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):
The iPhone was released here in Ireland last Friday to, uhhhhhh.. not a whole lotta fanfare. Is it due to O2’s pricing, or maybe the phone was just not impressive enough for Irish consumers or maybe it was the lack of advertising Apple have had for it’s launch? Who am I kidding? It’s the first one!!
Speaking of advertising, I’ve seen a couple of people looking for the ringtone being used in the iPhone ad. For those who don’t know the ringtone I mean.. watch the ad linked below:
Now I’m not referring to that irritating jingle Apple are using (don’t get me started on that) but the ringtone briefly heard when the phone rings in the last 8 seconds or so. Oddly enough, this tone is not one of the preset tones on the iPhone. But what I did find out is it’s actually contained in the GarageBand library as ‘Cell Phone Ringing’.
So here’s the ringtone (converted to M4R and ready to go). You can download it by clicking the image below - and for those who don’t know how to add ringtones to their iPhone, you’ve two options depending on your situation:
If you’ve a jailbroken iPhone, download OpenSSH and SSH onto your iPhone and put it into your Ringtones folder (/var/root/Library/Ringtones). Or alternatively use the method below.
Double-click the downloaded ‘.m4r‘ file and it should be added to the ‘Ringtones’ section of your iTunes, It’ll be added into your phone’s ringtones on your next synchronization.
Yesterday, I made a post regarding a little webapp I developed to send your O2 Ireland webtext messages from your iPhone.
I’ve made some progress since and now have now got it working under all 3 operators (O2, Vodafone and Meteor) to send your webtext messages. And also have a couple of changes since too such as only requiring you to log-in once, validation and I also took out the 3KB images which will eat up your data charges (unless it’s in cache of course).
Anyways.. to summarise (for those who couldn’t be arsed reading my previous post regarding this), I put a very basic page together in which you can send your O2 / Meteor / Vodafone webtexts from your iPhone. I’m a mere designer of the page.. the actual scripting of sending the messages was created by Boards.ie Sam Vimes (and already has a very similar project sitting on another Boards.ie members webpage ’s webspace ).
Login using your mobile number and password (along with selecting your operator) - screenshot.
Now on the next page, enter the phone number of the person you’re sending to and your message under it (maximum length of 160 characters only supported right now) - screenshot.
And click the ‘+’ arrow at the bottom of your browser and either add it as a bookmark or better yet, click the ‘Add To Home Screen’ so it’s always accessible from there.
You shouldn’t need to log-in again but if you ever change your password or phone number, simply go back to and login with your new credentials.
Any suggestions, problems or improvements, please do mention below. It’s probably not gonna be much of an ongoing development as when Apple releases their SDK for the iPhone in the coming weeks, I may develop an app for use on the iPhone which will take into account your contacts etc.
Oh, and cannot finish this post without expressing huge thanks to a couple of the lads over at Boards.ie namely Webmonkey, Sam Vimes and Cabaal for either helping with the development or answering some queries I put forth to them.
If you’re feeling generous and you appreciated the project, please do make a donation to my PayPal by clicking below - a euro or two would even be appreciated. It’ll aid in future development of the project (a few donations will at least show me it’s being used and appreciated) and also, MY CHILDREN NEED WINE!!
Was sure I’d get more than that considering I own 2 Mac’s, an iPod, plan on getting an iPhone, have upgraded to Leopard and often try and convince people to buy Mac.
Clearly a flawed quiz designed with non-Mac hardware on a non-Mac OS!
