A functional Skype client for the iPhone has been a long time coming but lo-and-behold, the application fring was released today. And while it still in very early stages of development (it’s actually referred to as a “pre-release version”), what I’ve seen so far is extremely impressive in that it’s not just a Skype (and SIP) client, it’s a fully-fledged IM application also supporting a wide range of chat protocols out there such as ICQ, MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo, AIM and Twitter.
But there are a few flaws in an otherwise fantastic application:
- Skype voice calls are only supported over WiFi (and not over EDGE).
- Apparently, Skype calls can only be made from fring - Skype on a PC / Mac. You cannot ring between iPhones running individual versions of the fring application.
- There are reports that SkypeOut calls will only work on firmware v1.1.4.
Below is a video of it in action:
Have been playing around with it for a while now and it really is quite impressive. Few bits of work needed but if you want all your IM needs in one application, keep this at your finger-tips on your SpringBoard. And keep an eye out for updates.
And of course, how to get it (you’ll need a jailbroken iPhone of course):
- Add http://fring.com/iphone.xml to your sources in Installer
- Refresh and it should be there under the ‘fring‘ category.
Enjoy!
