Skype 2.0 For Android Selectively Brings Video

Wow, it was only about two weeks ago that I complained about the lack of a good use for Android’s front facing camera (are you stalking me, Skype?).

Skype is fortunately following through with their promise to continue rolling out updates and new features for other platforms, despite being purchased by Microsoft. As of an official announcement this morning, a new Skype version 2 for Android has been released that supports two-way video chat on the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro and the Google Nexus S.

Pretty cool, right? There is one caveat, however. This doesn’t work on Sprint’s Nexus S 4G for some reason. I tried it myself and find the same dead end that other Sprint Nexus users have posted online.

It’s only been out a matter of hours so I’m sure it won’t be long before the brilliant minds at XDA-Developers figure out how to modify the app to work on more hardware.

Why only these devices, Skype (if you are stalking me, this would be a good time to answer)? What I see in common here is that these devices appear to all sport the latest Gingerbread version of Android, include a front facing camera, and aren’t tied to any US carriers.

That goes back to what I mentioned last time about the exclusive arrangement Skype appears to have with Verizon for video calling. If iOS and other mobile platforms can support Skype video despite this Verizon deal, perhaps Android on non-US carriers can as well? I wish the details of this deal with Verizon were out in the open so we could stop speculating. Are you still listening to me, Skype?

The good news in all this is that unlike the Verizon Thunderbolt-only version released months back, this doesn’t seem tied to hardware-specific drivers. That means there is a much better chance of seeing the dev community tear this apart and have video enabled Skype unofficially working on more devices.