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Hands on with Skyfire, the 'rich media' (i.e. Flash video) Android Web browser
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.
Understandably, with every Web request going through their servers, ad-funded Skyfire 1 was financially untenable . With 2.0, Skyfire now only uses the cloud for video playback, and presumably Skyfire can now continue to operate on ad revenue alone.
Let's not forget that Skyfire has lost a little of its niche now that Flash 10.1 is available on Android 2.2 phones. But, as I made clear earlier, Skyfire is a strong browser even without its video support -- and with Skyfire 2.2, you can see that video playback is but a small part of Skyfire's feature list! With Android 2.2 only representing a tiny (3%!) portion of the market, and a lot of phones unable to run Android 2.2, I don't think Skyfire will lose its appeal any time soon.
Still, Skyfire isn't without its flaws, especially when it comes to video watching. I couldn't get Engadget or Dailymotion videos to play on my Android 1.6 phone -- and seemingly, if a video hasn't already been transcoded by Skyfire's cloud services, you do have to wait a while for it to load. Sometimes the screen goes white for no reason at all, but simply flicking your finger across the screen fixes it.
If you have an Android phone, there's no reason not to install Skyfire. For all intents and purposes it's better than any other option out there. It's free (but not open-source), and apparently so popular that OEMs and operators are now looking to bundle Skyfire with new phones. Maybe, in hindsight, those 500,000 downloads actually represent 500,000 very happy users...
Skyfire Tech Specs
- Installed Size -- 2.5MB, the browser caches almost everything, so the more free space the better!
- Speed & Responsiveness -- Excellent, but understandably a little laggy when displaying non-mobile versions of websites (Android 1.6 @ 600MHz, LG GT 540 Swift)
- User Interface -- Things certainly get a little cramped when all of the navigation bars are displayed (see screenshot above), but otherwise it's intuitive enough
- Configurability & Extensibility -- Configurability is great (see screenshot above), but because this is a closed-source application, there isn't much in the way of add-ons or hacks
- License -- Free, closed-source, supported by ads (very few of them though!)
Comments
9
Subscribe to commentsDefPo3tJul 18th 2010 6:51PM
The Htc web browser with the flash for 2.1 apk thats on the web is hands down the best web browsing on android and all flash videos work
UnknownJul 18th 2010 8:06PM
Is this browser you speak of available for non-rooted phones?
Sebastian AnthonyJul 19th 2010 6:24AM
Yeah, I was going to ask the same thing :)
Rob WalleyJul 18th 2010 10:17PM
Runs astoundingly well on my Moto Droid (firm 2.1). Video playback is smooth and loads quickly. My current browser of choice!
Sebastian AnthonyJul 19th 2010 6:25AM
Hooray!
Level 5Jul 19th 2010 8:01AM
Even though I'm running Froyo 2.2 and I have the Adobe Plugin, Skyfire makes a good alternative. The issue with the Flash Plugin is that not everything goes to fullscreen neatly in the stock browser. I feel like Skyfire really nailed the way it's handled. Everything goes into a fullscreen window with stock Skyfire controls. Granted, I just use pinch-zoom to size the video content flawlessly, but this might not be a neat solution for everyone. Definitely check Skyfire out, even if you have 2.2/Flash.
AJPJul 19th 2010 8:11AM
Like all things in life YMMV. I began using Skyfire on my WinMo phone when they were still in beta testing before the initial official release and found it to be an excellent browser. I was able to participate in a Russian vlog site that I have friends at other than being able to type in Russian.
I gave up in WinMo and moved to Android (not going back to WinMo). I am now able to type in Russian with a keyboard plug-in. However, as the Russian Vlog site is rich in Flash implimentation, even Skyfire has been unable to show any broadcasts. So, until a Froyo phone comes my way, I am stuck using a Aircard and netbook for that one site. Otherwise, I still love and have Skyfire set as my default browser on my Android phone (Samsung Moment w/ 2.1).
AJPJul 19th 2010 8:11AM
Like all things in life YMMV. I began using Skyfire on my WinMo phone when they were still in beta testing before the initial official release and found it to be an excellent browser. I was able to participate in a Russian vlog site that I have friends at other than being able to type in Russian.
I gave up in WinMo and moved to Android (not going back to WinMo). I am now able to type in Russian with a keyboard plug-in. However, as the Russian Vlog site is rich in Flash implimentation, even Skyfire has been unable to show any broadcasts. So, until a Froyo phone comes my way, I am stuck using a Aircard and netbook for that one site. Otherwise, I still love and have Skyfire set as my default browser on my Android phone (Samsung Moment w/ 2.1).
James MJul 19th 2010 2:29PM
Although it doesn't have Flash support, the Dolphin browser works wonders for me. It has many features that I like including tabs and being able to subscribe to RSS feeds through Google Reader. I find I don't really miss Flash, but I'm not surfing to a lot of Flash intensive sites either.