Hands on with Skyfire 3.0 for Android
Skyfire just released their cool new social networking browser, and you know we had to get our hands on it. It just so happens that we have a Viewsonic gTablet at our disposal, so we figured — what better way to test out a new version of Skyfire, than on hardware that isn’t running a "phone style" version of Android. If it breaks, we need to know and let you know, and if it works, well that’s important, too. Especially with tablets due to come out of the woodwork this Friday. And having a 10 inch screen to demo it one is always a good thing.
Check out the video after the break, and you can see Skyfire in action.
Hands on with Skyfire 3.0 for Android posted originally by Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Skyfire 3.0 released — social networking browser for Android
Skyfire has announced the latest version of its cross-platform web browser — Skyfire 3.0, complete with a new SkyBar designed for social networking. You have programs like RockMelt browser and popular plugins and toolbars on your desktop computer, but Skyfire has brought the idea to Android with a "cloud powered toolbar that allows users to watch video, view related content, and easily share content with friends."
Catch the full presser after the break.
Skyfire 3.0 released — social networking browser for Android posted originally by Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Skyfire updated, in the Market now
Skyfire, an alternate browser available for multiple platforms, has updated its Android browser to 2.3.2 today with some fixes and a couple of new features. What’s fixed? Well there was a pesky bug that caused the browser to force close for some users, and they say that’s gone now. They have also enhanced their video search feature, as well as updating the UI to look better on higher resolution devices. Skyfire is the browser that brought Flash videos to Android before true Flash was an option. So if you’re a Skyfire user, hit the market and grab the update![Skyfire]
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Watch Hulu on Android? You can do it with Skyfire (but likely not for long)
So here’s the thing about watching Hulu on the Android Skyfire 2.0 browser: You can do it at the moment, but don’t count on it for long. We’ve been down this road before with Skyfire on Windows Mobile. One minute Hulu would work (with Skyfire’s servers taking care of the Flash playback), and the next minute it’d be gone. And we’ve discussed the reason for this at WMExperts: "The answer is simple: Hulu has decided to block you from watching Hulu videos in the Skyfire browser, as part of blocking all mobile access to Hulu, as well as TV access such as with Boxee and PlayStation."
Fast forward to today: Skyfire’s been playing Hulu just fine. But don’t expect it to last. Skyfire says so far as they know, Hulu hasn’t changed its mind about mobile playback yet. Spokesman Kevin Jordan told us the following:
"Sometimes Skyfire works on Hulu while Skyfire does routine updates on its servers. Typically, though, it’s intermittent before Hulu re-blocks us.
"Chances are that process is going on again. From our standpoint, we haven’t learned of Hulu intentionally allowing Skyfire to work."
So there you go. Maybe we’ll get lucky. Who knows. If you’re dying to know what Skyfire looks like on Android, check out our video after the break.
Hands on with the Skyfire 2.0 Android browser
Let’s take a quick look at the new Skyfire 2.0 browser for Android, shall we? Full page rendering? Check. Flash video? Check. Bells and whistles? Check and check. Our quick verdict: So long as you’re not worried about any privacy concerns regarding proxy browsers, this could easily become your main browser.
Skyfire 2.0 now available for Android
Here’s Skyfire’s promo video for its new Version 2.0 browser, which should be available for Android any time now. (It’s not appearing in the market, and the manual download link’s not working yet either.) Update: It’s there now. Here’s the link.
Anyhoo, check out the video above, and we’ll give Skyfire the what-for just as soon as we can. [Skyfire]
Skyfire chooses 30 beta testers from 3,000 applicants, talks up Webkit
Skyfire this afternoon shed a little light on where it’s headed in the future with Android. You’ll recall that the mobile browser company recently bought Kolbysoft — maker of the popular Steel browser for Android — and even more recently sought beta testers. Some 3,000 applications were received, and the lucky 30 testers have been notified. As for the future of Android — and Webkit, thanks to the purchase of Kolbysoft, Skyfire says:
We see Android as a fast-rising ecosystem, with a rich, totally open developer environment, a healthy app market and a healthy advertising and search ecosystem. The Android OS has a tremendous amount of interest from handset makers and carriers, and also has a strong need for making the explosion of video more network optimized (Skyfire’s wheelhouse).
The bigger picture is that Webkit based smartphone browsers are proliferating, and we are aligning in that technology direction. We see a lot of need to make these browsers better, and believe that our cloud platform can be the answer. We’re looking at other Webkit platforms beyond Android already, and will share more information when we feel it’s appropriate.
If you’re one of the lucky few how got in on the beta, congrats. We’re all looking for good stuff to come out of the Skyfire camp. [Skyfire]
Skyfire browser coming to Android
Skyfire, the popular Windows Mobile (and more recently BlackBerry) browser made famous for its proxy-based render-anything features, is working on an Android application and looking for a few good alpha testers. And when we say alpha testers, we mean not-ready-for-primetime, expect-some-bugs, alpha testing. If you want in, e-mail alpha at skyfire dot com with your name, country you live in, and what device you use. It’s a limited beta, and not everyone will get in. So good luck! [Skyfire]