My OperaReview: Skype 2.6 Beta
Friday, October 13, 2006 5:33:34 PM
This is my review of the latest beta version of Skype for Windows: Skype 2.6.0.103 Beta. Below you can find the list of the new features according to the Skype changelog. I’ve added my comments on each feature according to my tests.
• New Sound Audio Library.
This is intended to handle the audio in Skype better. Due to this change, the Skype Team warned users that it could produce incompatibilities with some hardware where Skype previously worked. However, I haven’t had any problems with it.
• Browser Toolbars
These toolbars allows you to call people from your browser, just clicking on a telephone number on a website. I consider these toolbars useless and resource eaters . Fortunately, their installation is optional. The toolbars are only available for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
• Links in mood messages
Now you can put links on your mood messages so others can click on them directly from the contact list. I consider this feature quite useful.
• Bithday notifications
If a user sets its birth date in his/her profile, Skype will let you know when his/her birthday is by setting an event the day of the birthday. I consider this useless, since many users do not fill in their profiles because they are public. WHY doesn’t Skype make an option to make them private? I mean, only available to your contacts. Is it really so difficult to do or is it a (wrong) strategy of the Skype Team?
• Skypecasts: Tab and controls
You can see a new tab in the main window called “Live”, in which you can see the current Skypecasts and also the ones that are going to start soon. From this tab you can click on the Skypecast of your choice and join the room. More even, now you have the controls in Skype instead of a browser window. The integration of Skypecasts is the Skype client is very good and works quite well. Nevertheless, note that Skypecasts are like normal calls, so they appear in your call history, and also in your account page. And I don’t want to mix the SkypeOut calls with the Skypecasts. They should have different categories for this. I hope this is fixed in the future.
• Bandwith indicator
You can place a bandwidth monitor in the bottom part of the main window. A small icon is showed and when you move the cursor hover it you can see the download and upload bandwidth used in that moment. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work to me, since while I’m talking to 2 people it says that both the download and upload bandwidth is lower than 1 kbps. Obviously, that’s not true. I think this is just an error and that it will be fixed soon.
Apart from those features, they have added other “features” not so commented on the Internet. For example, I haven’t seen any site in which they talk about the changes in the “My Pictures” window (where you select your avatar). They have introduced advertisements about the Klonies and Weemes, which are avatars you have to pay for. And they have reduced the space to select your own avatars .
I do not like that at all. What’s next? Advertisements on Skype like MSN or Yahoo Messenger?
In addition to this, now you have to click a “Personalise” before modifying your profile. Why make things more complicated?
Overall, one could say that the new version adds a couple of useful features but doesn’t solve other big problems (privacy in profiles, sound problems when resuming calls, etc.). So I will continue using v2.5 until the stable release of v2.6. I expect they solve the issues commented above.
More information and download links:
· Download Skype 2.6 Beta: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/windows/skype26beta.html
· Changelog: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/windows/changelog.html
• New Sound Audio Library.
This is intended to handle the audio in Skype better. Due to this change, the Skype Team warned users that it could produce incompatibilities with some hardware where Skype previously worked. However, I haven’t had any problems with it.
• Browser Toolbars
These toolbars allows you to call people from your browser, just clicking on a telephone number on a website. I consider these toolbars useless and resource eaters
. Fortunately, their installation is optional. The toolbars are only available for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.• Links in mood messages
Now you can put links on your mood messages so others can click on them directly from the contact list. I consider this feature quite useful.
• Bithday notifications
If a user sets its birth date in his/her profile, Skype will let you know when his/her birthday is by setting an event the day of the birthday. I consider this useless, since many users do not fill in their profiles because they are public. WHY doesn’t Skype make an option to make them private? I mean, only available to your contacts. Is it really so difficult to do or is it a (wrong) strategy of the Skype Team?
• Skypecasts: Tab and controls
You can see a new tab in the main window called “Live”, in which you can see the current Skypecasts and also the ones that are going to start soon. From this tab you can click on the Skypecast of your choice and join the room. More even, now you have the controls in Skype instead of a browser window. The integration of Skypecasts is the Skype client is very good and works quite well. Nevertheless, note that Skypecasts are like normal calls, so they appear in your call history, and also in your account page. And I don’t want to mix the SkypeOut calls with the Skypecasts. They should have different categories for this. I hope this is fixed in the future.
• Bandwith indicator
You can place a bandwidth monitor in the bottom part of the main window. A small icon is showed and when you move the cursor hover it you can see the download and upload bandwidth used in that moment. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work to me, since while I’m talking to 2 people it says that both the download and upload bandwidth is lower than 1 kbps. Obviously, that’s not true. I think this is just an error and that it will be fixed soon.
Apart from those features, they have added other “features” not so commented on the Internet. For example, I haven’t seen any site in which they talk about the changes in the “My Pictures” window (where you select your avatar). They have introduced advertisements
about the Klonies and Weemes, which are avatars you have to pay for. And they have reduced the space to select your own avatars .I do not like that at all. What’s next? Advertisements on Skype like MSN or Yahoo Messenger?
In addition to this, now you have to click a “Personalise” before modifying your profile. Why make things more complicated?
Overall, one could say that the new version adds a couple of useful features but doesn’t solve other big problems (privacy in profiles, sound problems when resuming calls, etc.). So I will continue using v2.5 until the stable release of v2.6. I expect they solve the issues commented above.
More information and download links:
· Download Skype 2.6 Beta: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/windows/skype26beta.html
· Changelog: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/windows/changelog.html
Unregistered user # Wednesday, October 25, 2006 8:10:51 AM