On Thursday, mobile browser start-up Skyfire announced the opening of a private beta for the Symbian Series 60 (S60) platform–nearly a week after a Symbian site busted the news.
Skyfire is positioned as a resource-light browser that relies on Web servers to deliver a desktop browsing experience. I covered Skyfire soon after its initial Windows Mobile release and agree that it has a nice design and good potential; however, with rendering and crashing issues, it’s not nearly ready for open beta. That’s too bad because adding an identical build for Symbian means that Skyfire has two platforms in private beta with some tall performance hurdles to leap.
Skyfire will debut on 10 Nokia handsets, including the high-end N95 and E71.
(Credit: Skyfire Labs)
Going global (and taking on Opera)
Skyfire’s Symbian beta program is the mobile browser’s second platform, and its entrée into the European market, where it will be rolling out later this year. This move improves Skyfire’s competitive position against Opera Mobile, whose release of a free version 9.5 beta for Symbian is also scheduled for “the near future.”
Opera Mini, Opera Software’s build for Java phones and BlackBerry, has pretty much dominated alternative browsers in Europe, but Skyfire could destabilize that position. As a direct competitor to Opera Mobile 8.65, which sells for $24, Skyfire’s free beta brings a few advantages to the table. It’s true that Opera Mobile 9.5 beta is also currently offered for free, but with its Symbian build also in development, there could be an interesting battle over Symbian owners.
Pricing isn’t the only point of comparison between Opera and Skyfire. Opera wants to bring Symbian owners the “authentic” desktop experience through a rich client and Skyfire will attempt to do so by pulling data from its servers. That makes Skyfire lighter on system resources, but it won’t have as many search and linking capabilities out of the gate as Opera Mobile 9.5 beta, which integrated some tricks from the desktop browser. Conversely, Opera’s cell phone browsers verge on cluttered, so there’s a benefit to Skyfire’s pared-down look.
In addition, Skyfire supports Flash and AJAX, two Web technologies common to desktop browsing that have not been available for mass users, though other mobile browsing companies, including Opera, plan to include at least Flash support. So far Skyfire’s choppy video rendering hasn’t been as good as other third-party video solutions, like vTap.
Just because Skyfire can play video, doesn't mean it plays it well.
(Credit: Skyfire Labs)
Performance: Skyfire on Symbian
What will early Symbian testers find with Skyfire’s Symbian build? Pretty much the same thing they’d find on Windows Mobile phones. In fact, the products share a 0.6 beta version number. Yet, there have been changes since our first reviews. Most notable are the addition of a weather widget on the home screen, which expands into a five-day forecast and more quick links to featured Web sites. It’s a moderately useful feature and Skyfire says there are more widgets coming soon–let’s just hope they’re all removable. In an interview, Skyfire also addressed video playback and acknowledged the need to keep on trucking.
Perhaps because phone owners are curious about an Opera competitor or because they’re excited about a Flash-supporting mobile browser, the first round of Symbian testing is already closed. Hopefuls will have to wait for a second round of beta testing to begin. The first wave of testers came from last January’s signs-ups when Skyfire took names for the closed Windows Mobile beta. Skyfire is tight-lipped on when the second round will open.
The Symbian S60 version will currently work on ten Nokia S60 phones, including N95 and E71.
Original post by Jessica Dolcourt and software by Elliott Back
