How useful is WiFi/Browser?

[carld]

The browser also doesn't seem to remember magnification between pages, which is annoying. All-in-all the browser is usable, but you're going to have a better browsing experience on your laptop, however, if it's one or the other, then, I think, the Kindle will do well enough if you're looking for mobility.

Hopefully the upcoming firmware update we've heard about will make the browser a little more stable and easier to use.

[ST889]

Originally Posted by Tiersten

The navigation is slightly annoying because you have to use the little 5 way to move around though but its workable. Same again for scrolling around a page.

If Article mode works on a page then it generally makes it significantly easier to read although pressing Back doesn't take you back to Article mode annoyingly.

it looks like, from carld's screenshots, that there's no need for scrolling, except page up/down, and it's still readable if you switch to landscape mode? is this the case?

[Tiersten]

Originally Posted by ST889

it looks like, from carld's screenshots, that there's no need for scrolling, except page up/down, and it's still readable if you switch to landscape mode? is this the case?

If it is Landscape then yes you can view the page with just page up/down. If it is portrait then I get the zoom selection box.

[kathyfitz]

Originally Posted by ST889

But do you get eye strain when looking at a backlit screen for a prolonged period? And in the long term healthwise, i suspect that reading from an eink screen will be better than reading from lcd.

I don't get any eye strain from reading my iPad, and I have read all day and into the night on it. Different people react differently. But it is nice to see how well the Kindle works on forums, it would be easy to use outside in bright light!

[ST889]

Originally Posted by carld

The browser also doesn't seem to remember magnification between pages, which is annoying. All-in-all the browser is usable, but you're going to have a better browsing experience on your laptop, however, if it's one or the other, then, I think, the Kindle will do well enough if you're looking for mobility.

Hopefully the upcoming firmware update we've heard about will make the browser a little more stable and easier to use.

i have no doubt that browsing on a laptop is better than on a 6" kindle but I am willing to sacrifice some of it to not stare at a backlit screen.

As long as it is usable and not too annoying then that'll do me!

[clintbradford]

The included Web browser on the Kindle3 WiFi is a work in progress. It will only get better.

>> ... But do you get eye strain when looking at a backlit screen for a prolonged period?

I used smartphones and PDAs for reading for years, and there was no "eye strain" involved. Oh, many will swear that the use of an iPad or other backlit device to read books will make your retinas melt in a minute or two ... but most of that is just folks who blindly re-post whatever they read on the 'Net and/or from folks who have never actually read on a backlit system. I found that either cyan or yellow text on a black background was a very comfortable reading experience.

But that is just from someone who has actually done it for years. Those with much less experience will tell me I am totally off-base. (grin)

[bob coxner]

Originally Posted by desertblues

I have 3G, because I plan to travel a lot and would like to order some books on the go. The Kindle-browser is slow, but it works. There are several bookmarks preprogrammed, like google, amazon, facebook, yahoo. The search on Google g.e. works, but to read it in actual size one has to choose for ' landscape'. Even then it is not possible to read the whole section at once.
I also have an iPad, with a Mifi 2325 for travelling. When I'm abroad that connection also is slow, perhaps due to my prepaid card (0,99 cent for 50 mb), but it works a lot better. On the whole; to read forums and to react, I prefer the iPad with its 9,7 inch screen and color.

Where can you get prepaid data cards for 99 cents for 50mb? Verizon charges $15 for 100mb and it's only good for 1 day. Virgin Mobile is $10 for 100mb but it's good for 10 days.

[desertblues]

Bob; Vodafone Ireland (also on eBay).

[kindlekitten]

I just posted this in another section, but I gotta tell ya' it saved my ass, and as far as I am concerned due to the circumstances, more than paid for the device itself. and this was on the K2I'

well I still write with a fountain pen and I write a LOT!

true recent kindle story... I just got back from Mexico, business, not pleasure. FLYING across the border tends to add about a thousand bucks to the airfare, so when it IS business and not please and no one is paying you back, you tend to cut corners. I had made reservations on one of the rather nice bus lines to go down, it left at 1 in the morning. it seems that I had written down my confirmation number ONE number off!!! (who ya' gonna call at 1 a.m. to sort it out?)the station in town was in an area that didn't have a snow ball's chance in hell of having any wifi access and I don't have browsing on my phone. well I jumped on the trusty Kindle, went on line, pulled up my gmail, got my confirmation and wa-la!!!!

next part of the journey... I arrive where my MIL is supposed to pick me up (I come to find out over the next few days that "directionally challenged" is a MINOR description of this woman. she was in the right TOWN and that is about it. my cell phone had not decided that it was internationally roaming at this point yet, so once again, jump on the kindle, go to my email, email someone I KNOW would be online at the time, give them her phone number, and we start triangulating using "can you see the cathedral?" (my friend is calling her, and emailing me on my kindle). it took about 45 minutes, but we connected, I was picked up and on my merry way. try that on most of these other devices!

[Slingsby]

Browser works. If I start moving the cursor and clicking too fast, it will freeze. I set it down and it sorts itself out in a few minutes in most cases.

It's been more useful than I expected. I loaded a number of mobile web sites into the bookmarks. For example, pages like this:

http://m.wund.com/cgi-bin/findweathe...le&query=44325

Kindle 3 delivers this no problem.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ST889

i have no doubt that browsing on a laptop is better than on a 6" kindle but I am willing to sacrifice some of it to not stare at a backlit screen.

As long as it is usable and not too annoying then that'll do me!

At the moment I honestly have to say that isn't usable in a practical sense - ie, you really could not use a Kindle as a serious web browsing device.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by HarryT

At the moment I honestly have to say that isn't usable in a practical sense - ie, you really could not use a Kindle as a serious web browsing device.

no, but it saves your ass in bumbf*ck Mexico!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

no, but it saves your ass in bumbf*ck Mexico!

But we're talking about the K3, remember. The K2's web browser isn't as sophisticated as the K3's, but it's a heck of a lot more stable.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But we're talking about the K3, remember. The K2's web browser isn't as sophisticated as the K3's, but it's a heck of a lot more stable.

I understand. my point is, is that if the younger brother saved my butt think about the new and improved edition can do!

[ST889]

Originally Posted by HarryT

At the moment I honestly have to say that isn't usable in a practical sense - ie, you really could not use a Kindle as a serious web browsing device.

I suppose I won't be using it as a serious web browsing device but rather as a device to browse the web where reading large amount of texts is the main purpose like a forum for instance or blogs. Where I hope this will be good enough.