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/8 "2008-11-17T03:15:32Z")
A friend of mine has video calls with his family each night he’s away. I haven’t had a close look to see what the quality is like. ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/9 "2008-11-17T04:18:43Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > There were several models available in Japan with video phone features at least a few years back. I haven’t taken a look at recent ones, so don’t know of current availability. They aren’t/weren’t very popular because, of course, you can’t do a video call unless the other person also has a video-capable phone. It also takes a lot of bandwidth, and the picture and motion quality is lacking because of that. Most phones in Japan can do video calling. It’s decent quality, but not as good as say Skype or something. I’ve only used it on my phone a couple times, mostly for the novelty when I first got it (and I have one of the cheapest phones in Japan, thank you very much 😉 ) so it’s certainly possible, there’s just not really much point to it. I hardly use my phone even for voice calls, Japan is a text messaging society ---
**Author:** ![dynamitedave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed655f/32.png) [@dynamitedave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dynamitedave)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/10 "2008-11-17T09:34:36Z")
Not sure about the CDMA network, but the GSM 3G network does video calling here. As above, the required phones have a second camera on the same side as the screen. My brother and his wife have the required phones and plan (extra $6 month for unlimited). But after the novelty wore off… Though she still calls him to show their daughter’s new tricks. The frame rate is fairly low iirc Of course if a bed-warmer is paranoid, with video calling it’s easy for s/he to demand proof that the “late” meeting really is happening 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Westrogothia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@Westrogothia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Westrogothia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/11 "2008-11-17T11:24:37Z")
Sweden here. My phone has a camera for video calls. And its pretty old. Actually most phones sold here do video calls. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/12 "2008-11-17T11:49:20Z")
Here in Oz we have video telephony. We’ve had it for years. We’ll have a 3G network up to 21Mbps by the end of the year which will make it even better. Wheeeeeeeee! ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/13 "2008-11-17T14:14:22Z")
It also kills the battery. Video needs lots of bandwidth and processor power for compression and decompression. That greatly increases power consumption. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-video-cell-phones/473057/14 "2008-11-17T15:00:23Z")
I can do [video share calls](http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/01-05-2007/0004500399&EDATE)on my AT&T Blackjack II, but we’ve not really tried to use it yet and my girlfriend and I have had the phones since March.