Filed under: Browsers, Mobile, Android
A lot has been said about the Skyfire mobile Web browser -- and apparently over half a million people have downloaded it! -- but is it actually any good? Sure it offers Flash video playback, but with a built-in YouTube app that ships with almost every new smartphone, is it really necessary to install a separate browser just to watch videos?While 500,000 downloads isn't indicative of 500,000 users, such a figure certainly suggest that a lot of people want to watch non-YouTube videos on their phones. Well, it's that, or perhaps Skyfire actually offers a better browsing experience than Android's built-in browser, or Opera Mini.
From the outset, Skyfire seems to tick all the boxes. It's built on WebKit, so it should be as fast and fully-featured as other mobile options. It has a built-in 'share' tool that lets you easily share links via email. Like Opera Mini, Skyfire also has tabs and an excellent home screen. Unlike the built-in Android browser, Skyfire lets you alter your 'user agent' so that you can view both desktop and mobile versions of sites.
In fact, even without taking its full-screen Flash video playback functionality into account, Skyfire is a worthy browser replacement.
Which is a good thing, because Skyfire's video playback isn't very good.
Continue reading Hands on with Skyfire, the 'rich media' (i.e. Flash video) Android Web browser
Hands on with Skyfire, the 'rich media' (i.e. Flash video) Android Web browser originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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