How useful is WiFi/Browser?

[carld]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

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

That was a great story kindlekitten, really funny and true-to-life for those of us looking at it from a distance. Glad your Kindle came in so handy. I've used it a time or two to get directions and locations of places I'm going. Thankfully, I've never been stranded in Mexico.

[SteveEisenberg]

I will be checking out this K3 browser tip, although I have to familiarize myself with Google Reader first:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/...ps-for-kindle/

First, log into your Google Reader account and use the awkward cursor control to navigate your feed list. Then hit the “right” cursor to enter the news articles themselves. Then comes the trick: just press “f” to enter full-screen mode, instantly turning your Kindle into a custom newspaper. You can scroll through the article with the Kindle’s page-turn buttons, and – using Google Reader’s keyboard commands – press “j” and “k” to page through articles.

Ron says that “this works best with images turned off in the kindle browser” and with a bigger font size for easier reading: “I happen to like 200%,” he says.

[carld]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

I will be checking out this K3 browser tip, although I have to familiarize myself with Google Reader first:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/...ps-for-kindle/

Thanks for the link. I would totally play Bard's Tale: Kindle Edition.

[SteveEisenberg]

Re tip in my post #32 above, I have been trying to use the Google Reader's default News bundle, on my K3, and every article I try to read comes back "Web browser could not open this link because opening multiple windows is not supported." This is even true with the New York Times, although when I go into mobile.nytimes.com directly, there is no problem.

On the weather front, I am finding the following to work well, at least in the US:

1. Go to mobile.weather.gov
2. Enter your zip code and click on "Go."
3. Click on "Detailed 7-day Forecast"
4. When the forecast is returned, press Menu and then save with "Bookmark this Page."
5. To give a clearly understandable bookmark name, press Menu again to go to Bookmarks.
6. To get to your new bookmark, you probably have to go down one page, as in a book.
7. When your new and ill-named bookmark is underlined, press the right side of the five-way.
8. Press the center of the five-way and type in "My Home Town US Weather Weather" or similar.

I'm not saying this is better or worse than the weather site noted in #25 above, just a graphic-free alternative that loads quickly.

The webkit browser is frustrating if your only documentation is the Kindle User's Guide. But when enough user discoveries and tips are generated and revised, I expect it will be a fine feature for patient users.

In the earliest days of the web, when I had email access but no full ISP, I used internet by email. As with the 3G webkit browser, the monthly price was right, but it took a fair amount of knowledge. Even today, internet by email with web pages returned to either gmail.com or (at 15 cents a pop) kindle.com could be considered. Or maybe one of the dozens of free email services other than gmail is best adopted to the K3. There are surely many discoveries to be made.

P.S. I've had no crashes in a couple days. Maybe my subconscious learned what to avoid.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by carld

That was a great story kindlekitten, really funny and true-to-life for those of us looking at it from a distance. Glad your Kindle came in so handy. I've used it a time or two to get directions and locations of places I'm going. Thankfully, I've never been stranded in Mexico.

thanks!

[toronado]

How is the quality of the font rendering in the browser as compared with ebooks? Also, is there any control over which font face is used in the browser?

[gargoyle67]

Any way to close the zoom selection box other than changing the zoom level of course ? .

[kinstant]

Mobile sites are definitely the way to go - they load faster and avoid freeze-ups that complex websites trigger.

[Albright]

Originally Posted by gargoyle67

Any way to close the zoom selection box other than changing the zoom level of course ? .

Pressing the Back button should close any option box you run into without making a choice.

[curstpriest]

The browser is slow. Wifi is faster than 3g. DX doesn't have wifi and 3g is slower anyways, and it's browser is also slower because AZ refuses to update the firmware until K3 sells more models.

Browser also can't follow external links and chokes on content-rich pages.
Hard to navigate some sites.
Not really worth the effort.

Would only use the browser if I was:

1) Stuck in a well and my cellphone was broken, had to send email for help before I died. Would probably wait several minutes before resorting to using kindle browser still.
2) Lost power + internet + cellphone wasn't working so had to use Kindle's internet to look something up.

You have no control over font selection, you can't really control much about the layout or anything.

Margins are set to the maximum.
Text gets cropped midline like in PDFs, very irritating. Text will be cut off midline and unreadable sometimes. When you push page down, you can not see the text line from the previous page.

Also remember that webbrowser is marked experimental, and AZ has the right to revoke its functionality at any time, or abandon support for it all together.

[desertblues]

The browser is tentalizing slow, but while travelling, the Kindle is the only thing that lets me check my email and I appreciate it.
That is; for free and without my having to search for wifi. My telephone doesn't have internet.

[Harmon]

I use Instapaper. Instapaper has a feature which allows me to download my articles directly from the IP website to my Kindle. Look for the little Kindle icon, click on it, and answer the popup box question.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Harmon

I use Instapaper.

When it works, it is highy effective at pulling out the best part of a web page with a high readability font. It is much better at that than the Article Mode of the Kindle 3 browser.

However, all is not good. I have Instapaper set to automatically send an article compilation every day, a feature that never seems to work. So instead I click on "Send now." This worked for me this morning. And it just worked for me again. Hopefully I am on a roll, but most of the time, in recent weeks, it does not send anything.

Is your experience different?

[curstpriest]

k3 and dx browser both "work" and if there is a "mobile" version of the site, like designed for cellphones, you can get it to work much faster on either. It's slow regardless, the limitation isn't really the data rate of the wireless 3g/wifi, it's the browser rendering, and from what I understand, the k3/dxg are both slow.

you can view most normal sites, but if it is really complex you might have some issues. It will get you around, but popups and external links won't work.

oh snaps just realized this was ancient post I replied to earlier, as stated above ^ it's really slow.

[cjottawa]

I own a smart phone which I don't pay for data on. (it's a BlackBerry Bold, technically)

As such, the K3 3G+WiFi lets me check email on the road using the "mobile" version of my email provider's website. While less convenient than a smartphone email app, the Kindle 3's browser is quite good.

Regardless of 3G or WiFi connectivity, the K3 browser really excels at checking RSS feeds. Google Reader has a "mobile" version which is PERFECT for the Kindle.

There's no need to "download" news feeds via Caliber; just browse to your mobile feed page. You can configure it to go to a dedicated "mobile" folder with feeds you only want on your Kindle.

So, all this to say, I find the browser VERY useful, over either WiFi or 3G.