Skype Mobile Does the Job

Some may like it, others may hate it. Skype’s beta mobile release isn’t perfect. There are still several basic functionalities that need to be ironed out and added. Despite some obvious omissions in functionality and whether you love or hate it Skype’s application just works. So many application today offer the moon, yet fall incredibly short. Skype does what it needs to do, connects people together.

Last night CAW, Phoneboy and I tested various aspects of the program for nearly 2 hours. Some aspects were disappointing and some a pleasant surprise but the bottom line is it does the job.

One thing Skype has done well no matter the platform is the chat function. Signed into the mobile client I then signed on from the PC. Without missing a beat the entire chat history was there waiting for me. While both clients are running, both are updated simultaneously and instantaneously. I have yet to see another chat application even come close to this as seamlessly, painlessly or effortlessly as Skype. Big score in Skype’s favor, in my opinion.

SkypeOut calls are TCP based, meaning they are routed over the internet like any other Skype PTSN based as any other call made over your mobile, the difference being when placing a call to another Skype user the client dials a +1813 number (I’m based in the US). If you’re outside the USA please leave a comment on your experience to let us know how it dials Skype-to-Skype. I have my Skype account set to forward to my mobile if I don’t answer within 15 seconds. The desktop client, not the mobile client, promptly rings, then 15 seconds (however forwarding is configured) later rang my mobile as an unknown caller. Both clients did not ring simultaneously as I would have expected and have experienced while using Skype on the Nokia N810. These forwarded calls were then deducted as any forwarded call would be charged, in my case $0.021 per minute. This charge took more than 30 minutes to update on both mobile and PC clients.

Skype mobile is not a native S60 application, it is a J2ME (Java). That’s good and bad news for users. Good news because Skype will be able to offer it to a wider audience relatively quickly on a wide variety of handsets and operating systems with much lower development costs. The bad news however is that on the N95-3 the application is slow switching back to an active chat session, likely uses more resources and has less potentioal functionality if instead made full use of of Nokia's API. The client quickly switches to the contacts, call screen, chat history, and events screens, then when selecting an active chat takes what seems like an eternity by IM standards.

Another huge minus because it is a java application the text entry field at the bottom of the chat session is only for show. When typing a message, a separate text entry window pops up after a delay from typing the first character or two, which is always dropped, it may drop further characters depending how quickly they are typed. Once I adjusted to this functionality it wasn’t bad, only slightly annoying at first. Now I press any text entry key then wait for the text entry screen to come up then begin typing my message. IM's are limited to 256 characters per message, there is a character counter at the top of the display. Messages are delivered quickly and instantly appear on any additional Skype instances running in true Skype fashion. In Skype’s defense this text entry method is typical of any Java based application I’ve ever used. I have to wonder why they even bothered creating much less showing a faux graphical text entry field on the chat window at all. This faux entry field is a waste of valuable screen real estate. Once again this text entry method is typical of Java based application which also means the text entry field takes up the entire screen. In other words while typing a message, any on going messaging can not bee seen. On several occasions during the chat I had to scroll back in the history to see what I missed. Another disadvantages of chat sessions: hyperlinks are not selectable, nor is it possible to transfer files or other more advance functions available on the desktop client. The mobile client simply chat and voice. To be fair, Skype tends to leave functions out of other platforms as well, which I find annoying. In this case the most obvious omission being SMS, same as the N810 client. If any function should be included in a "mobile" clients, SMS should and would appear to be the most necessary. Obviously the Skype people felt differently or it would be included.

There are quirks through out the application that we can only hope will be fixed on future releases. For example the alert tone is hugely annoy and equally loud door bell sounding ding. There are no options to set tones, not even to turn them on or off. Users are left to disable warning tones in the case of S60, which incidently affects all warning tones not only Skype. During a chat the scroll bar chops off the trailing digit in the time stamp. Skype credit are prominently displayed in the upper right hand corner on every screen, except the chat text entry screen. The call screen can access the address book yet strangely enough only displays the phone numbers. If I knew the phone number of the person I wanted to call I wouldn’t have to look it up, not to mention except for my own and a few other numbers I couldn’t even tell you what any of them were or which number belongs to who. This is why I have an address book, so I don’t have to memorize them. There is limited profile editing (name, mood message, home, office and mobile numbers only) which can also be selected from the long list of numbers from the address book. Skype credit cannot be purchased from this client but it will poll the server for your balance, presumably if the already credits displayed isn’t accurate or recently updated.

For better or worst Skype mobile has some obvious, perhaps blaring so, options missing from this first public beta release. Some of these omisions could easily be added while others will take some work. Despite these shortcomings Skype's aims to keep the user experience as familiar and easy to use from client to client on each platform is a clear success. They have exceeded and continue to excel on making the user expericne consistant with a extremely short learning curve across platforms. Even more importantly this beta release thus far has been rock solid. The client has yet to crash, either itself or the device. It uses a reasonable amount of resources. I had no trouble running Jaiku, screenshot, mobile web, messaging, access the address book, calendar, logs, making or receiving phone calls. During this test all of these applications remained open. There were a few brief instances of longer than usually delays switching applications using Handy Taskman, something I have experienced and might expect from such a Java based application.

Skype didn’t knock it out of the park on this first beta release but it is worth downloading and installing. Skype has some work to do make it "Skype" quality we have come to expect. Simply put Skype has given its users a worthy first beta release.

-- Matthew Stevens (krazykritter on Skype)

Update: I mistekenly stated calls are routed over TCP, this is not true. Calls placed like any other call. Furthermore upon further testing without forwarding enabled calls do not ring on the mobile client. I like the mobile client for chat but if forwarding is not enabled in the account it becomes less effective as a mobile Skype solution. Forwarding is charged at the regular call rate whether or not the call originated as a Skype-to-Skype call.

Comments

[Al]

Yikes, is the enter button broken?

[Matthew Stevens]

@Al sorry about that, seems there was a hiccup in the system there. :-)

[MOC]

I've read, that Skype Mobile won't use a wifi connection for the calls themselves, but only for chat and contactlist.

Can this be true? Do I have to pay data charges even though I am in wifi range?

I haven't had a chance to test this myselves. I just thought it sounded weird, and I wondered if you could confirm it.

- MOC