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Computerworld - NATICK, Mass. -- More than 400 people lined up by early today to buy an iPhone 4 at the Apple store in Natick, Mass., and the first customers to get the new smartphones demonstrated that Apple's FaceTime video chat really works.

Using Apple's Wi-Fi hot spot in the mall area outside the store, John Brosnan chatted via FaceTime with Kyle Copeland with two separate iPhone 4s they'd each just purchased.

"The video's a little choppy," Copeland said, although he was clearly delighted at how easy the FaceTime application was to launch and use. "But it's good for this crowded Wi-Fi zone."

Brosnan waited a few seconds for the FaceTime app to allow him to see Copeland on his own iPhone 4. (The app also shows the caller's face in a smaller window on the other person's screen.) "This is very disorienting," he said, referring to the two images, although he was also pleased with the chat performance.

The video image in FaceTime was clear, and the lighting and color accurate. The video motion showed some delays (which Copeland called choppiness), but that's not unusal even with higher-end desktop computer videoconferencing over wired connections. The FaceTime video didn't degrade to bitmapping, or tiling.

Copeland showed that shooting video of the mall's interior with the iPhone was very effective. He panned the phone from a dark area to a sunlit area near the ceiling, and the video quickly adjusted to the light.

An operations manager at software maker Intuit in Waltham, Mass., Copeland said he was curious to see whether video and FaceTime on the iPhone 4 might be used by his colleagues for work-related functions. "We'll have to see what happens," he said.

Ben Goodwin, a systems administrator at Intuit who was still waiting in line for an iPhone 4 when Copeland had his in hand, said he thought he might use FaceTime with colleagues. "FaceTime will be sweet," he said.

Both Goodwin and Copeland said they hope that Skype videoconferencing will eventually be supported by the iPhone 4. Doing so would theoretically make it possible for video chat users who don't have an iPhone 4, but have a computer supporting Skype, to chat with iPhone 4 users.

FaceTime, for now, works only from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 and only over Wi-Fi, although Apple CEO Steve Jobs has committed to make FaceTime an industry standard.

All three loved the new Retina display on the iPhone 4, which was clearer and seemed to push the image closer to the top of the display cover.

Brosnan, who works at PatientKeeper in Newton, Mass., said the iPhone 4 will be easy for doctors and others to use. PatientKeeper offers a service for doctors to access patient records using devices such as the iPad and iPhone 4.