Skype 5.0 Beta for Mac
We are happy to announce a brand new version of Skype for our Mac users.
The new version of Skype brings a new user experience and many new features.
The most important new features are:
* New user interface
* Group Video Calling
* Improved experience during network-compromised calls
* Offline Instant Messaging
Please remember that this is a beta release of Skype 5.0 for Mac. This means that we are still working on fine tuning the application and that there might be cases where Skype does not perform as you expect.
Skype 5.0 for Mac runs on Leopard (10.5.8 and newer) and on Snow Leopard (10.6.X).
We would like to thank all our Closed Beta testers and localizers who have been doing a magnificent job helping us to iron out issues from the early alpha builds until now.
We are keen to listen to all of your feedback about this new release. You can discuss features, design, usability and all other topics on our forums, or then comment just this blog post or if you should experience a technical glitch then please report it to our issue tracker. There’s also an in-client feedback page to for instant feedback.
Start downloading the Skype 5.0 Beta for Mac now and keep reading about the new features.
New user interface
The overhauled experience keeps you in contact with all people close to you, whether in business or privately. Skype 5.0 for Mac unifies all your phone, SMS, video, and chat communication, one-to-one or with multiple people.
Group Video Calling
Group video calling enabled a groups of up to 10 participants to meet each other over video. It’s a good way for separated families to talk with each other or to host a business meetings from various offices. Group video calling requires a modern computer with a fast internet connection. For best quality (VGA quality) 10-way group video call all the participants will need about 5 megabits symmetrical bandwidth and a computer powered by Intel core i5 or i7 processor. You can make a call with slightly lower quality with less powerful machines. The system requirements are lower for fewer participants.
Improved experience during network-compromised calls
We have improved your experience on calls when you or the other side of the call is experiencing network glitches. In these cases Skype will try to either find a better relays for the call, or, if not possible, to re-connect the call for you automatically.
Offline Instant Messaging
Now you are able to send and receive messages from your buddies when they’re offline. The message will be delivered straight after the receiving party logs into Skype, no matter if the sender is online or not. This feature works only for contacts where both sides are on version which supports Offline IM, e.g. either on Mac or Windows 5.0 releases.
Full release notes for the release build, 5.0.0.6378 are:
New features:
* User Interface refresh
* 10-way group video calling
* New contact and chat content search
* Offline instant messaging support
* Improved experience during network-compromised calls
* Automatically recover dropped calls.
* Join an ongoing conference call
* During a call, access call controls when in another application
* View online contact using the contact monitor
* Add additional phone numbers to your contacts
* Browse your contacts using the Avatar View
* Improved support for VoiceOver and more keyboard shortcuts
* Easily edit or delete your own message using the new chat style
* See built-in notifications for incoming messages and when contacts have gone online
Known issues:
| Category | Description | Current Solution |
| Application | If user cancels the downgrade from Skype 5.0 beta for Mac to 2.8 some conversations may be lost \ | None available at this time. |
| Application | If user has many active conversations and user signs in after being offline a couple of days or more, then Skype may appear sluggish, because it’s synchronizing conversation history. | Leave Skype running for a couple of hours. After it has synchronized conversation history, the application will be responsive again. |
| Application | Crash when signing out while main window is closed | Open the main window before signing out |
| Calling | Pressing number keys on keyboard will not create touch tones (DTMF) when using Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) | Click the buttons in dialpad to produce the DTMF tones |
| Calling | When unplugging USB webcam while in a video call, it’s not possible to restart video. | Hang up the call, start a new call and start video |
| Contact Sending | Skype may crash when a user receives 2 or more contact requests at the same time if the user has zero or one contacts previously in the contact list. | None available at this time |
| Devices | If an Everyman USB headset is used on a Mac the other side (on any platform) might hear a distorted robotic sound. | Unlpug / replug the headset |
| Devices | When an Everyman USB headset is used on a Mac with an aluminium case the microphone might generate a strong humming noise. This happens when a user has a power adapter connected to the laptop and the power cord used is a 2 pin type. | Disconnect the power adapter during Skype calls. Also the level of hum decreases if the user touches the laptop. |
| Skype Access | When a user has selected to extend Skype Access, the menu shows “Start Skype Access” instead of the expected “Stop Skype Access” as an option. *NB!* Selecting _Start Skype Access_ functions correctly in this scenario to turn off Skype Access if selected; however the wrong copy is displayed. | To stop Skype Access, the user is advised to select Start Skype Access which will in fact end the session or go to Skype>Quit Skype which will force the session to end. |
Localizations provided by:
* Jean-Pierre Kuypers for French
* Claudius Henrichs for German
* Carlos Lee and Penny Yang for Traditional Chinese
* Kenneth Stevenson for Norwegian
* Alexander Henket for Dutch
* Carola Clavo for Spanish
* Fabio Roselet for Brazilian Portuguese
* Mayu Shimizu for Japanese
* Bohdan Zieliński for Polish
* Kenny Lasse Hoff Levinsen for Danish
* Nikolay Filipov for Bulgarian
Feedback:
• Contacts list is too big. Need a compact view, even without thumbs.
• Would like to be able to open chats in separate floating windows so that my contacts are viewable at the same time.
• Preferred the drag and drop way of adding new people to calls and chat, more intuitive.
• After opening a chat window, how do I close it to return to the contact list?
• History in the sidebar is not important to me. I don’t need to see it unless I’m searching for a number I called the day before, which is very rare.
• Combining chat and call history in the chat window is overloaded, too much information.
• Although the open space is a nice design touch, for power users who use Skype all day for business, this is making my experience more difficult. I need to scroll more, can’t see whose online easily at a glance.
• Thumbnails are not important to me as a business user
• Require more options for customising your layout, especially a compact mode. I like things to be simple, but the current layout is excruciating to work with in beta 5.
I’ve reverted back to the old version of Skype for now. Neither are perfect, but it feels like this new version hasn’t been tested by real power users. I take this very seriously, as I use Skype everyday for work and live remotely from my home country, so am using Skype for all personal contacts as well. If you’d like to contact me for testing I’d like to help.
The same sentiments as above. Though I do like it being in one window
There is no way to close a chat besides right clicking. Thats annoying on a mac, have like a hover circle “X”
What the hell is going on with video chat???? There is NO full screen. Maximize is not a replacement for it. Not at all.
Lastly is this compatible finally with TV’s? I have a panasonic TV with the Skype Webcam but it’s silly when no one can video chat unless they are on windows….
No, no, no! Give me back my minimalist contact list (I can hide away) and my separate chat window!
Installed the beta & it crashed on startup (MacBook Pro OS X 10.6.4). Removed old Skype Prefs & the Skype App Support folder, and it still crashed after re-entering my username & password. D’oh! Reinstalled 2.8.x. : /
Guess I’ll be waiting on 5.0.1.
Installed the beta & it crashed on startup (MacBook Pro OS X 10.6.4). Removed old Skype Prefs & the Skype App Support folder, and it still crashed after re-entering my username & password. D’oh! Reinstalled 2.8.x. : /
Guess I’ll be waiting on 5.0.1.
A few cents:
- each contact takes up way too much space and I can see only 5 contacts at a time while with the old interface I could see 20 in the same screen estate,
- history not important at all … if I’d need a chat history I’d open a chat and look for an old conversation … although seeing who called last month might help trigger a task (or whatever) but it (again) takes too much space
- chat font way too big (I couldn’t find an option to make it smaller as it is in the old interface which is very clean)
The only improvements are integration in one window, offline messaging and better call quality. The GUI itself is very cluttered and not intuitive.
But this (after all) is beta.
Reverting back to 2.8
I can’t find Bonjour contacts in this version. Where can I find them?
Feedback:
You should really take a look at Adium how a UI for a IM programm should look like – even if Adium does not support Voice and Video calls.
The Group Video calling feature is nice, even if I think that I will not use it very often.
From the UI the old version was much better, so I think I will revert to it.
I was looking forward to this, unfortunately, the UI is horrible. I installed the beta, worked with it for approx 10 minutes, and then immediately reverted back to 2.8. Why not stick to the UI in 2.8 and add the additional functionality of beta 5? Honestly, such a disappointment.
Add my vote against the huge list item size – waaaay too big. Even the ‘Compact Sidebar’ option is far to spaced – take a cue from iTunes. Same goes for the chat window – 20+ pixels of padding around each item is about 15 to many. White space is nice in a magazine layout, but what I want is a UI is efficient use of my screen real estate.
On the plus side, it’s nice that I don’t have to see every single person I’ve ever had a 1 minute conversation or chat with (half of whom I can hardly remember) in the contacts list now.
The new user interface is a nightmare in usability. No time to explain everything that’s wrong, but I think it’s mostly self-evident.
If I wanted a Windows app, I’d use Windows.
- The contact list definitely needs to be compacted – it takes up way too much screen real estate.
- The Call History pane does not need to be in the same window as the Contacts list. It functions fine as a menu item.
- At the moment, you CANNOT hide Skype while in a call. This is absolutely a must for me.
- There are too many windows to manage. If I have the “Online Contacts” pane open and the main Skype window closed, when I receive a call, it opens up the main Skype window AND the active calls window. I now have 3 windows open. If I close the main Skype window, I lose the Actives Call window as well, unless I give focus to the Finder first. It’s so convoluted at this point that the “New simplified inferface” really isn’t simplified at all.
I’ve reverted back to 2.8 for the time being but I hope these nuisances get ironed out. Looking forward to the GM release!
I agree with all of the above. All the additions to functionality sound fantastic and video conferencing is great for family and working remotely. My main issue is with design and the screen real estate the new version sucks up. With my 13″ screen when I pull up skype it now takes up half my screen, awful. It feels like a facebook app or something, the old version had a much slicker design. It would be great to at least have the ability to resize the skype window to something smaller. Also has screen sharing disappeared?
Just reinstalled 2.8.
- The window is just too big, even being on a 27″ iMac.
- Having some 350 contacts, scrolling takes forever.
- I don’t need the history being so present.
- Compact mode please.
For the most part, I really like this new version. I would definitely prefer to have a compact view for my contacts list. I don’t really appreciate each contact entry taking up 100+ pixels of vertical space.
I like the new workflow of Skype for the most part, though it will take some getting used to. One feature I use very, very frequently, however, that seems to be missing is full-screen video chat. I don’t know if I’m just missing the button or what, but I haven’t been able to enable it by double clicking the call participant’s video and I’ve seen no button labeled full-screen video anywhere at all. This is a major disappointment to me.
Other than those two gripes, however, I’m very fond of this new version of Skype. I hope that these two things will be changed before any sort of final release!
Hi Raul, I’ve installed the new beta. I have a few comments, and there’s no means of giving feedback to the developers that I know is monitored. The window in Skype 5 beta for Mac is forced to be very tall. I can compact the sidebar, but it does not allow me to reduce window height. The Message style has too much vertical height and space between messages. — Summary, the old version of Skype’s messages window gave me control over size and appearance. The new version does not. OUCH.
Wow, the new version is ugly. Why is the contact window so huge? Take a look at the way Adium manages contact windows, it rocks. The old 2.8 version was much better, still too big, but a lot better then this 5.0 beta. I am glad to see you working on the mac client, don’t get me wrong, but truthfully told, I would not use Skype as often, or leave it running, with a contact window that big.
i need just basic ui. Not that huge…
Holy crap this is ugly. I pay a few hundred dollars a year on Skype and if this is what the Skype UI ends up looking like i’m using another VOIP solution. I’m apparantly not the only one: http://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/e19xk/skype5_beta_for_mac_is_available_and_is_ugly/
Please, please, please provide the possibility of having a compact contact list. I installed the Beta, and almost immediately reverted back to the old version. The contact list on Skype 2.8 is just right: small, uncluttered, but with all the relevant information easily accessible. I also think that the option for having a separate window for chat is great, so I’d prefer if this stayed the same.
The new features are great, including offline messages. Please rethink the UI, though.
Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Interface is so badly designed. Great that your fixing bugs. Functionality is down the tubes. Please, please, please, make better use of OS X interface elements. They are there for a reason. Also, why is everything so darn huge?
Please add the function such as changing UI at ver.2.8, ver5′s UI is too much on monitor.
Seriously people. This is an update? THIS GUI? I don’t know were to start first, let me just say that the previous commenter has covered all the basic points.
The basic thing that you need to realise is that a huge part of your user-base are “power-users” who have the application ON for 24/day. Thus;
i. you can not insult them with this crappy GUI that steals a huge part of the screens real estate.
ii. some of us prefer to have the chat windows open separately, and positioned in different parts of the screen. no one-window for all
iii. we have contacts in the hundreds. the most sued ones alone take a lot of space in 2.8 version (vertically). The decision to increase the space taken by each contact, offering no discernible advantage, can best be described with the word “asinine”
iv. if you are hell-bend on keeping the new UI for the moms and pops who log in from time to time to talk to the grandchildren (and need the stupid extra large icons to see them properly), please just give us an option to revert to the old interface with a toggle.
I know, and daily skype with, hundreds of professionals every day. They will not like what you have done, and since there are other options in town, they will abandon you in droves. Take note: If it is not broken, don’t fix it. And hire someone with real expertise in GUI design.
I do not know where my comment went, but I agree to the above post.
I hoped the possibility of pasting graphics directly in the chat field would appear with this version of skype, but it did not.
For instance, I often need to send screen copies created with the ctrl+cmd+4 shortcut and paste the graphics contents of the clipboard, which is possible with iChat. Instead, with skype, you need to do that with the cmd+4 shortcut, which creates a graphics file, go fetch the created file on your desktop and then transfer it.
I agree with all the comments posted by dps.bill.addison.
One more: when someone writes to me in chat, I only hear the sound notification, but I don’t get any chat window, nor I can see who is chatting with me… I see only the contact window.
Perhaps I didn’t understand something, but in any case I downgraded to 2.8 version too, waiting for the definitive version.
I use skype at work every day, and it is very useful for me.
Thanks for your work!
Reverted to old good 2.8 version too.
Skype for Mac was always a lot better than the windows version, minimal, essential and immediate.
This is an awful renewal…
Agree to all the comments here and in the others blog sections.
People using skype at work don’t like to have the entire desktop occupied.
More, when someone opens a new chat with you, you can hear only the sound alert, but you don’t get a chat window: it is all messed up with enormous contacts and so on…
Hopefully the final version will return to a more Mac-friendly mood!
Thanks anyway for your work: Skype is getting more and more essential for my work and my life!
Reverted to old good 2.8 version too.
Skype for Mac was always a lot better than the windows version, minimal, essential and immediate.
This is an awful renewal…
Agree to all the comments here and in the others blog sections.
People using skype at work don’t like to have the entire desktop occupied.
More, when someone opens a new chat with you, you can hear only the sound alert, but you don’t get a chat window: it is all messed up with enormous contacts and so on…
Hopefully the final version will return to a more Mac-friendly mood!
Thanks anyway for your work: Skype is getting more and more essential for my work and my life!
how do you get full screen?
I subscribe pretty much to everything Bill said.
And I emphasize compact modes around the UI. Even though it looks fancy, it doesn’t help at all in terms of usage and understanding.
Some nice things, but I found a few issues:
1. I received a voicemail message while I was set to Do Not Disturb. I got an email notification that it came through, but it never showed up in the Skype 5 UI. I finally had to launch 2.x, where it showed up immediately.
2. I ran some testing and found that upgrading to 5 somehow killed my previously voice mail message and setup. I had to rerecord it. Prior to rerecording it, I actually got messages about not having voice mail on some test calls. I’m not sure what’s going on, but you need to look at making sure that voice mail functionality works as expected.
3. I’m going to agree with the previous commenter. The new UI uses too much white space. I’m working on a high-density monitor and it looks too big. If I were on a regular monitor, it would be unbearable. I would like to see a compact style for the side bar, which now is way too loose.
4. I’d like the equivalent functionality somewhere to the 2.x history view. Sometimes I don’t want to see everything, just the history. The current view cuts off the history and mixes it with conversations, making it hard to see where things are.
5. There needs to be a separate status indicator for voicemails outside of the history sidebar. It’s too easy to miss them there. It seems like there should be plenty of room in the top of the window near the mood message, or somewhere.
There’s a lot I like about this, but I think the UI needs some thought if it is to deliver what is needed.
Best,
Arle Lommel
First of all the contact list is too big !’
and a chat window with its font, as if it was prepared for blind users…
Could you please at least give a choice of view ?
The sidebar is rather a waste of space, or maybe I have to get used to…
Thank you for developing the mac version, even if I wrote only what disturbs
I really wanted to like this release, especially after seeing it on Windows, but unfortunately I need to echo the above…it takes up too much screen real estate, and the latest message isn’t always visible without scrolling, and the general UI is cumbersome. Reverting to 2.8.
I really wanted to like this release, especially after seeing it on Windows, but unfortunately I need to echo the above…it takes up too much screen real estate, and the latest message isn’t always visible without scrolling, and the general UI is cumbersome. Reverting to 2.8.
I don’t agree much with the above content, ok, window could definetely be more compact, but apart from this I really think it is such a huge improvement, the separate windows was a nightmare for me. One problem I’ve noticed is the fact that the address book in the app will only pick an entry for each contact. Eg. John Smith have Mobile Phone, Home Phone, Work Phone; the address book within skype will only show one contact, resulting in a waste of time since I will have to open my address book and copy the details from there.
I really enjoy the group video feature.
My feedback on the new beta:
1) Make the contacts list smaller. Taking up that much vertical space is quite horrible. As with the whole ui in general. Everything is too big with too much whitespace. It’s not like there was very much usability testing with this ui.
2) Bring back full screen. Maximizing is not the same.
3) I still have a difficult time finding what & where is the update that caused a badge update on the skype app icon.
Boys it’s awful, I can’t but subscribe all above critics… in my company we have been heavily using skype to work together but with this new version we are really considering to switch to something different… we no longer use it for screen sharing, with no separate video/screensharing window it’s unusable, having no longer a transfers separate windows makes it unusable to exchange files and find them later… terrible, going to download 2.8 installer and try to revert to that version
Boys it’s awful, I can’t but subscribe all above critics… in my company we have been heavily using skype to work together but with this new version we are really considering to switch to something different… we no longer use it for screen sharing, with no separate video/screensharing window it’s unusable, having no longer a transfers separate windows makes it unusable to exchange files and find them later… terrible, going to download 2.8 installer and try to revert to that version
• Contacts list is too big. Need a compact view, even without thumbs.
• Preferred the drag and drop way of adding new people to calls and chat, more intuitive.
• After opening a chat window, how do I close it to return to the contact list?
• Combining chat and call history in the chat window is overloaded, too much information.
• Although the open space is a nice design touch, for power users who use Skype all day for business, this is making my experience more difficult. I need to scroll more, can’t see whose online easily at a glance.
• Thumbnails are not important to me as a business user
• Require more options for customising your layout, especially a compact mode. I like things to be simple, but the current layout is excruciating to work with in beta 5.
• I am no longer able to size the window small enough to fit on my 7inch screen dedicated to Skype..Upgraded to a iMo 10″ and Skype is to big still. I use Skype all day this is a real drag on my flow.
• Skype no longer tells me that I have waiting messages..so I have missed so many calls while sitting at my desk. Integrate into growl better.
I have not rolled back as we really needed better video conference.
I’ve reverted back to the old version of Skype for now. Neither are perfect, but it feels like this new version hasn’t been tested by real power users. I take this very seriously, as I use Skype everyday for work and live remotely from my home country, so am using Skype for all personal contacts as well. If you’d like to contact me for testing I’d like to help.
The UI is unacceptable. Too big. With a factor of at least 10. There is no way I will have this on my desktop.
Ok, I’ve given it some time to see if I could get used to the new interface (and like it). The answer is _NO_
Skype development team please just add the new features to the old UI
Wishes:
- small contact list as before
- separate chat window
- full screen mode as before (most important)
Just realized that Skype Call Transfer is now longer available in the Mac version but it is in the Windows version. When will this feature be re-added to Skype for Mac. I want to switch my company to Skype with 15 Skype Unlm US & Canada subscriptions but if this feature isn’t back by the end of May then theres no way I can swing it.
Thanks,