- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows Mobile 5.x/6.x
- Date added: December 09, 2009
- Total Downloads: 9,004
- Downloads last week: 272
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 3 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Jessica Dolcourt on May 27, 2009
Skyfire has arrived at its first full release with a fairly fast and solid mobile browser offering. From a usability standpoint, its streaming video and social bent are Skyfire's strengths. Small, but significant navigation holes are drawbacks in what is an otherwise stable and serious effort.
The Start screen is characterized by a customizable RSS feed. You can sort by filters, and post article links to Facebook and Twitter. Separately, you can upload a new social networking status from the screen. A joint address-search bar sits along the top, leaving plenty of reading space. Video playback is decent in smoothness and quality, though it still sometimes suffers from catches and varying picture quality (this isn't Skyfire's challenge alone.) Panning, zooming, and processing performance are also very competitive. To wit, you're able to begin typing into the search bar before the page has finished loading.
While Skyfire supports Flash and Silverlight plug-ins, it doesn't support those applications that require text entry. It likewise won't work for media players requiring the 'local storage mode,' as do Pandora, Rhapsody, and Netflix. Unlike Opera, it's lacking some niceties that make browsing life easier, like copy and paste, and the capability to search a block of text for a word or phrase. Copy/paste would have been useful for filling in a URL during testing when the URLs for several over-the-air downloads were not linked. There's also no way to cancel a page from loading in Skyfire 1.0 if you've changed your mind. It's not a deal-breaker by any means, but is a slight annoyance nonetheless.
For the most part, these minor drawbacks are the sort that Skyfire can fix in upcoming releases. In the meantime, what it's offered Internet-seekers is a strong contender to Opera Mobile 9.5 beta that's more engaging in terms of a superior video playback solution and also better attuned to newsgathering and sharing on social networks. It's definitely worth a try.
Publisher's description
From Skyfire :Skyfire is a free, downloadable mobile browser that gives you a Web browsing experience exactly like PC browsing. Now on your phone you can watch any video, connect with friends, listen to music, shop, and browse the web using the full-featured PC versions of your favorite websites. With Skyfire, mobile browsing just works--speedy page loads, full video, images and audio. Watch any video: YouTube, Hulu, any web video--you name it--it's playing on Skyfire. Skyfire supports full Flash and Windows Media videos, including Flash 10 and Silverlight 2.0.
Stay connected: Follow your friends' Facebook and Twitter updates plus keep track of news, sports, video and other content in your own customizable activity feed.
Browse any page: Browse your favorite websites on Skyfire exactly like you do on your PC. We support all major Web 2.0 standards--Ajax, Javascript, Flash 10--it just works.
Share instantly: Easily share what you find on the web or what you are up to. Post web pages and status updates to Facebook and Twitter, with one click.
Blazing fast: Skyfire fires up fast and Web pages load quickly.
Version 1.1 improves page-load time, improves reconnect, adds WML support, improves mobile-Web site support, adds page up/down navigation via shortcut key, and updates plug-ins like Flash, Silverlight, and QuickTime.
What's new in this version:
Version 1.5 includes full VGA and wVGA support, Flash 10 support, Silverlight 1.5 support, UI enhancements, and full-screen mode.
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- See all Web Browsers downloads
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