Decent browsing hasn't been on that list before with Windows Mobile; not without paying for Opera Mobile and even then, it's the usual what about Flash/Silverlight/a decent data speed question. What is the answer for the mobile Web? Cram the best part of a desktop OS onto the phone? Force us to use text pages or transcoded slice-and-dice versions of pages? Do it all on a big server somewhere? I haven't been a fan of the latter approach in the past - and how much of that it because Opera Mini is written in Java and combines an irritating user interface with an irritating security model, I don't know, but I'm a now bit of a convert.
Not to Opera Mini; to Skyfire. It's not perfect, it's not out of beta and every now and then it jumps back to the page I was trying to leave. But the rest of the time it shows real Web pages, Flash and all, Ajax and all, JavaScript and all. No more desparately looking for a coffee shop with free Wi-Fi to get online to check in; if I can change my seat on a Virgin flight in Skyfire, I'll be able to check in. I even found myself watching Merlin on the BBC iPlayer through Skyfire and I hate the idea of gormless boy Merlin, but the video quality was just so nice... And a small phone screen is just the right match for the quality of most videos on YouTube. For a more considered approach, check out my review of Skyfire on TechRadar
