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Skype has officially announced version 4.0 of its Android app that makes Skype unrecognizable, but in a good way. The app has been completely redesigned and rewritten from the ground up, with Skype combining some of the design language from the “Modern UI” (Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8) version of the application with elements of Android’s Holo.
Every bit of the application has been touched, from the standard home view to chat conversations, from profile pages to the call UI, and everything else that’s sandwiched in between. Your friends list is more lively with avatars being presented in nice, big, bold fashion. The chat view is no longer an endless stream of text — you’ll now see your friends’ icons next to their messages.
Skype before (top), and after (bottom)
You’ll be able to swipe between recent conversations, favorite people and your full contacts list with a swipe-based tab UI. And beyond all that, Skype’s eye-pleasing blue hue is represented quite well here, and doesn’t feel overdone at all. Skype tells us it was very important to make the base chat experience more pleasant to use, as they noticed a great deal of Android users lean on this feature just as heavily as they do voice and video calls.
Skype says the app has been completely rewritten from the ground up, with an entirely new code base. More than just the way things look, things are supposed to feel a lot faster, smoother, and better, as well.
This effectively makes Skype 4.0 the biggest update we’ve seen since the original version 1.0 launch we were treated to a few years back. The greatest thing about the redesign is that the app doesn’t lose any of the features we’ve already been enjoying, including the new video messaging capabilities that just came out of preview status earlier this week.
On the flip side, Skype 4.0 doesn’t add anything, either, but considering the team went into this overhaul with no previous code to lean on we understand why. We’re just happy we didn’t have to compromise the functionality we already had for good looks, and boy does this thing look good. Skype for Android 4.0 is available for download in the Google Play Store as of today, but don’t fret if you’re not seeing the update just yet — it’ll take a bit of time to make its way to everyone around the world.
And it doesn’t take five minutes to sign in framework m a smartphone! Yay!
Sign in from a smartphone. What is with this spell check?
installed it earlier.
has anybody found out the sing out / quit button?
i had to kill it with a task manager :|
Yeah go to your profile page/section and press the menu button, it’s actually in the photos above if you look really closely. Took me ages too, it’s almost as if they don’t want you signing out.
oh! thank you so much!
it was driving me nuts :P
Cool fingernails lol….I guess
Two things they need to fix……
1) Make sign out easier. I don’t want to dig into profiles.
2) Allow me to make enter on the keyboard be send in messaging
Mr.Obama when he was 17 , lol you guys look alike!
The update is cool. I’m still hoping they eventually allow you to start a conference call, when using the mobile app. That’s something that’s long overdue IMO.
I need to switch my availability into BUSY and AWAY…
How do you change your status ( away, and so on ) ?
You can’t. You also can’t sort your contact list by groups/online status, or get a list of only those contacts who are online. You still have to be signed in with the app in the status bar in order to receive messages – so, still no proper push notifications. The menu system is weird and nothing like Google’s recent guidelines, despite the app being a brand new rewrite. It now takes three presses to sign out instead of just one. TBH, I don’t really understand the main article’s enthusiasm for it.
then i have a problem. I can´t switch from offline to online, atm iam listet as not connectet
If you press your Profile picture (top right) then you can switch between Available and Invisible. Those are the only two options, but perhaps toggling between them a few times will clear it for you.
Evidently it does not work with me. I do not have the ability to click on the online (nothing happens)?
WHY CAN’T YOU USE BLUETOOTH FOR PHONE CALLS AND VIDEO CALLS? NOT THERE BEFORE, NOT HERE AFTER!!!
just waiting for the tablet update hummmmm
I want to be able to go away or busy, this is stupid , i shouldn’t update
Did anyone loose their contact pictures after downloading it? This happened to me on my GS4. I made sure the contacts didn’t sync with Skype and Restarted my device also. Not sure what happened. ALL GONE!!!
Looking like a nice bish. #YOLO #NOTOGAYMARRIAGES #2k13
It’s about time. Skype has consistently been the worst app on my phone for usability ever since it was launched, not to mention its general flakiness!
This update is so horrible. If you put the phone to your ear it kicks you out of the call. You can’t get back in. If you get a busy signal or a carrier message (like a cell phone being turned off) you can’t even use the drop down menu to get back in. Then, if you accidentally hit the call button, thinking it’ll take you into the call, it’ll start another call over top of the one you have going on, and never end. Even if you sign-out it’ll still be trying to call. You have to restart your phone. This is worthy of some baked stoners in a garage not a multi-billion dollar company. They should be ashamed.