Skyfire mobile browser out of Beta, but what does it offer?

Just a few years ago if you wanted to surf the web on your Pocket PC mobile you had only the really poor Pocket Internet Explorer bundled into the device. Typically of Microsoft, as there was no competition, Explorer never really got sorted out which left a bit of a gap in the market for a professional browser. 

I suppose Microsoft could claim that no one could afford data charges for full featured browsing, nor would people want to look at regular web sites. Well expectations change.

Data charges have plummeted, most mobiles have WiFi for home access, and big screens have made it possible to view richly featured web sites in some comfort. It’s just unfortunate that Microsoft have ignored this.

Others haven’t, in particular Opera, Iris from Torch and Skyfire. Their Windows Mobile browsers are superior in every way to Explorer, and even better than Apple’s Safari in some ways.

Take the recent release of Skyfire, just out of Beta, it offers rapid browsing even over low speed connections, supports Flash and Java based web sites and embedded video streaming. Compared to Safari with its non existent support for Flash, Skyfire is a revelation. 

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Unfortunately whilst Microsoft Mobile and Symbian platforms can all benefit from Skyfire, Apple’s onerous monopolisation of its platform prevents blocks competitors, a charge once levelled at Microsoft.

So if you have a Windows Mobile device and want the best the web can offer, give Skyfire (for Flash and video), Opera (the best established)and Iris (for great rendering) a try. One of these will suit your needs.