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Showing posts with label Skyfire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skyfire. Show all posts

Skyfire for iPhone hands-on (video)

11/05/2010 11:12:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments


Although Skyfire for iPhone is almost exactly like its Android counterpart, it's still not available for download in the App Store due to server issues, so we thought you might want to see how it works. We've seen improvements on the Flash-to-HTML5 conversion servers in the past day or so, which makes watching videos a breeze. The app itself serves as a fully functional browser with the usual features you'd hope to find: bookmarking, a dedicated search bar, custom homepage, and even private browsing. Pages render rather quickly, although scrolling and pinching to zoom is a little rough around the edges. As for actually watching Flash videos, it couldn't be easier -- once you've navigated to a page embedded with a video, a popup window will appear and you're good to go. Sadly, though, the browser lacks the ability to scrub videos. But hey, if you've been waiting three-plus years to play flash videos on your 3.5-inch display, Skyfire might (or might not) be the solution to your burning desire. Be sure to check out the browser in action after the break!

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Skyfire disappears from iTunes App Store due to technical difficulties

11/04/2010 10:57:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , , , 0 Comments


Trying to get a copy of the Skyfire browser for your iOS device? You may not have much luck, as the pseudo-Flash-capable browser has just disappeared from iTunes App Stores around the globe, mere hours after its splashy debut. When we try to download it for ourselves in the United States we get the message immediately above, and RazorianFly readers are chiming in with reports that the app is no longer available in Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Spain and the UK.

We just pinged Skyfire for comment and they say it's not Apple's fault; demand for a Flash video workaround is apparently so high that the company's having server issues and decided to pull the app rather than introduce new users to a sub-par experience. Skyfire assures us that it's adding servers as quickly as it can, but didn't provide an ETA on when we might see the app once more.

Update: While we're not sure how an digital app can be "sold out," that's exactly what the company says happened to its $2.99 browser today -- after quickly becoming the top grossing app in the iTunes App Store, Skyfire is "temporarily not accepting new purchases" and says it will issue Facebook and Twitter status updates when the next batch of licenses is available. In other words, Skyfire's throttling the flow of purchases from now on.

Skyfire for iPhone makes Flash video iOS-friendly

11/03/2010 01:55:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Skyfire‘s browser is coming to the iPhone, and it’s bringing its rendition of Flash playback with it. As you might remember from the Android version launch, Skyfire converts Flash video in realtime on itsown servers, and replaces it with an iOS friendly HTML5 version. That’s apparently been enough to convince Apple’s App Store guardians to approve the app, according to CNNMoney, with Skyfire expected to show up in the download store for $2.99 on Thursday at 9am EST.

Skyfire’s system does have its limitations, however. Games and other interactive Flash widgets aren’t supported, since the two-way communication they require doesn’t work with the company’s HTML5 recoding, and Hulu also won’t work.

Apple apparently took around two months to approve Skyfire, and is not responding to requests for comments about the app. Still, we imagine they’re quietly pleased that HTML5 is further proving its worth in this way.

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SkyFire for iPhone To Be Submitted To Apple Next Week?

8/25/2010 02:17:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , , 0 Comments

SkyFire. Heard of it? It’s the smartphone browser that was chewing through Flash video and other rich media long before any of the built-in browsers were supporting such things — and on a number of platforms, it’s still the only option.

We’ve known that SkyFire Labs was crackin’ away at an iPhone port for some time now — the company confirmed it after Opera got a surprise App Store thumbs up. But when would it be done? More importantly, when would it be submitted for that oh-so-important stamp of approval?

Soon, say our sources.

It’s by no means official just yet, but a pair of much-trusted little birdies have just informed me that SkyFire has just entered the final testing phase of what they intend to be the first public iPhone build, with plans to submit to Apple early next week.

SkyFire, of course, wouldn’t confirm or deny these details on the record — there’s still room for last minute bugs to jam a wrench in the gears over the weekend. But until we hear otherwise, expect SkyFire to announce their App Store submission shortly after the weekend.

Skyfire 2.0 beta for Android video preview!

4/30/2010 12:56:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments


We just spent a few minutes playing with the beta version of Skyfire 2.0 for Android that was released today, and we'll cut to the chase: this is easily the best browser we've used on the platform. Clearly we'll need to spend more time with it to make sure it can handle all the typical sites you'd want to visit while you're on the road -- but loading the desktop version of Engadget is always a great barometer for this sort of thing, and this browser rocked it. Rendering is about as reasonably fast as you can expect it to be (on our Snapdragon-powered Nexus One, anyhow), and everything we saw displayed spot-on perfect (save for embedded Flash, of course), but if you're in a situation where you don't need to see the full page or it looks screwy, you can toggle it to send an Android user agent right from the app's toolbar below the URL field. It works just about as well as Steel and the built-in browser on a G1 we tested, and Flash videos work just fine there as well.

The browser touts compatibility with Flash videos, too, so we headed over to YouTube to try our hand at it; it immediately detected the presence of a video and popped up the so-called "SkyBar" at the bottom of the screen, where you can press the Video button to load the video in a new window. It doesn't work embedded in the page, but considering how small your phone's screen is, that's really for the best -- you get the full-screen experience, and in our testing, it looked fantastic. One downside is that you don't seem to be able to scrub videos while they're playing, but maybe this is something these guys can get patched up for the final release. Follow the break for our full video!

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Skyfire 2.0 now ready to set Android ablaze

4/30/2010 12:36:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments


We've been seeing mobile browsers steadily raising their game lately, so it was inevitable that Skyfire would look to shock and awe us with its first release for the Android platform. Version 2.0 introduces a brand new SkyBar -- which ironically sits at the bottom of the screen -- providing users with a trifecta of new features. Firstly, the Video link serves as a workaround for those pesky "your phone ain't got no Flash" missives by doing server-side conversions of Flash video into universally comprehensible formats like HTML5. If implemented well, this should be a major coup for the company, particularly in light of a potential iPhone release as well. There's also a streamlined sharing feature for social networks, and an Explore function that suggests internet content on the basis of what's currently on display. We'll be testing out the usefulness of these shortly -- for now, hit the source link to get your own Skyfire going.

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