Skyfire Beta for BlackBerry released to testers

By on Jul 11, 2009 at 1:27 PM
Software July 11, 2009

Try to compose yourselves, BlackBerry users. We know it’s hard, what with the knowledge that you’re now closer than ever to having a browser on your handsets that isn’t completely abysmal, but do try. Word came through this morning that registered Skyfire BlackBerry testers now have a new version available and ripe for the picking. The beta, version 1.0.0.12304, is said to be a pretty significant improvement over the alpha 2 version though there’s still plenty of work to be done. Patience is a virtue but let’s tell it like it is — we can’t be rid of the BlackBerry browser soon enough so hurry up Skyfire Labs! Hit the jump for the new feature list along with known bugs.

Some of the features we did add:

  • New Keyboard Shortcuts:
    We mapped the keyboard shortcuts to be similar to the ones in the native BlackBerry browser to offer a more familiar user experience.
  • Switch to Skyfire:
    Once Skyfire is installed, you’ll see a “Switch to Skyfire” option show up in the options menu of the original Blackberry browser. We added this feature to help when users click on links in email and SMS and end up launching the native browser instead of Skyfire or when you navigate to a web site that is better viewed in Skyfire.
  • Text Entry in Thumbnail view:
    You now don’t have to zoom-in to enter text. We resolved that issue and now enter text directly in the thumbnail view of pages.
  • Contextual zoom with camera corners:
    Similar to the other Skyfire platforms, we now support contextual zoom. Thus we detect areas of interest (say articles or images) and allow you to zoom-in to areas easily by fitting the area of interest to the screen dimensions.
  • Faster zooming:
    You’ll see a great improvement in your ability to zoom. Unlike Alpha 2, the page displays text at all zoom levels, without any redrawing of the screen. Less checkerboards.

Know Bugs In The Latest Build:

  • You cannot connect to Skyfire: We still have limited capacity for this Alpha. Thus if enough testers are already browsing at the moment, you might not be able to connect. Simply try again in a few minutes. This is a good reminder as well to NOT share this alpha with anyone (as per NDA), since this would limit capacity even further. The next release will address this.
  • General hiccups when entering and exiting streaming mode, including: “An error occurred while playing media” error message when flash object is detected and “streaming” mode activated.
  • Slow performance on 2.5G networks. We are still optimizing. You will get the best experience on 3G or WiFi networks for now.
  • “An error occurred while playing media” error message in streaming mode.
  • Sometimes you cannot control volume while in stream mode. This is a known BlackBerry bug.
  • Stale tiles from the previously visited pages show up when scrolling up or down. We’re working on fixes to reduce checkerboards.

Read

Tags:
, , , , , , ,
44 Comments

Related Articles

  • http://www.hernandezlawAZ.com TechnoBeaver

    No. The BlackBerry browser is not a matter of preference. It’s horrible, utterly disastrous. Ghastly.

    Opera Mini never gets “hung up” but it’s clunky and has no option to email a website to other.

    Bolt is not ready for primetime with its tiny, tiny script.

    How do we get this beta? I really want it.

  • e

    Can’t wait but for now using the bolt which is also awesome.

  • jdizzle

    Who cares? Blackfairies are for retarded infants… And homosexuals

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Acworth United States

  • detest53

    So you’re saying our pres is retarded, a baby, and gay. And Boy Genius who has a Bold is also all those things. Funny stuff. Don’t quit your day job. Oh, what’s that? You don’t have a job.

  • StevenGlansburg

    @Danny,

    My reception is working 3G pretty well even for middle of no where while out in the middle of no where. So in closing eat a DICK

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Columbiana United States

  • JoeTour

    Oh jdizzle
    You are one retarded infant homo, since you never miss a chance to talk about it, it has to be so.

  • p

    fu fu fu fuck the BB browswer.

    I can’t believe some low ass are even saying that the native browser is usable for anything more than wap site.

    Can’t wait for Skyfire. Seems to me that every app on the storm is better than the BB OS itself.

    Oh and I’m running .151 on my sucky Storm 1.

  • BlackberryMAX

    Can’t wait. It seems close.

  • Wiseowl

    Opera Mini is all I need for web browsing, but I will give skyfire a shot

  • stayfly

    yeah I’m working with the bolt browser which is totally official but I really want the skyfire bad like Michael Jackson.

  • Patrick

    @ grrr

    Storm 2 >>> tour

    kthx (:

  • Jordan Brown

    Honestly I use Bolt when on wifi, opera on towers, and Blackberry Browser for certain things in between. More or less. Some sites just render terrible no matter what.

    And on the E75 I use Opera. For everything. And its a much better at rendering and working on 3g or wifi. Or edge for that matter.

  • Jordan Brown

    Oh, and Skyfire is a nice browser. It renders most anything, on towers or wifi. Although can struggle in low reception areas.

  • Ben

    Without WiFi it’s just another phone

  • blah

    If anyone has the beta, could you please try acid3.acidtests.org and see what score it gives for html compatibility.

  • http://www.blackberryos.com curtcrack88

    I cannot WAIT to get rid of the native BB browser..SKYFIRE HURRY!!!!

  • Um No

    @Chris, re: BlackBerry browser.

    The current BB browser is nothing more than a glorified WAP browser and would have been cool in, say, 1999. But by today’s standards, it’s outdated crap.

  • Um No

    @Chad

    No, it won’t support Flash. No BlackBerry device is capable of that. RIM’s rudimentary OS and refusal to release anything based on technology developed in the last 10 years has seen to that.

    Java is slow, outdated and antediluvian, in terms of software development platforms. Not to mention lacking the horsepower and sophistication needed to support Flash.

  • damian

    Oooo. Daddy likes. Used palm,mw, and now bb. I’m liking it, but miss skyfire. Used it on MW 6.1. Worked great. Almost scary how flawless. Ill be very excited when I can use it on my BB.

1 2
blog comments powered by Disqus