Easily the biggest complaint about iOS devices has been regarding the lack of Flash support. It’s the one area where Android fans can truly say that their tablet has an edge over the iPad.
As an iPad user, I have found it incredibly frustrating when you’re browsing the web, and all of a sudden there’s a video you can’t watch. Some popular websites have apps you can use to view the videos, and that’s fine, but what if they don’t? The answer is to download the Skyfire Web Browser.
Skyfire allows you to watch any Flash video you come across on the internet. When you open a page with a Flash video, you can touch the video icon in the bottom left hand corner to play the video. The browser will then send the video off to its servers, where it is converted into HTML5 and sent back so you can watch it. This process takes about 20 seconds.
The video quality you receive is decent. It is slightly inferior to the original for obvious reasons, but it is still satisfactory and it is not at all pixelated. The downside however is that it sometimes stops to buffer while you’re watching it. This can be annoying, but it also greatly depends on the speed of your internet connection.
Another drawback is that not all Flash content can be viewed. When I purchased the app, I was hoping to be able to see Flash content, not just Flash video. So if you want to play a game online, for example, this won’t work. The other problem is that it can’t handle streams. You can’t watch something live on the internet, which I found to be quite disappointing.
When it comes to the other aspects of the browser, Skyfire performs fairly well. Skyfire boasts the same style of layout as Safari, so it really shouldn’t take long for new users to understand how everything works.
One neat feature of Skyfire is its Facebook and Twitter integration. Facebook and Twitter icons are located at the bottom, and with one or two clicks, you can not only share links, videos and photos with friends and followers, but also update your status as you browse. Other sharing options also become available if you tap the “Share” icon in the bottom right hand corner, allowing you to post to such sites as Tumblr, Delicious and Instapaper.
As far as speed goes, it’s not quite as fast as Safari, but it is still very good. I presume the reason for this is that the browser has to check the page for videos, so it cannot load content quite as quickly. There are very few settings on this browser: choosing whether to display sites in mobile or desktop mode, or enabling the private browsing option. The lack of settings can be both good and bad, depending on what you plan to use it for.
Verdict
Rating: 2.5/5[rating:2.5]
Put simply, Skyfire is a basic Flash browser that allows you to watch previously unavailable videos. Its inability to view other Flash content like games and video streams, however, is something which I find very disappointing. It does have social network integration, which works well, but the main point of the app – being able to access Flash content – is only half achieved.
I can only recommend this app for those that want to watch non-streaming Flash videos on their iOS device. It isn’t really worthwhile for any other purposes, and at $4.99 (App Store Link), it’s not the cheapest either.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Does its job: you can watch Flash videos without any problems
- Full Facebook and Twitter integration, you can update your status as you browse
Cons:
- Can only be used to view videos, and not other types of content
- Lack of customization
- Converted Flash videos don’t perform well on slower internet connections
