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Skype on the Blackberry - More Experiences

Posted by Jim Courtney on June 15, 2007 11:04 AM |

Experiencing the new era on the AlwaysOn world continues

Over the past few days I have been getting bytes of experience using IM+ for Skype Software introduced in an earlier post this week. In the end I found myself using IM+ to set up or make changes for a few meetings at Skype DevCon and eBay Live and I made a couple of Skype calls. My observations:

  • The primary problem is sustaining the data connection for the IM+ Skype client on the Blackberry. Randomly (other than when entering a tunnel or a subway) the Contact list will go away and then re-establish itself. Sometime the data disappearance also coincides with the program shutting down (in one instance I had to "reboot" the Blackberry). So there are some sustainable data connectivity and program robustness issues.
  • Another issue relates to seamlessness of the user interface. Yesterday I had someone, whom I could only reach via Skype IM, send me a phone number. Whereas other IM's would "underline" the phone number such that I could highlight it and dial the number, IM+ did not. On the other hand someone sent me an email address today and that gets highlighted such that I can launch a Blackberry email message. Small issues in some sense but these are the issues that drive user adoption -- or not.
  • Of course, you do have to deal with the issue that every Skype IM message ends up pinging your Blackberry; fortunately I have it in "Vibrate" profile so it is not a loud noise. But you many want to close the program down on your Blackberry while at your laptop with the Skype client open, unless you're hooked on dual-thumb typing.
  • And there is the question of to which Skype client do your contacts' IM chat messages go when you are logged in on both your Blackberry and a PC. I seem to be getting them on both although there is a time lag between receiving them.
  • And, as Dan mentions in the post referenced below, there may be battery use issues although I suspect mine is coming to the end of its rechargeable life anyway.

    • Dan York asks where is the PC making the Conference Call? I made a call to Dan this afternoon and to the right is his Skype client during the call. Somewhere there is a Skype client which is logged into my Skype account as the Conference host; a SkypeOut call has been made to my Blackberry and a Skype call has been made to Dan's PC. During this call a couple of times I lost my IM+ connection to the network and the call dropped out. Brought it back up and made another call. After two shutdowns like this, we did a regular Skype to Skype call where the overall call quality, while acceptable for a mobile to Skype call, had the excellent call quality discussed in a post earlier today. Thinking about it, when making a call, you have two logins: one for the IM client on the Blackberry and "somewhere else" for the actual voice connection. (On the other hand I did have a 15 minute call from an Irish pub with Andy Abramson Wednesday that was Blackberry/IM+ to Skype.)

    Keep in mind Shape Services caveat about IM+ for Skype Software: This product uses the Skype API but is not endorsed, certified or otherwise approved in any way by Skype

    Jon Arnold says it's not quite a "Come here Watson" moment but still of significance. Russell Shaw on The Blackberry Beat,

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