Wanna watch Flash video on your iPhone? If you sit around waiting for Apple and Adobe to make nice isn't worth the effort, you're going to grow moss. But a partial solution is available today: Skyfire, a browser that can play some Flash-based video that's not otherwise available on iOS devices. Apple has approved it, and it's now on the App store for $2.99.
As with the Android version that came out last spring (before FlashPlayer itself shipped for Android), the iPhone edition of the browser scans Web pages for Flash-based video. In many -- but not all -- cases, it'll pop up a thumbnail video icon, which means that it can play a version of the video converted into the iPhone's H.264 format. Click on the icon, and Skyfire will buffer and play the video.
Skyfire isn't a miracle cure for unplayable iOS video. The watching process isn't exactly seamless: When I sampled video at Comedy Central, ESPN, PCWorld, and other sites, it took from a few seconds up to about ninety seconds before video started to play, and it was sometimes a bit jumpy before settling down. S
Like the Android version of Skyfire, this one utilizes the WebKit rendering engine built into the operating system but layers its own set of features on top. It has a bunch of items that Safari lacks, including the ability to quickly switch between mobile and full versions of Web sites; sharing via Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail; a private browsing mode; and a related-pages feature that wasn't too useful when I tried it. If you find Safari skimpy on features, you might prefer this browser. (My go-to iPhone browser, however, remains Atomic Web Browser, the most desktop-like one I've found.)
I must confess that spend virtually no time moping about the lack of Flash on the iPhone. I am, however, a fan of browser choice and competition -- so I consider the availability of Skyfire, Atomic Web Browser, Opera Mini, and others on the iPhone as good news. If you give it a try, let us know what you think.
This story, "Skyfire Brings (Some) Flash Video to iPhone" was originally published by Technologizer.