Okay Geek Farm
Review - Skype 5.0 Beta for Mac OS X
Brandon DavenportUsing Skype 2.8 on the Mac was a nightmare — so many times I would chat with the wrong person (which can end horribly), call somebody I didn’t mean to, or get completely lost in the application (or lose the application itself!). This was all due to Skype 2.6’s broken up windowing system that separated the contact list, calls and conversations, and it sucked — the cool part is, Skype 5.0 for Mac is a completely different story…
What I like, and what I don’t like
Skype 5.0 for OS X is absolutely the best looking IM app on the Mac, and without a doubt could be the best looking app period. As somebody who drools over beautiful interface design and epic icons, Skype 5.0 is a treat to use and experience.
The addition of search, group video calling and re-vamped profile customization is fantastic — but the best part is that the entire app stays contained within a single window, and when you make a call the app somewhat transforms to adapt to the task it’s performing — truly a huge improvement over version 2.6’s interface.
Something that’s not so great is the fact that you’ll need to pay to use group video calling, even though it’s free on the PC. I don’t quite understand the thought process behind this and I don’t know how well this will sit with existing Skype for Mac users. Also the lack of gesture support really limits the potential of navigating through searches and other menus and sub-items.
In Summary
Skype 5.0 for Mac OS X rocks, and you should have no hesitation downloading it (really, go download it right now). The interface is absolutely eye candy, and the application overall is defiantly a new staple of how IM applications should work. Overall this is the best Application from Skype yet, and we hope to see future updates to the Linux version, as well as an update to the Windows version that includes the “single window” concept.
Download — Skype 5.0 Beta for Mac / Skype 5.0 for Windows
