14 DAY TRIAL // An updated flavor of the Skype application is now available for download for the owners of Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows Phone 8 devices out there, namely version 2.21.
Apparently, the main focus for the Skype team at the moment is to provide its Skype users with great photo sharing capabilities, and the new flavor of the Windows Phone application has been designed specifically for that.
“Right now, building great picture sharing capabilities is high on our list of priorities, and we’re excited to announce the feature will start rolling out to Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows Phone 8 users for the first time with today’s 2.21 update,” a post on Skype’s blog reads.
The best part of the new feature is the fact that users will be able to send the said photos to their friends or family even when they are offline.
Moreover, Skype explains that users will be able to send photos to one or more contacts and that they can also receive photos. The only condition is that the recipients are on an iOS 5.0 or above, or on a Windows Phone 8 / Windows Phone 8.1 device.
“When you share photos to your contacts who use other platforms, they may receive a URL link to open the pictures. This is the first step: we’re working hard to build this new photo sharing experience across all of our platforms, so look out for more improvements over the coming months,” Skype explains.
In addition to the new photo sharing feature, Skype for Windows Phone now enables users to load even more of their conversation history in chat view, by simply scrolling up.
Text mark-up was also included in the new app iteration, so that one can use asterisks to make their text *bold*, along with underscores to make the text _italic_.
Following the update, users will also be able to easily add a contact they are chatting with to favorites, by simply tapping the options button in chat view.
In addition to all of these new features, the updated Skype for Windows Phone also arrives with a series of performance improvements packed inside, aimed at ensuring that users receive a much better experience than before.
The new application release should already be available for download via the official Windows Phone Store. Provided that it does not appear right away, check back in a few hours, as it might take some time before it arrives on all markets around the world.