Travel Technology - Skyfire - a REAL browser for smart phone owners

Only available in a private beta, but check out www.skyfire.com to see the product. I think it will be the biggest thing to hit non-iPhone smartphones this year. I just registered for the private beta, and I hope I'll get a chance to try it out soon!

Thx for posting!

A little more info about Skyfire here (http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9859030-2.html?tag=bubbl_2)

I'm fairly sceptical until someone sees a REAL demo, and not a screenshot of a demo done over Skype with the CEO.

Don't get me wrong, I hope it's real, but I've seen too many of these products get loads of press, then vanish.

I've been playing with it on my QTek 8500 for about a week. It works pretty much as advertised. It is obvious that it works kind of like VNC - all the rendering is done on their server someplace and they are showing you screenshots of it. The beta has problems with timeouts and chunks of the screen that don't update, but that may be fixed in time.

It requires a fast connection - over GPRS/EDGE/1x it is basically unusable unless you're just reading a static text page.

I've been using the browser a couple days now, works pretty darn nice. I cannot tell if it is remote caching or not. One issue, is getting BACK to the device, but closing the browser of course works.

Quicktime movies play, flash works youtube videos work, logins and everything. everything looks JUST like the web. I think the UI is a bit laggy, but it works. Get on the beta download list, downloads are now going out to plebs.

I'm using on an EVDO connection.

...it will be the biggest thing to hit non-iPhone smartphones this year.

This will not work on all non-iPhone smart phones. This only works on Microsoft phones. The largest majority of smart phones in the world run the Sybian OS (consortium of Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and others).

Why would I want to run this browser over pocket internet explorer on my Microsoft phone?

How much of an interest in the company do you have?

This will not work on all non-iPhone smart phones. This only works on Microsoft phones. The largest majority of smart phones in the world run the Sybian OS (consortium of Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and others).


The market share of Symbian in the US is tiny. In the US the iPhone, RIM and Windows dominate the smartphone market.

Sure, worldwide Symbian (S60 and UIQ) have a nice share of the market, but Nokia markets their "smartphones" differently than RIM and Microsoft. Many people buy a Nokia phone with S60 not knowing they actually have a "smartphone", whereas more people with a Blackberry and Windows device actually buy it because of the smartphone features.

I know several people with an N class Nokia phone that only use it to make phone calls and don't bother with the "smart" portion of the device.

Currently only one of the large operators in the US even offer a phone with Symbian (ATT with the N75), and they don't even have it categorized it as a smartphone, they just call it "an enhanced music player". Not a single operator in the US currently has a UIQ powered phone in their lineup.


Why would I want to run this browser over pocket internet explorer on my Microsoft phone?


Because Pocket IE sucks?

Really, anyone that uses it on a regular basis knows what a turd PIE is.

Looks sweet. Too bad the private beta is full. Definitely want to try this out on my Tilt...should rock over 3G.

Wow. If it lives up to half the hype, it will best Pocket IE on WM6 by a mile.

The iPhone offers up a much more robust web surfing experience compared to the WM devices (edge on the iPhone is almost as fast as 3G on other phones when it comes to page load times--download times for bulk content are obviously vastly different), and this appears to bring that kind of experience, plus some, to the WM platform.

The latest SPB Pocket Plus offers a bit of the iPhone scroll-with-finger ability, but between the two, SkyFire could be great.

I'm reserving final judgement until I have the initial, non-beta release installed.

Wow. If it lives up to half the hype, it will best Pocket IE on WM6 by a mile.

The iPhone offers up a much more robust web surfing experience compared to the WM devices (edge on the iPhone is almost as fast as 3G on other phones when it comes to page load times--download times for bulk content are obviously vastly different), and this appears to bring that kind of experience, plus some, to the WM platform.

The latest SPB Pocket Plus offers a bit of the iPhone scroll-with-finger ability, but between the two, SkyFire could be great.

I'm reserving final judgement until I have the initial, non-beta release installed.

The newest version of Netfront has finger browsing, and is actually quite impressive, and next week we should see Opera mobile 9.5.

It's a good week for browsers.

I'll definitely give it a try once it's officially released.

In the meantime, I am using Opera Mobile and it's great.

Speaking of WM, isn't a new version supposed to be out this month? From what I've heard it's supposed to support threaded SMS and several other long awaited features.

Speaking of WM, isn't a new version supposed to be out this month? From what I've heard it's supposed to support threaded SMS and several other long awaited features.

Yeah, 6.1. I've got it on my device but it's not that much of an improvement. You do get threaded SMS, but you could get that off a (hacked) Treo application a year ago.

MS have a lot of catching up to do.

Not too hijack this thread, but is 6.1 for smartphone only or is it also available in the full professional version as well?

Also, is it going to be released as an upgrade for WM6--like a patch--or will it have to be released and published by the manufacturer for specific phones?

Not too hijack this thread, but is 6.1 for smartphone only or is it also available in the full professional version as well?

Also, is it going to be released as an upgrade for WM6--like a patch--or will it have to be released and published by the manufacturer for specific phones?

I'll be in Smartphone and Professional.

Like most WM versions, it won't be a patch, so you are at the mercy of your phone manufacturer. If it's older than a year or so, don't count on it ever being release for your device.

Microsoft SUCKS at updates.

A few weeks ago I received a beta version of SkyFire to try out. This browser, despite how slow it is at the moment, is absolutely on another level! It does go a very long way towards replicating the look and feel of the web and it works really well on my Tilt. Some drawbacks:

- It is slow to start up, as it has to establish a connection with its server
- Streaming videos, depending on how much you've zoomed in, will be choppy
- Volume control is difficult

There are other issues, but for a beta, this is pretty impressive.

I received the same beta e-mail and began using the browser that same day. I've completely stopped using IE on my 8525.

So far, it's very intuitive and loads most pages--the full pages in full form--very quickly compared to IE.

The pros:
- full versions of web pages
- easy zooming and scrolling
- fast load times
- streaming content (YouTube)

The cons:
- startup is slow while it authenticates (not sure if this is just for the invite beta or if it's going to be in the final product)
- larger pages aren't downloaded all at once; scrolling down on larger pages will show a white/grey checkered background while it downloads that viewable section
- inability to click through hyperlinks at full zoom out

Overall, a major leap forward in mobile browsers.

This will not work on all non-iPhone smart phones. This only works on Microsoft phones. The largest majority of smart phones in the world run the Sybian OS (consortium of Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and others).


The Skyfire FAQ (http://www.skyfire.com/product/faq) now shows Symbian S60 as "the next platform we'll be launching on".

Mmmm

Do you bank or shop with it too? Pass your medical data through it? They're making a nice clearing house for one stop identity theft.

The whole concept is the exact opposite of the iPhone, which tries to do mobile connectivity right.

The whole concept is the exact opposite of the iPhone, which tries to do mobile connectivity right.Please elaborate. And, before you begin, just in case you're an Apple fanboy, please keep the explanation as impartial as possible. Just the facts.

Do you bank or shop with it too? Pass your medical data through it? They're making a nice clearing house for one stop identity theft.

The whole concept is the exact opposite of the iPhone, which tries to do mobile connectivity right.

Like with many applications, you need to give them some trust. They have a pretty decent security explanation online.

As for the "iPhone does it right" part; I'll pretend you know something we don't, because without 3G, push email or even the (official) ability to install applications you really can't be serious. A device that can't even cut/paste out of the browser can hardly be called "doing mobile connectivity right".

And who guarantees that AT&T are not snooping data off your iPhone through the EDGE network? You have zero guarantees in life that your data is 100% safe. I trust that Skyfire have precautions in place that make it near impossible to snoop on the SSL session I have when I browse a secure site using their browser.

And who guarantees that AT&T are not snooping data off your iPhone through the EDGE network?
But I thought using the iPhone's browser, the browser passes secure data via https end-to-end? With Skyfire, I thought it was the case that your "secure" information was being transferred (securely) to the Skyfire "proxy" and passed along from their "remote browser" to your bank's website. The "secure" information returned from your bank is then decoded and rendered into Skyfire's "remote browser", then images of the rendered page are encrypted by this "remote browser" and (securely) passed along to you.

With this scheme, your information is theoretically available to Skyfire and thus vulnerable to any security breaches at Skyfire.

I thought the iPhone architecture didn't depend on a "remote browser" and instead did all the rendering on their mobile version of Safari. This means your secret information is only "available" in the browser and in your bank's server. In-between it's always kept encrypted within the SSL connection.

I won't argue that this or the iPhone or anything else is "right" or "wrong" but in general using any proxy service does reduce the security of data since it is one more party that is decrypting/caching the information. That being said, a number of companies now have "man in the middle" caching devices that can proxy the SSL connection without giving the client certificate errors. I have no idea if the data is decrypted at that point or not (I believe not) but they're out there.

As for ATT's ability to snoop your data off their network, they may or may not be, but odds are they are giving the US Government all the access they want to the bitstream.

All I can say is, the most recent release is MUCH better than the first couple releases back in January and Feb. SKY has really listened to the issues brought up and implimented updates changes and features.

All browsers like this, opera, SKYfire are going to take more time to load while they authenticate and establish the remote session. But, once in it is pretty darn snappy much more so than PIE locally. I haven't moved up to 6.1 yet, but I hear that PIE is better there. Deepfish might prove to be a better option for MSFT WM devices.

Opera 9.5 renders pages nicer, smooooother and the scrolling is better. But, I think SF is faster.

I've used SKY for broking, ebay buying and the like. Yes, data could be somewhere, but it is also usually in the air from my laptop. Albeit encrypted and VPN'd to a secure proxy server

I haven't moved up to 6.1 yet, but I hear that PIE is better there. Deepfish might prove to be a better option for MSFT WM devices.



IE under 6.1 is crap. All they did was add some basic "zoom" features which take forever to load. None of the promised flash or Silverlight stuff is in it yet.

As for Deepsfish... I think that project died or something, cause I haven't heard from them in ages. My beta still works (barely), but wasn't all that impressive.

I'm liking SkyFire on my Blackjack II. My only complaint is I like to keep my browser running in the background for quick acces and SkyFire's server authentication often times out requiring a restart. If it could re-authenticate without an entire restart of the broswer I would like it a good deal more. It has completely replaced IE except when I know a mobile version of the website works well (i.e. Delta for checking alternate flights).

The 0.8 Beta of Skyfire is now public and from a little while spent on it last night, WOW!!!!

This kicks some serious behind.

Scott, thoughts?

The 0.8 Beta of Skyfire is now public and from a little while spent on it last night, WOW!!!!

This kicks some serious behind.

Scott, thoughts?In your use so far, what was enhanced from the previous version (I'm running 0.61).

That is one I cannot answer because I was not involved woith the private beta but the press release from Mountain View is (along with other places) here:

http://tiltmobility.com/2008/09/skyfire-version-08-official-press-release/#more-2655although

I am running it on a Tilt and after so long with less than perfect graphics this is a breath of fresh air.

In your use so far, what was enhanced from the previous version (I'm running 0.61).

I tried Skyfire in the private beta on an S60 phone. My biggest pet peave is that is uses ports other than 80/443, which means you need a data plan on TMo and not just the all I you can eat web. I know most people on this forum have data plans on their phones, but with most of the apps I use on my E65 I can get by with the web plan because they either use ports 80/443 or you can change the port.

I
n your use so far, what was enhanced from the previous version (I'm running 0.61).


I think the layout is much better on the Skyfire start screen and it appears they've also fixed quite a few bugs in playing back Yahoo!, YouTube and other videos. The video quality is not as good as a high-speed Sling Mobile feed, but that's probably a limitation of the source streaming speed. And zooming is improved.

I'm using it on an AT&T Tilt.

Also worth noting--the just-released version is now open beta, so anyone can get it. There have been some registration/password issues for those who are upgrading from the 0.6 version.