Mobile browser Skyfire begins its public beta phase

The latest Skyfire beta offers a full Web browsing experience to WM5, WM6, and Symbian S60 devices, enabling the consumption of media that's usually off limits to users of the "mobile Web." At least that's what it offers.

Of the three "screens" that the marketers of converged devices say are critical to the consumers' lifestyles -- television, computer, and handset -- it's the third that has been the most neglected in terms of the availability of media. Sure, improved storage has allowed greater volumes of audio and video content to be stored and played back on mobile phones. But with streaming media now a prime focus for content providers, our lowest-power and often most slowly connected screen could often use a little push.

This is Skyfire's specialty. With the now public version of Skyfire (v. 0.8), the browser's page loading and streaming has been sped up, and now supports image and .PDF downloading. The interface has also been redesigned to rely less heavily on text.

Users of the private beta (v. 0.6) have reported difficulty in upgrading, including BetaNews which attempted to test Skyfire this afternoon. In a number of our tests, version 0.6 completely froze the handset to the point where the power button would not even respond, and despite providing an overall excellent experience, it still needed quite a bit of work. Performance and installation problems seem to stem from conflicts with the former version, as reports from new users appear to be generally favorable.

Unfortunately, the beta is still only available in the United States.