"Most compatible" Web browser debuts for Windows Mobile
Jan. 28, 2008
Skyfire has announced a free Web browser for Windows Mobile it claims "makes browsing on a smartphone just like browsing on a PC." It is the first mobile browser fully compatible with technologies such as asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX), Java, and embedded Flash, Skyfire says.
Unlike other mobile browsers, Skyfire renders pages exactly as they would appear on a desktop computer, with all the expected content, including embedded Flash movies and other multimedia, the company says. Rather than being redirected to stripped-down mobile versions of popular websites, users can interact with the full-featured versions of sites such as YouTube, Myspace, and Facebook, Skyfire adds.
While specific details of the startup company's "patent-pending technology" were not provided, Skyfire works by running scripts and performing certain other page-rendering tasks on the company's own server infrastructure, to which the mobile browser connects, according to Skyfire CEO Nitin Bhandari. Since Skyfire uses these proxy servers as an intermediary to do the "heavy lifting," it is not only more compatible with Web standards than other browsers, but also requires less memory and processing power, he stated.
Competing mobile Web browsers have laid claim to support for at least some of the standards mentioned above. For example, Apple's Safari for the iPhone is generally credited with being the first mobile browser to display complicated Web pages authored for desktops without modification. However, it only supports Flash video in a dedicated YouTube client, not embedded into Web pages. Another example is Microsoft's mobile Internet Explorer, which supports AJAX but may need websites to be modified from their desktop equivalents.
Opera Mobile offers support for "the full Web," according to the company, including Adobe's Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC and FlashLite 2.1. Meanwhile, Access' NetFront and Ibis' IbisBrowserDX are admitted by their vendors to have compatibility limitations, but claimed to better cope with the memory and performance limitations typically found on smartphones.
The proxy browsing technique used by Skyfire is not fundamentally new. Opera Mini, written to run on Windows Mobile or any other smartphones that can run Java, uses proxies to translate Web pages into OBML (Opera Binary Markup Language), an optimized, compressed XML variant that requires less client-side processing and bandwidth than standard HTML, according to the company. Another mobile software company that pioneered the concept of proxy servers tidying up content for mobile browsers was Good Technology, recently acquired by Motorola.
Last year, Microsoft too offered a limited technology preview of Deepfish, a proxy-based browser. The preview did not support AJAX, animation, javascript, cookies, or ActiveX controls, but -- though the project appears dormant -- its technology clearly could resurface in a future Internet Explorer release.
In the meantime, claims Bhandari, Skyfire's technology offers faster speed and superior scalability, allowing complicated pages to be viewed without bogging down either the phone or the company's servers. In addition, it offers thumbnail views, full-screen navigation, and near-instantaneous zooming in and out on Web pages, according to the company.
Skyfire rendering Google Maps, ESPN, and YouTube websites (left to right, respectively)
"By extending the PC Web experience to smartphones, we fully expect Skyfire to fundamentally change the way people use their devices," Bhandari added. As Web technologies evolve further, Skyfire should be able to adapt to them on the back end, likely without requiring end users to upgrade their browsers, he said.
Skyfire browsing ESPN, YouTube, and other pages (click to play) Source: Skyfire
Skyfire also allows users to bookmark not only specific Web pages, but also specific areas on the pages themselves. This allows them to return to the content that interests them -- such as stock quotes, sports scores, or new blog postings -- without having to pan and zoom around a page, the company says.
"Skyfire's ability to support Flash video can give a shot in the arm to consumption of video on smartphones, which currently stands at 18.4 percent," said Seamus McAteer, senior analyst, M:Metrics, quoted in Skyfire's release. "Technologies that improve the user experience of mobile applications will bolster the adoption of mobile media as it becomes increasingly mainstream."
Availability
Potential users can sign up now for a "private beta" of Skyfire for Windows Mobile 5 or 6 devices with or without touchscreens. A version for Symbian smartphones will be introduced later this year, and other platforms are "on the roadmap," the company says.
For further information, visit the company's website, here.
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Skyfire has announced a free Web browser for Windows Mobile it claims "makes browsing on a smartphone just like browsing on a PC." It is the first mobile browser fully compatible with technologies such as asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX), Java, and embedded Flash, Skyfire says.
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