Silk Browser's "Save to Reading List" & Full Screen

Andy_D · 05-11-2016, 05:36 PM

I got the $50 Kindle Fire 7" last week. According to both Amazon and consumer blogs, the Silk browser was supposed to have two features that I couldn't find and that seemed important. They were the "Save to Reading List" where articles could be saved for offline reading and would appear on a saved reading list . The other was being able to select Full Screen the way you can on most desktop browsers with F11.

These features were definitely not on my browser. I tried updating the browser and OS 5 but neither fixed the problem.

Yesterday, both those features suddenly appeared. Both are menu selections that are accessed by tapping an icon of three horizontal dots on the right hand side of the browser.

It would seem that Amazon pushed a new version or patch to the Silk browser, but the thing is, according to Amazon, those features were already there for months, just not on my browser. Any ideas of what was going on or experiences similar to mine?

Do any other browsers for Android have the "Save to reading List" feature? The one negative feature of Silk's reading list is that articles can't be saved to the reading list in "Reading View" (similar to "article view" in ereaders) which is a really good way to read longer articles.

tomsem · 05-11-2016, 09:47 PM

It's not unusual to have some updates waiting when you get a new device. It's possible it got packaged months ago. Yes, it looks like you checked for updates, and one might have expected those to appear right away, but maybe the update server wasn't available at that time, or was feeling otherwise disinclined to push the update.

One place to check is the Updates page:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200529680

And compare that with what it shows in Device Options.

It appears my own Fire tablet (HD6) does not have the latest update, even though I have pushed the CHECK NOW buton. Device says it has 5.1.1, but the updates page shows 5.1.2.1. And Silk does not have the features you mention. Might try a manual update.

Andy_D · 05-11-2016, 10:48 PM

Thanks for the reply.

The system Updates in Device Options says I have 5.1.2 with no build number (no 4th digit). It says it was installed on 5/5/16.

Those new options in Silk were not there until yesterday, 5/10/16. What would account for the re-emergence of those features that blog posters were complaining about having been removed in recent months? Does Silk update itself independently from the OS?

My current Silk Browser version is 49.3.1.2623.105.10. "Uninstall Updates" is greyed out. Would this be due to there having been no updates, or because Silk is running? I didn't want to do a "force stop," because I might lose cached articles.

tomsem · 05-12-2016, 12:39 AM

I am pretty sure Silk updates independently. On my Fire HD6, it is 46.1.66.2490.80.10, so this would explain why I don't have the features. I'm not seeing any 'Uninstall Updates' option.

I did update to 5.1.2.1 but haven't noticed anything different so far. Hopefully they have killed some of the Collections bugs.

05-11-2016, 05:36 PM	#1
Andy_D Connoisseur Posts: 51 Karma: 435082 Join Date: Apr 2015 Device: none	Silk Browser's "Save to Reading List" & Full Screen I got the $50 Kindle Fire 7" last week. According to both Amazon and consumer blogs, the Silk browser was supposed to have two features that I couldn't find and that seemed important. They were the "Save to Reading List" where articles could be saved for offline reading and would appear on a saved reading list . The other was being able to select Full Screen the way you can on most desktop browsers with F11. These features were definitely not on my browser. I tried updating the browser and OS 5 but neither fixed the problem. Yesterday, both those features suddenly appeared. Both are menu selections that are accessed by tapping an icon of three horizontal dots on the right hand side of the browser. It would seem that Amazon pushed a new version or patch to the Silk browser, but the thing is, according to Amazon, those features were already there for months, just not on my browser. Any ideas of what was going on or experiences similar to mine? Do any other browsers for Android have the "Save to reading List" feature? The one negative feature of Silk's reading list is that articles can't be saved to the reading list in "Reading View" (similar to "article view" in ereaders) which is a really good way to read longer articles.

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05-11-2016, 09:47 PM	#2
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,904 Karma: 27013865 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	It's not unusual to have some updates waiting when you get a new device. It's possible it got packaged months ago. Yes, it looks like you checked for updates, and one might have expected those to appear right away, but maybe the update server wasn't available at that time, or was feeling otherwise disinclined to push the update. One place to check is the Updates page: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200529680 And compare that with what it shows in Device Options. It appears my own Fire tablet (HD6) does not have the latest update, even though I have pushed the CHECK NOW buton. Device says it has 5.1.1, but the updates page shows 5.1.2.1. And Silk does not have the features you mention. Might try a manual update.

05-11-2016, 10:48 PM	#3
Andy_D Connoisseur Posts: 51 Karma: 435082 Join Date: Apr 2015 Device: none	Thanks for the reply. The system Updates in Device Options says I have 5.1.2 with no build number (no 4th digit). It says it was installed on 5/5/16. Those new options in Silk were not there until yesterday, 5/10/16. What would account for the re-emergence of those features that blog posters were complaining about having been removed in recent months? Does Silk update itself independently from the OS? My current Silk Browser version is 49.3.1.2623.105.10. "Uninstall Updates" is greyed out. Would this be due to there having been no updates, or because Silk is running? I didn't want to do a "force stop," because I might lose cached articles.

05-12-2016, 12:39 AM	#4
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,904 Karma: 27013865 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	I am pretty sure Silk updates independently. On my Fire HD6, it is 46.1.66.2490.80.10, so this would explain why I don't have the features. I'm not seeing any 'Uninstall Updates' option. I did update to 5.1.2.1 but haven't noticed anything different so far. Hopefully they have killed some of the Collections bugs.

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