Dr. Z has been receiving a lot of questions on video communication using the iPhone 4 and the HTC EVO. This will be the first of a series of updates on smartphones.

Bear in mind, this is still early in the product cycle for both phones, they have been on the market for only a few months now–we would expect, with the pace of technology as it is, that there will be more things coming up with more features.

Right now you can communicate from an iPhone 4 to another iPhone 4 using the FaceTime software that comes built in with the iPhone4. You can find FaceTime by using the contact list on the iPhone 4. Be sure you have FaceTime enabled in the settings first.

You can communicate from an HTC EVO to another HTC EVO using either of 2 downloaded software packages–“Fring ” and “Qik” (not “Quik”.)

You can communicate from an HTC EVO to an iPhone 4 only if you have the “Fring” software downloaded to both the iPhone 4 and the HTC EVO. Qik does not work on the iPhone 4. The picture clarity for Fring is not as clear as FaceTime but it is possible to understand.

With the HTC EVO, you can make calls in a 3G/4G (cellular) or wireless environment . The iPhone 4 can only handle FaceTime in a wireless environment, not 3G.

Only the iPhone 4 can use a video relay service such as ZVRS. The HTC EVO does not have this capability yet, but will soon. For more information on the ZVRS capability for the iPhone 4, click this link.

We still can not use both phones to call a VP, such as a Z-340 or a VP-200. But it is coming down the road.

More new front-facing cameras are coming on the market in the time to come. Dr. Z will provide updates as they occur.

These are exciting times for video communication!

Dr. Z cares about your communication access.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.