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Quick look at Skyfire 2.0…

With all the Apple-Flash talk the last week it was really good timing for the Android to throw us Skyfire.

The award-winning mobile browser Skyfire has just launched the Skyfire 2.0 browser for the Android and it’s pretty sweet. Many Android geeks have been waiting for a peek at Skyfire, myself included and as of yesterday it’s available in the Android Market. Finally.

Skyfire is the first flash video enabled mobile browser for Android. That’s right you heard it here they’re supporting Flash video on your mobile device — no rooting required.

When you find a flash video that was previously blocked, Skyfire will translate the video and display a pop-up video icon in the apps dock, named the SkyBar. From the SkyBar users are able to view video, explore and share via email, SMS and popular social networks.

Let’s test it out. I fired up a site I know uses flash video, a site I’m only using for the purpose of this post, ch131. No luck, after selecting a video, the video pop-up did not appear to translate the video. I’m thinking it depends on the size so we’ll move over to smaller video clips.

On my second try I brought up Guzer on both my iPhone 3G and Android (nexus one). The iPhone gave me the usual ” you suck, you don’t have flash” error while the Skyfire 2.0 browser quickly threw me the mobile version in the dock. Nice!

At first glance the UI is slick, bright and speedy. It has included one of my favourite mobile browser features home screen speed dials, similar to the Opera mini browser which limits you to 9 visual bookmarks. The Skyfire 2.0 browser doesn’t limit the amount of speed dial bookmarks as far as I can see.

Skyfire boasts to be the first browser for the social media generation:

Skyfire 2.0 was built for the way people use social media and the web today. People are now starting their web experience by scanning their Facebook and Twitter news feeds,” explains Jeff Glueck, CEO of Skyfire. “Our new browser allows you to open those links and view the videos that your friends have shared. To make that work, people need a browser that can handle the full internet.

Using the explore feature users receive related content / buzz from around the web pertaining to the page the user is currently viewing. From my site it pulled information on iPhones and apps.

It is a bit glitchy, at times the video icon flashes but doesn’t produce anything. I’m really hoping this will improve with time.

Here’s a few snapshots of the browser..


Skyfire 2.0 for Android is built upon many of the popular features of Skyfire’s 1.0 browser, and uses cloud computing to give a “booster engine” to mobile phones so they can handle rich media like video. And now, Skyfire 2.0 for Android takes mobile browsing to a new level with the addition of the SkyBarTM, a new toolbar that lets users enjoy millions of videos previously unviewable on mobile, and also discover the latest buzz on any topic they browse.

— read the full press release here

Skyfire 2.0 is free for all. Check it out bit.ly/skyfireandroid
Skyfire runs on Android 1.5, 1.6, 2.0 and 2.1

Android geeks– I’d love to hear your thoughts..