Opera is the current “rising star” and the most downloaded mobile web browser.
On June Opera reported on more than 14.5 million users, referring to the Opera Mini browser.
The massive penetration of the Opera Mini has to do with several reasons but mainly it has to do with the browser itself, it enables any mobile phone to surf the web as easy as it is on the PC.
Ok, almost, but it is the best and more impotent free solution for mobile phone with Netfront based browser that can not deal with full HTML browsing.
Opera Mini gradually increases its market share by cooperating with mobile manufacturers like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and recently also Micromax, an Indian manufacturer.
A smaller market share are the Samrtphones but regarding to Mobile browsing it is a “hot” issue.
Apple Safari browser on the iPhone enables full web browsing with the known problems with flash, Skyfire a new mobile web browsing is trying to bring an upgraded iPhone “web surfing experience” to the mass market of smartphones.
The review won’t be on Skyfire WM smartphones which enjoy also the Opera mobile 9.5, it will take place on a Symbian S60 device or in my case my trusted nokia E61.

User Interface

The best user interface for mobile browser is still a mystery, One thing is sure a bad UI is frustrating.
Don’t get me wrong the Skyfire has a good UI but it is those small things that annoy the most.
There isn’t any URL Auto-Completion and it take some hard maneuvers to set the text right so you can actually read something.
On the other hand there are some great stuff on the Skyfire, the “scroll bar” that informs your location on the site, and the shortcuts.

Video

Isn’t it the reason we are all here?! The Flash and JavaScript support?!
The Skyfire is one of the few mobile web browsers that can display embedded videos, in my case (Nokia E61) it is the only one.
Video looks great on the Skyfire, finally I can read a post and watch the embedded video.  I can also search for videos straight from google which for me is a great plus.
It feels like I am browsing on my PC.
The browser auto-focuses on the video and displays it on full screen mode, you can also lower and increase the volume.

speed

the results are with Wi-Fi connection.
CNN- 8.3 Seconds
Facebook- 8.8 Seconds
Google- 2.2 Seconds

Conclusion

Overall the Skyfire is a great browser.
It has some problems and flaws but hey, Skyfire is still in a really early beta.
You should consider it as early “labor pains”, I am sure that the next versions will only get better.
So if you can’t wait for the Flash support to come Skyfire is for you, otherwise wait a bit as time will only do better for the new player in town- Skyfire.