Skyfire’s a new gecko-based browser for Windows Mobile and Symbian phones, and if you’ve got a Windows Mobile based phone, you’ll want to request access to the beta ASAP (the beta program requires a US phone number, unfortunately). It’s not quite ready for prime time, but it is definitely something to track as it moves toward 1.0.

Here are some screen shots of Skyfire in action:

Splash Screen as Skyfire Beta Loads

Optaros.com in full screen view. Note that the flash carousel of images works just as on desktop browser

Zoomed in to enter username and pass in login page

Viewing Flash Video from YouTube

You can get more detailed discussion (and more screenshots on what looks to be a larger screen device) in the recent Ars Technica review, which ultimately concludes:

Although SkyFire has a long way to go before we can determine if Oberhofer really has it right, the concept deserves attention. SkyFire is relatively strong considering the short amount of time that it has been under development, but it can’t really compete with Opera Mobile 9.5 on Windows Mobile devices yet. SkyFire has a decisive advantage for users who want to watch Flash video, but for practically everything else, it’s still more of a proof-of-concept than a fully-functional web browser. We will be sure to give it a second look when it exits beta.

I haven’t yet found Skyfire replacing the phone’s built in Pocket IE for day to day browsing, but I think it easily could once it hits 1.0.

Thanks for the notice from the MobileViews Blog:

I thought this Daylight Savings issue was fixed in last year’s patch. Guess not. Here are the links for the CAB file download as well as the desktop (setup.msi) installer version.

Update for Windows Mobile for PC (KB949168) (SETUP.MSI)

Update for Windows Mobile for PC (KB949168) (WMDST2008-1.CAB)

FYI: I just installed the CAB file installer version on my Dash. It restarted my smartphone without even giving a warning that it was about to do so.

So now I have to go figure out which update I’m supposed to use, and apply it, or else my phone will be off by an hour for much of SXSW next week.

How soon will either an Adroid phone be released or the Nokia N810 line include cell connectivity, so I can use it as a phone – I’d buy one of those easily.

One is its occasional glimpses into the future (see here and here). Another is its refusal to expose my location to Google Maps.

One I haven’t ever figured out is the fact that whenever I travel in Europe (usually Switzerland and Germany) I get tons of SMS messages. They seem to be “Cell Broadcast” messages, meaning they aren’t sent directly to me but to everyone – but my phone seems to pick those CB messages out of the stream only while in Europe.

Here’s a screen shot from my last day in Europe on my most recent trip – in 24 hrs I got 230+ sms messages:

Opening up one of the messages, here’s what they look like (it is typical of the others):

What’s going on here?

Looks to me like I’m getting notified every time I go from one tower to another?

Most importantly, can someone show me how to turn these off? I’ve never found a setting which seems to apply – maybe I need to edit the registry?

All I know is that I don’t think I’ll ever buy a Windows Mobile device again.

3G iPhone in 2008? Maybe.

OpenMoko Neo1973? Maybe.

Something running Android that I can hack at? Bring it on.

First, it never works with the Google Maps “My Location” feature. Here’s all I get:

On top of that, I’m still getting the occasional moment where my cellphone decides it is the future.

This morning my phone briefly thought it was 2009:

Seems to be related to a cell tower somewhere in the vicinity of Chelsea / Everett – just North of the Tobin bridge.

Am I the only one seeing this?

Anyone else see this happening on their Windows Mobile device?

One theory is that I’m hitting a rogue cell tower somewhere in my commute which tells the device it is a later date. But I’ve got “auto update” of date/time disabled, and I’m pretty sure I’ve had this happen even while travelling in other cities and states, so it isn’t specific to one cell tower.

It causes all the event notifications to fire, since they are now overdue, and causes all kinds of other general weirdness, like emails coming from the future.

If only Windows Mobile were open source . . . Guess my next phone will be an OpenMoko.