Jokes aside, it's quite interesting to think about how close to an in-person experience this (or similar) can get you. For example body-language. I get quite animated when getting in to a technical discussion - how would that feel in this case?
To be honest though, email is still pretty much the best communication method over distance. It allows you to think, revise and reference other information easier. Many a time I've torpedoed a face to face meeting with a single email.