SMS Text News reader Jeremy dropped me a note earlier, with a link to this blog entry. Using a piece of software called Skype IM+, it’s now possible to make Skype calls from a Blackberry. But there’s a twist. It’s not VOIP, it’s a callback service.
The app itself seemed like other IM programs I’ve tried for the Blackberry. Very easy to create chats. See the chats in progress. Get a notification vibration/beep when new chats arrive. You first naturally give it your Skype username and password and it (slowly) loads in your contact list and shows the presence of all of your contacts. After that, it’s rather like a Skype client. You can scroll through your contact list, open up chats, initiate calls, etc.
The calls are interesting. I was initially expecting it to be a true VoIP client and initiate the call via Skype over the data connection from the Blackberry. I wondered how well this would work given the generally limited quality/speed of the data connection. It turns out that it doesn’t work that way. The data connection is used by the IM app to initiate the call, but the actual voice connection occurs over your phone’s regular mobile connection.
IMHO the best mobile app with Skype integration at the moment is Fring. Of course getting it working on a Crackberry is a totally different matter…