Article By Michael Muchmore in PC Mag.
Apple has been guarded about adding iPhone apps that perform functions its built-in features handle: The absence of third-party choice in browsers is one good example. Yet, although there's hardly a more core function of the device than making calls, a few VoIP apps have made the cut. Now you can include Skype in that number. Why is Skype for iPhone (and iPod Touch) a big deal? Consider this: On a recent bus ride from New York to Boston, I found that the vehicle had its own Wi-Fi signal. So, if I'd wanted to, I could have talked with my friend in London for free during the whole journey. iPhone users can now make free calls anywhere they have WiFi access, without lugging a laptop. And they still get Skype's trademark slick interface design and clear call quality.
Sign Up Sign-in, and Talk
The app lets you easily sign in with your existing Skype account. If you don't have an account, you can create one right inside the app without being switched to mobile Safari.
Once logged in, you're taken to your Contacts list, which you can sort alphabetically showing either all contacts, whether they're online or offline, or just online contacts. The alphabetical list includes a bar that lets you quickly scroll through letters. Though you don't get to view specific contact groups and types as you do with the desktop software, I found the existing choices perfectly adequate. From here, you can click through to view a contact's profile and even drill down to profile details. You can also view and edit your own profile, and even use the iPhone's built in camera to update your profile photo.
From a contact's profile page, you can initiate a VOIP call or text chat. In my tests using an iPhone 3G, the voice quality through my handset's receiver sounded nearly indistinguishable from what you'd get with a standard cell-phone connection. The main difference occurred when my contact was using a PC speaker and microphone (rather than a headset or another iPhone), in which case the sound quality wasn't as good. When I tried a call between two iPhones, the voice quality was also more than serviceable. In fact, it was even better than that you get with cellphone calls on some phones. But there was latency before the start of conversations, and if I strayed towards the edge of the wireless router's signal-strength sweet spot, the other caller couldn't hear me.
Instant Messaging
Instant messaging with the app is straightforward: You just click on the Chat button on a contact's profile page. As you converse, you'll see profile pictures next to the text each side enters. Of course, you don't get the multiple windows you have when texting on a PC—you have to select Contact | Profile | Chat in the interface each time. But, happily, your earlier text entries are still there when you enter chat with the same contact later. And if a new IM arrives for you, a small red circle with a number notifies you, both in the app and on the Skype icon in the iPhone's start screen.
When you return to Skype after doing something else on the iPhone, you're signed in without having to enter your username and password again. This is a thoughtful convenience. But if you leave the app while you're in a chat, you won't be returned to it later—you're simply returned to your contact list.
Calling Regular Phones
What surprised me most about Apple allowing this app onto its sacred communicator is that the software lets you call landline phones. You can actually use your Skype credit to call US and international traditional and mobile phones. The app's dial pad lets you enter any number (but be sure to include the international calling code even for the US). Unlike a regular cell phones, the +1 is not assumed. If you've already entered a phone contact in Skype, you can use that to place a call, bypassing the Skype dial pad. As with calls to Skype accounts, call quality was better than what I've experience with some cell phone connections. For conference calls, the Dial pad button let me enter numbers into an automated voice system without incident.
Not only can you communicate with your existing Skype contacts and with any phone number, you can also search the service's directory for new contacts by name. And you can even view their full profiles if they've allowed that in their privacy settings. If you just want to add a phone number, you can also do that from the iPhone app.
As you'd expect, there are plenty of things you can do in the PC client that you can't on the iPhone. For starters, the iPhone app offers no Skype Extras for things like call recording. Nor can you send files as you can in the desktop (and the Windows Mobile) versions. It also makes little use of the iPhone's special capabilities: There's no location mash up, nor any use of the accelerometer (such as for viewing in landscape mode). But the app's biggest limitation is that it works only with Wi-Fi. You can't connect via 3G or Edge. But Apple and AT&T get the blame for that rather than Skype, which I'm sure would be happy to work with any Internet connection. And, as with all versions of Skype (not just that for the iPhone) you have to authorize contacts to see their online status.
Not only is Skype for iPhone, like the company's desktop software, well-thought-out and pleasingly designed, it makes the previously unthinkable possible. Sure there have been other iPhone VoIP clients, such as iCall, but they don't give you access to the huge pool of users that Skype does and lack its design finesse. In short, despite some small glitches, the app is very cool. It gives you a new way to communication with a broader spectrum of people. And who knows, maybe for the next version of the iPhone, the Skype app will make the truly unimaginable possible—video calling.
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