Kindle v. Kindle: Browser Showdown

Len Edgerly, host of the Kindle Chronicles podcast, presents a fireside chat to compare the browsers of the Kindle 2 and the new Kindle 3. He looks at the views of web pages, speed of opening a web page, and the Kindle 3's Article Mode. Filmed on August 25, 2010, in Ocean Park, Maine.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Kindle 2
• Kindle 3
• Amazon
• browser
• WebKit

[britishcoder]

Good comparison, but I doubt either the K3 or K2 would do very well with Google Maps, simply because it's going to be rendering a lot of Javascript.

It's entirely possible that Amazon have developed a killer Javascript engine like Google have for Chrome, but I think we'd be hearing more about it if they had.

[LenEdgerly]

@britishcoder I think there's a way to use google maps mobile, which returns text directions instead of maps. Andrys Basten at kindleworld.blogspot.com has info on this.

[mikecane2008]

Once you're *in* the article, can you then invoke Article Mode? It seems to me it probably works like Readability on Safari.

[LenEdgerly]

@mikecane2008 Mike, I just tried this again to make sure. I opened nytimes.com, zoomed in on the rectangle, moved cursor to select headline of an article and opened up. Then clicked on Article Mode, and there was still text on the right side of the column that was truncated, so you have to move the cursor to the right with the 5-way to read the end of the lines. Not all of them, and the Article Mode cuts off just a few letters in each line - enough to irritate.

[mikecane2008]

@LenEdgerly Hm. I guess now you have to select Print mode. I wonder if that goes wide too?

[LenEdgerly]

@mikecane2008 I wasn't sure what you mean by Print mode - I tried disabling images on the K3, then did Article Mode again, still had problem with right margin cutting off text.

[endruboy111]

It's not a good idea to use the same 3G network for a speed compare test where the devices are so close to each other. You know the devices can disturb each others signal so those two devices probably can't use it with equal speed.

[janderson2000]

@leboboy911 for illiterates like you

[GTX560Ti]

il kindle 3 è il DX?

[nadrojksc]

Thanks for the informative video!

[leboboy911]

this machine is useless

[Grangoire]

The fact it uses webkit is absolute music to my ears. :-D

[Grangoire]

@kilthebatman The display technology of the kindle is e-ink, not LCD or LED.

Without getting too technical, it works by alternating the ACTUAL physical surface color between white and black. (Current e-ink tech does not support color...yet)

The battery life is able to be in terms of weeks as opposed to hours due to no backlight requirement.

This also means that refresh rate is nil, so video isn't practical.

(Changing physical display material is WAY slower than just manipulating light.)

[someguynamedpie]

@firebirdcdr Amazon pays for it, which is also why it costs more.(If your getting 3g+wifi) But try not to use gigabytes of data or amazon may cut you off. What I'm saying is, don't refresh a page full of images and content fifty times a day

[TheSlaYeR7]

its great thing to do since like all most tablets are doing that, but is it going to support color ?

[firebirdcdr]

@LenEdgerly, One more question. :) Does the kindle store charge you a monthly fee when you register for a subscriptions?