On Friday, we wrote about new audio and video calling feature possibly coming to Snapchat. Since then, the developer who discovered the code references in the Snapchat APK has gotten these features to work and posted screenshots. They reveal that Snapchat is working on a completely revamped version of chat, dubbed ‘ChatV2’.
Two developers looking around in the Snapchat for Android APK have found references to video and audio calls possibly coming to the ephemeral social network at some point in the future. Additionally, there might also be an audio notes and a Periscope-like livestreaming feature coming…
T-Mobile, in a blog post this morning, announced a brand new communication service for its customers. Without needing to install a third party app, T-Mo subscribers will be able to place video calls from a compatible device, just by using the regular phone interface. Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 users should have the feature available already through a software update rolling out today, while Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge customers can expect the download to arrive next week. By the end of this year, three more phones will have video calling enabled, giving T-Mo a total of 7 compatible devices.
It was only a month ago that Skype for Android was hit with a slight visual refresh, and today Microsoft is pushing out a much bigger redesign to the messaging app that it says was inspired by Google’s Material design. Skype 6.0 for Android replaces the custom action bar along the bottom of the app with a new floating action button that should be familiar to other modern Android apps. The action button ties in shortcuts to video messages, video calls, voice calls, and conversation chats.
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After adding support for a new cross-platform video chat service through its Facebook Messenger mobile apps, Facebook has now announced that the feature is rolling out to all worldwide.
The feature first launched back in April for users on iOS and Android in Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the US and Uruguay. Today, Facebook said the feature is now rolled out globally “with the exception of a few countries” that it’s still working on:
Quick update on video calling in Messenger: we’re happy to share we’ve now rolled out the capability globally, with the exception of a few countries we’re still working on improving quality for.
You can check out the new Facebook Messenger video calling feature through the latest versions of the iOS and Android apps.
Earlier this month, Microsoft-owned Skype rolled out a group video calling feature to Windows tablets. The free video calling allows for calls with up to ten people, and integrates with Skype on the desktop, which has supported group video calling since April.
Today, Skype tells us that the group video calling feature will be coming to all of its mobile platforms in the future:
We’re excited about Skype group video calling and are working to bring it to more of our platforms. In the future, we’ll be enabling group video calling for all our users across more platforms – at no cost
Unfortunately, the company could not yet provide a more specific rollout timeframe. Skype has been rapidly releasing new products over the past several months, with a major redesign of the Skype iPhone app arriving a couple of months ago.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o6TBezfSpU&feature=player_embedded]
Skype pushed out version 2.5 of their Android app that sees video support added to an additional 14 devices (full list below) bringing the total to 41.
Other enhancements in the update include landscape support and the ability to zoom in on video calls, improved bluetooth support, and the usual bug fixes and performance improvements that will “boost the user experience of Skype for Android”. You can also now edit and delete instant messages.
As part of the announcement, Skype noted the app will come pre-installed on various Motorola smarpthones and tablets including the Xoom and Atrix.
You can grab Skype 2.5 from the Android market now. Full list of newly supported devices below, or get a full list from the Market.
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A little over a month ago, Skype brought video calling via wireless or 3G cellular networks to its mobile client on select Android phones. Today, the company announced on its blog Skype 2.1, a new version of the Android client that enables video calling on seventeen additional Android phones: The Acer A5, HTC Desire (2.2), HTC Desire HD, HTC Evo 3D, HTC Evo 4G, HTC Flyer, HTC Incredible S, HTC Sensation, HTC Thunderbolt – Verizon (2.2) (US only), LG Revolution – Verizon (2.2) (US only), Samsung Droid Charge – Verizon (2.2) (US only), Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Sony Ericsson Xperia mini pro, Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY, Sony Ericsson Xperia ray. You can download the Skype 2.1 for Android app from Android Market or by visiting skype.com/m on your phone. If you cannot see the “enable video calling” option in Skype settings, it means your Android phone is not supported.
Facebook’s boss Mark Zuckerberg appeared before the crowd of journalists summoned to the company’s Palo Alto headquarters to reveal new Facebook features designed to tackle the Google+ threat. He began by saying that the industry is quickly approaching an inflexion point where focus will be on apps rather than the number of registered users. Facebook has over 750 million users, he said. Facebook is hoping to zoom past the one billion mark in the near future, he said, predicting that the social networking industry at large will soon measure its user base in billions.
Social today is about sharing. It’s about what people do on social networks, what content they share and so forth. Sharing on Facebook is growing at an exponential rate, said the executive who famously had the “I’m CEO, bitch” tagline printed on his business card in the early days. Today, an average Facebook user is sharing twice as much than the previous year and in 2012 will share double the items shared today. “We’re at the elbow of the curve,” Zuck said. For example, people share four billion things on aggregate each day on Facebook. This figure excludes direct interactions between users, such as instant messages.
He then took this huge jab at Google:
We just have this belief at Facebook validated by the success of Facebook, entrepreneurs who focus on one thing do better.
Zuckerberg predicted proliferation of apps which are “the biggest driver for us”. Mobile and the ability to segment stuff into groups are the #2 and #3 things for the company, respectively, he said. The CEO then proceeded to unveil an improved Groups feature, a redesigned chat and an all-new video calling via Skype. More about that plus a nice promo clip showing off Skype video calling right below the fold.
As Apple fans have been anxiously awaiting the native Skype app for iPad for days, the company has updated its Android app with one-to-one video calls over both wireless and cellular networks. According to a post over at the Skype blog, the Skype for Android 2.0 app sports a complete redesign of the user interface:
There’s a new main menu on the Skype app for Android where you can navigate easily through your contacts, access your Skype profile to change personal details, use the dial pad to make calls, see the balance of your Skype Credit and, of course, make video calls. A new mood message box at the top of the Skype app menu makes it easier than ever to share how you are feeling, what you’ve seen or what you’re up to.
You will need a supported Android Gingerbread device with a forward-facing camera, which at the time of this writing included the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro and Google Nexus S (more handsets coming soon, Skype says). To download the updated Skype app, simply visit skype.com/m from your Android device or grab it from Android Market.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o6TBezfSpU]