Kindle Tips: Web 'Article Mode' / Nook Touch's "hidden" web browser.

  Click on 1st image to get Nook Touch web browser story with video.  Click on 2nd image to get the larger version of the Kindle 3 web pic.

Nathan of The EbookReader found that the Nook has a "hidden" web browser.

  As he points out, it's hidden for a reason.

' Scrolling, zooming, and activating hyperlinks are hit-or-miss, and pages don’t load half the time. I tried downloading an EPUB from Feedbooks, the download worked, but the ebook would not open...
...Overall, though, it needs a lot of work—probably why Barnes and Noble never mentioned it. '

  In fact, in their current Nook comparison chart, Barnes & Noble actually marked that the Nook Touch doesn't have a web browser.  By that, I guess they mean it doesn't have a correctly functioning one.
  Some see that as a challenge to "root" the device though it's a tad risky or frustrating with B&N doing unannounced firmware upgrades as they have.

  Nathan says the menu system, otherwise, "seems to work well" and it shows "promise."

The Nook Touch uses the Android operating system, as does the much faster LCD NookColor.  Both of them will find websites if you start a device Search while specifying a website or URL like "google.com" for that search.

  Many of us suspect that's a basic Android OS feature which can be built on when developers want.  At Mobileread forums, there's an interesting discussion on this, and Antioch says:

' It could just be an artifact of using Android. The Android search functionality will take you to the web to find things so maybe this is just that. Unless it's not the native Android browser... '

  Definitely boosting that theory is what's explained at the android developers webpage on their Guide to the Basics, "What is Android?"

' Developers have full access to the same framework APIs used by the core applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of components...
  Underlying all applications is a set of services and systems, including:

  . A rich and extensible set of Views that can be used to build an application, including lists, grids, text boxes, buttons, and even an embeddable web browser... '

As for its incomplete functioning, Mobileread Forum's tom e reports being at B&N trying it out, and he wrote:

' ...You seem to have to know the web address you want.  You can get to google.com easily, but when you try to 'google' something you get knocked out of the browser. '

trescenzi agrees that

' There is a really good chance this is an artifact from it being android based.  The browser has the usual android browser features and if you swipe down it brings up the address bar and options.  Also when you go to search the button labeled "search" switches to "go" making me think it recognizes addresses as such.

Update:
Looks like even though you can use the address bar it wont actually connect to addresses entered there.  Just got onto my gmail account and everything works great.-Scratch that looks like any attempt to send mail crashes the browser. '

tom e adds to his earlier report:

' ...I did view my own blog on it though, by typing the URL, and I did see the main page for the google online apps.  I think I even saw a hint of multitouch capability (did the opposite of the 'pinch' on the screen)  It did appear to zoom in, but only barely and then got stuck.  Maybe the refresh rate was too slow?  Maybe I imagined it. (?) '

  He mentions Nathan's video (on Nathan's page, linked above) and seeing Landscape mode at one point. The (Android-based) NookColor, which I have and which definitely has a smooth browser, does have Landscape mode active for Web, although B&N programmers don't enable Landscape for non-children's books for some reason, nor for PDFs.
  The video shows the web browser to be, otherwise, pretty smooth and responsive.  It could be that the e-Ink screen can't keep up with what the enbedded Android browser needs.

trescenzi adds a positive note:

' With respect to RSS if you use google reader to read RSS the mobile app is awesome and worked great when I tried to use it on the nook touch's browser. '

forkyfork writes:

' It's neat from a "look, it's something we didn't expect" perspective, but DO NOT BUY THIS MODEL IF WEB BROWSING IS AT ALL IMPORTANT TO YOU. '

And tom e adds,

' Yep I totally agree that it's not a browser that is sufficient on its own, as is.  I wouldn't buy it just now (at least not with the belief that it's going to be more than they advertise) nor would I recommend anyone else do so.

  On the other hand I think it shows us that it's plenty able to do some simple things that I want...
  I do not think it's very capable for real web browsing though, no matter what people root and put on. Basically, it flashes so much just trying to load most pages (or scrolling down them YUCK!) that it would make me crazy... '

  At the pace of Barnes and Noble's updates for my NookColor (and even REMOVING highlight, copy, paste from the web browser, I don't know how much energy they'd put into working on the Nook Touch e-Ink web browser while on the verge of being bought by Liberty with the stipulation that the current BN head, Leonard Riccio, would join the buyout.  There are concerns about voting by other stockholders and the fact that Ron Burkle and Aletheia Research and Management own almost 31% of the stock between them and may have a say in things.

  As the NYTimes put it, B&N "faces some difficult choices about the company’s second-largest shareholder while simultaneously managing a conflicted sale to Liberty Media and the bookseller’s largest shareholder."

  As B&N has been stressing and analysts explain, in this technewsworld article,

' The market may now be ready for that type of simpler device for a crowd that isn't willing to invest in a complex personal device.

  "There is a group of people who are using traditional computing technologies today, and then those who say, 'This is too complex for me, I need a simple solution.' That audience is looking for a device that does one thing and does an excellent job at that, and the e-reader does that by being a replication of the book-reading experience and removing the complexity of that," said Orr. '

But I think B&N would be smarter to enable fully and develop the functioning of the e-Ink web browser and eventually unhide it, as the current gadget world just expects at least a simple web browser if only for emergencies, and their biggest competitor, Amazon, has a working one.

  Not only that, the Kindles (UK: K3's) have, as I've stressed, a truly unique and valuable feature, free 3G web-browsing almost anywhere you happen to be and this is possible in 60 of 100+ countries, while the 3G itself is enabled for Amazon book downloading plus free Wikipedia 3G web access in over 100 countries.

  If B&N Nooks had those capabilities, the press would probably be whooping it up, but the many features that Amazon has given the Kindle are given short shrift, as there's "nothing new" in any of that :-).  All Kindles have had that since 2007. Slow, but faster than zero, and other ereaders enable any 3G web browser for bookstore-sites only.

KINDLE WEB BROWSER TIP
I've found that almost no one I know personally is aware of the web-browser feature added in August that makes the Kindle 3's web browsing more pleasurable and they're using instead only the Zoom feature, which I find awkward.  I'll illustrate the steps in another blog entry later, but here's, basically, what you do.

  1. Go to a website, which will default to 'fit width' of the screen, which means the fonts will be tiny and nearly unreadable.

  2. Use the Aa type/font key to choose 150% or more to zoom into a specific box-framed area of the display that you want to explore -- a given article, usually.

  3. Click to get the article.

  4. When the article's settled in (e-Ink is not speedy),
      Press Menu button and select "Article Mode"

  5. This will make it very readable by getting rid of extraneous ads, polls, side-columns, etc., while increasing the font size considerably.  The effect is similar to what you get when using "Readability," "Instapaper" or "SendToReader" web tools that show you just the article's text.

  6. If the font still is not large enough for comfort, you can press the Aa font/text key to choose to increase the size of the text.

  7. If you want to see more on a line than you can in Portrait mode, the Kindle 3 lets you use Aa font/text key to rotate the Kindle to Landscape, which gives you even more readable text across the screen, but working the next-page button or the scroll down cursor is a bit more awkward that way.

At any rate, it ends up VERY readable and the text reflows very nicely to fit the screen margins, etc.

  When I use (often) the step-by-step directions from/to a place on a Kindle (see Driving directions), using Google Map's text directions, the instructions are easy to read on the Kindle 2 or DX (or even Kindle 1), but they're tiny on a Kindle 3. Why, I don't know.

But you can treat the results for driving directions the way you do any article. Press Menu and select "Article Mode" and that'll make them easily readable.

MOBILE-DEVICE OPTIMIZED SITES IN "KINDLE BOOK" FORM
Remember that you can download this mobiweb.azw file at any time, to your Kindle, from the Kindle.

  The file is explained (if you can stand any more verbiage) here.

  ONE Correction - With the GMAIL URL I recommend, SENDING an email reply required, I thought, exiting by moving the cursor down to the bottom of the reply box, and going to the SEND field.  It's actually EASIER to move UP to the Subject field and over to the SEND field at the top of the reply.

  It's times like that when we would prefer a touch screen.

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3G and WiFi-Only Kindle 3's - What does it all mean? Which should I get?

WIRELESS OPTIONS - WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
On the Amazon Kindle forums, the most frequent question I've seen in connection with the new Kindles is about the wireless options -- what "3G" means and how it differs from "WiFi" -- both types are included in the $189 model while the "WiFi-only" model is offered for those who feel they won't ever need the "3G" wireless feature.

This article is written for those new to the wireless scene.  I meant to make it short, but decided to write in more detail.

The word "wireless' here pertains to both 3G and WiFi networks.
  If the e-reader is not attached to a computer but it can access online sites, it's using a "wireless network."  I've seen that many use the term "WiFi" when they mean "3G" mobile-wireless, as it's a confusing area to most who have had no reason to even think about these words before.

3G  WIRELESS
As the image at the left indicates, 3G Wireless involves huge wireless networks that cover very long distances -- our cellphones access these networks.  This is often referred to as 'mobile wireless' -- or wireless on the go.  Coverage involves very large areas and involves cell towers.

WI FI  WIRELESS
This involves very "local" and ultra short-range wireless networks -- usually in effect for a home or an office or office building, set up by the individuals using them, but increasingly, cafes and shops are offering customers use of their own WiFi networks while there.

The picture on the left is of my 7-year old Netgear WiFi network router.   Mine takes a signal from Comcast's high-speed cable internet service and routes that cable-modem signal via a wire to my main computer and then broadcasts the signal "locally" around my home so that it's accessible without-wires by my printer/scanner and my laptop.
 My neighbors have WiFi networks in their apartments as well, and we all use the normal security of some kind of passkey so that others can't "steal" access to our wee networks and slow us down by sharing them without permission.

 If you're getting a WiFi-only reader and expect to download books directly to the e-reader without having to hook it up to a computer, you'll need to have a WiFi network set up.  They're very inexpensive these days -- it costs about $40 for a good router -- but someone will need to set it up and understand how to maintain it.  Friends can help.  It's not difficult (except for those without experience with computers), and software that comes with the small router can make it almost automatic.

BOOK-DOWNLOADS DIRECT TO KINDLE
I think the reason that the Kindle reader 'took off' when other e-readers received much less interest is the capability that Amazon built into the reader so that owners can access the cellphone or mobile networks wherever they are (except in some remote areas) to just download a new book on the spot upon hearing about it.

Amazon has said they wanted customers to be able to use the Kindle without need for a computer.
  With 3G mobile wireless, it doesn't matter where you are -- you can usually download a book you want or do a look-up online.  As Amazon's pages point out, there's no need to look for a "hot spot" -- a place that offers a WiFi network that is sharable by customers, whether for a fee or for free (Starbucks and McDonald's WiFi networks are free).

Nook's implementation of the 3G wireless feature
Nook owners can use the WiFi network access that is available at Barnes and Noble stores, but they can't use that type of wireless in a bus or at the beach as Kindle users can with its 3G.
  The Nook's 3G is able only to access the B&N store online.  (See Len Edgerly's video demo of differences in the implementation of other features that the Nook and the Kindle share.)

HIGHER COST OF 3G+WIFI vs WIFI-ONLY
It's a one-time $50 difference between these two models.
  As an example of the value of 3G access:
  The iPad costs an additional $130 for the lowest-cost model with 3G capability ($629 vs $499).
  To USE the iPad's 3G wireless, a monthly data plan is needed, at $15 to $30/mo.  For normal smartphones, any added 3G web-data access is usually between $30-$60 dollars monthly.
There are no monthly charges for the Kindle's 3G wireless access.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOUR E-READER CHOICES? - A SUMMARY
This more basic summary is modified from one of the earlier articles here.
1. 3G - cellular or mobile networks -- this type is, as with cellphones, accessible over the air almost anywhere. You can be on a bus, at the dentist's office, or at the beach and it can work there.
 If Amazon enables 3G wireless use of the web-browser in another country, you'll be able to use that feature in other countries as well if Kindles sent to your country are enabled for the web-browser.

Personally, I wouldn't give up the free 3G access for a one-time $50 savings when it normally costs $30-$60/month for this type of feature on a smart phone.

2. WiFi - wireless local area networks (WLAN) -- You need to be near a 'local' area network in this case, so these are usually set up in homes or offices and you can find "hotspots" at places like Starbucks, McDonald's and other cafes though some require a per-hour charge and/or a password/passkey.

While the initial cost of the WiFi-Only model is about $50 less, you give up Free 3G cell-phone-type wireless access forever with the unit.
  However, those with 3G web-data plans already on their smartphones or tablets won't miss it that much.  They won't be able to download a book to the Kindle on the spur of the moment from almost anywhere, but that's just a luxury and many are just as happy to wait until they have access to a WiFi network.

IS 3G WEB BROWSING AVAILABLE IN MY HOME COUNTRY?
That depends on the 3G wireless arrangements Amazon has been able to make with wireless providers in that country.

  Amazon has not enabled the experimental web browser in some regions of the world (probably because the 3G browsing arrangements they could make are too costly for them), although in ALL areas that offer wireless downloads of books, Amazon features 24/7 free access to Wikipedia, which is very useful when done from a book you're reading.

New web browser on the K3's
The Kindle 3's are using the new WebKit-based browser.  Amazon says the updated web browser is "faster, easier to navigate, and provides a new 'article mode' feature that simplifies web pages to just the main text-based content for easier reading."
  That simplification will be great for Kindle Edition blogs when following links in stories.

3G AMAZON 3G WHISPERNET COVERAGE MAPS
Here are links to to Amazon's 3G Whispernet coverage maps for the latest Kindles:
  North America     Worldwide

_______
See earlier articles on
. Accessing Google Maps site for Text-only Step-by-Step driving directions on the Kindle (quite fast access)
. A downloadable bookmarks-type file for accessing mobile-device optimized websites
. Sending a highlighted Kindle book passage to friends on Facebook or Twitter (doable from where you are if you have a 3G model).
. a listing of countries for which the Amazon country-specific Kindle-2 pages did not show the web browser as 'unavailable' and countries with product pages specifically stating the web browser was not available for those countries (June 2010) although some were able to use the web browser in those countries for awhile, especially after software update 2.5.x, but now are unable to, and the status of those may change with time.

  The current language of the international Kindle product pages is considerably more vague, with the Wikipedia site listed as available on 3G Whispernet for all, while for the rest of the Net, WiFi access is at least encouraged and in some cases would be 'required,' as 3G web-browsing is not available in some areas.
  Those in countries that were NOT identified as having the web browser 'not available' still seem to be able to use the web browser.
  Other areas, such as The Netherlands and Portugal, which were identified in June as not having web browsing available, did have some Kindles enabled until recently but don't appear to have that capability now.  Amazon doesn't seem to want to be clear on this and it may be because of contract negotiations, ongoing or unsuccessful.

  In the meantime, Germany's now says that 'social networking features' are not available which would indicate the web browser is not enabled, while the other pages are, as I mentioned, vague product page, as of late Sept has been changed to use the same wording as other European pages no longer saying only that "social networking features are not available."
Updated this paragraph Oct. 15, 2010

See http://bit.ly/kwkweb2 for -some- info on countries with 3G web access for Amazon Kindles.

  Amazon has voiced hopes to have web-browsing enabled worldwide and has gone further along that road faster than I'd expected.  The addition of WiFi capability to the new Kindles should help a bit where 3G web browsing is not currently available.


Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
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