Updates to Skype and Skype Qik a bring range of updates across various platforms that give you more ways to communicate. New features include expanded language support for iPhone, emoji support on Android, and new filters for Skype Qik.
Skype 5.3 for Android already supported Skype emoticons but now if a message only contains a Skype emoticon it will appear larger and be animated. Additionally Skype 5.3 for Android also supports emojis. Another new feature that has been added is “messaging via speech to text when connected to an Android Auto experience.”
This version of Skype also got some slight changes such as not automatically going to the newest message, making users enter login information again after logging out, and more avatar controls in group messaging.
Skype Qik 1.5 now has filters when shooting videos and users can switch between filters mid recording. Skype Qik is relatively new and somewhat similar to Snapchat. It’s yet to be seen how it will stack up against the ghostly sharing app but adding new filters is a nice feature.
Skype 5.12 for iPhone isn’t out yet but will be in the next few weeks. With the update comes language support for “Croatian, Slovak, Catalan, Vietnamese, Thai, Hindi, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Turkish, and Estonian.”
Skype is ubiquitous with video chatting but adding features like this help it compete as a messaging service.
