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Hands On Skyfire Windows Mobile Browser: It Definitely Doesn't Suck
Posted by Matt Buchanan at 10:00 AM on April 5, 2008
During our brief hands on with the Skyfire mobile browser at CTIA, it actually lived up to most of its claims, and we walked away fairly impressed. We saw it on two different devices, though most of our time was on a Sprint HTC Mogul. Besides rendering media-heavy Giz with surprising snap (a feat that made the Instinct's browser cry), it churned out YouTube and Hulu videos like a champ. Zooming isn't quite as intuitive as Safari—you touch, a box pops up which you can drag around, then you touch again—but I was told they're working on making it more natural. Overall, it's definitely one for Windows Mobile users to watch, and we'll be getting some more time with it soon.
Tags: ctia | ctia 2008 | gadgets | mobile phones | phones | smartphones | windows mobile
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
Adam
Posted April 7, 2008 12:54 AM
Here's another opinion with a bit more detail: http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=1037
Note the "Bugs & Wishes" section on the second page.
"However, Skyfire also disables a lot of standard Windows Mobile features and thusly makes using your device in general much more difficult and frustrating."
Also, for y'all that are wishing for video playing within the browser, it is pretty bad just as a concept. While Skyfire does do it, it's just not a good way to view videos at all. The TCPMP & Flash bundle way is much better since you can play the video full screen and you can easily SEE THE WHOLE VIDEO. With the embedded-in-a-webpage method, you've got to scroll around and zoom every so slightly just to get the video to fit within the window. It's a huge amount of work to get the video to be viewable. Not fun at all.
dlynch
Posted 10:38 AM 5/4/08
i'm supposed to be in "beta group 1" but haven't been lucky enough to get the nod yet - i am dying running IE for WM - i mostly just don't browse b/c it's so terrible. haven't had great luck with opera either. someday soon somebody will get it figured out - looks like skyfire is progress but it's no firefox equivalent for WM - until we get there, mobile browsing will only be an exercise in frustration.
dlynch
basketcase456
Posted 10:30 AM 5/4/08
I have the pleasure of being one of the lucky Beta 1 members who is currently testing this on their phone. I signed up months ago when Giz first reported about it. I am running it on an AT&T Tilt with WM6. Now that I am using it, the browser is pretty solid, but has its issues too. It has a really long start time for a program on WM6, but once it is running, it goes pretty well. The couple of issues I am having still are that it is a processing hog and a battery drain. Using Skyfire for 15 minutes ran down my battery 10%. Then there is the fact that it has some issues with larger webpages and scrolling while zoomed in. I need to wait for the page to catch up and load. The most annoying issue I have discovered right now is the inability to edit multi-line text. This would be things such as this comments box or any online email provider like Gmail impossible to work with. Hopefully the next version has this issue fixed. I'm very excited though since this is definitely much better than any other browser on WM6, even Opera.
basketcase456
Wilson Rothman
Posted 10:26 AM 5/4/08
@Sleeper_Service: deepdish can't respond to you, because he's been banned for excessive and pointless negativity. Thank you for being optimistic—God knows it's way too easy to shit on Windows Mobile.
Wilson Rothman
Sleeper_Service
Posted 10:08 AM 5/4/08
@deepdish:
Shut up, you cock.
Looks nice enough.
Sleeper_Service
deepdish
Posted 10:03 AM 5/4/08
lame
deepdish
TJ
Posted 11:06 AM 5/4/08
I'm also in the Beta 1 group and running on a Samsung i760. One thing that occurred before I was even able to play with the browser that some people may experience is the initial authentication once you install and run Skyfire. The error says that the network connection failed and only gives you the option to quit the app. I have been in touch with Skyfire (who have been extremely helpful and willing to offer support, btw) to inform them of the problem and have forwarded forum links where this issue has been addressed.
Over all, Skyfire is leaps and bounds ahead of IE and it's great to know that the people responsible for it stand by their product 100%. I can't wait for Beta 2 to launch sometime this month or next...
TJ
Kaiser-Machead
Posted 11:42 AM 5/4/08
You regs, admins and assorted fanboys know how much I like to shit on WinMobile, but if this has enough snap crackle and pop, even I may get froggy in the wallet, as I am looking for a new phone.
Now post, I said post a vidya boy!
Kaiser-Machead
BadBoyNDSU
Posted 12:28 PM 5/4/08
I've tried the new PIE from WM6.1 , the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta, Minimo (Mobile Mozilla) and I'm signed up for the Skyfire beta 2 (I think). If it can play YouTube videos inside the browser it will trump everything availiable now or in the near future. You hear me Skyfire, I want my damn beta key!
BadBoyNDSU
tek
Posted 12:56 PM 5/4/08
I'd really like to try Skyfire or Opera Mobile 9.5 but both companies really like to make people wait...
tek
ThatsMrOffDutyNinja
Posted 1:00 PM 5/4/08
@Wilson Rothman: BTW nice to stay on topic. Oh, wait nm.
ThatsMrOffDutyNinja
ThatsMrOffDutyNinja
Posted 12:59 PM 5/4/08
@Wilson Rothman: Wow seems like the few people in front of my comments say differently. Maybe I need to break out my old 8125 and do an upgrade. Looking forward to it.
ThatsMrOffDutyNinja
rh2600
Posted 2:48 PM 5/4/08
Skyfire is actually a client that connects to their server that is handling all the rendering and then delivering the output to your phone (think VNC). This may explain why the battery life is getting chomped.
I'd be interested to know what rendering engine it is using on the server. It might be greatwith all-you-can-eat data plans, but I suspect those of us that have to pay for our mobile data might not like having to download images (even more data than the actual http stream would be) of websites.
rh2600
EnochLight
Posted 3:17 PM 5/4/08
iPhone Safari still seems to "pwn" Skyfire. Can anyone compare?
EnochLight
PhilR8
Posted 4:13 PM 5/4/08
I was lucky enough to get my Skyfire invite two weeks ago, and I pretty much use it exclusively now for web browsing on my mobile. Videos are a little choppy, but uh, that's better than no videos. Smartfit actually works pretty well, but zooming in and out needs some tweaking. Overall, it rules.
PhilR8
frankfrankly
Posted 5:38 PM 5/4/08
I've got an htc touch with both skyfire and opera mini.
I use opera mini for most surfing (giz, wonkette, nytimes)
I use skyfire when watching flash videos.
Opera mini is faster, and the zoom function is much quicker/natural. Skyfire has a bit work to do, but it's definitely a step in the right direction, and much nicer than picsel, pie(internet explorer), or minimo.
Opera mini is really amazing once you do all the hacks on ppcgeeks, like bypassing the need to start a java midlet runner.
frankfrankly
Evan394
Posted 2:36 AM 6/4/08
@frankfrankly: Excellent comments. Thanks for the information. You're obviously in the beta-- right? Make sure you give that feedback to Skyfire too. I've got a dash, and got the "you're in the beta 1 group" email... but so far, no love.
@Kaiser-Machead: No kidding, I too am shocked that there is not a "vidya".
Evan394
quikboy
Posted 10:43 AM 6/4/08
PIE is great for just basic browsing, but it never hurts to have more advanced internet browsing. Bring on Skyfire!
quikboy
otaking241
Posted 2:47 PM 6/4/08
Also signed up for the beta on my Blackjack II. It works surprisingly well even on the smart phone platform and I haven't found a website yet that it chokes on. It could use some polish of course but it's still beta 1, so here's hoping they iron out the kinks before the final version.
BTW - any chance of Giz getting a mobile-friendly interface at some point?
otaking241
DustyButt
Posted 3:29 PM 6/4/08
@otaking241: I check out the Giz via an RSS feed on my Mogul and it very navigatable.
Yes, thats correct. I just made up a word... navigatable.
DustyButt
TurboFool
Posted 7:08 AM 10/4/08
I've been running the beta for the last few weeks, and I'm very impressed. It's very smooth, the video/audio playback's amazing, and it overall just covers my needs very well. Needs a bit of stability work and multi-line text input support, as well as an improved startup time, but overall it's very strong.
TurboFool