App of the Week - Skype for Windows Phone 7

I think a lot of us were waiting long time for this and now we have it – Skype for Windows Phone 7! It is still in beta version, but as I need it a lot, I just installed it on my WP7 to test it. In this blog I like to give you some first impressions.

First I like to provide you with a short video you can find on YouTube that gives you a good overview of the functionality and how the app looks like.

[View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd5BVkI3RzI&feature=player_embedded]

 

My first impression (under the aspect that it is still in beta) is very positive.

The contact list is similar to the WP7 contact list and looks really nice. Unfortunately there are still some features missing, like sort contacts by state (online/offline) and deleting a contact directly in the list.

The second list you have is a list with people you recently contacted. By clicking on contact there you come directly to the details of this contact. Also here you are not yet able to delete one or all contacts in this list.

Chatting with this app is really nice. The chat looks great and well ordered. You have list with a lot of emotions similar to the desktop version. Unfortunately the app doesn’t work in the background at the moment and there are no notfications. When you change to another app, you will not receive any messages until you go back to Skype. But to have a short chat with someone it will be enough right now.

Now we come to the most important part of the app. Call people with or without cam. At this point the app really rocks!!!  Already with UMTS you have a really good quality for normal calls and also video calls are pretty good! The only problem I remarked was that after 1-1.5 h it suddenly lost connection. Could be that the connection was too bad, but anyway nothing that should be a problem.

My conclusion: Download this app and test it yourself! Although it is still in beta it works nice and it is definitely something you can use to call your friends. And for the missing features… I’m pretty sure they will come soon.

For more information visit the official site, where you also find the link to download this app. If you wish to install it directly over Zune software (phone connected to your PC by cable) you can just do it here.

Hope you will have fun with this really useful app!

Kind regards,
Raphael Bösch
Lead Student Partner Fribourg

Comments

• Anonymous
  March 04, 2012
  It's quite a bummer that the app doesn't run in the background. I have to ask what they were thinking when designing the app.  Now that Microsoft has acquired Skype shouldn't it be a no brainer to tightly integrate the application into the system so that I can receive calls and messages even when I am running a different application.

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2012
  Skype for Windows Phone 7 is now released since some weeks and also got several updates. They bring a lot more functionality since the beta, unfortunately it still doesn't run in the background... More information, including FAQ, you can find on: www.skype.com/.../skype-for-windows-phone