Skype has recently launched the beta version for its Skype 5. It has introduced some of the new features which were being demanded by most users. The most significant of which is the video functionality in a group call. This was one of the most demanded feature for the new skype and developers have incorporated it in the new beta version.

The group call feature has been the most requested feature overt time. Skype has introduced group calling for at most 5 people at a time. The group call is being advertised as a free trial which tends most to believe that it would be a pay only feature in the actual release. To hold a group vdeo chat every participant of the group chat must have skype beta 5 version. The group calls can be initiated by adding people to the conference and then clicking on the video button to initiate a video chat.It is a beta version, so don’t expect everything to work superbly. As said by Skype in its release there might be some rough edged which would have to be taken care of and would be smoothed in the final release.

Apart from the video group call feature, the call view has been redesigned. The new call view focuses on the ongoing call and takes away all possible disturbing factors like other conversations. There is an option of seeing the other conversation and data there too.

Some of the features are listed below in the skype release :


New Features:
* Up to 5-way group video call
* Redesigned calling experience
* Improved video snapshots gallery
* Improved browser plugins performance on some websites.
* Reduced false positives on browser plugin phone number recognition.

Changes:
* Call host is not displayed anymore in the user interface
* Windows 2000 is not supported in this Beta version

Fixed issues:
* Microsoft Lifecam Show webcamera crashed Skype
* CPU usage was high on low-end computers during video calls when using a TouchCam N1 or Twincam encoding camera
* ‘Test’ button name was changed to ‘Record’ after testing
* Skype did not always ring on all audio devices when it was selected to.
* Accessibility was always turned on
* Skype browser plugins for Internet Explorer and Firefox ignored meta tags not to highlight phone numbers.
* Skype browser plugin may have hanged or frozen Internet Explorer browser.
* Refreshing webpage turned off phone number highlighting in Internet Explorer browser.
* Skype browser plugin highlighting tags become visible in webmail
* The Skype browser plugin highlighted phone numbers and names while creating content on various popular websites.
* Skype sometimes crashed when importing contacts through welcome screen.
* Only one field change was saved when editing phone contacts.
* Skype sounds were not working over remote desktop

Download here

image source : skype blog