Mobile video chat: issues and challenges

The next generation of cellular communication needs to endure a higher demand for enhanced real-time multimedia support to end users. Among interactive video applications, use of mobile video chat is on the rise in both the enterprise and consumer worlds. Mobile video chats are resource-constrained and heterogenous with varying display sizes, processing powers, network conditions, and battery levels, and pose real-time delivery constraints unlike traditional video streaming applications. With the demand for anywhere any time connectivity for video chat, it becomes quintessential to develop techniques that adapt to the underlying network, optimize the device architectures, and provide the best possible video chat experience to end users. In this article, we identify main limitations and challenges in mobile video chat. We further discuss possible solutions and propose research directions to make video chat a good experience.