Hasta La Gadget!

Skype released its long-awaited app for Android. It’s free and available for download now at Skype’s website or the Android Marketplace for devices running Android OS 2.1 and above. But US users will have to wait for Skype calls over 3G.

Outside the US, the new Skype app for Android works over both Wi-Fi and 3G, features free Skype-to-Skype calls and group IMs, and paid US or international calls to any mobile or landline number using Skype credits or a subscription plan.

Skype for Android works using the same Skype account as your desktop and autoloads your contact list. You can also search for and add new contacts within the application. For users on networks in the US, 3G calling is disabled, as was initially the case with Skype for iPhone. (Verizon’s separate mobile Skype application allows for 3G calls only on certain phones on its network, including some Android phones). Video calling, which is supported on Skype’s desktop apps, is not available for mobile.

The only way to receive calls on Skype for Android is to purchase a SkypeIn online telephone number. Skype offers phone numbers in 25 countries; users can answer calls from any mobile or landline number in Skype. These numbers cost $18 for 3 months or $60 for a year. Users who buy a monthly subscription for calling time to non-Skype phones get a 50% discount, which could be attractive to those who prefer to use Skype as a primary telephony solution.

Skype instant messages can be sent and received in the new Android app. One workaround for users with free Skype accounts could be to receive a Skype IM from another Skype user, then phone that user back. It’s difficult to imagine how this could work if both users were phoning and messaging using Skype for Android, though.

Unfortunately, some users have already had difficulty getting that far with the new app. Currently, Skype for Android doesn’t work on Samsung’s Galaxy S, although Skype has promised a fix in the near future. The service isn’t available in China or Japan. The app also doesn’t work on Android phones with screen resolutions below 480×320 pixels, including the HTC Wildfire.

According to Skype, the app has been tested only on HTC and Motorola phones running Android 2.1 and above.

Some Android users on Verizon have already been able to access to a mobile Skype application through Verizon’s media store. However, Verizon’s Skype app worked only over the 3G network, and calls to mobile and landline phones in the US counted towards a user’s wireless minutes. In the new Android app, all Skype calls to non-Skype numbers use Skype credit.

Skype has an application for iPhone with similar functionality over Wi-Fi and 3G; Blackberry users are currently limited to Verizon’s mobile Skype application.

Skype for Android Now Available [Skype Press Release]

See Also:

• Skype Finally Breaks Free on the iPhone
• Skype on Fring Is Dead, But Who Killed It?
• Verizon Embraces Skype on Smartphones
• Verizon + Skype Not Mobile VoIP Nirvana, But Closer
• Gmail Phone Calls Are All About Facebook, Not Skype

iPad 4.2b2 tethering preferences by Paul Grave on Twitter

If you install the latest iOS 4.2 beta 2 on your iPad 3G and visit the “Cellular Data” section of the settings app, then you may be in for a rather nice surprise. Right there, underneath the familiar APN settings is a new option: to tether the iPad’s internet connection.

Both of the screenshots here come from the UK, one on the T-Mobile network and the other on 3. A complete lack of reports of this option in the US indicates that tethering on the iPad will follow tethering on the iPhone, and be available only in select markets where the carriers approve. This is far from the first time that an iOS beta has switched on tethering, and it may disappear later.

Why would you want to do this? After all, sharing the data connection from your iPhone to you iPad would seem more sensible, right? I can think of several uses: Sharing a connection with friends (I actually needed this when I was reading in a bar, and the Lady was working on her MacBook with no internet connection). Or perhaps letting you update an iPod Touch’s email and Instapaper before heading out and leaving your iPad in the hotel.

The most useful, though, would not be the sharing of 3G data itself. If tethering lets you set up an ad-hoc network with the iPad, then you could beam photos to it from a Wi-Fi camera in the field. Then my waste-of-money Eye-Fi card might finally become useful.

iPad 4.2b2 tethering preferences [Paul Grave / Twitter]

Internet Tethering coming to iPad? [9to5 Mac]

See Also:

• AT&T Internet Tethering Comes to iPhone OS4 Beta
• AT&T Adds iPhone Tethering, Kills Unlimited Data for iPad …
• Pictures: iPhone 3.0 USB Tethering Already Activated

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Unless you’re a huge fan of Sprint’s Everything Data plan, it looks as if Verizon’s BlackBerry Curve 3G is the one to get — unless you enjoy spending $20 more (on contract) for the same thing on Sprint, that is. Just hours after Big Red announced that the 9330 would soon be coming its way, in flies Sprint to play copycat. The Curve 3G is the same as it ever was, boasting BlackBerry OS 5, a trackpad / QWERTY layout, two megapixel camera, 802.11b/g WiFi, GPU, dedicated media keys 512MB of Flash memory, a microSD / SDHC slot (2GB card bundled in) and a couple of color options (graphite gray and royal purple). Sprint’s keen on you knowing that this here phone will be eligible for an upgrade to BlackBerry OS 6 in early 2011, but you can go ahead and grab one starting September 26th.

Continue reading Sprint gets a BlackBerry Curve 3G of its own, going for $50 on contract

Sprint gets a BlackBerry Curve 3G of its own, going for $50 on contract originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 10:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, there little guy! That’s the Toshiba AC100 — an Android 2.1 smartbook with Toshiba’s custom user interface — on show in the UK, where you can now grab one up. The 10.1-inch, 1.9-pounder has yet to show its face anywhere near the US, but as for specs it’s got a 1GHz Tegra 250 SoC, a 32GB SSD, 512MB of DDR2 memory, 802.11n WiFi, optional 3G, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, and an HDMI port. While it’s listed on Amazon you still can’t actually order one of these bad boys stateside, but if you’re in the UK, you can grab one up for £292.52 (almost $450) for the non-3G model. Video of the little guy in action back in June is below.

Continue reading Toshiba AC100 Android smartbook hits the United Kingdom

Toshiba AC100 Android smartbook hits the United Kingdom originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you’re positively giddy with excitement to get at this OlivePad rebadge and ViewSonic is today fanning those flames of desire with a little bit of pre-IFA PR. Made official today, the 7-inch ViewPad 7 will try to lure in Android lovers with its tasty Froyo parfait, underpinned by hardware that includes front- and back-facing cameras, 3G for both phone and data transmissions, and a full-sized SIM slot. It doesn’t seem to have an earpiece so we’re unwilling to grant it the claim that it offers “full” phone functionality, but we’d be more worried about the unlisted internal specs on this thing — the OlivePad makes do with a 600MHz ARM CPU and an underwhelming 800 x 480 resolution, neither of which should be making the iPad quake in its well padded boots. Price is expected to be “no more than £350” ($543) in the UK, though all we know about availability is that review units will start showing up in October. Ah well, the wait for a quality iPad alternative continues.

Continue reading ViewSonic ViewPad 7 official: Android 2.2 and ‘full’ phone functionality

ViewSonic ViewPad 7 official: Android 2.2 and ‘full’ phone functionality originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 07:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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