If there’s one thing that’s at the top of every anti-iOS whiner’s list, it’s the lack of Adobe Flash video playback that is sure to be mentioned first and foremost. Thankfully, the arrival of Skyfire squashed some of those dissenting opinions--and now the app has been super-sized for the iPad.
Skyfire for iPad slipped into the App Store late Wednesday, narrowly missing the approval holiday dead zone that began Thursday and runs through next Tuesday, December 28. At the top of everyone’s wish list is Flash video playback on the iPad’s bigger display, but there’s a lot more to the upscaled Skyfire than that trick.
The $4.99 iPad edition of Skyfire is practically a souped-up mobile version of the popular RockMelt and Flock social web browsers--an all-new “Skybar” toolbar gives you one-click access to video and related content, complete with quick views of your Facebook and Twitter accounts, a Fireplace tab to see what your friends are sharing and even a universal Like tab to like any page on the Internet with a single click. The fun doesn’t stop there, including integration with Google Reader, Instapaper, Pinboard and Read It Later as well.
We gave Skyfire for iPad a through exploration and here’s how to get your social going with the new app.
When you first launch Skyfire for iPad, you’ll be taken to a web page of featured sites where you can enjoy Flash content, including South Park Studios and other Comedy Central shows. If you’d rather default to some other page (or none at all), tap the settings icon in the upper right corner, then More Settings and finally Start Page. Select Blank to launch no web page at all, or Custom to enter a default URL. Tap Done to proceed.
While you’re already in Settings, we recommend tapping Accept Cookies and changing from the default “Always” to “From visited” -- no sense letting every random site throwing cookies at Skyfire when all you need are the sites you actually visit.
If you want to browse for Flash videos (and let’s face it, that’s probably why you purchased Skyfire in the first place), you’ll want to make sure “Load page as” is set for Desktop and not iPad (as seen above); this forces Skyfire to load the full version of a web page (rather than the mobile or iOS-optimized one), which will be required to view a lot of video content in the first place. For instance, popular teen network The CW has an iOS-optimized website which is stripped of all their full episodes -- if you load the page as Desktop, you’ll magically see that content appear.
Last but not least, if you want to control what you share, you’ll want to select “Turn off auto-share” from the More Settings window -- that will give you the control to decide on a case-by-case basis when and what you share with your social network as you actually do it.
Next, let’s get Skyfire connected to your social networks. Tap the Facebook tab at the bottom and you’ll see a Facebook Connect prompt; tap Continue and then enter your e-mail/phone and password and tap Login. You’ll be asked to Allow the Skyfire browser access to your data, and once you do that, you’ll see a mini version of Facebook populate the area above the tab.
Within the Facebook tab, you’ll have access to your home stream, Events, Places, Profile, Friends and Inbox tabs, as well as the ability to see Notifications and Requests by tapping the icon in the upper left of the window. You can even search by using the icon in the upper right. Tap the tab again (or anywhere outside of the Facebook window) to close it.
Moving on to the next tab, let’s set up Twitter. You’ll likely be asked to allow mobile Twitter to use your current location (which you can confirm by tapping OK or deny by tapping Don’t Allow), then enter your Twitter username and password and you’re good to go. From here you can see your tweets, Mentions, Faves and Direct Messages or send one of your own.
The Fireplace tab is perfect for seeing what kind of media your Facebook friends are sharing, without the clutter of the usual Facebook experience. If any of your friends link to video content created with Adobe Flash, you’ll be able to open the page and watch it through Skyfire’s conversion. Likewise, the Popular tab taps into your Facebook account to see what’s popular with your friends; you’ll have to sign in again on this tab by tapping Sign In.
Google Reader is featured on the next tab -- tap it and enter your Google e-mail and password and you’ll get the mobile version of your Reader feeds, right from within Skyfire for iPad. You can read your feeds, open links in another tab from the Skyfire browser and even update your subscriptions without ever leaving the app.
If you frequently use the Like option on Facebook, you’ll love Skyfire for iPad’s Like tab, which allows you to Like any page from any website you visit with the browser. Assuming you’re already signed into your Facebook account from that tab, simply tap the Like tab and then the Like button while you have the page in question opened -- you’ll see the window change to “You like this,” and the Like will show up on your Profile page under Recent Activity. If you change your mind, just tap Unlike and your indecision will be erased for good.
The final Skyfire tab is Sharing -- tap it and you’ll be presented with the option to share a link on Facebook, Twitter, via e-mail, Delicious, Google Reader, Read It Later, Instapaper or Pinboard. Note that for most of these options, you’ll have to enter your credentials the first time you share a link -- in some cases, you’ll also have to choose a few options, such as Google Reader, where you have the option to share as a Note (and make it public or private). Each option also has the option to enable auto-sharing, if you’re the type who likes to send everything you share into the world without having to think about it.
Skyfire for iPad does a masterful job of viewing web content and keeping you within the app with its social versatility and sharing options. Does that mean it will wind up being your main iOS web browser? That depends on how you use it.
For instance, Skyfire for iPad doesn’t have access to your Safari bookmarks -- you’ll have to enter your favorite websites all over again, or use a service like Xmarks so you can browse to your bookmarks from their website and select them as needed. We’d also love to see Airplay compatibility added to the browser, especially with the ability to watch Flash videos -- but not even Mobile Safari can stream compatible videos from the browser just yet, so maybe in a future update.
Otherwise, if you love to stay socially connected and play Flash videos, Skyfire for iPad will keep you quite happy indeed. You’ll need $4.99 and an iPad with iOS 3.2 or later to find out.
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