Skype for Windows Phone 8 Preview available to download (video)

13 Nov 2012

Skype for Windows Phone 8 is not quite cooked yet, but while users are waiting they can download the preview version available now.

Skype for Windows Phone 8 Preview comes with the basic functionality of Skype, though users are warned that some new features are still in development and may work intermittently, and call reliability could be affected.

But for Windows Phone 8 users who just can’t wait for the final version, Preview will let them make calls and video calls and send messages to their contacts. Just like the final version will do, Preview integrates with the People Hub and merges users’ contacts from the soon-to-be-retired Windows Live Messenger with the combined contact list.

Just like the Windows 8 version, Skype for Windows Phone 8 has fully adopted the new operating system’s clean, tiled user interface.

Built from the ground up, Skype for Windows Phone 8 will incorporate Live Tiles, showing users new messages and notifications from the Start screen, and will also take on the ‘always on’ nature of Skype for Windows 8. This means that, even when closed, Skype will still be running in the background, meaning users are always contactable and new call and message notifications will be received instantly.

These features are not yet fully operational in Preview and, presumably, Skype is planning the same assurances offered with the Windows 8 version in that the always-on app won’t drain users’ battery power.

Users that download Preview will automatically receive an update as soon as the full version of Skype for Windows Phone 8 is released.

 

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com