Skyfire browser released in limited beta
By Ryan Block 
posted Feb 9th 2008 12:16AM
posted Feb 9th 2008 12:16AM
Lots of happy Windows Mobile users pinging the old Engadget tip jar tonight as the Skyfire seeds its first beta release of the browser. It's v0.5, and while we didn't get our download today, we'll be keeping a close eye on this one. --snip--
Skyfire: Beta Download now available!
Thanks for signing up for the Skyfire private beta. Today, you will receive an SMS message on the mobile phone number you gave us during the beta sign up. There will be a link in the SMS message to click. That verifies your registration and a follow up SMS provides the download to Skyfire. The download and installation is just a couple of clicks and a few minutes.
During the installation, you'll create a Skyfire account. Please use this account to access all of the support and help available on our website.
If you don't receive our SMS – don't worry, you probably didn't enter a US mobile phone number during sign-up. We'll be notified that you didn't receive our SMS and we will follow up with you via email. In the email, we will ask you to update your mobile phone number so we can resend you the SMS.
As a reminder, currently our private beta is running on Windows Mobile phones in the US. If you use a different phone, or live outside the U.S., we'll keep you posted on our progress and let you know as soon as your phone is supported.
We are very excited to give you this 0.5 beta release of Skyfire. We're anxious to get your insights, so please give us lots of feedback. With your help, we'll march to a stellar 1.0 product.
Please don't forget to tell your friends about Skyfire. To stay up to date about what's happening here, you can read our blog.
Thanks,
The Skyfire Team
--snip--
Woo. I got the email and a SMS from them, but the browser is slowwww
Got my email today, no sms yet.
--James
Works pretty well!! I logged onto www.lucasarts.com it showed the flash movies without a problem on my Blackjack. Haven't spent too much more time on it yet though.
I got mine today. My experience is that it is super fast and is the first time I've enjoyed browsing on my Mogul. I have had a few connectivity issues with the Skyfire server which results in the app closing but that is to be expected for a beta product. This thing has huge potential and will likely revolutionize WM browsing. Embedded video is awesome and web pages look like they are supposed to. Unlike the first poster here I find it extremely fast but I have rev A enabled with the new roms and have pretty good signal where I am testing. We'll see how it is in regular use over the next week or so. I haven't been able to fill in forms from intranet pages on my corporate server that don't have web based login pages such as sharepoint or OWA servers. Not sure what the issue is with that yet. Otherwise, awesome!!
Well for some reason I haven't gotten my text message yet... Guess I'll be getting one in the next few days. I can't wait; I am so fed up with doing anything in general on my treo 700; let alone just browsing...
Boo. I haven't gotten the e-mail yet.
I signed up on the skyfire site almost a month ago and i have recieved nothing. i tried signing up again, and it says my phone is already registered. Is there anyway i can get them to resend a SMS incase i missed the first or something? i live in the US and i have a MotoQ. thanks in advance
Got the SMS and App today. Browsing is real quick on ATT Tilt pages load uber fast (on 3G, Wi-Fi) but embedded videos are real slow (1-5 FPS) maybe the phone is too slow or might be because it's still beta. But I am looking forward to future updates to the app.
I signed up the first day, and I still haven't received an sms or email and I live in the U.S....Would it be possible for anyone to upload the .cab file for a WM6 Blackjack?
Go to espnzone.com to really see what it can do! This is already the best mobile browser I've ever used.
Flash videos work perfectly for me on my Blackjack.
Got the email last night about 6:32 pm CST... still no SMS.... has anyone tried it on the touch?
Got mine yesterday... page loads fast, can view any page, videos a little slow but sound is good, it even pulled up my flash myspace page... I am in love.
No email to me yet. Using a Sprint moto Q. Looks like they released beta for blackjack smartphones, should also work on Q since its the same software, WM5. Anyone get beta sms for Q or equivalent yet?
mogul user here eagerly awaiting his beta code. droooooool
I just loaded it up in my Sprint Q... works great. I can see how a touchscreen would be awesome, but they have done a good job to accommodate the touch-less! Flash/ streaming video works very good...overall it is pretty solid. I had tried that MS debacle Bluefish or whatever it was, this IS what Bluefish was suppose to be.
Either I can't see or the Skyfire people are overloaded with requests and decided to get clever. If you try to sign up, the United States is not on the list of countries to reside in and guess what sole country is supported at this time...
Got mine the other day. I'm running it on the Verizon xv 6800 and it's wonderful. I also just got the new Access mobile browser beta, and I have to say, I much prefer skyfire. Skyfire is really quick over ev-do (no Rev. A yet) and pages look really good zoomed out. Video playback is generally good, if a little inconsistent. Framerate is sometimes wonderful at perhaps 12-15 fps, but sometimes drops to 1fps or even less. I haven't really found a correlation between the framerate and the page or type of media, so I'll chalk it up to network issues.
Regardless, for a beta product, this browser is fantastic. My only 2 requests are a screen tap shortcut to zoom back out and a way to resize the "zoom box" so you could access intermediary levels of zoom between the whole page and the full zoom (you can do this with the plus/minus tool from the top right, but that's a clunky and slow way of doing it).
arg i haven't gotten my email yet. come on guys i wanna try it on my htc touch :D
http://rapidshare.com/files/90304911/Sky_Browser.cab
Here's a link to the .cab file for the browser!
Oops. I just installed it, and it need you to have a "registered mobile phone number". Sorry for getting your hopes up!
BETA 1: Users subscribed Jan 28 - Mar 01. Receiving SMS/download by Apr 30;
BETA 2: Users subscribed after Mar 01 (+ users in Beta 1). To receive download Summer 2008.