Skyfire 2.0 beta now ready to set Android ablaze

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.

Update: Check out our hands-on preview of the new browser right here. Hint: it's pretty awesome.

Skyfire 2.0 now ready to set Android ablaze

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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

Mountain View, CA – 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 SkyBarTM?

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 worldwide.

Skyfire 2.0 for Android is available for download worldwide free at bit.ly/skyfireandroid

About Skyfire

Skyfire is the creator of the Skyfire mobile browser, and has a mission to enable the "full internet" including rich media on mobile phones. The browser won the Best Mobile Application-People's Voice at the 2009 Webby Awards and was named a Top App of 2009 by the New York Times' Gadgetwise. Skyfire is based in Mountain View, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. For more information, visit www.skyfire.com, or follow Skyfire on Twitter at twitter.com/skyfire.

[who said what Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:04PM]

A drink for me from the SkyBar please!

[Evan Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:13PM]

For those who are wondering:
Hulu-fails
Megavideo-Works great! (Screw your commercials, I'm going to watch my tv on megavideo)

[joshyth1012 Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:16PM]

@Evan hehe....if megavideo work, what about mega**** ^_^

[Evan Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:17PM]

@joshyth1012

obviously :P

[skyblaze Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:20PM]

@who said what

freaking love the title of this article for SO many obvious reasons...

this is win. downloading now.

[Evan Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:28PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BWG0W8Ecgs

[Beatnik Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:53PM]

@who said what
Thanks Engadget and Skyfire, now I am surfing all internet, AND WATCHIN ALL VIDEOS on my Nexus One.
"If you cant have a perfect web experience, THEY BLEW IT"
Andy Rubin from Google

[troy polamalu Posted Apr 29th 2010 1:10PM]

@who said what

DROID Does.

[logicbombde Posted Apr 29th 2010 1:24PM]

@skyblaze

HEH!

Thought of you when I read the headline

[s73v3r Posted Apr 29th 2010 3:01PM]

@Evan I believe Hulu is actively blocking Skyfire. I remember hearing from someone who used it on a WinMobile device that they were able to watch Hulu for a while, then it suddenly broke on him.

[victor Posted Apr 29th 2010 3:30PM]

@s73v3r The full page rendering on skyfire on an AT&T N1 is pretty good.

[mooremic Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:04PM]

Interesting... I am defiantly going to try this out.

[who said what Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:05PM]

@mooremic

Kudos to your bravery!

[Timmmmmm Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:24PM]

@mooremic Why does it need permission to see my phone number? Grrr... Android permissions would be a whole lot better if you could still install apps but give them fake details. E.g. you could do the following:

Phone number, IMEI etc: Fake values
Location: Random or fake
Internet access: Pretend we are in a tunnel.
Contact details: Use sandbox contact list.
SD card access: Ignore writes, pretend it is empty.

and so on...

[Plazmic Flame Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:58PM]

@Timmmmmm

SkyNet is built on user data...comply or be processed.

[Robbzilla Posted Apr 29th 2010 1:12PM]

@Timmmmmm Make an app!

[DirtyVegas Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:04PM]

Cool!

[ViperVin Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:05PM]

Allowing me to watch redtube since 2008, +1 for Skyfire.

[traceroute Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:07PM]

I used to use Skyfire, way back when, on my MotoQ. I never really liked it. It was always a clumsy app. It never felt like it was part of the phone.

[bjsguess Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:13PM]

@traceroute

Couldn't disagree more. Skyfire on WinMo has been great.

[djt Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:21PM]

@traceroute I mean, its probably evolved a lot since you were running it on your WM5.0 Moto Q

[traceroute Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:26PM]

@bjsguess

That's understandable bjsguess. That's what's great about technology. There's usually a flavor for everyone. I used Skyfire back in it's Beta days, when you have to get on an email list to download it and through it's first few releases. It just never felt integrated to me or like it was part of the phone. I hated the tabbing feature and that damned checkered image when you went past page length. This is going back to like 2007 I think. I always like Opera mini back then for Winmo 5.0. I hated that I had to load Jbed with it, but I always liked it better than Skyfire. Pocket IE was always just bland. What I did like about Skyfire though was I could watch Justin.tv or Blogtv.com on it, which back then was a treat, but with the older processors, nothing ever rendered correctly and bandwidth stunk. Thnigs have changed fast in the mobile market. Seems like a lifetime ago, but it's only been a few short years.

[traceroute Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:27PM]

@djt

lol yes djt. i was just taking a trip down memory lane lol

[vman81 Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:08PM]

Nice, preloaded with Engadget.com bookmark..

[cloud858rk Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:09PM]

Making flash videos playable without flash, that's a major advantage over all other browsers.

[jocantonio Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:11PM]

Nice. Thats the next generation of browsers. Lets wait to Firefox then... =D. Also, nice playing flash videos with that plugin.

[gltovar Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:12PM]

nice it has pinch to zoom, even though its a little slow.

When i had skyfire on my nokia, i remember it used to render flash object and send update frames to the skyfire client viewer (so you could interact with flash stuff, though it wasn't something you wanted to really to since its like using remote computer stuff like VNC or logmein)

Did they remove that in the latest skyfire builds?

[colbyp Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:12PM]

Take notes Steve......

Sent from my DROID

[jocantonio Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:18PM]

@colbyp

hahahahaha


Sent from my BlackBerrry

[TikiTeko Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:51PM]

@colbyp darn it...

Sent from my iPhone

[skyblaze Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:59PM]

@colbyp

SHIELD YOUR HOME, THE SLOMAN SHIELD

Sent from my c-c-c-combo breaker

[Scape3d Posted Apr 29th 2010 1:08PM]

@colbyp

BAM!

Sent from my Palm Pre.

[Stereotype Posted Apr 29th 2010 1:56PM]

@colbyp

Win!

-Sent from my HPalm Pre

[nwhat Posted Apr 29th 2010 6:04PM]

@Stereotype
Excellent,,

Sent from my bathroom

[juanvaldez Posted Apr 29th 2010 8:45PM]

@TikiTeko loudest laugh I've had from an Engadget comment in a looooong time. +2

[ChazClout Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:13PM]

Grabbing it now. Thanks Engadget. :-*

[DoctarPeppar Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:14PM]

Awesome...iPad version plz? :D

[viditbhargava Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:15PM]

Awesome...downloading on Nexus One now :-)

[dswatson83 Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:16PM]

So if they get an ipad version out...the ipad will technically render flash, even though there is no flash player on the phone since its not being done locally correct? (assuming apple allows it). I'd buy me an ipad if this becomes available

[ALBGunner04 Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:17PM]

Glad it's finally in Android. I've been enjoying Skyfire for a while on my Nokia phone. Yesterday, I wasn't at home, and had no way of watching the Champion's League game between Inter and Barcelona, so I opened Skyfire and was streaming the game online. Best browser.

[Hotrod Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:23PM]

It's a nice browser and definitely has potential to replace the stock android browser for me. I wish there was an option to increase font size like the stock browser though; I read most blogs in portrait and in skyfire the text is pretty small. Same with Fennec.

[Edobe Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:25PM]

After using this for a few minutes I am very impressed. It seems to load full Web pages, images and all, faster then opera mini 5 (my current default browser). Still the lack of any sort of syncing with a desktop browser is a disadvantage of sorts. Great browser though.

[DreamSTi Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:28PM]

The browser on the Incredible is better, and it renders flash much better.

[farsideoff Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:28PM]

Just watched a vimeo video on my samsung moment thanks to this. God I love Android.

[Marc11218 Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:31PM]

How do I download to my phone?

Nexus One

[dii15 Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:44PM]

@Marc11218

http://get.skyfire.com/dl_android.php

[Steve B Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:53PM]

@Marc11218
It's also in the Market...

[Marc11218 Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:54PM]

@dii15

Found on Marketplace. Thanks

[Beaner Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:31PM]

Installed it and uninstalled it. Just wasn't happy with the tos, specifically that they monitoring my browsing so they can serve up tailored ads.

[stabbytheicepic Posted Apr 29th 2010 12:53PM]

@Beaner QQ