Skype has debuted Skype Lite, a ‘thin’ client for Android and 100 other Java-enabled handsets, in public beta. Lite allows Skype users to make Skype-to-Skype calls, send and receive instant messages, receive calls to your online Skype number, and see when your Skype contacts are available to chat. It also allows you to make Skype calls to landlines and or other mobiles. But here’s the catch.
Rather than using Skype over Wi-Fi, the company decided to use your carrier connection instead. This means that Skype will need to access your online account from your mobile phone to sign in and out, make and receive calls and a bunch of other stuff that requires both a calling and data plan. Meaning data transfer…and money out of your pocket. So while it’s free to use Skype from your computer, I suppose Wi-Fi hotspots aren’t quite plentiful enough to make Skype Lite completely free on your mobile.
American users of the T-Mobile G1 can now download the beta version of Skype Lite from the Android Market. Users of the roughly 100 Java-enabled LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson phones can either download the app from Skype’s mobile website or from a desktop computer. The application can be used globally but currently Skype-to-Skype calls and Skype-to-landlines/mobile calls are only supported in United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Brazil (Rio and Sao Paolo), Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Australia and New Zealand.
