
The next disruptive iPhone feature? High definition audio call - davidedicillo
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/10/28/the-next-disruptive-iphone-feature-high-definition-audio-calls/
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jaylevitt
I'm sure that's part of the evolution of FaceTime technology, but the
article's author doesn't seem to really understand the technology he's
touting. If cell phone antennas result in poor audio quality, they will also
result in poor data quality, and thus poor audio-over-data quality. Either the
antenna works well or it doesn't.

Similarly, ALAC would be a horrible way to send voice calls over wireless.
Lossy codecs will require less bandwidth and thus be less susceptible to
dropouts on poor-quality connections.

And while I know almost nothing about codecs, I'm pretty sure you have to
design one specifically for streaming - you can't just take a write-to-disk
format like ALAC or FLAC and decide to stream it wirelessly.

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fleitz
Audio and video codecs are generally stream/packet based. You'd really have to
screw up the container format to make a codec completely incapable of
streaming. (Like putting the last frame of video at the start and the first
frame at the end of the file)

If you use a player like VLC you can generally watch videos while they are
downloading.

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colanderman
The issue is more so whether the codec can handle dropped packets. It wouldn't
surprise me if FLAC could not recover in such a case; usually lossless codecs
employ something like Huffmann coding which places a large dictionary at the
start of the file.

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breckinloggins
Subpar telephone audio quality is one of those things that is so pervasive
that most people are probably only vaguely aware it's a problem.

I'm convinced that if you brought an engineer from the 1940s to today and
showed him an iPhone, he'd be absolutely overwhelmed and ecstatic that
technology has progressed so far. That is until you let him make a call. Then
he'd ask you why the girl on the other end sounds the same as she did in 1940.

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jtchang
I was thinking about this the other day.

The voice quality on the majority of networks suck. I don't know a better way
to put it. We can have HD video streaming to a phone but I can't have crystal
clear audio?

Don't even get me started on conference calls and volume. Am I the only one
that wishes the volume on my damn phone could go about 10x higher than the
preprogrammed setting?

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kalleboo
It would be nice if instead of creating another proprietary protocol, they'd
just use something that's already in place
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wideband_audio>

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GiraffeNecktie
Exactly. Telecom is basic infrastructure like the highway system. If Apple
were building cars they'd want to have special super smooth tastefully
designed toll roads that only Apple cars could run on.

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jfb
I fully expect this to happen. iMessage is a clear shot across the carrier's
bows -- in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd have preferred that Apple
go after voice _first_ before the obscenely marked up texting market. They're
getting gutted from the inside out, and I can only imagine the frantic rent-
seeking that's going on even as we speak to get this sort of thing "sorted
out".

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Hyena
I don't see this. Carriers already compete with messaging services like AIM
creating AppleTalk-for-mobile doesn't seem that disruptive considering. The
article's evidence looks more like ATT responding to a bifurcating market with
no-text and text-heavy users. It's profitable for them to fold mid-level users
into unlimited plans and attract more people who'd rather have the $15.

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marquis
With HD audio you can hear absolutely everything in the background. We need
signal compression in the frequency range to hear just our voice signals in
the range we want to hear. You can't speak over HD audio in busy traffic or
where there is significant ambient noise.

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beej71
"How are you going to send high quality data, Mr. Anderson, when you can't
even get signal?"

AGENT SMITH LOOKS AMUSED.

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mortenjorck
Apple had enough clout to leave the carriers silent for iMessage, but this
could be the straw that breaks the innovation-fearing camel's back.

I'm almost certain they're planning it.

