Skype Video for iPhone is here! You can now make video calls from your iPhone with the latest update from the Apple App Store. Rich Tehrani and I tested it this morning on his iPhone 4 with my iPhone 3GS (only rear-facing camera).
The video quality was pretty good. I estimate between 5-12 fps over WiFi. After awhile my 3GS started going black for a few seconds and then would turn back on. Then after about 5 minutes it went completely black, but I could still hear Rich speaking. Perhaps the 3GS processor isn't up to snuff or I was low on memory. I did have a few apps open at the time. Nevertheless, it was pretty amazing to do video calling from an iPhone. This could really cause the mobile video market to explode!
We also tested over 3G and it worked. Interestingly, Rich received a call just as he video called me and was able to put the Skype video call on hold. My Skype displayed the universal sign for pause (two bars) and said "You're on hold".
The new app is compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch 4th generation with i0S 4.0 or above. You can even receive video calls on the iPod touch 3rd generation and the iPad.
Here's a screenshot of the new Video Call button.
It'll be interesting to see how many users switch from using Apple's FaceTime to using Skype. After all, not everyone owns an iPhone, while just about every mobile device and every computer platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) supports Skype. Of course, there are still uses for FaceTime, such as the seamless video calling to other iPhone users, while Skype has to be running in order to receive video (or voice) calls. When the heck is Skype going to add push notifications damn it! Maybe their new supernodes can take this role.
Here's landscape mode with me taking a shot of a tree and the snow outside (obviously on iPhone it is rotated 90 degrees):
Skype is certainly going out with a bang in 2010 with the addition of Skype video calls. Still doesn't explain why Skype went to war with fring over fring's ability to video-enable Skype on the iPhone. If Skype knew they were working on a video solution of their own, why have the bad PR of attacking fring? It seems to me that Skype's video is better than fring, so people would migrate to Skype's solution anyway. Lastly, check out this Skype promo for this new awesome feature:
Via Skype's The Big blog]]>