Skype 5.0 now connects to your Android address book.

Skype



Unsurprisingly, the Skype looks more and more like a Windows Phone app and this is in line with Microsoft strategy in regards to its other apps that the software giant has ported to Android. Just take a look at OneDrive and Outlook apps to see what I mean.

Today, Microsoft published an update to Skype for Android that allow users to connect Skype to their address book. The result of this integration is once you verify your phone number when prompted by the app, friends in your address book will show up in your Skype contacts making it so much easier to find friends with Skype accounts. This is not limited to phone numbers as Skype will also check your friends with Microsoft accounts, these are Hotmail/Outlook.com/Live account, and suggest you connect to them.

On the privacy side of things, phone numbers are not made public. If you still worry about, say your phone number being accidentally made public, it is possible to deactivate this feature so you cannot be found by your phone number. Unless you're paranoid, I don't see any reason to disable this feature.

This update brings Skype for Android to version 5.0. However, the change log states that the connect to address book feature will be deployed "in the coming weeks". Until then, download or upgrade Skype in Google Play store.
 

Microsoft upgrades Hotmail app for Android to Outlook dot com with modern UI instead of Holo.

I think it's the first time that I used the modern UI appellation instead of Metro in a post. The update for the Hotmail app does bring a host of much needed features to the app. Besides the introduction of the modern UI on Android platform instead of the Holo UI, the key features include:

• Get emails right away with push notifications
• Sync with your device Calendar and Contacts
• View and sync standard and custom folders, including subfolders
• Group your email conversations with Conversation Threading
• Send, receive, and view photos and other attachments
• Easy to use search functionality
• Use with multiple Outlook.com accounts

All contents and rules are automatically moved to the new Inbox and you can keep using the Hotmail account alongside the Outlook.com one.

Download the update on Google Play Store.

Outlook.com app for Android released.

25 million active users for Outlook.com so far. A third of which are Gmail users. That's probably what prompted Microsoft to release a new mail client for Android. But wait, is it really a new release? I haven't downloaded the new version yet, so I'm still using the old Hotmail.com client. Take a look at the screen shot. Notice anything? It doesn't look like a new Outlook.com client to me but more of a right-click > Rename of the old Hotmail client; same interface, same layout but with the Outlook.com tab. I doubt Microsoft will convince Gmail users to make the switch with this app.

Download Outlook.com app