Global: T-mobile USA starts supporting native video calling on select Samsung smartphones

There are a number of apps that let smartphone users make video calls today, including Skype, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts and more, as well as built-in apps like Apple’s FaceTime, for example. But this morning, mobile carrier T-Mobile announced plans to make video calls a native feature on select T-Mobile smartphones.

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The company says it will roll out the feature to the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 starting now, while the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge will see the addition arrive next week. With T-Mobile Video Calling, the idea is to basically offer Android device owners something that feels more native to the user experience, in order to better compete with things like Apple’s FaceTime, for example.

To get the feature, owners of supported Samsung devices are instructed to download the update by going to their Settings, then “About Device,” then “Software Update.” Once installed, small camera icons will appear next to contacts who are able to receive video calls, explains T-Mobile.

For the time being, this option will only work across T-Mobile’s network, though the carrier notes it’s “working with others” to bring the option to make video calls across networks. That could indicate that T-Mobile plans to partner with Verizon, which introduced HD Voice and video calling last year. Like Verizon’s solution, the option to kick off a T-Mobile video call is integrated into the phone’s dialer.

Video calling works over LTE and Wi-Fi, and can move seamlessly between the two as T-Mobile’s HD Video calls do. The feature will also seamlessly switch over to a voice call when a user moves to a slower connection. And if they return to an LTE or Wi-Fi connection, they can then enable a video call again with a tap, T-Mobile claims.