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Skyfire.com shows the HTC Kaiser as a device browsing with the new skyfire browser...allowing imbedded flash and video! (on the product page)
I find it hard to believe that the kaiser could graphically handle this. Anyone else? I really hope so though, looks like the best browser hands down!!!
It's probably a thin client browser, hence the 100% compatabilty, and full site rendering as opposed to a "mobile" version.
Stolen from Engadet Readers' Comments on SkyFire.....
"I believe (and this is pure guess-work) that this program is working like the PSP-PS3 browser, ie. that the browser is actually running remotely and that the Phone is more a VNC interface, otherwise I can't figure out how it could do so much, also that would explain the long privacy disclaimer. I (unfortunately) can't believe that such a browser could be built ground-up natively on the WM platform, when even Safari, Opera, Minimo haven't been able to include such functionality. Again, this is how you get Flash support on the PSP's optimized browser, so it makes sense imho."
The disclaimer, if you hadn't read it explains that every site is logged, which would make sense - as it's their server actually browsing the web -Great idea, looking forward to a UK beta.
This is what I've heard - everything is rendered and compressed by their servers, and the "browser" just displays content they've produced, complete with their own inserted advertising. Naturally they'll sell off your browsing history too.
It's not quite the solution I'm hoping for. There's no good reason why PIE can't be improved by MS, or a proper Safari based browser can't be developed for Windows Mobile.
Hmm...sort of perfecting the Opera Mini idea.
cool, because I really enjoy opera mini. I can't see how streaming youtube will be usable though with this idea...
I dont know how its usable either but it works, :: shrug:: I dont bog myself down with the technical details,
Got this e-mail from Skyfire, tested it and yes...it's true sometimes even better than the benchmarks but never worse...
In a recent review by Laptop Magazine, Skyfire was put to the test against Opera 9.5.1 and the new 3G iPhone. Skyfire raced ahead of its competitors with download speeds that far surpass our competitors. (Source: Laptop Mag)
NYT.com
Skyfire Beta: 6 (sec)
Opera 9.5.1 Beta: 60 (sec)
Safari: 29 (sec)
I'm not sure what you're talking about. Things have varied for me when I tried skyfire against PIE. Both seemed to load about the same, yes skyfire was easier to move around in but skyfire failed serveral time to be useful.
I wasn't able to open links or download files that PIE would with no problem.
I don't mean youtube stuff, I'm talking about opening email from aim.com (just like hotmail.com) and downloading any file at all.
skyfire for me = fail
My browser needs to do it all, if it's slow thats ok but it can't lead me somewhere and then not complete what I need. If I surf for something for 20 minutes and then I can't open a link I get pretty pissed off. PIE can do it.
Also I couldn't copy the URL I was at. I don't think
the initial page may come up faster, but skyfire only initially loads up an overview of the page. it still needs to load the individual parts as you zoom in on them. so those results are very misleading....
for me it's annoying...i'd rather wait a bit more on initial page load (opera 9.5/safari) than waiting every time you scroll around inside the page (skyfire).
for me the fastest is opera mini.
I'm a skyfire fan, but I imagine things would speed up if everything wasn't passed through their servers first....I guess it has to be though
yeah i does load quickly and have embedded flash, but zooming is more combersome compared to opera mini, and when you look around when zoomed in the page has to load even more.
opera: fast but no flash
PIE: slower but plays mobile youtube
skyfire: embedded flash but cumbersome zoom.
take your pick. however skyfire is currently in beta testing, the zoom loading could be a problem they're working on for final product
Anyway to turn off the zoomed-out mode on ALL pages?
It makes mobile-friendly pages unusable, and SkyFire unusable. I don't have a 800x600 screen so I really wish it wouldn't assume all HTML-compliant (meaning content will auto-flow) pages such as Google Reader Mobile loaded as such.
MineralGray02K said:
I imagine things would speed up if everything wasn't passed through their servers first....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's actually the opposite. Their servers have fast access, will recompress the page data and pre-render them, just like with opera mini. That's what speeds up the whole process so much. a 1MB page will be recompressed by the servers to a few dozen kBs, speeding up not only the download but also saving a lot of time the small processor of the PPC would need to render that amount of data.
That's why it's faster than the others, which have to deal with it all. It just can't be compared. And to me a browser that requires the availability of a 3rd party server isn't really a browser.
If only it had text wrap like opera mobile/mini.
kilrah i have to disagree.
opera mini may take slightly longer to load a full page but it renders the whole page, which means zooming, any where fast. in the long run its faster than skyfire beta browsing wise (for now)
All i can tell you is i can do the streaming tv on skyfire and that makes me happy.
I hope they add the "touch flo" like feature to Skyfire. It really is cumbersome to scroll around the page without it. Perhaps, though, it is not possible because skyfire doesn't preload the pages.
Just my thinking.
Having tried opera mini 4.1, opera 9.5 beta, and skyfire beta 1...first of all, O mini is like the kindergarten browser version of opera 9.5 so it's almost not even worth mentioning unless you're looking for the simplest of pics n text browsing. Opera 9.5 is the most fluid, responsive, intuitive, and easy to navigate browser. Then you boot up skyfire; supports every online video and audio codecs, from youtube, redtube, comedy central, fm radio streaming; any websight imaginable; even apple web trailers stream flawlessly. As much as I dig Opera's interface, getting the "this device does not support flash 8", is simply not an obstacle for skyfire, and does something not even the "delivering the real internet" Iphone can do. Hopefully, opera will soon follow suit
I tried Skyfire on my Kaiser, BlackJack II, and Dash. I already stopped using it on all three. I browse mainly mobile friendly sites with my phones so I didn't gain much. But I missed the tabbed browsing which I would have expected from the "greatest browser ever" comments I kept seeing.
I'm a huge fan of Opera Mini and keeping an eye on Torch Mobile's IrisBrowser. If they can make Iris work as smooth as the iPhone's browser, it will be a winner. OperaMobile still seems buggy...
Until then, I'm back to PocketIE and Opera Mini.
-Mc
looks like PocketIE PWNZ!!!
Opera 9.5 + Flash 3.1 = FTW
Hey folks,
i got 2 questions for my tytn2.
1. Which is the best internetbrowser at the moment to use? Most stable and fastest? And why?
2. is it possible to hack/tweak the resolution of for example mediaplayer? If i run youtube movies or whatsoever the resolution is just crap, also in fullscreen mode. What is the best tweak to get much better resolution?
Thanks in advance!
(using hypdragon 3 rom=wm6.1)
Answers
1. Skyfire It's stable and it's fast because they cache pages on thier server so you don't have to download all that crap.
2. Not that I know of so just use Skyfire. It plays videos right on the webpages so there is no need for a sperate app like the youtube player.
PS I do not work for Skyfire, it's just the best browser that I've used.
As far as mobile web browsers go, I find that Opera mobille 9.5 is the best for speed and options. But if your going to be visiting sites that have embedded video and such, then Skyfire is hands down the best. Skyfire is definitely the browser to use if you want a desktop experience. But I find myself using Opera more often since you can open multiple tabs, use bookmarks, and you can download files/long press on pictures and then save them. I also think Opera loads pages a tad bit faster and I like how when you flick and scroll it will continue to scroll and come to a gradual stop (like when you flick through icontact).
Now about the whole image quality of movies I have read several threads suggesting ways on how to improve movie quality, but when you boil it down, nothing will make a huge difference cuz our screen resolution is only 240x320 at only 65,000 colors. So no matter what software you install, its not gonna give you more pixels. If you want to watch high quality movies on your phone then iPhone would be your best bet at 320x480 with 16 million colors.
Ok, thanks for answers.
seems i might install latest skyfire browser..
is there any thread about skyfire and latest versions?
are people using other browsers with excellent performance?
i guess internet explorer is just standard crap then..
about my second question, the movie quality in for example youtube, im pretty disappointed about my device then (compared to iphone, ofcorz kaiser can do a lot more then iphone, but just this aspect then).
i get that u cant get the resolution better, its just a ''phone-handicap', but im surprised there are no tweaks/drivers for it as well..
maybe other ppl still have solutions?
I like Skyfire ( I have Beta version 0.85.0.7927), but I HATE the small view EACH page. Once I set it to the size, I prefer it to STAY there! Too much having to manipulate each page so that I can READ the thing!
Next, I notice that Skyfire is able to bring up images that IE and Opera cannot. I log into an online study website for my securities license. With IE and Opera, I cannot view the study material, but with Skyfire I CAN. BUT... It's too small! And I have to resize it for EVERY study question.
Does anyone know what it is in Skyfire that allows me to view things that IE and Opera don't? And... is there ANOTHER browser that can do that? (In Opera, I have the JAVA SCRIPT enabled) but it's not indicative of my not being able to view the study site.
Thanks for the help everyone...
I use multiple browsers depending on what I need.
I use Opera Mini most of the time because it is blazing fast. In my experience, it smokes skyfire and Opera Mobile in pure speed, and it does a decent job rendering the page. However, it is pretty bare bones - no tabs, no java, etc. But it gets the job done if you just want to read the news or look at a website.
The rest of the time I go back and forth between skyfire and opera mobile. Skyfire is pretty quick, and it is a full on browser. You can even watch videos on hulu - they are pretty rough, but they are viewable. I think Opera has a better user experience, but it is not as fast.
i did some testing on the browsers skyfire and opera mobile just to see which browser has the faster loading speed. here are the results:
to google.com
opera
-loading time
4.28 seconds
-zoom (to clarity or read ability)
1.91 seconds
skyfire
-loading time
1.99 seconds
-zoom
less than 1.00 second (couldn't hit the stop watch button fast enough)
to forum.xda-developers.com
opera
-loading time
1 minute 15.90 seconds
-zoom
2.66 seconds
skyfire
-loading time
20.37 seconds
-zoom
2.69 seconds
i have noticed that on a slower network opera dose give a better experience in zooming but skyfire still takes the cake in loading times. all of these tests were done with the phone in the exact same place it was not touched by any person or object at any point during testing to ensure no outside forces influencing a certain outcome. if you have any questions just post them on the forum
akawings said:
i have noticed that on a slower network opera dose give a better experience in zooming but skyfire still takes the cake in loading times
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Click to collapse
I don't get why people compare loading times between Skyfire and Opera Mobile. and are shocked that Skyfire is always faster. Skyfire uses server side rendering so it's always going to load the webpages faster then Opera Mobile which does not use any type of server side rendering (that could change though)
@akawings
You should also compare display quality, Opera is rendering webpages in full 640x480 while skyfire only in 320x240 (becouse of server side rendering).
Since the usability/configuration of Opera is 5x as developed as Skyfire why not use both? I only use Skyfire when I cant get my sports picks in or want to play some flash games..
norkoastal said:
Since the usability/configuration of Opera is 5x as developed as Skyfire why not use both? I only use Skyfire when I cant get my sports picks in or want to play some flash games..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's pretty much what I do, I use Opera Mobile (or Mini) for most of my browsing, if I want to watch some flash video, like hulu, I use Skyfire.
I wish the skyfire provided the real vga instead of blown up 320.240.
Now that Iris is relatively stable (Latest release hasn't crashed/locked on me yet) why not take a peek at that?
In my opinion, it's the best one out there. Sure, SkyFire has its uses with the off-machine rendering (like flash heavy sites) but, really, Iris is top-notch. It will be interesting to see if Fennec is close.
ekruse said:
Now that Iris is relatively stable (Latest release hasn't crashed/locked on me yet) why not take a peek at that?
In my opinion, it's the best one out there. Sure, SkyFire has its uses with the off-machine rendering (like flash heavy sites) but, really, Iris is top-notch. It will be interesting to see if Fennec is close.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been quite impressed with Iris so far, web kit was made for mobile devices IMO. The only thing I wish they would work on is the overall UI is a bit akward, but they probably wanted to get the rendering issues fixed first then work on the UI.
why compare both browsers?
opera better for general nav and skyfire mainly for flash.
opera can't play some flash video players like skyfire's yet
Title pretty much says it all. I know a lot of you guys talk good about Opera, but the latest download on their website says that it does not support flash, and that is pretty much the reason why I want to use something other than mobile IE that came with the phone from HTC.
iris or skyfire, opera has flash but it crashes mostly
So which out of those two is best and/or easiest to use?
EVOIXGSR said:
So which out of those two is best and/or easiest to use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i say skyfire, it handles every detail of the web practically flawlessly, but iris is sharper in rendering
but for your needs, skyfire
Skyfire gets my vote - it has been able to render everything I've tried.
Thanks mike
There's also minimo which is Mozilla Firefox, I use that. My suggestion is try them all out and see which one fits your needs the best. There's cab files for all of them floating around, just use the search.
cheetoh said:
Skyfire gets my vote - it has been able to render everything I've tried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
co-sign....same here.
the only thing i hate about skyfire is that god awful text resizing, it really makes the page look horrible with bigger text while the rest looks small, is there a way to fix that?
I use Skyfire for most of my browsing, and I don't run into issues with sites loading up in mobile format like Opera Mobile does. As well, I can go to my bank's website with Skyfire and veiw my account just fine, Opea does not work.
I have tried Iris, and it is pretty cool, but it doesn't really do anything for me that Skyfire doesn't already do. Skyfire also has amazing flash support, test it out and check out Youtube with it... there is some delay issues and what not, but once it gets going it is awesome! My delay issues could be the fact I am on EDGE. I have yet to test it on WiFi to see if it does anything to help that out, as if just crossed my mind.
Skyfire gets my vote although when Im in a hurry and need to look something up, I wuse Opera only because it loads faster for some reason - other than that... Skyfire for browsing....
For flash, Skyfire is superior, no question. However, it has no text reflow, which is the dealbreaker for me. For flash, I use Skyfire, for everything else, Opera Mini 4.1 and Mobile 9.5. As for Iris, it's alright, but still somewhat unpolished and it needs a little work. However, it passes the ACID3 test, and renders things quite well.
Dave
I feel like using skyfire kills my battery really fast, does anyone else have that? Or maybe i'm just trippinn.
I get that with Skyfire too. I don't think it is any worse than Opera Mobile if you are not scrolling much, but if you are scrolling a lot, then it seems to eat a little more, and if you are youtubing it drains it fast!
I still prefer Skyfire for the majority of my browsing. I use Opera for forums because of the wrap around, but it is too sensative to the double tap zoom in and out.
i know a lot of people will tell u opera, but I found skyfire to be just the thing I needed! soo blazing fast, nice look and feel, zoom in and out much like opera, very finger friendly..hands down best mobile browser
skyfire hands down!
Im using Skyfire now since I wanted a browser that supports Flash but Im having some issues with the audio. I can see the video beautifully but it has no audio. Ive tryed different vids on youtube and I cant hear single one. Any one have a suggestions.
I have had success with Skyfire playing both Audio and Video without any real issues when my phone wasn't muted. If Audio & Video is important to you, I would vote Skyfire, but Opera is my overall preference for other sites.
Jason
ripinfamous, do you have the latest version? One of the .8x builds of it gave me the same issue, but the newer .9x versons work fine again. If you do, just wait for the next version to be released.
Dave
In my mind there is no perfect browser. The perfect browser would have Skyfire's functionality for flash, Iris's animations and touch response, and Opera Mobile's UI. Iris needs Opera's text wrap. Perhaps Opera Mobile 9.7 when it comes out my work out better. I use Opera Mobile and Skyfire.