Official Skype client finally arrives on Symbian devices

Posted on Friday, Dec 11, 2009 by Matthew Miller

14 Comments » File Under:Eseries, News, Services, Software;

It has been a very busy week and I missed this email that came through my inbox and wanted to make sure you knew about it before the weekend. If you have a Nokia S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 or Feature Pack 2 device then you may be happy to know there is finally a Skype for Symbian beta now available. Unfortunately, there is no client for 5th Edition devices yet. I am actually surprised by this because I thought that the N97 would be one of the first with Skype integration, but at least with this release we see 5th Edition support can’t be far behind.

According to the Skype website, here is what is supported by this new Symbian client: * Free Skype-to-Skype calling * Call phones with Skype credits or subscription * Receive calls on your Online Number * Instant Messaging * Group conversations * File sending and receiving

Skype for Symbian works over 3G and WiFi connections too. Give it a try and provide feedback to the Skype team in their forums.

If you really want a great Skype experience, then pick up a Nokia N900 where Skype (and several other services) are integrated right into the Phone and Contacts applications. I actually made a Skype call with my N900 this morning with no SIM card inside and connected to my Verizon Wireless MiFi. The call sounded fantastic and was as clear as any other cellular Nokia call with no lagging, drops, or anything. I was pretty astounded by this and it became another reason for me to purchase a N900 when I have to return this eval unit.

Continuing on with some VoIP talk, I previously told you about fring adding video calling support and then last weekend tested this with Mickey Papillon during our Smartphone Round Robin event. I was using a Nokia N97 mini and the video calling was excellent on my device. Inside the developers testing repository (not advised for the faint of heart) lives a Maemo 5 version of fring and I couldn’t resist going in there and installing it on the N900 to test out its capabilities.

The fonts inside fring on the N900 are quite small on that high resolution display, but so far the beta seems to work OK. I couldn’t find a way to make video calls so I plan to just stick with the integrated Skype and Google Talk functionality rather than use fring, but maybe these two can push each other towards more innovation and functionality.

linus
December 12, 2009

apparently the s60v3 works fine on n97

Tim Cooper
December 12, 2009

Fring has already been working fine on 5th edition for a while now, as has Nimbuzz, also recently updated.

Khunna
December 13, 2009

I wonder why it did not list Nokia E72, but E71!

linus
December 13, 2009

fring is great with video call and skypeout and all. But it will be good to have skype integrated on s60v5.

Best of Smartphone Experts, 13 Dec 2009 | TechBlogs Today
December 13, 2009

[...] Official Skype Client hits Symbian Devices [...]

Munk
December 14, 2009

@Khunna: E71= s60fp1, E72= s60fp2. Try the E75 version. It may work but you might have an issue in UI due to the squarish screen of the E72.

TiPb Answers — Can You Skip AT&T and Use an iPhone Over Verizon (or Sprint) MiFi?
December 14, 2009

[...] VoIP apps like Skype could mitigate the phone part — our good friend Matt Miller from NokiaExperts.com has been Skype’ing away on his N900 via MiFi and enjoying it. Likewise, IM or faux-SMS apps, [...]

Can You Skip AT&T and Use an iPhone Over Verizon (or Sprint) MiFi? | iPhone-more-fun
December 14, 2009

[...] However, VoIP apps like Skype could mitigate the phone part — our good friend Matt Miller from NokiaExperts.com has been Skype’ing away on his N900 via MiFi and enjoying it. Likewise, IM or faux-SMS apps, of [...]

TiPb Answers — Can You Skip AT&T and Use an iPhone Over Verizon (or Sprint) MiFi? | iPhone Info
December 15, 2009

TiPb Answers — Can You Skip AT&T and Use an iPhone Over Verizon (or Sprint) MiFi? | TalkiPhoneNow.Com
December 15, 2009

phoneguy
December 15, 2009

both the FP1 and FP2 clients work to some degree on Nokia 5800 (Symbian 5th). Texting works 100%, options are iffy, and while the other party can hear me perfectly, I cannot hear them at all. Very weird, but good news is after seeing this I expect a 5th edition client can’t be far off.