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Skyfire Mobile Browser Reaches 1.0 Release, Officially Kicks Other Browsers' Tails

If you are interested in watching video content on Hulu.com or YouTube directly from your mobile phone's browser, the latest version of Skyfire is for you. Today's update brings the mobile browser to a full 1.0 release for Windows Mobile and S60 smartphones, and it comes chock full of video-processing power.

I've used several different beta versions of Skyfire over the last six months. It is no doubt a powerful browser that brings with it lots of features that make mobile browsing more closely emulate that of desktop browsing. Chief among them is the ability to watch embedded video content.

I took the opportunity to download the S60 variant of Skyfire and installed it on a Nokia E71 and a Nokia N85. It is the fastest version of the browser to date. Using AT&T's 3G network, I was able to pull up Hulu.com and YouTube.com each in less than 10 seconds.

On Hulu, I was able to watch a relatively interruption-free episode of "The Office" with few issues.

As far as specific improvements go, the release notes detail a lot of updates to the 1.0 version of the browser. Some of them include thumbnail interaction, improved zoom, better navigation and page rendering, faster start-up, improved RSS search and easier RSS sharing. You can see a full list here.

The browser does start up quickly, and I like the new ability to enter a search query or URL while the browser is launching and connecting to the network. This speeds up my initial search.

Skyfire recommends that you uninstall any previous version of Skyfire you may have on your device before installing version 1.0. The software is a free download for Windows Mobile (Professional and Smartphone) and S60 phones.

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