Slashdot Mirror
Free Skype Client Lands On the iPhone
CNet is reporting that a free Skype client will finally be landing on the iPhone this week. Unfortunately some are saying that it seems many of the "critical" pieces of functionality are still missing. While the Skype engineers claim their native client will offer better audio quality (because there is no need to route through another server and transcode audio) they are still missing text messaging, file transfers, and integrated voice mail. Since the iPhone does not allow for multiple programs running concurrently, many are expecting existing multi-function apps like Fring and NimBuzz to continue their reign at the top.
Is this a limitation of the OS or the hardware?
A computer and/or operating system has nothing to do with sexual orientation.
If this is so it will not last long, AT&T will make sure of that in the States.
To see a few of my Android apps goto: www.hartwired.com
Will you be able to receive Skype calls without the app running?
-Blake
And this Skype client will never be full-featured because it would take revenue away from the phone company, who profits by selling voice plans. You might be thinking a data-only plan with a Skype client would save you money, but you'd be wrong: Apple doesn't want you to do that. AT&T doesn't either. Or any other wireless provider. Sure, we could invest in a decent wireless data architecture, but why do that when we know we can keep bumping up prices and not improving infrastructure, and then blaming "high consumption users" for the problem. You will pay, like the good consumer you are. Oh yes, you will pay.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
When the latest version of the iPhone OS was announced, I read through the list of features that are now available, and realized I had every one of them on my Blackberry.
And then I read the list of stuff that still wasn't going to be available, and again, I had all of it already. I never realized how much the iPhone sucked.
True! Most people, regardless of sexual orientation, can only have one dick up their ass at any one time.
It depends on what you are looking for. I got a Windows Mobile phone because i wanted office integration. I tried using the web browser for playing, I've used Google maps. I sync e-mail using Intellisync software.
After a little over two years, I'm ready for an iPhone. Why? The Internet browsing experience is better. I rarely use the office apps. I use Word to jot notes down, I can use the appropriate program on the iPhone for this purpose. I tried using Excel, the cell size is so small it is practically useless. With an iPhone I can VNC my desktop and use Excel from their on a largers screen with zoom functionality. That's better than my WM experience.
Copy and paste is coming and it's the only feature I'd really want. Tethering is again coming. MMS I could care less about personally.
Since the iPhone does not allow for multiple programs running concurrently
What's the point of including multitasking if you cannot make it pretty and shiny? I applaud Apple for continuing the fight to keep our lives pretty and shiny rather than attempting to make our lives more efficient and easier to manage. I mean, let's be serious, isn't shiny and pretty the real reason we carry personal digital devices.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Can someone explain to me why I'd want to make a phone call over a crappy VOIP system from a cell phone that I bought to be able to uh .. make phone calls?
I'll just keep using Skype with my Windows Mobile phone, then, which, by the way, lets me use it on the data network. (I've never tried, because we only have EDGE in my area) I'm not bashing either Skype or Apple (I love my iPod Touch, though it's a 1st gen so Skype wouldn't work with it anyway) but I still have my PSP as another Skype-capable device, too.
If I use the Skype application to dial my AT&T cell phone number, does my iPhone detonate?
I assume this will be supported on the iPod Touch as well, and if so, will be full of win. I can have most of the functionality of the iPhone with VoIP without the expense monthly fee.
The complaints about "shortcomings" are misguided.
I only need Skype in wifi hot spots. Domestically, I use my cell phone minutes for phone calls. If I need to call internationally from my iPhone, I use Skype-To-Go, their relay service.
I only need VOIP when I'm out of the country. I'm not going to use iPhone data roaming because it is too expensive. But there are plenty of free wifi spots around the globe.
Fring has been so unreliable for me, an official Skype client has me very excited. When I'm in Cabo or Canada (or anywhere overseas) for a weekend, and I want to call home, this is where a Skype client is perfect! Find a wifi hot spot and dial away!
the news: seem to work over 3G and EDGE as well as Wifi. iPod Touch included. Chat included. Looks pretty decent to me. Some photos here: http://www.engadget.com/photos/skype-for-iphone-goes-live-in-japan/1460639/
Where is that guy who'd die defending what I had to say when I need him?
I suggest you google double penetration for a free education.
I too would love to see Skype run on a Touch. Unfortunately, AFAIK, there is no audio input hardware (no Bluetooth support, no suitably wired plug).
So the geeky question is: what would be required to run Skype on an iPod Touch? I can see building a plug that would enable a Bluetooth headset for it. The final step then would be persuading Skype to support such a hack (er, 3rd-party product).
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
As for crappy VOIP, that's baloney. VOIP quality is indistinguishable from regular calls.
That requires a minimum link speed and depends on what your carrier's QoS rules are (or if it's implemented).
If your VoIP packets get "best effort" service along with everything else you're sending/receiving (which is both typical with ISPs who didn't pay extra for QoS or configure it right and the fallout of the simple interpretation of "network neutrality"), you're hosed whenever things get congested.
Try running both a VoIP call and multiple big downloads on your home system simultaneously. Then tell us that "VOIP quality is indistinguishable from regular calls".
Unless the low-bandwidth stream of VoIP packets takes priority over the file transfer packets you'll get jitter, latency, and packet loss (as the VoIP packets wait behind varying numbers of file packets and the transfers ramp up until they experience packet loss - which means the VoIP experiences it, too). That will translate, at a minimum, into delay, which breaks the handoff dynamics of conversation. It will probably also result in dropouts, reconstruction artifacts, "Max Headroom" style repeats, etc. depending on how the VoIP application handles packet delivery flakeyness.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I think some of the Apple Hater froth around your mouth got into your eyes, as you seem to have missed the fact that the iPhone already has other VOIP clients - just not an official Skype client until now. AT&T doesn't care a whit, these all work over WiFi.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I too would love to see Skype run on a Touch. Unfortunately, AFAIK, there is no audio input hardware (no Bluetooth support, no suitably wired plug).
Any of the external dock based microphones will work on the Touch.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
you also can use remote desktop on your windows mobile device. works like a charm. i run firefox that way because the cpu in my desktop is way faster so the pages render faster.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
We are doing a test rollout of blackberries, iphones, and windows mobile devices.
I get blackberries brought to me regularly because they are screwed up or the person does not know how to do what they want to do. I have not had a single iphone or windows mobile device brought to me.
I was studying a broad last year and got slapped with a restraining order. I narrowly avoided an indictment for stalking. Be careful, my friend.
More music, fewer hits
Apparently the v2.0 hardware _does_ have mic & bluetooth support (requires v3.0 software to activate the BT), but not the v1.0 hardware (what I have now).
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
ok, first of all... I'm in the catagory of FINALLY!! Yes, I want sms. Yes, I want voicemail or other functionality but this is a mobile device AND its the first version.. MY biggest beef is that they couldn't get 3g working instead of just wifi?! wth? THAT seems kinda dumb to me, but its still going to replace nimbuzz and fring. They are already gone, as for multi-program, backgrounding.. I think it was idiotic for apple not to include even a limited running app version in fw v3 (maybee only allow 2-3 apps at a time) you all are still getting nearly free long distant/voip on an ipod/iphone... COMMON! wait til we see what happens
Yep, sad to say... your (stated) reasons fail.
Browsing, while slow as death using Minimo, works fine in a crisis. But make no mistake - browsing on any handheld will suck donkey balls, simply due to real estate.
Every other feature... I can manage every aspect of a 4 rack, 21 server farm with 94 workstations, along with a 20 slot Option21 PBX, from anywhere on my PPC. I have VNC, RDP, Putty, remote regedit, whatever. I even have reverse-RDP, so a desktop can "remote desktop" my PPC. I had my iPaq3900 acting as an AP to bridge an aircard connection back in... wait for it! 2002! Bluetooth PAN bridging, voice-rec, TTS, whatever... no one cared then, and they don't care now.
It's great that iPhone is getting some of these neat features in 2009. It's pathetic that people think they're new, or of merit. You know, 2001 called. They want their nearly decade-old feature-set back.
help me i've cloned myself and can't remember which one I am
iPhone OS 3.0 allegedly will have copy/paste.
Not that it shouldn't have been added in one of the first 16 public builds.
I see a time when phone companies accept that there is much value in the data as the phone service. Actually, I already see this happening with phone companies offering wi-fi hotspots. In the meantime phone companies are going to drag their feet to maximise revenue from the existing system.
As bandwidth costs go down, it may work out to be cheaper in cities to install wi-fi locations, than installing cell phone towers, but until there are proper meshes we are unlikley to see this really work for moving phones. I often wonder whether IPv6 could solve part of the problem here? I would see each cell phone with its own unique IP address hoping from hotspot to hotspot.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
You could make phone calls via the iPod Touch with an external microphone or on the new ones via the built in headphone microphone. Fring can do this already but when I tried it the call quality and lag was terrible(over wifi).
I've played with a few IM apps on my iPod Touch, but the common arrangement seems to be that you register with a service that stores all your login data and handles the connections for you. I'm not terribly thrilled with that arrangement. Has anyone found an IM that they're particularly comfortable with?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
I was going to argue this, but I really can't. I'd never get an iPhone because of the App Store restrictions, but what it does support it supports very well indeed.
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
We are doing a test rollout of blackberries, iphones, and windows mobile devices.
I get blackberries brought to me regularly because they are screwed up or the person does not know how to do what they want to do.
Well, then your users are idiots. Make them watch the simple blackberry 101 video:
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/support/blackberry101/
Even my 9-year niece can figure out a blackberry.
If you want a phone with full VoIP support, get an unlocked Nokia E71 for about $350; it works on AT&T's network. It has built-in support for VoIP (including Gizmo), WiFi, GPS, 3G, a full WebKit browser, a 3Mpixel camera, video recording, and lots of other features. I have that and an unlimited data plan, and I still don't bother using the VoIP feature; it's easier just to use regular cellular calls and not significantly more expensive. So, the notion that AT&T is preventing you from using VoIP on their network is a myth. Whatever restrictions there may be are specific to the iPhone.
This is like installing windows in a vm on a windows pc.
-Troll, Flamebait, and Offtopic are NOT equivalent to disagreement.
OMG. "Max Headroom" Over twenty years ago. Time to crank up the geez-o-meter.
OMG. "Max Headroom" Over twenty years ago. Time to crank up the geez-o-meter.
Sonny, the first machine I programmed for money used vacuum tubes - for the DIODES, too.
But before that I programmed machines that used relays to perform computations for fun - and to print my QSL cards. Built some, too.
My first personally-owned email machine exchanged email directly with IHNP4 (in Napierville Illinois). From Michigan. At 300 baud. (Because I had hacked the filters in a 110-baud modem to speed it up.) Uphill through the snow both ways! I paid the long distance out-of-pocket, back when it cost by the minute in major bux.
I had a .com back when they would all fit on three pages of professionally-printed bound-book hardcopy. But the part was the UUCP machine name from earlier. It was (and still is) a "good" name, four letters long, in a global namespace including ALL the machines that exchanged mail via UUCP mailnet at the time I picke it. (It was my second choice. I missed the one I really wanted - also four letters - by a week - while my "upstream contact" was twiddling his thumbs rather than forwarding the application forms, in the days before the web. B-b )
I was ON the project that coined the term "hypertext".
Geez-o-meter? I can out-geezer nearly everybody here. B-)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Make that:
I had a {domainname}.com back when they would all fit on three pages of professionally-printed bound-book hardcopy. But the {domainname} part was the UUCP machine name from earlier.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
The audio is terrible (I left a voicemail on a land line, the person called me back saying "I only understood your name, so I call you back".
The list of contacts is not usable. I have 200 contacts! ...".
I prefer the way it works on the PC: display and sort using the alias I have set for each contact. This way I know who is who (I have about 150 customers and want to see them sorted by company name, so I rename each of them as "(IBM) John Smith, (HP) John Doe, etc
with people changing their name every month, there is no way I can keep up with all my contacts and know who is who otherwise!
On the PC it is usable, on the iphone not yet.
Also, with all the decoration in the contact list, I see only 5 at a time. with no decoration, I could see 15 or 20 at a time. I can live without the contact picture, and the "a b c d e" thing, especially with the contact search
So open a US iTunes store account and download the app for your Canadian iPhone.
That's what I did and just talked to my mom for 40 min (otherwise long distance call). The sound quality is way better than any of the other alternatives.
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
MMS I could care less about personally
It's "couldn't care less". Stop saying "could care less", it doesn't mean anything, except that there exists something that you care less about. Which still doesn't mean anything.