Considering how long Skype has been doing the rounds elsewhere, it seems surprising that it’s only now that it’s really fully featured on all platforms. For a long time, PC users have been able to do multi-person video calling through Skype, and that’s now possible for everyone on iOS and Android too.
There will be a roll-out period for the new feature, so if you find yourself unable to take advantage of the social app’s newest addition just yet, hold off on that angry Tweet for now. Microsoft has said that smartphones and tablets in North America and Western Europe will be going live over the next day or so, with other international territories acquiring the new feature over the next couple of weeks.
Of course all calls are available in HD, no matter the platform — though it will be somewhat hardware dependent — and will be optimized specifically for the device in use. Whoever is talking will have their picture placed in the most prominent position, so you can always see and hear what’s going on — and you can also choose to manually control that feature, pinning selected people to the front to give them more exposure.
The audio should be supremely high quality too, as Microsoft has teamed up with Intel to help optimize SILK Audio for Auze running on Intel CPUs. It has also optimized the experience for mobile, adding new touch buttons and expanding the ability to easily invite people to a call that is already in progress.
Better yet, Microsoft has increased the number of people you can have in a group video call from a previous five, to a whopping 25. The only caveat to the whole thing is that Microsoft asks that everyone use the latest version of Skype to make sure it all works correctly.
Do you use Skype for video calling and VOIP, or do you have a preferred alternative?
