Skype Garage

Skype 2.5 for Android: Enhanced video experience, improved message history

Today we have released a Skype 2.5 for Android.

The main changes to the Skype for Android are:

• Enhanced video experience
* Rotate and zoom during video calls
* Support for Nvidia Tegra2 powered devices
* Video calling enabled by default on more devices

• Revised user interface for message history
• Improved support for Bluetooth headsets
• New emoticons
• Support for editing and deleting IM messages
• Support for joining a call
• Advertising for non-paying subscribers

Start downloading the updated Skype now via the Android Market.

As with every software product there are few known issues which might affect some of you. Please take a look at the known issues list at the end of the post.

Please let us know what you think about the new Skype version via discussing what matters on Skype Support Network.

A bit more details on the new features:

Enhanced video experience

We have added a support for a 14 new devices which have been enabled to do video calls by default. In addition we have added a support to use the front facing camera on some additional devices which run Android 2.2 aka Froyo. It's possible to enable the video calling experience for all devices which hardware supports video calling from the options.

In addition we now support video calling in the portrait mode where you can also rotate and zoom in/out the video during the call.

Revised user interface for message history.

The main notable changes to the message history views are that we are now grouping the instant messages, calls, etc all together. Skype 2.5 for Android works now exactly the same as your Skype on Windows or Mac already.

Advertising for non-paying subscribers

Skype 2.5 for Android features advertisements for our non-paying customers.

The ads are shown on the contact list and resents list on a way that it does not influence your everyday user experience.

Full release notes for the 2.5.0.108:

New devices supporting video by default:

• Acer Iconia tablet
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
• HTC Nexus One
• HTC Shooter
• Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman
• Sony Ericsson neo V
• LG Optimus Black
• LG Optimus 3D
• LG Optimus 2x
• Motorola Photon
• Motorola Atrix
• Motorola Xoom
• Motorola Droid Bionic
• Motorola Droid 3

Known issues:

Devices affected	Description	Workaround
All	In case the time and date are wrong on the device then there could be issues with accessing Skype web site for "Buy credit" and "Buy Online number"	Check over your Date and time of the device
All	Chat messages might be on wrong order sometimes.	None available
All	On very rare occasions upgrading to a new version of Skype for Android fails and the user is no longer able to upgrade/re-install Skype for Android.	Sign out of Skype before upgrading. Some devices have trouble uninstalling the previous version of the software otherwise. We display a message that redirects the user to re-install the app of the installation has failed.
All	Call drops when 2G/3G changes back to wifi: In case user has enabled Wi-Fi and 2G/3G connection and receives Skype call while on 2G/3G connection, call drops if device changes connection back to Wi-Fi	None available
All	Call quality depends on the signal strength of Wi-Fi connection and the bandwidth of 3G connection	None available
All	On some devices the radio music is not stopped automatically when Skype call comes in	Please stop radio music manually.
All	During an ongoing call, it is not possible to change in call volume while proximity sensor is activated.	Move phone away from head to deactivate the proximity sensor and then change volume.
All	With very large accounts (600+ contacts) the performance of the application will not be optimal.	None available
All	Video calling is supported only on devices which have: a camera; ARM-v7 processor	None available
All	Privacy settings not synced from the cloud.	Being signed only into one device at a time will avoid the problem, but no solution available at the moment for this issue.
All	Outgoing video freezes when on hold video call is ended.	Stop and restart outgoing video.
Acer Iconia (A500) / Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus	No ring sound on incoming call	None available
Acer Iconia (A500) / Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus	Volume switch does not affect volume in Skype.	None available
Desire HD 2.2	Video stream shows noise after a min of streaming	Upgrade to Android 2.3
Devices running Cyanogen mod of Android	Skype is unstable and randomly stops working, especially on sign in.	Revert to a market version of Android.
Galaxy Tab - 2.2	Video calling is not supported by default due to issues with back cameras	Upgrade to Android OS 2.3 which makes the experience better and enable the video in the settings.
HTC Desire - 2.2	Heavy audio quality degradations.	None available
HTC Jetsteam	No outgoing video.	None available
Motorola Milestone 2.0, 2.1 and XT720 2.1	In case user receives incoming GSM call during Skype call, it may happen that audio is not sent/received during GSM call.	None available
Plantronics 510 Bluetooth headset	Audio does not go through headset.	Use a different Bluetooth headset.
Samsung Galaxy S - 2.2	Volume set at maximum during call	Upgrade to Android 2.3
Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000; Samsung Galaxy S Mesmerize; Samsung Galaxy S Epic 4G; Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant; Samsung Galaxy S Captivate; Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate; Samsung Transform; Samsung Intercept	Skype for Android is not able to login on the following devices with Android 2.1 and below.	Upgrade to Android OS 2.2 or 2.3 depending on your device.
Samsung Galaxy Spica I5700 2.1; HTC Legend 2.1	Connection is not seamless for these devices. When user has enabled both WiFi and 2G/3G connection, after a while, device switches to 2G/3G, but for other contacts, user appears to be offline as there really is no connection in the device	None available
Samsung Galaxy Spica I5700 2.1; LG Ahola 2.1; HTC Wildfire; HTC Legend	These phone models do not fullfill the Skype 2.5. for Android requierments, but you can run Skype on it. The application performance may not be optimal.	None available
Sony Ericsson Xperia mini	Skype crashes on first launch	None available
Vizio VTAB1008	Video rotated 90 degrees.	None available