Skype 5 incorporates Facebook and other new features

Rumors about a Skype-Facebook partnership have been circulating for about a month now. At the beginning, both parties denied this, but as of a few days ago, it’s become official. And besize supporting Facebook, the new Skype 5 also comes with several bug-fixes, enhancements, as well as some new features which will revolutionize user experience. Or, at least, so do the guys down at Skype Limited tell us. Let’s see what this is all about.

The first addition that’ll get in your eyes will be the revamped interface, which is now cleaner than in previous versions. It also contains a Facebook tab which allows you to access Facebook News Feed and Phonebook. You can also perform various other actions, such as posting message, updating status information and liking or disliking other comments. The phonebook lets you browse through your Facebook friends to call or text them. The service is free of charge if you call or text a Skype user, but you’ll be required a small fee to interact with non-Skype users.

Automated Call Recovery and Group Video calling have also been added. The first reconnects call which were interrupted due to broken connections. Group video calling is only in a beta stage at the moment, and you can try it for free. It’s a dynamic service which automatically switches focus to the current speaker in a video call – just perfect for a call which involves more than two users. The Quality Manager improves the quality of the calls and can sometimes also provide suggestions for any problems that may occur.

The new Facebook-Skype joint service will surely delight both Facebook and Skype users alike, as the joint service it will be even easier to cement their social networking relationships. You can get Skype 5 from the official site.

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