Microsoft is releasing an update to both its iPhone and Android Skype app that, according to the company, brings “some big changes to make the chat experience more consistent and more fun.”
Version 5.3 of Skype for Android adds emoji support. So now, in addition to the all the Skype emoticons users can already use to express themselves, they’ll now also be able to use emojis. Microsoft says this will triple the number things a person can say in Skype without using a word. Additionally, if a user decides to use a Skype emoticon in a message, it will become animated.
There’s also a slight design change that uses chat bubbles to bring the look and feel of the Android app more in line with its iOS and desktop counterparts.
Finally, the company has updated the app to allow messaging via speech to text when connected to an Android Auto-enabled car. Unfortunately, Canadian users won’t be able to take advantage of this feature as Android Auto is not yet available in Canada.
For iPhone users, Skype version 5.12 brings new language options to support Croatian, Slovak, Catalan, Vietnamese, Thai, Hindi, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Turkish and Estonian. Microsoft notes that the iPhone update will be available in the App Store within the coming week.
[source]Skype[/source]
