Skype Officially Available For Android

After a lot of speculation, Arvisp writes "Skype has released an official Android version. It allows calling via 3G and WiFi." One step closer to the carriers being just... carriers.

More detail...

[GraemeDonaldson]

• If you're in the US, only WiFi for you (presumably doesn't apply if you have a Verizon device with their bundled version)

• If you're in China or Japan, no Skype for you!

• Android 2.1+ required

• Minimum screen res of 320x480 required

Also, it's 9MB, there's a link to the .apk for those of us with metered data plans: com.skype.raider.apk [multiupload.com].

Skype? have had it for over two weeks.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had Skype on my android phone (HTC Incredible) for over 2 weeks. It came installed on it. So how is this news?
Checking the Market, I don't even see an upgrade for it.
So, once again, how is this news?

Trillian is the app that I keep looking for.

Re:Skype? have had it for over two weeks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Your skype is the Verizon blessed and hobbled version. It uses Verizon voice minutes for the first leg into the cloud. Therefore it's only useful in saving on international long distance charges. This new Skype can use WiFi.

Re:Cool

[bemymonkey]

I haven't measured power consumption during actual calls, but during standby the Skype app seems very well behaved. According to Currentwidget, my phone draws about 5mA during standby with Skype running... same as without Skype. :)

Google Voice

[EasyRhino]

Re: Allows calling via 3G and WiFi.

This was already available via the Google Voice app. It even has integration with the phone app to be the default method to make calls.

Re:At last!

[generalhavok]

If I recall, no US carrier has ever allowed VOIP traffic on 3g. On my AT&T iPhone, Skype has to use WiFi. Appears to be the same case on my Verizon Droid too. I recently went on a trip to Russia. I bought a cheap SIM card with a data plan for my (jailbroken) iPhone, and just out of curiosity, I launched Skype, it it let me place a call right over 3g! That saved me a lot of money for calling my family back home. Not to mention that cell phone plans and data is cheaper there than in the US too. Amazing what some real competition in a market can do.

Re:Cool

[Sockatume]

Depending on your distance from the tower and the access point, it could be quite a lot less. I've certainly had situations where I've had a very poor cell signal and strong wi-fi, and thus the wi-fi has been more reliable and more power-thrifty.

Re:More detail...

[kzharv]

Why no skype in Japan?
I see no such restriction after installing on 2 phones here in Tokyo....

Re:skype is good. asterisk is better

[Anonymous Coward]

So load a SIP client on your Android phone and point it to your Asterisk server. SIPDroid works great.

Re:Skype? have had it for over two weeks.

[Spad]

Trillian for Android (Beta) [trillian.im]

Re:At last!

[anUnhandledException]

Meanwhile AT&T collects record revenue per iPhone subscriber while paying the least of all carriers on infrastructure (per subscriber).

So the solution is to not allow high data applications to go with these high cost data plans.

All profit and no cost. Aren't "free markets" wonderful.

Re:So we like open source, but not open protocols?

[Weezul]

Skype has two big advantages over SIP :

(1) Skype does not require the cooperation of sysadmins because Skype was built by people willing to break the rules. Skype just works unless sysadmins specifically fight it. SIP not so much.

Solution : We need slightly more expensive SIP providers that proxy your traffic when necessary for bypassing network restrictions and incompetent sysadmins.. as well as variations on SIP that use a Skype-like P2P proxy approach.

(2) Skype dramatically simplifies the installation and setup. You've actually some chance of non-tech savvy people like your girlfriend or mom installing Skype unaided.

Solution : We need better information about which SIP providers provide cleaner packaging and proxies. Think gsmarena.com level informative.

Re:Cool

[tlhIngan]

It would be interesting to see how this affects battery life. I love my Eris, but the battery life on the stock battery is pretty suck. Would something like Skype drain a battery faster than calling someone using the 'phone' portion of the device?

Yes, but mostly during a call, and a tiny bit less when idle. When the phone is idle, the main CPU is basically stopped and drawing very little power. Having Skype in the background does nothing to affect this as it's also waiting for a control datagram and thus blocked waiting.

However, the phone may be maintaining a data channel waiting for the datagram to come - this can involve a bit more power from the modem to keep the channel alive, and a tiny bit of main CPU to handle higher layer data connection administrivia (keep-alives and the like).

But during a call, the power goes up a lot. During a normal voice call, the main CPU again shuts down as it's not needed for the most part and the audio is routed direct to the modem where it's compressed, encoded and sent over the air by dedicated hardware. Using something like Skype, however, means the audio has to go tot he main CPU, where the Skype application then encodes it into packets, and those packets are then passed to the OS (also running on the main CPU) as network data. It goes down the network stack, then down to the data port of the modem where the modem then packages it for over the air. But an active data connection also costs more power, and the main CPU is active during a VoIP call but idle during a normal voice call, both of which add significant drain to the battery.

If you're on the phone a lot, VoIP may require you to carry an extra battery. If you're like me who hardly makes a call longer than 30 seconds a couple of times per day, you won't notice the extra drain.