Kindle 3 web browser idiosyncracies and workarounds

The recent blog entry on the free, downloadable web-bookmarks file explained the updates needed due to different links recommended for the Kindle 3  (UK: K3) models, as accessing of some websites that had been doable with all the earlier Kindles was sometimes problematical for the otherwise surprisingly-capable Kindle-3 WebKit-based browser.

  Be sure to read first the earlier blog entry if you haven't already, as it has some important details, about the Bookmarks file, that I'm not including in this blog entry.

Oddities we saw
Attempts to download the file I wrote about brought out some additional quirks in that the Kindle 3 opened the Amazon-formatted file instead of downloading it to the Kindle as a book-file, and as a result Kindle 3 users saw gibberish appearing on the screen, which was harmless but a bit alarming.  For me, this happened only with the Kindle 3.  (I had emailed, to my Kindle-3 address, the original Word doc file for conversion to an Amazon file.)

Comments from blog readers
  After comments here from Jeff, Tom Semple and Dawdling Tourist that Amazon azw-format files were downloadable by the Kindle 3 from some other sites, I realized that the latest web browser needed to be told what kind of (mime) format the Amazon Kindle's was and that some other websites predefined this for web browsers which might not be aware of the Amazon book format.

  (Also, Mac Safari users were unable to download the Amazon file but could get it via Internet Explorer or Firefox.)

  The Kindles 1, 2, and DX's were able to recognize the .azw format as a file that should be downloaded and asked us if we wanted the file for the Kindle.  The Kindle 3 just opened it, and it is not a regular text file (none of the Amazon books are)

A solution
So, I made an adjustment last night, at my area of the pair.com servers in Pennsylvania that host my site, to pre-define the type of file an Amazon book file (.azw) is, as the Kindle-3 browser currently doesn't seem to know how to handle it for the Kindle, visibly streaming the file instead of offering to download it, and so those trying to receive the file saw only a display of what some called screen-gibberish, odd characters which can be "freaky" to see, as one commenter put it.

Now the Kindle 3 offers to download the file and does it quickly.  That's a relief.  There has been a lot of activity on that file, so I hope this explains what happened with Kindle-3 attempts, and I also hope that the programmers read this and can include the mime-definitions in the next Kindle-3 update.  I did write last night to kindle-response@amazon.com to give feedback on the current software update (v3.0.2).


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

My white Kindle-3 photos of screen contrast + web browser's Article Mode

LARGER versions of the pics below are at my PBase photos site.
    Essentially, the first 3 below are photo comparisons of my new Kindle 3, a white, not graphite one -- am I the first?  :-)

  The others show, at the New York Times:
  . the Home page in vertical and horizontal modes with the new Webkit-based web browser and then a sequence of:
  . zooming-in for options and choosing an article, and
  . getting that article in Article Mode.

 I took many more, so I'll be updating that photo site.

Reminder: You can (1) click here to see the page of larger versions of the shots below, or
  (2) click on a photo to get the larger one.

SCREEN CONTRAST: Kindle 3 vs Kindle 2

Kindle 3 and Kindle 2 with same screen-sleeper

Kindle 3's Birds screen-sleeper

Kindle 2's Birds screen-sleeper

BROWSING WITH KINDLE 3 at The New York Times

New York Times Home Page in Landscape mode

Portrait, w/ zoom-in box showing	Zoomed-in area
Chosen article. selecting Article Mode.	Article Mode version

Hope some of that helped!


ADDENDUM - an older photo of the Kindle 2 screen image

---

Here, for commenter Anonymous who felt the K2 solo or close-up image was "just too poor" to be believed, is a smaller-sized version of the picture I took of the Kindle-2 birds screen-sleeper 1-1/2 years ago when I just enjoyed the image as it was.

  Note how close that is to the picture a week ago.  The Kindle 3 contrast is so much better, it makes the Kindle 2 image look "just too poor" for the commenter.  That older image is at the old Kindle-1 and Kindle-2 comparison page and was taken back in Feb. '09, which seems eons ago in this digital world.


Kindle 3   (UK: Kindle 3),   DX Graphite

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Are Amazon's new Kindles tablets on training wheels?

Note that this is a photo that shows both the White and Graphite Kindle 3's together, since forum members have been wondering which one to get and there are few pictures of the non-Graphite-color model.

TechNewsWorld's Katherine Noyes asks, "Are Amazon's New Kindles Tablets-in-Training?"

She and others wonder about this because Amazon is moving to the WebKit-based browser, which is an open source web browser engine.  Per the succinct definition at the link, "open source" refers to "any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit.  Open source software is usually developed as a public collaboration and made freely available."

  WebKit is also the name of the Mac OS X system framework version of the engine that's used by Safari, Dashboard, Mail, and many other OS X applications.  So it starts to become clearer that this new version of an experimental Basic Web browser (offered since the first Kindle in 2007) is going to be less sluggish and awkward than the one on current models often is, although the latter's been improved somewhat in the last 2-3 months with software version 2.5.x.

  WebKit is the basis of many smartphone web browsers (which also work best with text-focused or mobile-device optimized sites), so we should expect that kind of response with the new Kindles, including the optional, selectable 'Article Mode' capability that strips a page of all but the main body of text, leaving out banners and a ton of links to other places that are often seen on the sides of a webpage.  Yes, especially on my page, though I hope the reference-info in the right column is useful when accessing via a computer.

  That will make following links to pages like this one far more doable in the Kindle Edition of the blog.

Here are some main thoughts I felt were 'on the money' from Noyes's article:

' Amazon's new, slimmed-down Kindle devices are notable for several things, not the least of which are the upgrades to their experimental WebKit browser.
 It's faster and easier to navigate, says Amazon, and its new "article mode" feature extracts the main text-based content from Web pages for easier reading.

Free Web browsing with Kindle over 3G or WiFi is also part of the package, thanks to a new beta program, Amazon announced.
...
"The Kindle has always had a limited browser -- it is just getting a bit more capability this time," Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst with the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. "It lends itself to specialized and text-focused kinds of content."
...
'Browsing Is Intentionally Limited'
"Kindles have a keyboard and a track stick, and much of the Web content is static and just fine with e-paper," Enderle explained. After all, "PCs didn't have touchscreens, and they were fine with the Web."

Still, "the wireless model builds the cost of access into book transactions, and browsing is intentionally limited to not drive Kindle financial performance into the red," he noted.

  [Emphases on quotes are mine, but I've always felt this was an important point.]

"The Kindle is focused on e-commerce transactions, and while these initially are just books, I expect you'll be able to buy a wider variety of things in the future," Enderle predicted. "In fact, I'm kind of surprised you can't just shop on Amazon using it yet."

[Actually, you CAN shop on Amazon using it, at some regular links.
It's not recommended as it takes a long time to load the pages for things like the Top100 Free or Paid books, but I tried it one day and was able to get a book from tne normal Top100 page.]
...
Ultimately, however, "I really see them playing in a different territory, defined by features but also by price, as a specialized device," [Al] Hilwa [program director for application development software research at IDC] concluded. "The problem with reading is that to expand beyond the hard-core book readers, they have to have browsing, because for a lot of people reading is a fragmented, hyperlink-chasing experience where we are looking up phrases, words, ideas, news, etc."

'A Very Defined Usage Model'
Amazon has actually indicated that it is "not interested in building another tablet, which is rapidly becoming a crowded market," Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist with In-Stat, pointed out.

Rather, "Amazon seems content building a device with limited functionality and a very defined usage model," McGregor told TechNewsWorld. "I would not read too much into the inclusion of the browser other than to enhance the current functionality of the device to access content from Amazon."
...
One current problem, of course, "is that TFT displays like the iPad uses suck for reading because they aren't outdoor viewable and are very power hungry," Enderle pointed out. "Display technologies like the Qualcomm Mirasol stuff [subdued color with e-paper-like qualities but able to do video] will change this over the next 18 months, and by the end of next year -- likely before -- we'll begin to see converged devices."

In the meantime, "the spoiler in the market is still Google, which doesn't have an Android tablet yet but certainly will have one soon," Gillin noted. "I would expect that all three of those companies" -- Amazon, Apple and Google -- "will battle it out. There is plenty of market for everybody, so all of them can win." '

The article included other quotes with different viewpoints that were less convincing to me but if curious about them, you should read the full article.

---

Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.