PPCGeeks - Skyfire Version .9

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Re: Skyfire Version .9

From CNET

Quote:

Many of the changes are technical, such as support for all screen resolutions on Windows Mobile phones and a Symbian client that has lost over 50 percent of its kilobyte bulk. Many more developments pack on greater browsing power, like the capability to download some MP3s and videos.

A few features really stood out after playing with Skyfire 0.9 beta for a few hours on a T-Mobile Dash. The first is the RSS feed that's taken over the tabbed main screen. Search, the directory of top links, and History get their own tabs, but the primary screen now shows editable RSS feeds that include, by default, Hulu, Yahoo stories, Twitter, and Facebook--you'll of course need to sign into these last two. The RSS feeds are handy if you're into RSS, but if you're not, we think Skyfire should let you set any of these four tabs as your default.

The way Skyfire now handles articles, blog posts, and other big chunks of text is also different from in previous versions. The SmartFit menu option no longer exists; instead, after zooming in on an article, Skyfire will automatically reformat it to fit the screen's width. The best way to deal with text articles has been an ongoing debate in the mobile browser world for some time. Skyfire's latest solution worked seamlessly in our tests and offered hassle-free reading.

Downloading media is another new feature that piqued our attention. Certain media files that you can play in Skyfire, like an audio file or some videos, you can now also download to your phone. We were able to download a CNET TV video this way.

Video handling is one of our main interests with all mobile browsers. While some video was still choppy using Skyfire on a secure home Wi-Fi connection--like those streamed on CNET TV--an entire episode of House played with just a few jerky interruptions when we fired up Hulu. The video quality was pretty weak, but the show was, by all means, watchable.

Another feature of interest is Skyfire's refinement of the address bar, which, like other desktop and mobile browsers, doubles as a search bar. If you choose a search term that Skyfire has auto-suggested after you began typing, it will offer a second set of more refined search terms. For instance, typing in 'hot potato' gave us 'hot potato salad,' and then led to more specific recipe options.

A few more tweaks worth mentioning include a bug fix that lets you launch a long URL from an e-mail as long as Skyfire has been set as your default browser, and updated plug-ins for Flash 10, Silverlight 2.0, and the latest Quicktime.

Full article: http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-...=2547-1_3-0-20

(From Skyfire release notes: http://www.skyfire.com/users/get-started/ )

Quote:

What’s new in 0.9 for both Windows Mobile and Symbian:
 We’re Going Social: Our start page experience is brand spanking new and includes feeds, Facebook
and Twitter integration. Catch up with news and your friends postings, easily share info and make
yourself heard with few clicks.

 Improved Text Readability: We implemented a great solution to improve the readability of large
text areas (think blogs and news articles) on small screens. We automatically adapt the font size for
large articles in a way that once you zoom into the article you will be able to read it without the
need for horizontal scroll. Use our contextual zoom function to fit the article to your screen width
and it will make a pleasant reading experience. With this introduction we retired our previous
SmartFit solution.

 Widescreen screen support: Many recent Windows Mobile devices including the Samsung i900
Omnia or the Sony Ericsson Experia X1 now use a widescreen format. Skyfire 0.9 Beta fully supports
the widescreen format. On Symbian, we now support the 352x416 resolution such as the Nokia N80.

 Improved Superbar: When you select one of the auto-suggest entries you will immediately get more
refined suggestions (instead of launching the search right away). Handy to search for the exact term
that you are looking for.

 Download Media: Now you can see/listen to media that is accessible in Skyfire, and download it to
your phone as well. Found an audio file? Listen to it in Skyfire – you like it? Download it to your
phone. Obviously this works only for freely accessible files. For Windows Mobile, we even launch the
media player for formats such as Windows Media Streaming audio. Now you can stream radio in the
background while continuing to browse.

 Updated page rendering: We updated our algorithm to improve the consistency of the information
shown. In addition we improved the zoom action, which provides a quicker response.

 Updated Plug-ins: Including Flash 10, Silverlight 2.0 final and newest Quicktime version.

What’s new in Windows Mobile 0.9 since Windows Mobile 0.8.5?
 Wide Screen VGA support: Now we support all screen resolutions that are popular on Windows
Mobile, including: 240x240, 320x320, 320x240 (QVGA),400x240 (WQVGA), 640x480 (VGA), 800x480
(WVGA). Thus new and popular devices such as the Samsung i900 Omnia or the Sony Ericsson
Experia X1 are supported.

 Launch URL’s from Email: Fixed the issue where long URL’s or encoded URL’s didn’t open correctly.
If you have not already done so, please set Skyfire as your default browser (see Menu l Settings).
Next time you want to click through a long URL in an email, it’s simply a click. Note: This is available
for Windows Mobile only.

2-12-2009 New Skyfire out now Version .9with full vga support

New skyfire with full vga support was released today, you can download it at get.skyfire.com

Version: .9
Build: 9151

Skyfire 0.9 Beta supports all regular screen resolutions available for Windows Mobile devices, from 240x240 to QVGA (320x240, 240x320), WQVGA (400x240), VGA (640x480), and WVGA (800x480). The Symbian client has been enhanced to be more lightweight, easier to install, and support 240x320 as well the 352x416 screen resolution (such as Nokia N80 phones).

Hears the change log for V.9

We’re Going Social: Our start page experience is brand spanking new and includes feeds, Facebook and Twitter integration. Catch up with news and your friends postings, easily share info and make yourself heard with few clicks.

Improved Text Readability: We implemented a great solution to improve the readability of large text areas (think blogs and news articles) on small screens. We automatically adapt the font size for large articles in a way that once you zoom into the article you will be able to read it without the need for horizontal scroll. Use our contextual zoom function to fit the article to your screen width and it will make a pleasant reading experience. With this introduction we retired our previous SmartFit solution.

Widescreen screen support: Many recent Windows Mobile devices including the Samsung i900 Omnia or the Sony Ericsson Experia X1 now use a widescreen format. Skyfire 0.9 Beta fully supports the widescreen format. On Symbian, we now support the 352x416 resolution such as the Nokia N80.

Improved Superbar: When you select one of the auto-suggest entries you will immediately get more refined suggestions (instead of launching the search right away). Handy to search for the exact term that you are looking for.

Download Media: Now you can see/listen to media that is accessible in Skyfire, and download it to your phone as well. Found an audio file?
Listen to it in Skyfire – you like it? Download it to your phone. Obviously this works only for freely accessible files. For Windows Mobile, we even launch the media player for formats such as Windows Media Streaming audio. Now you can stream radio in the background while continuing to browse.

Updated page rendering: We updated our algorithm to improve the consistency of the information shown. In addition we improved the zoom action, which provides a quicker response.

Updated Plug-ins: Including Flash 10, Silverlight 2.0 final and newest Quicktime version.

What’s new in Windows Mobile 0.9 since Windows Mobile 0.8.5?

Wide Screen VGA support: Now we support all screen resolutions that are popular on Windows Mobile, including: 240x240, 320x320, 320x240 (QVGA),400x240 (WQVGA), 640x480 (VGA), 800x480 (WVGA). Thus new and popular devices such as the Samsung i900 Omnia or the Sony Ericsson Experia X1 are supported.

Launch URL’s from Email: Fixed the issue where long URL’s or encoded URL’s didn’t open correctly. If you have not already done so, please set Skyfire as your default browser (see Menu l Settings). Next time you want to click through a long URL in an email, it’s simply a click. Note: This is available for Windows Mobile only.

What’s new in Symbian 0.9 since Symbian 0.8.5?

Lighter, leaner: We significantly reduced the program size to about 750k by removing dependencies. This results in easier and more reliable installation (no more PIPES or PIPS error messages), faster and more reliable network connection, less frequent requests for Access Point selection. Overall a big improvement.

N80: We support higher resolution (352x416) devices such as the Nokia N80.

N95 Landscape Mode: We have placed buttons appropriately on the N95 in landscape mode.

Better Battery Life: Further improvements include some bug fixes and disconnecting Skyfire more reliably when the application is in the background to further preserve battery life.