The experimental Basic Web browser on the Kindle 2 can be used from almost anywhere a cell phone works and at any time.Expectations for it should be in line with what you'd expect from any mobile phone except for how much of a web page you can see on the screen (considerably more with the Kindle 2) and no color. Mobile unit web browsing is best done on sites which make versions for mobile units' small screens.
With a Kindle, you don't have to hunt for a WiFi hotspot and hope that it's free, because Wireless access is almost always available where there's Sprint cellphone coverage, but it's slower than WiFi, which is slower than your normal cabled Internet experience.
Most of the steps below (but not the 5-way button portion) work on a Kindle 1 also, though the Kindle 1 is slower in response time and doesn't always finish rendering a page with larger photos.
The key is knowing how to choose between several settings offered by the Home page's Menu option for "Experimental" which gets you to "Basic Web" (which you just click on, as the other options are not available there, only described).
The Kindle will ask you if you want Wireless 'On' if it's not on already and then you can OK that.
You are then taken to the Kindle's Bookmarks page with a choice of websites for mobile unit access. Press the Menu key there and choose Settings.
These are all toggled options.
The most used Settings to choose from when browsing would be:
1. "Switch to Advanced Mode" (if you're in "Basic Mode)
("Desktop" mode on DX's)
or "Switch to "Basic Mode" (if you're in Advanced Mode).
2. "Enable Javascript"
3. "Disable Images"
Choosing Modes:
. Basic mode, Disable Images - Fastest. Use when you just want data quickly and don't want to wait for images to load.
. Basic mode, Enable Images - 2nd fastest. Best with simpler websites and small photos.
With Basic mode, article bodies will be in B&W rather than the harder to read gray shades that emulate color gradations.
You'll need to remember that on pages with columns of links or ads, all of the first column's text will show up first, going down and you have to "Next Page" (or down-arrow) through them before getting to the center column for the article.
. Advanced Mode - Use this when you want to see the full width of a web page and all columns showing.
The browser will then make the fonts TINY to fit it all in and will emulate colors, giving harder-to-read multi-gray shaded text and sometimes the background may be too dark.
With some sites, it can be surprisingly readable though some will want a magnifying glass.
With this mode you won't have to page through several Kindle 'pages' of a website's left column.
The Kindle often chooses advanced mode, and when I want to read an article in the normal sized font, I'll switch to Basic and do the NextPage thing.
. Advanced Mode, Enable Javascript - the Kindle browser often switches to this when it knows javascript is needed to load the page at all. This will be the slowest mode.
Sometimes the javascript is needed just for an ad and you can do without it, and at those points I have sometimes tried "disabling" javascript to speed things up. But most won't bother as it doesn't make that big a difference. If javascript is needed but isn't enabled, the page never loads, so I tend to leave it alone.
Other web browser options:
. The browser Menu lets you "Enter URL" to go to a specific page you want.
. You can "Bookmark This Page" if you're on a webpage you want to return to without having to type the URL again.
. There's a (current-session) "History" page so you can jump to a webpage you want to revisit.
. You can "Go to Top" of the webpage.
Moving around the webpage
You can move around the page with the 5-way button, which will take you to areas for input, or links to click on for another web page or web-page area, and allow you to scroll down (instead of having to use 'NextPage' if you're on a long page.
To get back to the previous "jump" (from a link) press the "Back" key.
. You can generally change the text size but not the line spacing on a web page.
. You can download some files offered, usually "TXT" files and unprotected MOBI, PRC ones. The Kindle format is AZW, and you can download that and AZW1 files, though I've never seen these offered outside the Amazon store.
See an example of links on a Kindle webpage. For other webpage examples for both the Kindle 1 and 2, see the screen comparison page that I made for these.
For more information and screen samples, see Section 6.1 "Using Basic Web" in the "Kindle 2 User's Guide, 2nd Edition" -- this is at Location 834,
Caution: Using wireless for browsing will drain the battery faster during a session than reading a Kindle document will. It'll be a shorter time before you need to recharge. Here are customer service advisories for how to keep the battery in good shape.
TIP: When sending an email from gmail.com or yahoo.com, you'll get an alert that a connection could not be established with the website's servers. 98% of the time, it's a false error alert. The email goes through (but typing on this unit is arduous, at best, so I e-mail rarely), and the same thing occurs with posting a reply to a forum. The reply does go through and is posted despite the alert. Do log in before posting, though.
The Basic Web browser on the smaller Kindles is extremely handy for quick lookups when away from your home/office computers. It isn't something you want to do at length, though I was surprised that Wired can come through so well, with good resolution on the photos on the Kindle 2.
FILE DOWNLOAD - BOOKMARKS
You can download a file of bookmarks I collected for mobile-optimized sites, which will load faster.
( If you find blog entries like this one helpful, please check the "Interesting" box so I can get an idea of the level of interest for how-to's for features not often used -- judging from what I read on the forums. Thanks for taking the tme. )
7/5/09 - I've eliminated the 'Interesting/Cool' Google widget because it caused the page to take too long to load, but on the Tips/Guides, it did give me good (easy to rate) indication of interest in those. Thanks to those who took the time let me know.
Check often: Latest temporarily free non-classics or late-listed ones.
Guide to finding Free or Low-Cost Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers.
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