Third party web browser Skyfire has released their latest version for Symbian smartphones. Version 1.5 updates the user interface for a smoother experience both in the updated UI and in the rendering engine, as well as making its debut on 5th edition devices.
Read on in the full article.
Works very well so far!
works on i8910
but carries the main benefits that current Skyfire users are aware of, such as support for javascript, Flash 10, ajax scripting and allows you to watch online media directly in the browser.
What does Skyfire have over Opera mobile and the native browser ? I dont really get what the quoted text means.
Plus doesnt the native browser and opera allow media to be played directly ?
opera doesn't have flash. as far as the other features go, it's the same way your mobile phone lists gps and 3g. it's everywhere, but you need to fill up that feature list 😃
Kinetic scrolling works great on this one even better than opera mobile, but the problem is it doesnt loads the page sequentially when you scroll it and you get square patterns after which it shows the page, its a bit annoying hope people in skyfire team are aware of this.
As stated above, Skyfire supports Flash 10. That's a significant improvement over Flash Lite 3 which is what Nokia's native browser uses. Many Flash-heavy sites that don't work in the native browser work great in Skyfire. Skyfire also supports Silverlight which is Microsoft's shot at Flash. Unfortunately, Skyfire won't support Netflix Instant Watch, which is the main implementation of Silverlight that I'd be interested in using. Hulu is also disabled, but not due to any limitations in Skyfire. Hulu has apparently disabled playback of video from their site to ANY mobile devices. Stupid.
Presumably Skyfire doesn't offer the same compressed proxying that Opera does?
Big surprise this evening . This new version 1.5 works now on the Inner screen of the E90 at last : as this is posted from an E90 inner screen .
Only Zoom I didn't find yet , as now I am dealing with tiny letters .
Also the 2 Softkeys are positioned opposite .
Also Ctrl + A , C , X and V are alive !
At last ... Good job !
Edit : Zooming in : Hold down D- Pad
😊 Regards jApi NL
I'm finding that the zoom is all over the place on my favourite forums on my N82 - can't seem to get it to a readable level for text heavy pages.
Disappointing as I really like the browser in general.
The good thing about Skyfire is that it loads graphics-intensive and flash-embedded websitw. Hence, the ability to view video within the browser.
My hands are still for Opera Mobile due to several reasons:
1. Faster page rendering and download
2. word-wrapping for optimal viewing in a small screen
3. 'Clean'/non-blurry rendering of text.
4. Better and more usee-friendly interface.
Where I live, in Bristol, UK there is a web site called http://www.nextbusbristol.co.uk which will give you live timings of when you can expect the next bus to turn up at your stop.
Trying to use this site using the default browser on the N97 causes it to crash which is a pain when one is in the Centre of town at one of the stops that doesn't have a current display.
Skyfire copes with this site just fine - probably because of the included Java support - so thats one good reason to recommend it.
The one problem I had thus far was trying to use double tap to enlarge the display - but using the magnifier glass was easy enough, so its not a major niggle.
I recall using Skyfire on the N95 and didn't enjoy it that much - but even such short use as I've given it so far has been far smoother. I shall persevere.
Regards
Neil
Arcade wrote:What does Skyfire have over Opera mobile and the native browser ? I dont really get what the quoted text means.skyfire is not a 'real' browser, that loads html, flash, media to the phone...
Plus doesnt the native browser and opera allow media to be played directly ?
This is basically the same way Opera Mini works, except they have managed to encapsulate the rest of the media too...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyfire_browser
This could well be why certain complex pages do not work that well, or may take much longer to load...
On Opera Mobile every page is cached to memory, so that a phone signal is not needed, if you have loaded a few pages beforehand! - I have found this very useful on long trips round London, with no signal underground..
thank you