Best Thing Since Sliced Bread? FaceTime Audio Calling!

FaceTime has always been more of a cool, Dick Tracy trick in these quarters, than an actual useful service. I mean who wants to clean up their office, brush their hair, or hey… put on a shirt, just to talk on the phone? That and the unflattering camera angle that gives even Kate Moss a double chin has relegated FaceTime to the land of the absent parent/infant lullaby and the party trick.

But no more! Not with FaceTime Audio calling.

How can it be that this is not the lead in every single review of iOS7?

In terms of call quality, iOS 7 has taken the iPhone from worst to first. We're talking Hi-Def. HQ! This is crystal clear, CD-quality audio so clean it is, at first, disturbing. You'll be so amazed at the clarity and realism that you'll lose track of the content of your conversation.

As recently as yesterday, when someone has asked, "How do you like that iPhone?" my stock reply has been, "It's the worst phone I've ever had, and you can have it when you pry it from my cold dead hand." As all iPhone users acknowledge, the rest of the iPhone user experience makes up for the up-til-now hideous telephone service. I've tried the handset, the speakerphone and well reviewed Jawbone and Plantronics bluetooth earpieces to no avail. Maybe it's AT&T but it seems that my Verizon friends all have similar complaints. It seems it may really be in the nature of cellular calls on the iPhone, because with the introduction of FaceTime Audio Calls there are no hardware limitations; this handset, this speakerphone, this earpiece… all sound great!

FaceTime Audio Calling only works between iPhones on iOS7 and on wi-fi at both ends of the call UPDATE 10/21: It seems to work over 4G as well! Give it a try. You'll stop talking about Siri's new voice, the "Control Center" and the weird new colors.

And whatever you are talking about? It will sound amazing!