All About Symbian - Symbian, Nokia and S60 unwrapped.
Skype Symbian in beta - fully featured native client
Published by Rafe Blandford, Asri al-Baker at 19:57 UTC, December 10th 2009
Skype has released the first beta of its own native Skype client for Symbian phones. The Symbian Skype client supports a full range of Skype functionality including Skype to Skype calls, Skype Out calls, instant messaging, file transfer, credit top-up, voice mail access and more. In the beta phase, a limited number of S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 and 2 phones are being supported. Compatibility will be extended to other phones in due course. Read on for screenshots and additional information.
The home screen of the application and making a Skype call.
I carried out a couple of tests and call quality seems to be reasonable, although it varies depending on the type and stability of the connection. I was partaicularly impressed by the quality of a Skype Out call (over WiFi) to a UK landline, with very little or no discernable difference to a cellular call from the same phone..
The client takes a standalone approach - it does not seek to integrate with the existing contacts or telephony applications (though it will import contacts from the Contacts database). By contrast, the Skype client announced early for this year the Nokia N97 is more deeply integrated into the handset. We're expecting this N97 version to be released in due course (Nokia said it was due to arrive in Q4 2009).
Support for Skype geographic numbers and voicemail and comprehensive settings.
Skype for Symbian has been in development over a long period of time. It was first demonstrated at 3GSM in 2006, running on the Nokia 6680. It seems likely that a combination of technical difficulties and industry politics (e.g. operator relationships) have delayed its release.
It is worth noting that in the intervening time period a number of third party applications which add Skype functionality to Symbian phones, have been released, including fring (which also supports video calling over Skype) and Nimbuzz.
Hands-on report
Asri, calling in from Malaysia, gives us this hands-on report:
I tested the beta on an E63 (latest firmware v400) and connected to Skype network using my home WiFi. Signing in was a breeze and very quick. Design-wise, I think the development team did a stellar job here to following the S60 developer style guide, which means the application should intuitive for most users (especially compared to some of the more complex multi-headed IM/VoiP solutions for Symbian).
The Symbian application implements all the standard features of Skype. In addition to the standard Skype calling (including Skype out support), you can use it to chat with your contacts via instant messaging, send and receive files, buy Skype credit, and manage your contacts. It also allows new users to register directly.
As for the voice quality, during the test call, I was able to hear Steve's voice loud and clear, as if he was standing in front of me, but Steve said my voice was tinny. Maybe it's something to do with the Internet connection in my place - I would be interested to hear your about your experiences in the comment thread.
You can download the 4.2MB SIS file from the official Skype blog. You must install it in the phone memory and use WiFi or 3G to connect.
Phone compatibility
The current beta supports the following phones: Nokia E71, Nokia E63, Nokia E66, Nokia N82, Nokia E51, Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8GB, Nokia E90, Nokia N96, Nokia N85, Nokia 5320, Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 6210 Classic, Nokia N78, and Nokia N79.
News Discussion
Is it because it was horrible puff piece, about a man who is in complete denial of all the issues facing Symbian? No problems with the UI, no problems with the underpowered hardware? Really?! Even Nokia have moaned about the first and held their hands up on the second.
Admin note: Have added comment thread - not sure what went wrong - suggest people email me rather than comment on another thread. And the point of the piece it is a transciption of an interview with Lee Williams putting his point across.
Sadly enough its not working on the E72 :(
It does everything except that correspondents cant hear eachother
Sooo... my $64,000 question wrt the Skype mobile client is whether it does the same thing? If I leave the client running on my handset, will it be gobbling up my bandwidth, battery and resources while the bloke down the road is Skyping his family in Pakistan?
No notifications :icon4:
No calls possible (I hear only the noise)
on my N86. Nimbuzz is 1000times better
Here are my experiences:
- Overall voice quality was very good.
- There were some cutouts for 3 seconds of the two-minute call.
- There was a delay of about one second when calling from Skype PC client to the Skype Symbian via 3G connectivity.
- The Symbian client does not yet integrate into E71's call management functionalities, which means that you cannot answer as usual with the green button or with bluetooth handsfree or some other headset. You can answer to a call only with the left context button, "Accept".
All in all, the new Symbian client works clearly better than Fring, which I tested a couple of months back and found it unsuitable for any real-life use.
Next week, I will test this:
- Calling between two E-series cell phones via Skype Symbian clients on both
- Calling from Skype PC client to Skybe Symbian client via WLAN connectivity
Unlike numbuzz and fring there is no lag during skype-out calls. Its perfect over WIFI and works great on 3G.
I'm sure with a future version this native skype app would be perfect.
You must be using Windows, because I have never seen anything like that on linux. I use Debian GNU/Linux and Linux xlient has never caused anything like that. Are you sure that your windows system is not infected by virus, trojan or something like that?
That is how Skype works.
http://www.skype.com/help/guides/p2pexplained/
A true P2P system, in our opinion, is one where all nodes in a network join together dynamically to participate in traffic routing-, processing- and bandwidth intensive tasks that would otherwise be handled by central servers.
The high resources use by Skype is why some universities and companies ban Skype.
|
Originally Posted by Unregistered
http://www.skype.com/help/guides/p2pexplained/ A true P2P system, in our opinion, is one where all nodes in a network join together dynamically to participate in traffic routing-, processing- and bandwidth intensive tasks that would otherwise be handled by central servers. |
Search
Navigation
Social
Advert