Description: Skyfire Browser makes your mobile internet experience richer, smarter and more fun!
How it works: the app is just like every other browser on the market, to surf the internet and all sorts of webpages and functionality like a normal desktop browser. There is also an option to load the page you are currently viewing as an Android device, desktop, or an iPhone; as they all tend to have different ways of seeing the webpage based on how the website interprets what device you are using. Though the most buzz worthy feature though is that it is able to play flash videos.
Opinion: I think it is great for being a beta and has a whole lot of promise and things to look forward to that the stock Android browser should have as native functionality. I really love and enjoy that I can view every webpage that I go to as either a mobile device, Android and iPhone, or even as a desktop; as well all know that mobile versions of websites don’t always look as cool or fun. I also really enjoy that now I can see more than just YouTube videos on webpages, but flash as well, as I’m sure a lot of Android users are eager to see how it works with Flash coming to Android officially soon.
Pros: I love that the app is simple to use and even has a little demo on how to work the menu screen that allows you to do everything you will need or want to do with the browser. What I’m still baffled and thrilled by is that it allows me to see flash videos on my Android phone and I do not even have a rooted phone with some special ROM off of Android 2.0+.
-simple to use and has demo
-flash on all Android devices
-three different ways to render webpages
Cons: The browser renders things slower than the normal browser and also sometimes just takes forever to load, normally in desktop mode, and causes the app to crash and the home screen to restate as well. It is also a bit of a memory hog and slows down the phone, which could probably be attributed to what it is trying to do on a device that’s not high end with much RAM. And videos cannot be viewed in desktop mode, only in Android or iPhone mode, and by accessing the menu “video feature” not directly by clicking on the play button on the site.
-slower than stock browser
-memory hog, slows down phone
-videos cannot be played in “desktop mode”
-cannot view in same window as webpage
-crashes occasionally
Conclusion: The app is great for being a beta but still has a lot of room for improvement and a lot of functionality a lot of Android users will greatly appreciate; especially with about 73% of the Android users not having a device higher than 1.5 or 1.6. Hopefully a lot of Android users will give the developer lots of feedback, and also take into consideration that this is still in beta and will probably be the best browser out there once it is complete. I recommend all users to check it out, especially because it is free.