It’s no secret that we’ve enjoyed using Skype for audio and video calls for the past several years on our various mobile devices. Aside from free Skype-to-Skype calls and paid SkypeOut services, the company also offers unlimited monthly subscription plans as low as $2.95 a month, although they’re subject to a Fair-Use Policy. That restricts the total number of calls, minutes used, etc… So how do you keep track of your usage against the Fair-Use terms? That’s where the free Subscription Monitor for Skype comes into play, which I found through Voice on the Web. This Windows application summarizes your Skype subscription usage in real time.

The compelling factor to me is how this works even if you use multiple clients with Skype, as I often do. Call history is normally localized to your machine, so if you Skype with more than one device, you’d have to manually aggregate your call data; But not with this freeware. Of course, this requires you to configure the app with your Skype credentials, so be wary. Another nice touch? The icons change in color from green to yellow to red, giving you a visual indicator of where you stand against the limitations at a given point in time during the month.

About a week ago, I received a videophone review unit from Vidtel. It’s drop-dead easy to setup: Simply plug in the AC adapter and connect the phone to your home broadband router. The $199 device grabs an IP address and has a local phone number already assigned. Aside from the roughly 6-inch color display and .3MP web-cam, the device looks like any basic landline phone. It also offers the same features, but of course, all voice and video traffic is sent over the Internet. Another nice feature: News headlines scroll on the display when the phone isn’t in use. Unfortunately, I see no easy way to get more information on that news.

Judi Sohn of WebWorkerDaily also has a review unit, so today’s video shows the phone in use. While the phone is easy to use and can call to any mobile or landline number, the video portion is only good between two Vidtel phones for now. The company is looking at Skype video integration, however.

Like most other VoIP services for the home, you pay a monthly fee. Current monthly plan pricing ranges from $14.95 to $29.95, although there are discounts for yearly service. A Vidtel phone isn’t going to replace my daily Skype video calls by any means. For folks that don’t sit in front of computers but still want inexpensive voice service with the potential for video calls, this is worth a look.

(Note: for some reason, my camera stopped recording about 15-seconds before we concluded our call. Hence the video stops just after we discuss how the camera doesn’t “mirror” video on a call.)

Samsung recently outed a follow-up to their Omnia handset with the Omnia HD, a SymbianS60 device that can record 720p video. The phone is jam-packed with lusty features like a 640×360 AMOLED touch display, HSDPA/HSUPA 3G, 8MP camera, and more. One of the “and more” features is a deal with Fring that will see their IM and VoIP calling software pre-installed on the device.

In case you’re not familiar with it, Fring is what I  call a “communications aggregator” application. With one interface, all of your contacts from various sources are available to you: Google Talk, Skype, AIM, MSN, ICQ and more. I use Fring on my iPhone for the Skype and Google Talk bits since I use both for work.

The challenge for Fring and others in this space is getting their name and product out in front of the masses. One of the easiest solutions? Work pre-install deals like this one with Samsung. Even if you’re not planning to get an Omnia HD, I recommend looking at Fring to help manage contacts across multiple IM and VoIP networks. It probably works better on your phone than mine, since I can’t run applications in the background. That sorta kills the whole online presence bit of these apps, no? Ugh… Anyway: I’m wondering how awesome it would be if that front-facing camera could be used for a video Skype call over Fring. That would be sweet!

Have the real first steps towards a cellular voice replacement been taken? At this week’s Mobile World Congress, Nokia announced a deal that puts Skype on the new Nokia N97 handset by the third quarter of this year. Sony Ericsson will also be offering a Skype panel on the Xperia X1 within the next few weeks.

We’ve long been able to put Skype on handhelds — no, I haven’t forgotten that. Who could forget listening to the other side of the conversation through the loudspeaker of a Pocket PC? This isn’t just about the ability to use Skype on new phones. It’s about the integration of Skype on a voice handset.

Take the Nokia news, for example. You’ll be able to look up contacts in your N97 address book and see their Skype status. From here, you can call them over Wi-Fi or 3G on Skype or start a text chat with them. No longer is Skype simply an “add-on.” It becomes a integrated part of the voice and text communications in your phone.

Webware makes the excellent point that here in the U.S., Skype embedded this much into handsets will face a challenge. Not from consumers, but from the carriers already scrapping for whatever market share they can grab and keep. The two handsets mentioned, Nokia’s N97 and Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1, will sell far more units outside of the U.S., so both make excellent choices for Skype to move beyond a simple voice add-on. And if you had any hopes of a U.S. carrier ever subsidizing either of these high-end handsets, you’re likely to be on hold. Forever.

Jim Courtney’s new “Voice on the Web” site offers a solid list of pros and cons on this news, as well as some insightful questions yet to be answered. I highly recommend his post, and new blog, if you’re interested in Skype and other other voice-over-IP info!

Today, JAJAH joins Truphone in bringing voice calling functionality to the iPod Touch. The service will allow for SMS text messages as well as low-cost phone calling on a Touch over WiFi.

I mention Truphone not just because they offer a similar service, but because they offer it differently. With Truphone, you can directly download their application from the AppStore to your Touch and get calling. Today’s news out of JAJAH doesn’t include an AppStore title that consumers can download. Instead, JAJAH is offering their technology to carriers or non-carriers who can brand it and offer it for a fee. I can see jkOnTheRun branding all over this one, with a special direct tip line for hot news…

In lieu of a Mobile Tech Minutes video, we thought we’d mix it up a bit. We haven’t done one of our ten-minute Geek Session chats lately, so today that’s what we’re offering. I decided to take a closer look at Skype 4.0 for Windows on a netbook. I wanted to do that because the new version is expected to be a little less bandwidth intensive. I’m running it on Windows 7 with the MSI Wind and demonstrate it in normal view and with full screen video; we take a quick peek at the resources used as well.

It’s good I called James on Skype today because he just took delivery of a loaner HP Mini 1000 Mobile Internet Edition netbook. That’s the Linux-based netbook from HP that offers a custom, easy-to-use shell. I like to think of it as “Mini Me”. We’ll get some first looks at it now, and James will follow up with more details later.

Two quick notes: Sorry about the bass feedback in the audio; I had to do an impromptu change to my “studio” and my Bose speakers are almost too good for this. Also: if you watch the video in HD mode through full screen, you should be able to read everything on my netbook display.

After a fairly long beta, Skype introduces version 4.0 for Windows users today. We first looked at this version in June. Back then there was a question about how well the user interface would fit on a smaller screen. I just installed Skype 4.0 on my MSI Wind, and the welcome screen doesn’t quite fit on the 1024×600 display. Luckily, I can see see the close button at the top right of the window, or I can use the new Windows 7 taskbar to close it.

The interface itself does fit nicely. Whew! In default mode (shown below), my contacts are on the left and the the other 66% of the client is for video calls. There is a Compact Mode that removes the large video call window, but even on a netbook, this might not be a necessity. It might be useful if I call you in my fleece top and Nike hat though…who wants to see that in a large window?

It’s clear to me that Skype is targeting the mainstream audience here. The setup is simpler and there are easy-to-understand phrases pointing you in the right direction for making calls or using video. The whole client is more refined than it was a year or two ago and is sure to move beyond us geeks. I’m also impressed that Skype “just works” with my webcam on Windows 7.

Skype says the newest version offers more efficient performance: a new audio codec allows for richer and warmer sound but uses 50% less bandwidth. I’ll have do some more testing to see how a lower-end device handles the new version since far more bandwidth and processing power are used on the video side. At the moment, Skype is idle: using around 32MB of memory and practically no CPU. We’ll get some play time with it and report back on how it works on this configuration. My prior experience using full-screen Skype video on a netbook is less than optimal, so hopefully this version improves it.

Those rumors from yesterday were true as Skype officially announced a “lite” version for Android and Java-enabled phones. Adding to the news is a beta version of Skype 1.0 for MIDs. Specificially, that means Intel Atom-based mobile Internet devices running on the Moblin platform.

Many folks get hampered by the idea of a MID simply because smartphones are providing a similar experience in some cases and also include voice calling. What’s interesting to me is how the Skype press release points out that “Select MIDs also provide WiMax or 3G/4G support for wireless broadband connectivity on-the-go.” With Skype, or another VoIP client for that matter, the “smartphones offer more” argument loses a little luster.

Wireless carriers have to be more than a little concerned as well. Sure they’ll still provide the 3G or 4G pipes, but voice traffic becomes a fading revenue stream for them as Skype expands to Java-enabled phones and MIDs. Skype’s COO, Scott Durchslag says it best: “By supporting WiFi, WiMax, 3G and 4G, this development expands Skype’s mobile portfolio and further illustrates the broad accessibility to Skype that we offer on a multitude of mobile devices.” Perhaps eBay will hold on to Skype a bit and wait to see if the carriers come calling… with buckets of money.

We’ll put this in the rumor column now but I suspect we won’t have to wait long for official confirmation since Skype has a Press Event tomorrow morning. Piecing together some web sources, anonymous tips, possible leaks and scouring the cache of Google News showing a CNET story that’s no longer live, here’s what we’re seeing:

• Skype will launch Skype Lite tomorrow, with support for a large number of Java-enabled handsets from Moto, Nokia, Samsung and more.
• A Skype client is in the works for Google’s Android Marketplace, but no idea how long it will take to get approved or appear for download. We could see it this week or next in the Marketplace.

I wouldn’t expect much more than basic calling functionality at low rates in a Skype Lite application; possibly chat. What’s truly interesting here is how will the carriers respond, as they surely don’t want to lose revenues in terms of per-minute charges. I can’t believe that the majority of cellular customers are on the unlimited plans that cropped up last year.

Either a full or light version of Skype on Android isn’t that surprising because we continuously see Skype expanding their presence on various mobile platforms. And Skype Chat using a G1 keyboard sounds appealing. Many folks have been waiting for Skype support on the iPhone, but I suspect it’s easier to get an application like Skype past the more open Google Android folks than the closed doors at Apple.

Rumor or not, I did circle back to the Skype PR folks and they didn’t confirm nor deny. They did ask if I was attending their press event tomorrow, but I already have a commitment at that time. We’ll know by then for sure if the rumor is fact or not. Something tells me that the time is right for Skype to gain a new platform to support.

Fring on Windows Mobile

As much as we love drooling over new hardware at CES, there’s software news around every corner as well. Fring is among those applications that get a refresh with new features. Their Windows Mobile client now sports the “Designed for Windows Mobile” moniker and gains more add-ons and supported devices:

• You can use the File Transfer option to send files over your phone’s data connection to your buddies. From Fring, you can send to contacts on Skype, Yahoo!, MSN and of course Fring.
• Earpiece / headphone support for HTC devices. Hey, not everyone wants to hear BOTH sides of your conversation in public.
• Support for newer Windows Mobile devices like the Samsung Omnia and Sony Xperia X1.

I’ve mainly stayed with Skype since 2004 as my VoIP client, but a consolidated service like Fring might be worth a look for me. Any Fring faithful want to convince me?