Skyfire is preparing to launch a major update to its mobile browser for Google Android soon. The company isn’t talking about new features yet, but in a blog post the Skyfire team says that a new pricing structure will be rolled out. Since Skyfire 3.2 is available as a free download, it’s a safe bet this means that version 4.0 will have a price tag.
That said, it sounds like Skyfire 4.0 will be a free update for all existing users, so it seems like now is as god a time as any to install Skyfire. That said, Skyfire already charges for its iPhone browser, but it doesn’t charge very much. You can download that app for just $2.99. There’s little reason to expect the Android version to be much more expensive.
The URL for the blog post also mentions “freemium,” which suggests that there may be free and paid versions of Skyfire 4.0.
The web browser’s claim to fame is that it brings support for some Adobe Flash video to platforms that wouldn’t otherwise support it. That includes devices running Android 2.1 and earlier. While Adobe offers a Flash Player plugin, it only supports Android 2.2 and up.
Skyfire does this by using remote servers to compress and convert web content including Flash video before sending it to your phone, which helps reduce the bandwidth and processing power needed to render complex web pages.
The Skyfire browser also has social tools built in, making it easy to access your Facebook data or share pages with contents.
