SkyFire Browser Beats the Pants Off the iPhone -- No Foolin'

[Tigerz]

SkyFire Browser Beats the Pants Off the iPhone -- No Foolin'
By Dieter Bohn
Posted on January 28, 2008 8:20 AM


I had a chance to get a demo of the upcoming SkyFire browser (over Skype) last week and I gotta tell you - it's hot. Here's the skinny - it's currently in private beta with a public beta planned for later this quarter. It works on Windows Mobile Pro and Standard (and Symbian, hush), and it's really, really awesome. As in, “my envy for the iPhone's browser may soon be coming to an end” kind of awesome.

Here's how it works - it's a server-side solution (more on that inside) based on Gecko (same bits behind Firefox's rendering). Basically everything gets rendered on the server and then sent out to your phone. That solves some of the processor / speed issues, but it also adds more benefits, like full AJAX, Flash, Javascript, you name it. I watched the browser instantly load an embedded YouTube video (from a random page on our site) and start playing with nary a jag and nary a lag -- this over a UMTS connection, mind you.

The SkyFire teams told me “Our goal is that if Firefox can render it, then your Windows Mobile phone will render it the exact same way.”

There more, including a screenshot gallery, after the break!

For the first time ever, smartphone
users can experience the “real Web” to access and interact with any Web
site built with any Web technology, including dynamic Flash, advanced Ajax,
Java and more - at the same speeds they are accustomed to on their PC -


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Screenshots





Server Side is Awesome / Not Awesome
So the benefit of having 90% of the work on a server is you get snappy rendering, full support for basically any web standard, and fast downloads. You get the desktop browser pushed out to your phone.

The downside - that server best stay up, hey? It also best keep your data secure and private (SkyFire says that's been their #1 priority, even in their early betas). Lastly, though, server's ain't free. SkyFire hasn't settled on a pricing model yet, but they're leaning towards ads before subscriptions to keep the service free. The company was keen to show me their portal - which pulls from multiple search engines - so that's probably going to be part of the model.

The Software Itself
One .cab file for the browser, that's all you install to get full Flash, AJAX (the thing can handle the craziest of Google Maps/Apps AJAX), etc. Since it's all handled server-side

The SkyFire browser has all the necessary zoom and bookmark features you'd expect from a browser of this sort. It also has a “fit to screen” feature -- but with a neat difference. Instead of re-rendering the entire webpage to fit your screen, it actually just renders the different sections of text to fit your screen in place. So you still get the basic layout of the site, but when you zoom into a piece of text to read it you know it will be set to the right width for comfortable reading at your mobile's resolution.

...It's about time we had a browser that's not only competitive with the iPhones, but that beats it in several categories. The fact that it's all server-side is the real story here, though, as that's SkyFire's greatest strength and weakness.

EDIT: somehow i forgot to post this so heres the youtube viseo:

[D/\SH]

wow this looks bad ass and very promising cant wait until that public release comes out beta wise. i will be the first to find out and i will get you the notice for all the members here at Wckediden so they can try it before all the slots are filled.

[Tigerz]

youtube video added to the first post SWEEEEEEET

[mkeezy]

i signed up! hope the beta comes out soon so i can put this lil daddy on my touch :)

[Tigerz]

You can sign up for the private beta at http://www.skyfire.com

[Hot Boy]

Does anyone no exactly when the skyfire browser beta is coming out
or the skyfire browser

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by Hot Boy ”

Does anyone no exactly when the skyfire browser beta is coming out
or the skyfire browser

ummm no clue but should be soon since the beta sign up has been open for a while.

[Galerius]

Texts have been sent out for the download. Apparently the Beta is on....

Still waiting for mine :yahoo:

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by Galerius ”

Texts have been sent out for the download. Apparently the Beta is on....

Still waiting for mine :yahoo:

waiting for mine too thanks for the update bro.

[mmxer]

Yeah I read on other Forums people have gotten it all ready. I havent recieved my 2nd email yet :triste: Hopefully it will be available for DL.

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by mmxer ”

Yeah I read on other Forums people have gotten it all ready. I havent recieved my 2nd email yet :triste: Hopefully it will be available for DL.

im still waiting inpatiently for my text message from them also, i cant wait to get this bad boy and take her for a spin.

[I930 KING]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! thats sick cant wight un tell i get mine

[Tigerz]

yae lol im still waiting for mine they should be coming soon

[mmxer]

No luck for me... Did anyone get lucky?

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by mmxer ”

No luck for me... Did anyone get lucky?

not yet for me only a few have so far i think that they are having problems with the texts right now so we will have to be patient i guess.

[Dooper]

Man, I've been drooling over this Browser ever since I seen it in action on YouTube... Hopefully we get it.

[kaos]

lets see if anyone can make this happen. I got my hands on the cab..Its installed but it gives error phone number doesn't match registered members list. Hopefully someone can crack it for us.Cause i took got a sms.But mine said they were filled at this time.So lets crack it.lol

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by kaos ”

lets see if anyone can make this happen. I got my hands on the cab..Its installed but it gives error phone number doesn't match registered members list. Hopefully someone can crack it for us.Cause i took got a sms.But mine said they were filled at this time.So lets crack it.lol

I've taken a look at SkyFire & it doesn't look good. It's not possible to force authorization as it depends on a secret PGP keypair shared between the activation server & the device. A meet in the middle attack would be our next best bet but this is not guaranteed as they're using SSL to encrypt the packets flowing between.

Even if the app were cracked to force successful authorization on the client side it would just freeze & wait for a non-existent response from the authorization server. A crucial part of the activation would be that it compares the IP of the client to determine their geographical location & any place outside the US results in an "Invalid authorization" response.

Another possibility is to access the server through a tunnelling exploit but this highly depends on the configuration of the server itself. I doubt that they'd leave this channel open.

Also something interesting to ponder:
Code:
.rdata:0007BA0C aReset DCB "Reset",0 ; DATA XREF: .text:off_28DE0o
.rdata:0007BA12 ALIGN 8
.rdata:0007BA18 aScheduledAHard unicode 0, ,0
.rdata:0007BA18 ; DATA XREF: .text:off_292BCo
This is a debug message that would not be displayed to the end-user so there exists a condition where it secretly schedules a hard-reset of the client's device. Nice going, SkyFire :lol:

[Hot Boy]

i have also been getting the same message as kaos wen i try to go onto the skyfire browser
help:40:

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by Hot Boy ”

i have also been getting the same message as kaos wen i try to go onto the skyfire browser
help:40:

wow read the thread come on look at the post above yours that expalins it for you.

[Dooper]

Let's all stop being impatient and just wait.

[rico002]

i got my text and it sends me a link to activate but then it says "your mobile is not currently supported by skyfire" =(

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by rico002 ”

i got my text and it sends me a link to activate but then it says "your mobile is not currently supported by skyfire" =(

lucky you... it should work since you are on WM6 and all. i hope that when you filled out the beta form you put the right info in for your os. thats the only reason why i could think of this happening to you.

[Galerius]

So...

I am sitting at my PC at almost 2AM EST and decide "I am going to register my fiance's phone as well."

It took 10 minutes for her to get her beta confirmation.

I put my in quite a while back and still NOTHING.

Can I forward her text to me and download it on my phone...hmm I wonder.

I also wonder if area codes matter. Hers is still a NY prefix, where we are originally from where mine is a TN prefix where we live now....

Who knows. Either way I am going to get to play around with it and that makes me happy.

:yahoo:

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by Galerius ”

So...

I am sitting at my PC at almost 2AM EST and decide "I am going to register my fiance's phone as well."

It took 10 minutes for her to get her beta confirmation.

I put my in quite a while back and still NOTHING.

Can I forward her text to me and download it on my phone...hmm I wonder.

I also wonder if area codes matter. Hers is still a NY prefix, where we are originally from where mine is a TN prefix where we live now....

Who knows. Either way I am going to get to play around with it and that makes me happy.

:yahoo:

damn thats bs i registered on the first day that you could and still havent got mine. thay better get on there shit soon and send the texts out to those of us who registered first and than wait for the newer ones till last.

[pimpinhobo08]

http://link.brightcove.com/services/...ctid1392526688
this video actually shows the iphone browser gettin beat.. :brows:

[AL_CAPONE_X3]

“ Originally Posted by pimpinhobo08 ”

http://link.brightcove.com/services/...ctid1392526688
this video actually shows the iphone browser gettin beat.. :brows:

that was awesome. i love that browser. when are they going to let the rest of us get it?


also is it only going be free for a certain amount of time are they going to charge at one point in time or something?


i hope it remains forever free. i think they can do it since its one of a kind all they need is like sponsors or something like that to make it free!??

[AL_CAPONE_X3]

“ Originally Posted by Galerius ”

So...

I am sitting at my PC at almost 2AM EST and decide "I am going to register my fiance's phone as well."

It took 10 minutes for her to get her beta confirmation.

I put my in quite a while back and still NOTHING.

Can I forward her text to me and download it on my phone...hmm I wonder.

I also wonder if area codes matter. Hers is still a NY prefix, where we are originally from where mine is a TN prefix where we live now....

Who knows. Either way I am going to get to play around with it and that makes me happy.

:yahoo:

was the link to just let you know that they got your request or was the link to the program? because i got a link sent to me right away to right now when i signed up. i think everyone did. but not everyone got the ability to download the program.

[getnmoney]

found beta here... http://rapidshare.com/files/90304911/Sky_Browser.cab

cant get it c#####d tho... automatically looks fpr registered phone numbers... i registered for beta 2. no word on download yet/

[AL_CAPONE_X3]

“ Originally Posted by getnmoney ”

found beta here... http://rapidshare.com/files/90304911/Sky_Browser.cab

cant get it c#####d tho... automatically looks fpr registered phone numbers... i registered for beta 2. no word on download yet/

yes there is an browser around but you need the beta code for it. but thanks.

[Raingod]

This looks awesome. I signed up for Beta 2. I can't wait to try this out!

[AL_CAPONE_X3]

“ Originally Posted by Raingod ”

This looks awesome. I signed up for Beta 2. I can't wait to try this out!

thats not right there is already another one out when all of us that signed up for the first one have not got it.

oh well maybe we will have better luck with this one.


let us know what happens if you get it.

thanks.

Capone.

[bowser001]

hey guys hopefully this sheds some light on a possible download date for the skyfire beta 1...

We appreciate your enthusiasm and we're anxious to get you into our private beta. We are inviting people who signed up for our beta program to download the Skyfire beta 0.5 at a measured pace and that is why you have not yet received the SMS to download. All Beta 1 users will be invited into the program by the end of April.

In regards to your questions about trying to register for beta 2, it is not necessary to do that since all beta 1 users will continue into beta 2 when it launches towards the later part of this year. Additionally, you didn't receive the original SMS to verify your registration because you signed up before we implemented the SMS to verify beta registrations.

We will notify you both by email and by SMS as soon as there is room for you in the beta program. Please be sure that when you signed up for the beta program you entered the mobile phone number you want to download Skyfire on. We need that mobile phone number to notify you when its your turn to download. We ask for just a little patience.

To stay up to date about whats happening here, you can read our blog. You can also refer to our FAQ.
Thanks,
The Skyfire Team

[Psycho]

I want to try this sooooo bad! hopefully i will be able to get into beta 2

[kaos]

“ Originally Posted by Psycho ”

I want to try this sooooo bad! hopefully i will be able to get into beta 2

lol keep hope alive...i signed up same day as dash for beta one then on beta 2...got text messages as well..but still no go on beta versions.....:097:

[TOUCHED]

soo Tyte

[nsxracir]

FINALLY got the beta (0.6) sent to my phone. I signed up in early march and the rumors are true. This browser is off the hook. Everything works, including javascripts, embedded flash, etc. Def leaves PIE and Opera in the dark. My only complaint is that start up times for the browser are kinda slow... and sometimes it fails to connect to the skyfire severs (still a beta). But overall, def worth the wait. :yahoo:

[blink182fka6]

this browser is pretty sick. you can even go to south park zone and watch all the south park you want, just wish it was a bit more finger friendly

[(K)rebel]

Damn!! I need this in my life. I signed up for the beta a while back and recieve an email, but no skyfire...

[TAR]

finally got this browser and it is great

[forty01]

I received mine about a couple of days ago and it works great. Went to youtube.com and it played the videos w/o a problem. I like the idea that I don't have to DL a sound before listening to it. It literally plays the video with the sound streaming, you can even mute it from the browser itself. The ability to get around and the configuration is nicely set. The one thing I did not like was the when I received a phone call and lost my internet, I was disconnected from the server and only had the option to exit. That makes it difficult to continue where you left off at. When I tried to access one of my banks it seemed to have a problem initially with me trying to put in my username and password, but on the 3rd attempt(after playing around with it a little)it highlighted a huge area and then let me enter the information in. On MySpace and other sites I did not have that problem. When I attempted to DL a Rapidshare file today it didn't want to take, but I'll try again later to see how it goes and I'll update on that. I haven't truelly tested the theory, but it seems to use the battery up alot faster when running, because constant data(server side) it being pushed through as if you were streaming videos (ie. watching MobiTV) All in all it's a Bad @$$ program.
FYI: I put in for the Beta back in the 1st wave and just received mine, so be patient, because it will come. They are a little behind with the process(based off the communication w/SkyFire), but seems to be moving along fine. Let me know if you have any direct questions you were curious about and I would be happy to test, thanks.

[forty01]

Update: The lack of tabs is a loss and at the moment I cannot download or upload items. The realease info on the website mentions the recommendation of exiting if not using, because as stated before, it will drain battery faster. Again, all in all an extremely good browser and still in beta. I just wouldn't delete all my browsers yet ;)

[rwcj63]

i got my emailed notification 3 days ago but still no text message to my phone so i can download. how long does it typically take to get the text message???

[john80hotkey]

i'v been following this browser for awhile I just got my 1st windows phone so it was to late for me to sign up for private beta, anyone heard any rumors of an official release date?

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by john80hotkey ”

i'v been following this browser for awhile I just got my 1st windows phone so it was to late for me to sign up for private beta, anyone heard any rumors of an official release date?

you can still sign up for beta 2 if you wanted.

[VenumX]

“ Originally Posted by rwcj63 ”

i got my emailed notification 3 days ago but still no text message to my phone so i can download. how long does it typically take to get the text message???

you should try going to their website and changing your phone number. It's possible it was set up incorrectly.

[hurrikane15]

kan any one tell me how to get the download please

[AL_CAPONE_X3]

“ Originally Posted by hurrikane15 ”

kan any one tell me how to get the download please

lol read the thread please.


your either lucky or your not.


thats how you get it.

[D/\SH]

“ Originally Posted by AL_CAPONE_X3 ”

lol read the thread please.


your either lucky or your not.


thats how you get it.

ROFLMAO but you have to go to www.skyfire.com and sign up for the beta and wait for them to send you the program through text message

[broSki]

word, skyfire is the shiznit, i cant get my hands off it, the download speed is amazing....
check this and dont hate lol: