Saw a pretty cool blog post earlier today. It was over at the Skype blog titled, “Skype now available for Android phone.” Yep, no longer limited to just one carrier, anyone with an Android phone can now run Skype (OK, there are some limitations…).
The key is that you can only make calls over WiFi (in the US), not your provider’s data plan. But hey, I’m OK with that since I’d presumably be using Skype to save on data or voice minutes anyways.
I’m looking forward to trying this out more in the future. If you have any experience with it I’d love to hear your comments.
Those limitations I mentioned?
Skype is not available in the Android Market in China or Japan.
Skype has been tested on HTC and Motorola devices with Android OS 2.1 and above. It may work on other Android phones, but we can’t guarantee full functionality or compatibility. We’re aware of some problems with the Samsung Galaxy S, and we’re looking to address these in the future.
It’s free to use Skype in a WiFi zone. If you use Skype with a mobile data connection, operator charges may apply, so we recommend an unlimited data plan.
In the US, you can make calls only over WiFi.
A fair use policy applies to unlimited subscriptions.
Really?
The whole point of Skype on a mobile for me is so I can use the data portion of my plan instead of minutes, and especially the usurious long distance rates.
Although I know Canadian plans are much more expensive than US plans, which may in part account for our different priorities.
Supposedly the data restriction isn’t in place here, but the deal breaker is that it currently doesn’t support the Samsung Galaxy S series, with no commitment to actually doing so. Very surprising considering the massive demand for the Galaxies (and what I’m trying to switch to at the moment).
Fortunately, Fring has just today announced a FringOut service to cover what Skype doesn’t. Less than a cent a minute, and uses either WiFi or data. Glad to see some competition for Skype as they’ve been getting sloppy.
(And the fact that Skype seems to have restricted data access in US due to pressure from carriers is really disappointing. Seems like you guys are starting to get hit with the same crap our carriers have been inflicting on us up here for some time.)
Paul