In some ways, Skyfire had gotten a little ahead of itself. It was based on a solid server-side optimization model, which compresses websites—including Flash and Flash video—to speed up loading over a mobile connection. As advanced as its rendering powers were, it had some glaring problems. One higher-resolution screens, which are common on Windows Mobile phones, the text looked fuzzy and pixelated. The interface was functional, but a bit small and convoluted in places, which made it a chore to use on some touchscreen phones. Scrolling was kludgy, and zooming was haphazard. Cue the version 1.5 changelog:

• Full VGA Support. Skyfire now provides native support for the VGA and wVGA resolutions as seen on many recent Windows Mobile phones.
Smooth Scrolling. Kinetic scrolling has been added to Skyfire. Flick and you will see that scrolling has become very smooth.

• Finger friendly UI. There are many UI updates to enable finger friendliness, increase the ease of use and add a bit of fun to the Skyfire experience. We updated as well the start page to be simpler-to-use with high-resolution devices.

• Full screen mode. For touch screens we have a mode that will completely remove all UI elements from the screen to provide maximum visibility onto the page. Tap the bottom right corner to bring back the toolbar.

• Auto-Move text entry. This keeps any text entry box visible when the virtual keyboard is used. This convenient feature assures that web site forms are easy to use, in case the SIP (i.e., virtual keyboard) covers it.

• Latest versions of Flash 10 and Silverlight. 1.5 has been updated to the newest and most stable versions of both rich-media formats.

• Performance enhancements. Both Skyfire's client and servers have been upgraded for faster, more responsive browsing.

The best thing about Skyfire hasn't changed: It's free. [Skyfire]

The latest build was missing Flash and Gears, but Opera Turbo—speedier page loading with some help from Opera's servers was there. Hopefully it'll have the other two in place by the time it hits Android, which is in the works, confirms Opera's CEO, where it should provide some decent competition to the default WebKit browser, which is already pretty damn good. [App Scout]

Opera plainly states in the release notes that this is an early build of the browser, which means a few features are missing, the most conspicuous being full Flash and Google Gears support. But what what about regular browsing?

With compression on, it's fast. The full NYT homepage, images and all, loaded in 10 7 seconds flat over 3G. Formatting is basically unaffected by the optimization, and the sacrifice in image quality is, while noticeable, not that bad. With compression on, though, the browser is crashy, occasionally poopin' the bed when directed to more complicated sites, like Giz.

There are other issues, like near-total lack of support for nonstandard software keyboards in Windows Mobile, and a broken rotation function. But it's a beta, and so far, so good—if 9.7 turns out as good as it sounds like—and now, looks like—it will, it'll give Skyfire a run for its money and/or debilitating kick in the junk.
[Opera]

The release notes point to a few major changes from earlier versions of the browser, emphasizing better text rendering, faster startup, easier controls and improved compatibility with complex AJAX-driven pages like Facebook and Gmail. To be honest, the changes aren't massive, but a few of them make noticeable differences.

Rendering quality was never an issue with Skyfire, and it's hard to discern any huge improvements on this front. Pages are still compressed server-side, which keeps things moving quickly. As a result, pages load extremely fast—I was able to pull down the Giz frontpage, flash ads and all, in under 20 seconds—but image (and unfortunately, text) resolution isn't as high as it would be on an uncompressed browser like Opera Mobile or Mobile Safari. Thankfully, 1.0 is optimized such that even zoomed-out, smaller text is mostly legible, and in a welcome improvement upon the betas, instantly becomes clear when zoomed.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.About that zooming: controls have been spruced up all around, especially for touch users. Previous versions of the browser suffered from awkward zooming quirks and poor text reflowing, but these issues are by and large resolved in 1.0. Double-taps behave much more predictably, and most sites are easy enough to traverse thanks to smoothed-out panning. You can also click without zooming in, which Skyfire will usually interpret correctly.

Flash video viewing has always been Skyfire's banner feature, allowing users to watch native video embeds and services like Hulu on their phones, but it's largely unchanged for version 1.0. Playback is still smooth and loading is quick enough, although taps have a tendency to misregister, meaning you're better off initiating flash video with the browsers onscreen mouse cursor and a d-pad, assuming you have that luxury.

It's not quite perfect, but in the disparate, but as far as Windows Mobile and Symbian browsers go, it's as close as you're going to get. Well, at least until Opera Mobile 9.7 comes out.

On the rumored BlackBerry version of the app, Skyfire has issued confirmation that they're "planning" one. Funny, since we've already seen it. For now, you can download Skyfire for Windows Mobile or Symbian now by navigating to get.skyfire.com on your phone's browser. You'll have to uninstall any previous versions of the browser before you can use 1.0—annoyingly, there's no direct way to upgrade. Release notes below. [Skyfire]

What's new:

Thumbnail interaction. Now you can click on links immediately after the page loads without having
to zoom in. This enhancement is especially helpful for high resolution phones, and for familiar sites
where you know right away where you want to click. It makes getting to the content you want on
the page simpler, quicker and more efficient.
Improved Zoom. Double-tap or double-click to zoom over any element, including links, images or
videos. The zoom interaction is smoother and more responsive as well. Best of all: when you zoom
in you will get readable text instantly (beforehand text was blurry and took a while to become
sharp).
Enhanced Navigation. When you navigate back or forward, you return to the last viewport (e.g.
zoom level and portion of the page). Thus eliminating the need to pan and zoom into the section
you were viewing on the previous page. We remember even the viewport when you select a page
from your history. We have also added shortcut keys, (9) for forward and (7) for backward
navigation.

Improved page handling. Enhancements have been made especially for AJAX-intensive sites such as
Facebook and Gmail. If larger parts of the page get updated then the client will more quickly and
accurately reflect this.

iFrame handling. We have a solution for full-width iFrames in Skyfire
Fast start. We changed both the sequence and behavior of the Skyfire launch so you get started as
quickly as possible. You can type a search or URL in the Superbar while Skyfire is connecting in the
background. You can put Skyfire to work before the start page is even loaded. Plus, we've improved
connection performance.

Reconnect to last state. When you leave Skyfire in the background Skyfire will disconnect to
preserve battery life. Once you come back to it (after minutes, hours, days) it will reload the same
page to the same zoom level and focus. Thus you can continue right where you left off.
When you exit and start again, Skyfire you will always land on the start page.

Connection helper. We have a new mechanism in place to detect when connections cannot be
established to Skyfire servers. If this is due to a network configuration (common in GSM land), then
we provide suggestions to help out. This is especially useful if you are with a carrier/data plan that
places restrictions on certain APN configurations, which interferes with Skyfire.

Enhanced search results. Google results now include video, news articles, local results all blended
on a single results page and ordered by relevance. Vertical search categories are still available.
Improved RSS feed search. Find your favorite custom RSS feeds through the improved Add-Feed
feature, found under the Customize menu on the start page. Search by site domain, feed URL, or
even topical keywords.

Easier sharing of RSS items from start page. We've exposed a simple "Share this article" link below
each RSS story displayed on your start page to make it easier to share interesting items to Twitter
and Facebook

Remember last connection (Symbian only). Skyfire can now remember the last connection for you,
so you will not have to choose a connection every single time. In addition if you want to change the
connection type while you are in Skyfire you can do so.

Known issues in this release

HTTP Authentication (e.g. the native browser dialog that asks for username and password when
going to certain sites) is not supported.
Text entry into Flash or Silverlight plug-ins is not supported.
Skyfire does not support ‘local storage' mode for plug-ins. Thus the following will be affected: Netflix
media player, Pandora media player, Rhapsody media player.

Symbian's dominance isn't evident here in the US, as it's driven by smartphones—like Nokia's N series or Sony Ericsson's P Series—that don't really have much of a market/mindshare outside of Europe. We've even gone so far as to declare it too marginal to include in our smartphone OS guide.

But there are still plenty of UIQ and S60 phones around, and they all suffer from the same sense of staleness—a stagnation that's obvious, whether it's because of Symbian's global popularity and fragmented nature or despite it. So what do you do to shake the feeling that you're toting a last-gen device? Try this:

Get a new browser
Oddly enough, lots of Symbian phones actually ship with not-so-bad browsers, like S60's, which is based on WebKit just like Mobile Safari and Mobile Chrome. Unfortunately, most of these phones also ship without touchscreens, and depend on a clunky d-pad navigation system. This makes panning around fully-rendered pages a bit of a pain—a problem not helped by the browser's often slow performance. Luckily, there are plenty of alternatives.

Opera Mobile/Mini: Opera has made an appearance in every last one of my smartphone revival stories, and with good reason. Each version offers its own advantage for Symbian: Opera Mobile brings fast-ish full-page rendering with inertial scrolling—only really a boon if you're lucky enough to have a touchscreen handset like the XpressMusic 5900. The newer 9.5 beta, complete with Google Gears support, can be had for UIQ phones, but S60 handsets will have to settle for 8.65. Opera Mini, a Java app, will work on virtually any phone. It's not the prettiest browser, but server-side data compression and clever formatting tricks make it a good fit for smaller-screened Symbian hardware. Bolt is another Java-based browser in the same lightweight, data-conscious vein, and it matches Opera's app feature for feature. You know, six of one...

Skyfire: This surprising little browser takes the Opera Mini/Bolt rationale a little further, running everything through server-side compression, including Flash video. What does that mean, in a word? Hulu. Unfortunately support is limited to Nokia N and E series phones.

Work On Your Communication Skills
Out of the box, most Symbian phones take you as far as emailing. With a few downloads, though, you'll be privy to the same range of messaging capabilities as your smug iPhone and BlackBerry-toting friends, and then some.

Fring: This isn't your locked down, Wi-Fi tethered iPhone Fring. No, this is the real deal: Multiprotocol IMing, VoIP over 3G and Wi-Fi and most importantly, background processing. Skype is supported, sans video.

Truphone: A dedicated VoIP app that integrates rather seamlessly with your S60 handset, Truphone can save you a pretty penny on international, long-distance and even in-plan calls. By routing calls through Truphone's network over Wi-Fi or a cell data connection, Truphone can connect you to other users for free, and connect international calls for a few cents a minute. Other perks include voicemail-to-email forwarding and Google Talk support, but discounted calls are the star of the show here.

Agile Messenger: It may lack the VoIP accouterments of the previously mentioned apps, but for straight up instant messaging you really can't beat it. All the big protocols are here, accessible through the same simple interface. You can send videos and voice messages, but not engage in full conversations—this app is about messaging, and message it does.

And All The Rest
Once you've updated your browser and messaging software, you've edged much closer to a modern smartphone experience. Now to fill in the blanks:

Google Maps: Google's superb maps app is as good here as it is anywhere else, with GPS integration, local search and a clean, intuitive interface. Perhaps most importantly, it's not just for fingers; Google Maps is well-suited to d-pad navigation.

JoikuSpot Lite: It's tethering+1: Any Wi-Fi-equipped S60 3rd Edition phone can operate as an access point with JoikuSpot. The Lite version is free, and adequate.

Qik: Qik is a cool app that can only be described in ways that sound utterly stupid. Lifecasting? Live vlogging? Either way, with the right phone, Symbian can do it well.

Nokia has some ongoing beta projects to check out, and a few of them are worthwhile. SportsTracker feeds a GPS-tracked record of your run or bike rides to a handy web interface. WidSets is a widget dashboard for a rich variety of web apps. ShareOnline provides basic portals for media uploads, whether it be photo, video or audio content.

And finally, we have Mobbler. A lovely little Last.fm radio client, Mobbler is an iffy addition to this list because Last.fm is cutting off third-party radio support at some point in the near future, so it probably won't work for long. But it's good, so use it while you still can.

If what you see so far isn't overly heartening, hold on: The Ovi App Store for S40 and S60 is on its way, hopefully in May. Symbian's laissez-faire take on the App Store, it promises a slew of applications and media downloads, installable through a handset client. This could end up two ways: As a consolidated Symbian app aggregator, collecting the above apps and others into an easy interface, or as an attraction for new developers, who'll be drawn by the large audience and easy publishing features of the store. That latter scenario may be better, but neither is bad.

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How's that, exactly? For one, Flash Lite will be supported, opening up a plethora of previously inaccessible streaming video sites. Google Gears will provide offline Google web apps and better performance, competing with the upcoming Offline Gmail feature bound for WebKit-based browsers. OpenGL ES hardware acceleration will add a missing fluidity to movements, assuming your phone has 3D hardware and drivers (like most HTC handsets). Most importantly, 9.7 will have the option to connect to Opera Turbo, the content compression service used in Opera Mini, which does a lot to knock down loading times for a small sacrifice in image quality.

Fans of Skyfire might notice that these features—excluding Gears—are all available on their browser already. True! But one thing isn't: proper VGA and WVGA support, which prevents it from being usable on every desirable Windows Mobile phone, period. So basically, this is very good news. [Opera Mobile via Information Week]

The haul appears to be somewhat modest, but there are definitely a few gems—namely a stupid-fast new Opera Mobile beta and a systemwide orientation sensor. Most of these apps have been downscaled and work with current VGA Touch hardware (and some with any VGA WinMo phone), but expect a little bugginess—especially from the keyboards, which might be best avoided for now. Here's the full list:

HTC Calculator 1.0.1822.4128
HTC Album 2.5.1820.4127 w/ Social Networking
Opera v9.5 build 15613
Diamond2 Sensor with apps regedit
Diamond 2 QuickGPS 1.0.1911.1733
Diamond 2 Keyboard With Arrows
Diamond 2 Keyboard Without Arrows
Diamond 2 Keyboard With Arrows in Landscape Only
Diamond 2 Email Wizard
Diamond 2 Volume Control 2.1.1911.2331

[EverythingDiamond via WMPoweruser]

Changes for this release:

1. added JSR-75 (File API) support which gives access to the SD card for
uploading and downloading and also the possibility to save pages locally
2. added support for video playback (Opera Mini hands over to the
operating system video player)
3. double tap works for zoom/unzoom
4. use of inline url entry instead of native textbox
5. fixed password text entry to show hidden characters
6. fixed problems with exiting application when back button was pressed
7. Improved trackball speed.
8. Using Extra Large font in the builtin pages.

+ many small tweaks and fixes

[Opera]

Opera Mobile 9.5 adds Opera Widgets to deliver a one-click mobile Internet experience:
Opera Mobile 9.5 beta with Opera Widgets on Windows and UIQ now available for download
Opera Widgets Software Development Kit (SDK) with Opera Widget manager for S60

Oslo, Norway - October 20, 2008 - Opera Mobile 9.5 now introduces Opera Widgets to the mobile Internet experience, enabling one-click Web content access. This release marks the second Opera Mobile 9.5 beta for Windows Mobile and the first-ever beta for UIQ-based phones. A developer version of S60 Widget manager is also available within the Opera Widgets SDK.

T-Mobile has already embraced Opera Mobile with Widgets for their web'n'walk initiative, as previously announced on September 18, 2008. Like T-Mobile, other operators can now incorporate Opera Widgets into their customer offering. This means that customer-selected Web content can be accessed from a list of icons on the home-screen. Widgets can also serve as a means of customer communication, as automatic notifications are now easier to instantly deliver to subscribers.

"Opera has built its second Opera Mobile 9.5 beta based on user-generated feedback following its first public release earlier this year," said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "In addition to Opera Widgets, this new test version promises to be a smoother ride than the previous version, as we have improved page loading times and increased our focus on end-user productivity."

Several Opera Widgets are now pre-installed in the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta builds. Additionally, Opera offers downloadable widgets at widgets.opera.com.

Opera always encourages more user-generated widgets and therefore recently updated its Opera Widget Software Development Kit (SDK). This SDK will enable developers to quickly and easily create widgets using standards-based Web technology. The Opera Widgets SDK now includes two new features:

-Opera Dragonfly debugging tool - Develop faster with this tool for debugging JavaScript, inspecting Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the Document Object Model (DOM). Find your errors and get your widget right.
-Widget manager for on-device testing – Widget managers for S60, UIQ and Windows Mobile are included with in the SDK for testing widgets directly on the mobile phone.

Opera is launching the updated SDK with a developer competition called the "X Widget Challenge". Opera is offering $10,000 in cash prizes for the best cross-device widget submissions. Read more about the competition from my.opera.com/widgets.

"Opera has kept developer needs at the heart of this beta release," said Håkon Wium Lie, Chief Technology Officer, Opera Software. "All great developers need great tools to work with. Opera is an industry leader in making the Web a developer-friendly place by constantly innovating within the confines of Web standards. We will continue to create with developers in mind, as we intend to continue to grow our developer toolkit with each consecutive release."

Coming to an event near you Check out Opera Mobile 9.5 with Opera Widgets in Europe, North America and Asia at the following events:
-Smartphone Show in London on October 21-22, 2008
-Mobile Internet World in Boston on October 22-23, 2008
-Web Applications Conference in Seoul on October 23, 2008

Availability
Opera Mobile 9.5 beta with Opera Widgets is ready and waiting for download from www.opera.com/products/mobile/

The Opera Widgets SDK can be downloaded from www.opera.com/b2b/solutions/widgets/

About Opera Software ASA
Opera Software ASA has redefined Web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera's cross-platform Web browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at http://www.opera.com/.

[Opera via Download]

Unmentioned in Laptop's piece is that the Skyfire browser actually shows you a page that has been pre-crunched by Skyfire's servers, so it's essentially showing you an image. And yeah, since the browser itself isn't doing any heavy lifting, it's going to fly. But stuff like text entry is annoying, since you have to input text, send that back to Skyfire, and then it comes back to you. Flash works the same way, but hey, at least it does flash. We're not really sure what's up with Opera Mobile 9.5 taking twice as long as Safari to render a page, but maybe that's 'cause it's big boned feature packed. [Laptop Mag]

The new technology will add video capability directly into the Web browser, so that users can see and play back video content directly in Opera. As of yet, Opera has not commented on whether or not the new native playback ability for Opera Mobile will be able to play existing Flash content.

Sounds good, except the power of Flash is that everyone uses it, market penetration in browsers is sky high, and what good is yet another browser, esp if its specific to mobile phones?

The right thing to do is for Adobe to develop a server side piece of software that can downscale flash content for Mobile devices, depending on browser, connection, etc. They could get rich, and I can get YouTube on my cellphone browser. Unless YouTube is already thinking about this stuff in transcoding to H.264. – Jason Chen, fact checked by Brian Lam

Infoworld [via Ars Technica]