6 ms·

Tell HN: Amazon Kindle's browser is not experimental anymore

Amazon has made some major UI changes with the latest Kindle firmware 5.13.7, the browser has finally moved out of experimental status and is now just called Web Browser. Amazon's official change log for Kindle software updates is useless as always and so there's no real technical information on what has changed with the browser but it does seem bit more responsive, So does other parts of Kindle. I read HN on my Kindle and JS rich sites like TechCrunch wouldn't load properly in the earlier Kindle experimental browser but loads great now (incl. Article mode).

Finnucane 5y ago
As a side note, after years of bad-mouthing their ebook reading software, I have to admit that they've made substantial improvements lately, esp. in the handling of mathML and SVG images. Even tables don't suck quite as badly. still no scripting, but that doesn't come up so much in an ebook context anyway.
- Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
  Does MathML work well only with KFX format or does other formats support MathML too now?
  - Finnucane 5y ago
    Not sure, I assume not with the old mobi format, which is now deprecated by Amazon. Now they take a submitted file in standard epub format and they manage the conversion. If it works in the Previewer, you're good.
luke2m 5y ago
I haven’t updated due to my jailbreak. Is this update available for the PW3? And is the browser still based on WebKit?
- Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
  PW3 does support latest update[1], If you're using jailbreak to set book cover as screensaver then it's available by default, But if you have Linux shell on your Kindle then I feel that the jailbreak is more valuable than anything Amazon brings with SW update. The browser engine is WebKit, it detects either as Fire OS 3 browser or Safari 5 on my Oasis 9th gen. [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GKMQC26VQQMM8XSW https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...
  - luke2m 5y ago
    Safari 5: June 7, 2010
    - Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
      This is the User agent from amiunique.org, Mozilla/5.0(X11;U;Linux armv7l like Android; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.2+(KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.2+ Kindle/3.0+
      - luke2m 5y ago
        Would someone updated do a https://html5test.com/ https://html5test.com/ ?
        Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
        Here you go - https://imgur.com/gallery/hiU0QQl https://imgur.com/gallery/hiU0QQl I would really like a comparison with with the browsers from much powerful e-paper tablets like reMarkable, Boox etc.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
        Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
        Edit: https://imgur.com/a/hiU0QQl https://imgur.com/a/hiU0QQl
Jaxkr 5y ago
I grew up using their experimental web browser for some of my first internet experiences. I got my first Kindle in 2010 when I was 11, signed up for Twitter on it when it still had the cloud background. It used to work great for almost the whole internet. Not being able to open links that opened in a new tab was a big annoyance, it just refused with an error message.
- Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
  > I got my first Kindle in 2010 when I was 11, signed up for Twitter on it when it still had the cloud background. It tells both about how light websites were and that you were a patient kid (both great qualities). Only websites which could be logged in with Kindle experimental browser nowadays are HN type minimalist websites.
  - Jaxkr 5y ago
    It was surprisingly snappy, particularly compared to the Nintendo DSi web browser which I also spent a lot of time with. The internet truly was lighter and had less JavaScript back then. I remember Tumblr working very well on the experimental Kindle browser.
    - Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
      Ironically, After a couple of days of use the new Web Browser opens every website like full fledged browser, Even retains authentication cookie except (drum roll) Twitter! Twitter just shows a button 'Try Again', What a tragedy.
sealeck 5y ago
Awesome!
reader666 5y ago
I saw in your profile that you are using https://hntokindle.com https://hntokindle.com to read HN on Kindle, Can you read the story as well or just the comments?

Finnucane 5y ago

As a side note, after years of bad-mouthing their ebook reading software, I have to admit that they've made substantial improvements lately, esp. in the handling of mathML and SVG images. Even tables don't suck quite as badly. still no scripting, but that doesn't come up so much in an ebook context anyway.

Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
Does MathML work well only with KFX format or does other formats support MathML too now?
- Finnucane 5y ago
  Not sure, I assume not with the old mobi format, which is now deprecated by Amazon. Now they take a submitted file in standard epub format and they manage the conversion. If it works in the Previewer, you're good.

luke2m 5y ago

I haven’t updated due to my jailbreak. Is this update available for the PW3? And is the browser still based on WebKit?

Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
PW3 does support latest update[1], If you're using jailbreak to set book cover as screensaver then it's available by default, But if you have Linux shell on your Kindle then I feel that the jailbreak is more valuable than anything Amazon brings with SW update. The browser engine is WebKit, it detects either as Fire OS 3 browser or Safari 5 on my Oasis 9th gen. [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GKMQC26VQQMM8XSW https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...
- luke2m 5y ago
  Safari 5: June 7, 2010
  - Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
    This is the User agent from amiunique.org, Mozilla/5.0(X11;U;Linux armv7l like Android; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.2+(KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0 Safari/533.2+ Kindle/3.0+
    - luke2m 5y ago
      Would someone updated do a https://html5test.com/ https://html5test.com/ ?
      - Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
        Here you go - https://imgur.com/gallery/hiU0QQl https://imgur.com/gallery/hiU0QQl I would really like a comparison with with the browsers from much powerful e-paper tablets like reMarkable, Boox etc.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
        Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
        Edit: https://imgur.com/a/hiU0QQl https://imgur.com/a/hiU0QQl

Jaxkr 5y ago

I grew up using their experimental web browser for some of my first internet experiences. I got my first Kindle in 2010 when I was 11, signed up for Twitter on it when it still had the cloud background. It used to work great for almost the whole internet. Not being able to open links that opened in a new tab was a big annoyance, it just refused with an error message.

Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
> I got my first Kindle in 2010 when I was 11, signed up for Twitter on it when it still had the cloud background. It tells both about how light websites were and that you were a patient kid (both great qualities). Only websites which could be logged in with Kindle experimental browser nowadays are HN type minimalist websites.
- Jaxkr 5y ago
  It was surprisingly snappy, particularly compared to the Nintendo DSi web browser which I also spent a lot of time with. The internet truly was lighter and had less JavaScript back then. I remember Tumblr working very well on the experimental Kindle browser.
  - Abishek_Muthian 5y ago
    Ironically, After a couple of days of use the new Web Browser opens every website like full fledged browser, Even retains authentication cookie except (drum roll) Twitter! Twitter just shows a button 'Try Again', What a tragedy.

sealeck 5y ago

Awesome!

reader666 5y ago

I saw in your profile that you are using https://hntokindle.com https://hntokindle.com to read HN on Kindle, Can you read the story as well or just the comments?