Cheap Calls
It’s easy to forget with its miriad of features and functions that the iPhone is just that… a phone. And while making and receiving phone calls on the device is just as much of a joy as performing any other function, there are two ways to improve on the experience: one is to be able to make cheap phone calls, and the other is to be able to make free phone calls. In the second in our series of App Store Essentials where we highlight the absolute must-haves that were launched prior to the 3GS and OS 3.0, we take a look at Skype.
Skype splash screen
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past five years, you’ll be well aware of Skype and what it does. There’s no doubt that it has shaken the telecommunications industry the world-over with its free VOIP calling between Skype members and cheap calling to conventional land-lines, but until recently using Skype meant being chained to your desktop or laptop. Now, Skype is beginning to roll out clients for most major mobile platforms with the iPhone version having been around since March 31st.
Skype for iPhone works beautifully, but it does have some limitations (more about those later). Upon launching the app, you’ll be greeted with a look and feel that marries both the familiar Skype and iPhone GUIs together. From the splash-screen to the contacts list and system sounds, you’re left feeling like you’re in very familiar territory and will be able to get going with next to no learning curve involved.
Calling a contact
The app allows you to call regular landline numbers at the standard Skype-out rates for the country you’re calling. For New Zealand and most of the major routes such as the UK and the US, that rate is 4c per minute making it very economical indeed. If you have contacts who also use Skype and they happen to be logged into their Skype account at the same time that you log-in, you can call them for free. You can also ‘chat’ with them instant messenger-style or SMS mobile numbers (although the rate for this is 19c to NZ numbers so this is one of the rare occassions that it might not be worth the effort).
Call quality is generally very good with sound quality being almost indistinguishable from a ‘real’ phone call. If you want to test out sound quality or check your connection for yourself before placing a call, you can call the Skype Call Testing Service which Skype automatically adds to your contacts list. This service will speak to you for a few seconds, then will let you record your own voice for around 10 seconds before playing it back to you, the idea being that if both they and you sound legible you’re good to go!
Skype's dial pad
If you wish to call people who you don’t have saved in your Skype contacts, Skype can access your iPhone contacts app or you can manually dial the required number via the built-in dial pad. It took Skype a few revisions of the app to get the international formatting of numbers from your contact app right, but it works just fine now.
Where the iPhone version of the Skype app is limited is in two critical places: first, the app will only operate over wi-fi, not 3G. It is now known that this limitation was imposed by AT&T, Apple’s US carrier, but the good news is that this decision is about to be turned on its head by AT&T themselves so we could soon see an update that finally allows use over 3G. Bandwidth-wise, Skype runs at between 3 to 16 KB/s which equates to between roughly 11 and 58MB per hour so the economics of using it over 3G will largely depend on your data plan but in some situations it may still work out cheaper than your voice plan.
The second limitation is in that the Skype app really only works one-way — i.e. making calls out. Sure, whilst logged in to the app, your contacts can call you however as soon as you quit to the homescreen your connection is lost and your contacts will no longer see you or be able to call you. Some might argue that this is a side-effect of the iPhones inability to multitask, however this could easily be achieved with push notification as demonstrated in several IM apps such as Beejive so let’s hope that it can be fixed in the future.
Skype is certainly worthy of a place on your iPhone, especially if you currently use the service on your Mac or PC. It’s great to be able to unchain yourself from your computer and enjoy the more natural feel of placing a Skype call via an actual phone.
Hey, are you still here? Get Skyping now!
