Hasta La Gadget!

Back in February, Verizon Wireless made it quite clear what phones could be used with Skype Mobile, and the whole lot were smartphones. Sometime between then and now, however, it seems as if the carrier (or Skype… or both) has had a change of heart, as today a select few non-smartphones are showing up in its database as being compatible with Skype Mobile. Samsung’s $20-on-contract Reality, LG’s $80-on-contract Chocolate Touch and the enV Touch are all displayed as being in support of Skype Mobile, leading us to believe that an even larger stable of VZW handsets may soon hop onboard. Meanwhile, perfectly capable Android phones like the Nexus One can’t find a decent Skype client to save their life. For shame.

Update: Ah, ha! Now it’s official, with Skype confirming that Skype Mobile is now available on VZW multimedia phones on the BREW platform.

Verizon quietly pushes Skype Mobile onto select non-smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the “tent-poles” of Apple’s iOS4 is multitasking, and one of the biggest features of iOS multitasking is letting VoIP applications continue to run in the background, alerting you when a call comes in, for instance. Until today, though, this has been largely moot as the big daddy of VoIP – Skype – had not been updated to use this new feature.

Now you can all but replace you regular cellphone service. Skype v2.0.1 will run constantly in the background, listening for calls and messages, and will alert you when one comes in. To answer, you just tap the button that pops up. And while Skype doesn’t (yet) have access to the front-facing camera for video calls, it will work over 3G. In fact, Skype has abandoned its plans to charge for calls over 3G in the future.

With many cellphone plans offering so many voice minutes that they seem almost endless, you may wonder why Skype is worth the bother. The main benefit is in making cheap international calls using Skype Out, which lets you call regular phones. And when iOS 4 finally lands on the iPad, you’ll be able to make calls wherever you are, without any kind of phone contract.

The new Skype is available now, as a free download in the App Store.

Skype [iTunes]

Skype now supports multitasking, no additional charges for calling over 3G [Skype Blog]

See Also:

• Skype on iPhone OS 4: Incoming Calls, But Mysteriously 3G Lags …
• Skype Over 3G Comes to the iPhone. It's Not All Good News …
• IPhone Skype over 3G: 'Real Soon Now'
• Fring Brings Video Calling Over 3G to iPhone 4

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It looks like Fring’s recent decision to block Skype access to its iPhone 4 video app was the final straw for Skype, who charges that VoIP network was in breach of the Terms of Use and EULA for the Skype API. “Over time,” writes General Counsel Robert Miller, “Fring’s mis-use of our software was increasingly damaging our brand and reputation with our customers.” Although they’ve “been talking with Fring for some time to try to resolve this amicably,” Friday’s action is being called “disappointing [for] our customers, who have high expectations of the Skype experience.” He goes on to say that “Skype will rigorously protect our brand and reputation, and those developers that do not comply with our terms will be subject to legal enforcement.” Meaning, presumably, that in the case of more Fring shenanigans there will be some sort of red-hot legal action. For its part, Fring CEO Avi Shechter had this to say: “We are disappointed that Skype, who once championed the cause of openness, is now attempting to muzzle competition, even to the detriment of its own users.” Which is all well and good, but we can hardly see how Skype is the problem here when you were the ones who locked out its users in the first place.

Skype says Fring violated its Terms of Use, ‘damaging our brand and reputation’ in the process originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Get ready for the second major wave of video chatting — not only is Apple about to bring video calling to the masses with the iPhone 4, but Skype today announced the SkypeKit beta SDK, which devs can use the SDK to interface their apps and devices directly with Skype’s service starting tomorrow. That means there’s no need to run the Skype desktop app — it’ll just be integrated into whatever you’re running, like the recent Panasonic VIERA connected TVs with Skype integration. Once they’ve passed a UI certification, devices and apps will be billed as “plugged into Skype,” but don’t expect to see anything happen too quickly: the SDK is Linux-only at the moment, with Windows and Mac desktop versions forthcoming, and Skype will be testing apps and devices before they go live.

The new SDK can use H.264 hardware encoding to supplement the relatively slow ARM chips that will be running Linux in an embedded manner — like the Panasonic TV, for instance, which was developed using an early version of SkypeKit. We asked Skype about its SDK membership (which costs $20), and the other slight restrictions of the SDK, and they assured us it’s to keep fraud from happening (Skype interacts with your wallet in its paid services), “not to keep out people we don’t like.” There will also be a verification process for an as-yet-undefined cost, where Skype will go over any software or hardware released with the SDK. Additionally, Skype is open sourcing its Silk audio codec (which was recently added to its iPhone app), and they’re working with the IETF to make it an open, patent-free standard for use with anything, not just Skype. Check out the Litle Webbook running some custom Skype on video after the break. It’s in early beta right now, and will be pushed as an update in September, along with video functionality (it’s audio-only right now). We also have shots of the Grandstream GXV3140 making a Skype video call in the gallery below.

Continue reading SkypeKit beta SDK adds Skype to any application or device

SkypeKit beta SDK adds Skype to any application or device originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plenty of other VoIP apps have managed to work in this functionality since Apple / AT&T started allowing it last year, but the official Skype app has been a notable holdout. Now, two months after Skype started doing 3G calls on Android with Verizon, there’s a 2.0 version of the app for iPhone that brings voice calls over 3G at last. Mobile iPhone calls are free until August, after which you’ll need a “mobile subscription.” We’re testing out the app as we write this and it seems to work about as well any other 3G VoIP app we’ve tried: passable, not revolutionary.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

New Skype 2.0 app for the iPhone allows voice calls over 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 17:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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