The beta version of Skyfire 2.0 is now available for Android users. Get it for free from the Android Market and test it out yourself. It features full Flash video integration, a related content icon for exploring video and images from other sites based on what you’re reading plus a sharing icon for posting direct to Facebook, Twitter, email and more.
We’ve already tested this out and you can check the images here. It does the “text reflow” to keep everything readable and on one page but on the Hero it did seem to be a little clunky and lacked the multi-touch we’re used to on the in-built browser. It also crashed out on pages with mutliple YouTube videos and tended to load all the video every time you browse. However, it’s well worth checking out. Just do a search for “Skyfire” on the Market and give it a bash yourself, let us know what you think.
Click on for the demo video and press release..
Links – Skyfire Gallery – Press Release – Direct download
Skyfire Launches the First Flash Video Enabled Mobile
Browser for Android
The first ‘mobile browser for the Social Media generation’ eliminates broken links
from your Facebook stream, tracks Twitter buzz, and makes sharing easy
April 29, 2010– Skyfire, maker of the award-winning web-browser for mobile devices,
today launches Skyfire 2.0 for Android, making the mobile internet experience faster,
Flash-enabled and fun, with media recommendations and social features. Skyfire is one
of the fastest growing mobile browsers in the world, ranking in the top 10 all-time apps in
the Nokia Ovi Store and Windows Marketplace.
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.
What is the SkyBar
The SkyBar brings the best of the internet to a mobile user’s fingertips, without any
additional searching. By activating the SkyBar with a single touch, users are given
access to Flash videos on a web page that otherwise would not play, related content
recommendations, and easier sharing with their social networks.
• Video –The “Video” icon enables users to play millions of Flash videos around
the web that otherwise do not play on mobile. This unlocks content trapped
behind those error messages with question marks and blue Legos. Behind the
scenes, videos are translated into a format easier for the phone to play, like
html5 video.
• Related Content – The “Explore” icon brings the most relevant content on the
internet to a user’s fingertips based on what they are viewing at the time. The
Explore button pulls video, buzz, news, images and other sites from the web
based on what is on the current page.
• Sharing – The “Share” icon lets users share any article or video easily to their
friends on Facebook, Twitter, or by email and SMS messaging, adding a
comment, and all with a single click.
The first mobile 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.”
The Power of Cloud Computing:
Skyfire on Android uses cloud-computing technology to enable this web video; the
benefits for consumers include faster and smoother video playback, and extended
battery life by offloading more of the work to cloud servers. At the same time, since
Skyfire 2.0 is built on a webkit core, users get all the functionality they know on the
default Android browser, such as pinch to zoom, copy and paste, find text on the page,
open up to eight browser tabs, and more.
Skyfire is one of the fastest growing downloadable browsers with usage increasing
500% year over year, and currently streaming over 25 million minutes of Flash video
every month, more than any other mobile browser.
Skyfire 2.0 for Android is available for download worldwide free at bit.ly/skyfireandroid