This week Skype has released final “Gold” versions of three of their software offerings: Skype for Windows Mobile 3.0; Skype for iPhone 1.1 and Skype for Windows 4.1, their primary client.
Skype for Windows Mobile 3.0 goes Gold: From Peter Parkes:
It includes two cool new features: SMS and file transfer. Sending SMSs using Skype is a great way to reach friends and family instantly anywhere in the world – Skype’s low rates mean that you won’t have to break the bank to do it. And file transfer lets you send files quickly when you’re on the move.
Download here. Check out the Release Notes.
Skype for iPhone 1.1. While available for the new iPhone 3G S and the iPhone 3G, most important is that this release requires that you have performed the OS 3.0 upgrade to the iPhone 3G (initially sold last July); it should be offered automatically when you next connect your iPhone to iTunes on a PC. This upgrade adds features such as Cut/Copy and Paste along with many other improvements.
As for the iPhone for Skype software, it adds voicemail and SMS features as well as some improvements to the user interface. It also adds support for several languages such that the language support comprises: Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish and Traditional Chinese as well as various English versions.
This one needs to be downloaded from the App Store via iTunes or as an upgrade on the device.
Canadians are still awaiting a resolution of a G729 patent issue before Skype for iPhone becomes legally available in Canada. Canadians have to be developing a syndrome about being left out of certain Skype offerings freely available in the rest of the world. And now many of us early adopters would like to be able to take advantage of Rogers’ iPhone upgrade offer.
Skype 4.1 for Windows goes Gold. By far the most useful new feature of Skype 4.1 beta has been the screen sharing where I have easily shared spreadsheets, performed PowerPoint presentations and reviewed Word documents, as long as the sharing in only with one other Skype user. (Remember this screen sharing is done via the Skype for Video channel for which only one-to-one video calls are permitted.) It also includes sound and video quality improvements. (The screen sharing is a catch-up to a feature available on Skype for Mac 2.8 beta for several months.)
Bottom Line: incremental improvements that provide evolution, not revolution, of the feature sets. My biggest issue is a request to restore complete support for Public Chat sessions where enhanced marketing support of this feature would drive new adoptions (or is it that Skype cannot figure out a business model for Skype for Public Chat? – purely my speculations).
Other posts:
- Rogers steps for up iPhone 3G customers. Early adopters of the iPhone 3G have a significant upgrade offer until July 31, 2009. I am given to understand similar offers are available in several other countries.
- Dan York: Skype launches version 4.1… (yawn)… still only Windows… still a fragmented product strategy
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Tags: beta, Desktop Sharing, file transfer, gold release, language support, screen sharing, Skype for iPhone, Skype for Windows, Skype for Windows Mobile, SMS, upgradesRelated posts
Skype For Business, Skype News, Skype Platform, Skype Software, Skype for Personal, Skype on Mobile, Using Skype
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I have Skype 4.0 but the quality of skype to skype computer connection has gone from great (3 years ago) to good, to bad, to now absolutely terrible and Skype 4.0 did not make it any better! I just hung up on a conversation with my wife in the US (I’m in France) and it took us 30 minutes to try to have basically what would have been a 5 min call because of incessant interruptions (no more sound), voice fading in and out, horrible background noises, etc, etc. This is now a daily experience and as other bloggers say, it’s almost better to make a skype to cell phone call to have a decent conversation. We use the same computers and OS as we did 2 years ago, and they work otherwise fine, so it really looks like the quality of Skype connectivity has gone way down. Are they doing something about that, or are they waiting to start losing customers??…
Skype has an ongoing research program to determine end user configuration issues. And they’re looking for solutions to these issues to minimize the potentials for difficulty such as you seem to be experiencing. For instance the recent release of the Skype Everyman headset is designed to optimize the audio quality issues on the PC and neutralize audio chips as an issue. However, your PC configuration, Internet service, routers and other devices on your LAN could also be issues. I recently resolved an issue where I had poor outgoing voice and found that I needed to replace some Ethernet over Powerline adapters LAN; they were used to provide a connection to my SlingBox in a room without an Ethernet jack. At the moment I am experiencing the full benefits of not only Skype audio but also Skype video. A post on end user configuration issues will follow soon.