Microsoft’s Skype has updated iOS apps to version 4.0, bringing enhancements but no major new features to the chat, audio- and video-conferencing utility. Version 4 adds auto-restarting if the application should crash, and the ability to move the users’ own video preview window during a video chat. Minor UI improvements and a new sign-in screen add to the usual bug fixes and improved stability features.
The Skype app for iOS offers the ability to do instant messaging chat, audio calling (even directly to landlines and cell phones for a fee) and video chatting. While most of the company’s services are free of charge, it offers paid plans for unlimited calling to conventional and mobile telephones in North American and low-cost calling to other countries. It also has paid plans for assigning a US phone number so that regular telephones can call users on Skype-enabled devices, and plans for international SMS messaging.
The iPhone and iPod Touch version of the app also offers an updated design for contacts and messages, and both versions offer improved support for Bluetooth headsets for audio. All versions now work with all devices capable of running iOS 4.3 or higher.
