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Skype For iPhone Now Makes Video Calls
tekgoblin writes "Today Skype has released an update that allows iPhone users to make video calls from their device. There had been rumors that this update was in the works and now they have been made fact. So, was the Skype outage the other day part of this internal update? Possibly. But Skype has proven to be one of the most important communication tools in the world and now has gotten even better."
> So, was the Skype outage the other day part of this internal update? If you read the story that's two below this one, you'll have realised that this wasn't the case. Shame the editors of Slashdot can't be bothered to read their own site these days - whilst the video calling is news, the submission could have been edited. ---P
" But Skype has proven to be one of the most important communication tools in the world"
seriously? one of the most important? no, it's not.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Does this mean that there will be an Android version supporting video soon? While I would rather have an open system than Skype, at least having something cross-platform will be nice.
...to see live pixelated video of my friends' nostrils courtesy of AT&T.
In the Nokia N900 you had skype (and googletalk) video calling since 6 months ago,but the front camera wasnt very good. How good is iphone one?
Is it just me, or does anyone else have zero interest in video chatting by holding a phone out two feet in front of my face?
Please read what you are posting up. You posted up something that explains the Skype outage, and then posted up something else asking if this caused the Skype outage.
The world is how you make it
I downloaded it this morning on my iPhone 4. Although it works, I am experiencing that sound and video are out of sync, low framerates, and pixelated video. Lousy job Skype. I tried it on both wifi and 3g connections with the other party being on a desktop connected via a broadband land line. I would have rather waited another 2 weeks for a more polished version that would be of the same quality as desktop-to-desktop video Skype.
[rant] Rumour has it that Skype might also get their fingers out their backside and make a more up to date version of Skype for Linux, one that is at least nicer looking with KDE4 for example, or one that actually obeys PulseAudio, one that does video calls properly with up to date video for Linux system, or one that stops deleting old conversations even though you've told it not to. But maybe we'll have to wait another two years for such an "update", while everyone else in the known universe gets their stuff constantly updated.
Skype for Linux sucks!
Take Nobody's Word For It.
There are other apps on the store that do video calling. If they were going to get pulled, they would have before now.
That's great, but FaceTime still relies on a central server to resolve phone names or email addresses to SIP URIs. So in practice the only thing more open about Facetime vs. Skype is that anyone can make a 3rd-party client for Facetime without needing any proprietary codecs. All calls just have to go through Apple.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Have you seen the newer Windows Skype clients? It's an awful piece of nagware now.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
The bigger question is, how long until video calling comes to Skype on Android? There are many more Android devices out there with forward facing cameras, so video Skype for Android would be a big bump for Skype. They dragged their heels heavily bringing Skype to the Samsung Galaxy S, which is the best Android device and highest selling one to date, which to me indicates that they don't know which side their bread is buttered on.
I hate printers.
FaceTime is also built-in into all the new iPhones and iPod touches, will be in the next iPad and there's also a beta version for Mac OS X, not to mention rumors of FaceTime for Windows. Is the userbase of FaceTime already bigger than Skype?
No?
In what world is this even remotely possible?
From this source we can see that:
Skype added 39 million registered users in the fourth quarter to end the year with a total of 560 million.
36 percent of Skype-to-Skype calls as of the end of the fourth quarter included video
At peak times, 23 million users are logged into Skype (as of March 2010).
Only 47 million iPhones and eight or so million iPads were sold in 2010.
So you could make a claim that iStuff was growing faster than Skype, you would have no basis for claiming that it was already a larger userbase.
Remember, these are SKYPE USERS compared to iSTUFF OWNERS. Those owners may or may not even be aware FaceTime is on their device.
No. Fucking. Way.
Can someone please verify if this is the case?!
I hate printers.
It's pretty old news by now, but this should provide you enough links.
Before they get video chats to Skype on Android, it would be nice if they made it work on 3G (rather than WiFi) at all in U.S. As it is it's artificially limited due to their exclusive agreement with Verizon.
Dude.
Totally true.
Really.
$0.02 (CDN)
This is really old news, surprised you didn't know. Here is one source. What more, for a long time you could only install Skype on Android if you were using Verizon - it wouldn't show up in the market for any other operator. When they finally made a "public" version, it is WiFi-only in US.
That's got nothing to do with Skype. Here in Australia I make Skype calls via 3G all the time.
I hate printers.
If I put Skype on my iPhone, what guarantee do I have that my phone won't get supernoded and superpwnded?
...is there Skype on Android? Oh...
"If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy
WTF are you talking about? I'm supposed to generate for you sales figures for a device that doesn't exist??
You like how I, what, exactly?
Did you likewise miss the concurrent users number?
No need to reply, I'm sure your Cupertino paycheck won't bounce.
It has everything to do with Skype because they signed an agreement with Verizon. Yes, I know it's not worldwide. It's still annoying as hell. I used the ability all the time in Canada, and it was very convenient.
Go talk to normal people.
You'll find that many of them use Skype now. Certainly any friend I have (that's every single one) who has family or friends overseas uses Skype.
You don't think reducing the cost of international communication to zero is important? I would say that mainstreaming VOIP is very important indeed.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I thought Skype on Android was Verizon specific...
The iPhone (and Touch and iPad) could always do Skype calls for free. The thing that changed a few months ago was that VOIP apps are now approved for use on 3G.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Several people already posted hypothesizing that Apple would pull the App, but I don't think that is even in the realm of possibility. Rather, this may prompt Apple to get off their butts and release the FaceTime specs as an open standard as they previously promised. Hopefully they'll roll out some improvements first, like default encryption on all channels, but it sure would be nice to have an open competitor to Skype that can interact with iPhones.
You know, I just remembered an even better example. My Grandfather was in a hospital about three hours away from his home recovering from a brain injury a few months ago. My parents were there visiting him, and were telling him that his great-granddaughter had started walking. He became sad that he had missed such a milestone, being 1500 miles away and in a coma at the time. My Mom just pulled out her iPhone, called me up, and within minutes he was able to watch her walking and talk to her in real-time. You can't believe how much that meant to him! In no way would a webcam or dedicated video camera have been a useful substitute for a phone with video capability.
Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them
There are other solutions for two way video calling already on Android. Personally, I don't find staring up someone's nostrils all that appealing tho....
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But there is lots of competition for video calling on Android.
A partial list:
http://www.appbrain.com/search?q=video+calling
Lets face it, most people only want to video call ONE OTHER PERSON, their girlfriend/boyfriend, and nobody else. So its not too hard for two people to find a service that works for both.
What is hard is finding a girl that uses Android.
Heretofore, android usage has been something like 95% male. That is only slowly starting to change, now only about 75% male.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
The only issue I have with it is that the front facing camera displays the image digitally zoomed or closer than how your face appears using either FaceTime or the built in camera application or a number of apps that call to the camera. I'm guessing Skype built their own way of A/V and couldn't rely on Apple's implementation within their own app.
This is what FaceTime should have been and it one ups Yahoo Messengers half assed implementation because it works between with Windows, Mac, and other iOS clients (tested all three).
I used it with my Mom today to call my Dad on his Vista machine. My Mom was driving and I switched between the front and rear cameras while she was driving to participate in the conversation. It was fun and has the potential to be HUGE. It's still kind of a bummer that the people that really reap the bedford of the update are iPhone 4 users do to its connectivity.
Skype is not just for video calling, though. VoIP is far more heavily used - and "no 3G" restriction applies to that on Android as well.
I tried a video call to a skype client on Ubuntu, but the iOS skype app was displaying cropped video. Has anyone else tried connecting to a linux skype client with the new app?
I read about the Skype outage just today and all 5 installations I own were the problematic version because I wanted the 3+ video conference which I imagine was very popular over the holiday season especially for families living around the world. I have now updated them all of course but the outage was the mistake of Skype and their misdirection to point at users was clearly silly, saying ok sorry we dropped the ball would have been more accurate as having such a serious problem while pretending it was the users failing to upgrade that caused it just compounded that mistake.
A single article on Slashdot stating sorry we at Skype messed up, please install a patch to repair our garbage or our whole network will collapse would do it. To be fair a small percentage would start researching how to crash said network on purpose, but that cat is now out of the bag anyway now.
The bigger question is, how long until video calling comes to Skype on Android? There are many more Android devices out there with forward facing cameras, so video Skype for Android would be a big bump for Skype. They dragged their heels heavily bringing Skype to the Samsung Galaxy S, which is the best Android device and highest selling one to date, which to me indicates that they don't know which side their bread is buttered on.
iOS is still the dominant app phone platform. It's absolutely no surprise that this feature is enabled for iOS before being rolled out for Android.
I don't understand your last sentence. Is/was Skype for Android available, but for only some handsets? If we are to break it down to individual devices, then iOS is even more the obvious choice for primary development.
Because any time an app appears on iOS that is compelling, someone on Slashdot is required to ask that question. Today's winner was morgan_greywolf.
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No issue here whatsoever. Was amazingly clear on 3g and over wife to other party on desktop.
That automatic spelling correction is just comedy gold sometimes, isn't it?
Putting moderation advice in your
Fring has had video calling support for Symbian/Android for over a year now.
"..One hosts to look them up, one DNS to find them, and in the darkness BIND them."
So, was this item "product placement" (ie, sponsored by Apple?)
Nokia n800 (or similar had Skype with video, per Skype.com)
I'm suprised that some post-3000 series Sony PSP didn't do it.
Any netbook will do it, too.. and for much less $$$ to Apple... :-)
PS Aussie SkypePhones (v. 1) could only do voice + messaging.
Anybody know about Sweden's?