Claiming it to be the most distinctive new release in the company's five-year history, Skype has unveiled Skype (News - Alert) 4.0 for Windows. The company says the feedback of numerous users across the globe have raved over new features such as full-screen video calling have been introduced in this new version.

 

As the number of companies that offer Internet based voice and video calling services increase, the existing players such as Skype are looking to introduce unique features that make them stand apart from their competitors. After the VoIP price war, companies are now focusing on interesting features to keep the users lured to their service.

 

The new version of Skype allows people to experience the benefits of free face-to-face video calling. Making conversations more intimate and engaging, users can now start a video call and experience full-screen video.

 

“Video calling has emerged as a very popular way for people to communicate online," said Mike Bartlett, director of product strategy for Skype. "Whether it's saying hello to your daughter at college or reading a book to your child while you're away on business--video calling lets you have the conversations that make a difference and it really feels almost as good as being there.”

 

Skype claims that its new version allows the users to experience very best Skype video calling experience possible even on a low-bandwidth connection with a new built-in bandwidth manager. You can get up to 30-frames-per-second High Quality Video if you have an internet connection of 400 Kb/s or higher, a dual-core processor PC and a Skype Certified High Quality Video webcam.

 

Skype claims that the new version increases the call quality. The new audio codec achieves wideband audio quality using 50 percent less bandwidth than previously required.

 

Recently, the company launched a light version of Skype, a ‘thin’ client for Skype that can be downloaded on Android (News - Alert)-powered devices. Apart from this, it can also be downloaded on more than 100 other Java-enabled mobile phones. This announcement follows the successful public testing done last year.