Software : Skype for Windows Phone sheds Beta, but lacks key features |
| Skype for Windows Phone sheds Beta, but lacks key features Posted:  We've often though of Skype as a potential ace in the hole for Windows Phone, a chance for Microsoft to showcase an app that would make even iPhone and Android users would scowl with envy. Now Microsoft has finally removed the Beta tag from the Skype app, but despite spending $8.5 billion (£5.3 billion) for the VoIP client last year, the first official version seems to fall short of its rivals. Windows Phone  Windows Phone 7.5 Mango reviewSkype for Windows Phone beta arrives Hands-on: Windows Phone Tango review Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, the app doesn't allow background calling, meaning you can't receive calls unless Skype is running in the foreground. That's something iOS and Android users have been able to make use of since the client first arrived on the App Store and the Android Market. Windows Phone 7.5 onlyAlso, disappointingly for Windows Phone users utilising cheaper handsets, the app only runs on the 7.5 Mango version of the operating system. Those using the scaled down Tango version are unable to access Skype, meaning owners of the Nokia Lumia 610 miss out. Bluetooth headsets aren't supported, while Skype calls might be interrupted by battery notifications, alarms or incoming calls from regular mobile networks. It's not all doom and gloom though. The app does allow for calls over 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi and boasts a unique Metro-style UI which gives it a very different look and feel to its iOS counterpart. We'd hope that version 1.0 is just that and Microsoft brings out the big guns for later iterations of the app, thus making Skype the shining light for Windows Phone we all hoped it would be. |
| Posted:  Adobe has formally announced its long-awaited next-gen suite of creative applications, all under the now well-known moniker of Creative Suite 6, or CS6. We've previously seen the Photoshop CS6 beta, while various details have seeped out about the new suite, but we're now able to spill all the beans. If you want to buy CS6, expect to be able to get your hands on it within the next 30 days or so. All the Creative Suite have been refreshed (or in the case of some, like Premiere Pro, given a totally new user interface) and, for the first time, Adobe is offering the complete suite on month-to-month contracts as well as in traditional boxed format. There are also new-to-suite apps such as Adobe Muse while other familiar friends will be a lot snappier; Photoshop CS6's new Mercury Graphics Engine promises "near instant results" and there are more enhancements to the popular content-aware tools. Adobe has also produced new versions of InDesign, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere Pro and Flash Pro to name but a few. When we were given a tour of the new software last month it struck us just how much work Adobe is putting into making content work across multiple devices. The new Content Collector in InDesign enables you to collect oft-used content like logos or perhaps a table and use it across multiple designs. Likewise device grids in Dreamweaver enable you to design sites for multiple screen sizes with minimum fuss. Taking CS6 into the cloudCreative Cloud is the official name of Adobe's cloud offering – essentially an online repository for the full list of CS6 apps (yes, totally everything) where you can download and install at will (well, on two machines). To do this, you'll need to be an annual subscriber at £38 a month or, for month-to-month deals, it works out at £57.17. Seems expensive? Perhaps, but think about it in terms of an organisation that needs to bring in a few people for a limited time, say for the duration of a single design project. You do get more than the top-end boxed version, CS6 Master Collection, too - there's 20GB of online file storage, the Touch tablet apps and a tablet publishing app, Lightroom for photo cataloguing plus the new Edge and Muse web publishing tools. Here are the full price lists and inventories for the boxed apps:
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