Silicon Valley startup Skyfire is giving Windows Mobile smartphone users an opportunity to take the latest beta version of its mobile Web browser for a test drive. First unveiled in January, Skyfire brings many of the latest Web 2.0 innovations to mobile handsets, the company said.
“We don’t like to think of ourselves as a mobile Internet browser,” said Skyfire CEO and cofounder Nitin Bhandari. “Skyfire is a full-feature Internet browser on the mobile device.”
A Real Web Experience
The 0.8 beta of Skyfire is now available for smartphones running Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0. A Symbian version for Series 60 phones is slated for release in the near future, the company said.
A key feature that differentiates Skyfire from other mobile Web browsers, Bhandari said, is that it enables users to experience the Internet on phones the same way as on PCs.
“For too long consumers have been promised the ‘real Web’ on their phones, only to be disappointed by slow rendering, error messages, no Flash support, watered-down WAP pages or second-rate mobile versions of their favorite site,” Bhandari said earlier this year. “Skyfire has remedied those ills at a speed not seen before on the mobile platform.”
Skyfire’s latest release features a SuperBar that streamlines the search process by suggesting the most commonly used search keywords as a user types. Search results from Google and Yahoo are presented in easy-to-read tabs, such as Web, images and maps. “Users can now find content more quickly with SuperBar, and can now easily share that content with anyone in their address book,” said Skyfire’s Adam Sexton.
Skyfire supports many of the latest multimedia innovations for the Web, including Flash, Silverlight and QuickTime. “Our users love media-rich sites like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and ESPN on Skyfire, and based on their input we added the most requested…