# Web Browsing



## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I have just now for the first time tried out the web browsing.... and it sucks!.... but not really, not if you choose your websites carefully.

The secret is to choose "mobile" websites. Most major websites have a "mobile" version, for poor souls who have to use, say, a Palm Treo (like my husband) instead of the (superior) iPhone.

Let's use the Chicago Tribune as an example. If you have your Kindle handy, do play along:

Go to the web browser: From *Kindle Home -> Menu -> Experimental -> Basic Web*. At the top is a URL box, click on that. In the little pop-up, type _chicagotribune.com_ and click submit. View the abysmalness. The first ten pages are all of the categories on the left side of the website as you would view it normally in a proper web browser. You literally have to click the next page button 10-12 times to get past it to the headlines.










Move your clickwheel back to the top of the page and click the URL box again. This time, type _mobile.chicagotribune.com_ in the pop-up box. The resulting page may not be gorgeous, but it is at least readable, with all of the headlines immediately displayed. You'll find a lot of this _more..._ stuff going on, where you have to click on that to get the rest of the headlines.










Mobile reading is not elegant. However, once you get to an article you want to read, the formatting is nice and clear.

The same strategy should be used for mobile email. I use Yahoo, and it simply doesn't work unless you use the mobile website. You need to use mobile.yahoo.com. And then it's a nightmare to navigate, but at least it still works. For Google (gmail) the correct address is _m.gmail.com_. *For gmail, you need to have Javascript enabled* in your Kindle browser settings. From the browser, use the scrollwheel to click *Menu -> Settings - Javascript (enable)*.


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2008)

What does a forum like this look like on Kindle?  I don't have mine yet or I'd just look myself.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> What does a forum like this look like on Kindle? I don't have mine yet or I'd just look myself.


Not so great. Better to use your iPhone when you are on the road.


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## Dori (Oct 28, 2008)

Don't you have to pay air time to do the web stuff?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Dori said:


> Don't you have to pay air time to do the web stuff?


Not at all, which is likely why the price of the unit is still so high. Somebody has to pay for all that airtime.


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## Dori (Oct 28, 2008)

Thanks a bunch for this discussion.  I had not tried the web browsing thing.  Have  been playing around and got my hometown newspaper, mobile version and also my fav local tv station.  I bookmarked them and now they show on the list of sites Kindle already had on it.


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> What does a forum like this look like on Kindle? I don't have mine yet or I'd just look myself.





Leslie said:


> Not so great. Better to use your iPhone when you are on the road.


Leslie, I don't have iPhone, I have a WindowsMobile SmartPhone and use web browsing on it quite often and some websites are easier to read than others. Have you tried to access the KindleBoards from your iPhone yet?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Angela said:


> Leslie, I don't have iPhone, I have a WindowsMobile SmartPhone and use web browsing on it quite often and some websites are easier to read than others. Have you tried to access the KindleBoards from your iPhone yet?


I have and it works okay. Better than that screenshot I posted below!

L


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Angela said:


> Leslie, I don't have iPhone, I have a WindowsMobile SmartPhone and use web browsing on it quite often and some websites are easier to read than others.


The ones that work best with your smartphone are mobile websites.... Most newspapers have versions, as well as Google & Yahoo.

For example:
http://mobile.chicagotribune.com/

Yahoo has a nice setup page for mobile devices that are tailored to your device:
http://mobile.yahoo.com/mobilehome


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## TheJohnNewton (Nov 2, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> Not at all, which is likely why the price of the unit is still so high. Somebody has to pay for all that airtime.


Except that the price of the Kindle is not high. Compare it to other ereaders. It's right in the middle even though most don't have any kind of wireless connection. It's less than the new Sony but more than the old Sony.

It would be hard for them to charge for internet access since the user experience is so poor. I certainly could be wrong but I doubt many would pay for it. The real reason for the connection is to make it super easy to make purchases. That's how they pay for it.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

TheJohnNewton said:


> Except that the price of the Kindle is not high. Compare it to other ereaders.


I still think it's high, other e-reads notwithstanding. It is an elastic product, not something people need. In two years it will likely be in the $200 range. Until it goes below $200, I don't think you will get a huge number of adopters. Unfortunately, Amazon will not give up its sales figures, but I would estimate by the number of reviews that they have likely sold 10,000-12,000.

When the first iPod came out, I believe it was in the $500 range. Now you can get a unit far smaller with much more power for under $200. That's what putting an iPod in every pocket. Look at the iPhone as well. In the first nine months I believe they sold ~7 million units. They sold almost the same number _last quarter_.


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## Sailor (Nov 1, 2008)

I'm having doubts about the web...first time on I crashed and Kindle Froze. Good thing I remembered the 'unfreeze' tip and got it back up and working again. That was my first day on it, talk about having low self esteem for electronics after that one. LOL


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The Kindle isn't REALLY a browser, of course.  Ahe Basic Web function is really just so we can download books and check out Wikipedia.  I've pretty much decided it's not much use for anything else.  However, if you use the 'mobile' versions of the sites it will work better -- they're mostly text without all the pictures and moving stuff.  Not all sites have mobile versions but some do. .  . .I don't know how to find out which, though.  Maybe someone else does?

Ann


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann Von Hagel said:


> Not all sites have mobile versions but some do. . . .I don't know how to find out which, though. Maybe someone else does?


I've found that just googling works well... Like googling yahoo mobile or chicago tribune mobile.


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## Dori (Oct 28, 2008)

When I looked up local newspaper it asked if I wanted mobile version.

When I looked my tv station it went to 14 wfie TO GO  and didn't ask.

Both worked fine and I was able to see the local radar etc.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> I still think it's high, other e-reads notwithstanding. It is an elastic product, not something people need. In two years it will likely be in the $200 range. Until it goes below $200, I don't think you will get a huge number of adopters. Unfortunately, Amazon will not give up its sales figures, but I would estimate by the number of reviews that they have likely sold 10,000-12,000.


Actually, there are over 5400 reviews on Amazon right now. My rule of thumb is 10% of adopters will take the time and energy to write a review. If we eliminate the 1 star reviews (angry non-adopters) that would translate into 500,000 Kindles out there. One analyst estimated 380,000 sold by the end of this year. I bet that number is somewhat accurate. Even if you go with the low estimate of 240,000 (which I read somewhere else) it is still way more than 10,000.



> When the first iPod came out, I believe it was in the $500 range. Now you can get a unit far smaller with much more power for under $200. That's what putting an iPod in every pocket. Look at the iPhone as well. In the first nine months I believe they sold ~7 million units. They sold almost the same number _last quarter_.


Actually, the 1st-gen iPod cost $360. I bought two for my kids for Christmas that year (yikes!). They both died 13 months later. I was annoyed about that!

L


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## TheJohnNewton (Nov 2, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Actually, there are over 5400 reviews on Amazon right now. My rule of thumb is 10% of adopters will take the time and energy to write a review. If we eliminate the 1 star reviews (angry non-adopters) that would translate into 500,000 Kindles out there.


Leslie, you might want to check your math


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## TheJohnNewton (Nov 2, 2008)

pidgeon92,

You stated you though the price was high to cover the wireless charges.  If that were true then it would need to be higher than similar ereaders that don't have wireless but it is not.  It's simply the going rate for an ereader these days.  If you think the price is high in absolute terms that is fine but has nothign to do with how they pay for the wireless charges.  

BTW, The user agreement does state that they have the right to charge for wireless access in the future if they want to but as I speculated above I doubt many would be that interested in paying for it given the limitations of the current screen.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

TheJohnNewton said:


> Leslie, you might want to check your math


I was never good at math in my head. Okay, so that makes my point even more emphatically (I think). 5400 hundred reviews would be only 1% of owners. So maybe there are are really 5,400,000 owners out there.

Whatever. 10,000 seems like an incredibly low (and not realistic) guess.

L


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## TheJohnNewton (Nov 2, 2008)

By your rule of thumb and numbers, 5,000ish reviews, 10% of owners leave a review, that would make YOUR estimate 50,000 Kindles.

I really have no idea what the real number is, and haven't put much time into speculation on it (really why would I or the average user care?), but I have seen some numbers on how many screens the supplier has made along with how many Sony buys vs. Amazon vs. others and based on all that (who knows how accurate it is? I read it on the web, lol) a reasonable estimate would seem to be in the couple hundred thousand range give or take a hundred thousand.  Is that anywhere close to accurate?  I have no idea.

What seems to be a more reliable number is the percentage of books that Amazon sells that are Kindle versions (when a Kindle version of a book is available) vs. paper versions.  That number was given out by Amazon recently.  I don't want to state a number because I'm not sure but I think it was in their financial reports if you want to look it up.  Bezos had stated the same statistic a while back and the newer number had grown nicely.  Publishers will take notice of that number more than how many Kindles are sold.  After all they sell books not Kindles.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

TheJohnNewton said:


> By your rule of thumb and numbers, 5,000ish reviews, 10% of owners leave a review, that would make YOUR estimate 50,000 Kindles.
> 
> I really have no idea what the real number is, and haven't put much time into speculation on it (really why would I or the average user care?), but I have seen some numbers on how many screens the supplier has made along with how many Sony buys vs. Amazon vs. others and based on all that (who knows how accurate it is? I read it on the web, lol) a reasonable estimate would seem to be in the couple hundred thousand range give or take a hundred thousand. Is that anywhere close to accurate? I have no idea.
> 
> What seems to be a more reliable number is the percentage of books that Amazon sells that are Kindle versions (when a Kindle version of a book is available) vs. paper versions. That number was given out by Amazon recently. I don't want to state a number because I'm not sure but I think it was in their financial reports if you want to look it up. Bezos had stated the same statistic a while back and the newer number had grown nicely. Publishers will take notice of that number more than how many Kindles are sold. After all they sell books not Kindles.


Point taken. Thank you...and I agree.

L


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

While this latest discusson is not really on the topic of web browsing, it is of interest. Here's an article from August that cites the 240,000 number Leslie mentioned. It also makes the point that the Kindle & e-book industry is getting to be pretty big bucks.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/01/we-know-how-many-kindles-amazon-has-sold-240000/

Betsy


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

Does anyone know if there is a mobile aol access for email...A tips there?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Cowgirl said:


> Does anyone know if there is a mobile aol access for email...A tips there?


According to AOL, this is the website to use on your Kindle (I have not tried it) http://m.webmail.aol.com

More information here: http://mobile.aol.com/aolproducts/mobile-email/wap-email


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

Thank you for answering.  I'm going to try it out ...


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

ok...i tried mobile aol and got to the site but after I enter my password  and hit go nothing happens.  I also tried next page.  I tried mobile.yahoo to check my email there and the same thing.  What am I doing wrong? help


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Cowgirl said:


> ok...i tried mobile aol and got to the site but after I enter my password and hit go nothing happens. I also tried next page. I tried mobile.yahoo to check my email there and the same thing. What am I doing wrong? help


On the mobile.yahoo.com site, you should choose email.

A screen will appear asking for your ID and your password in separate boxes. Fill in each box, then click the "submit" button below the password box. Your inbox should appear, with any email that is in it.

It is hard to navigate, and if you have another way of accessing your email I don't think using the Kindle is worth the effort.


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

I'll try it but I think you might be right...I was only going to check email if I didn't have access to a computer...but I was trying to see if I could do it in case I really needed to.


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## ScottBooks (Oct 28, 2008)

The only thing I use the web browser for is checking sports scores on ESPN. Works fine for that.


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## megan (Dec 27, 2008)

I'm pretty sure that this has already been answered but humor a newbie. Absolutley any and all internet browsing is free?! Sounds too good to be true!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Right now it's still free; it seems to work best on sites that have mobile versions for PDA and cell phones.  I seldom use it.

Betsy


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## Lotus (Oct 31, 2008)

I've used it the browser a few times, but my Kindle will often freeze when I do. I tried to go to the mobile version of the local rag, and it froze. I did find it worked fairly well with the sites already bookmarked (like BBC news, etc.). At my previous job, they'd track/block a lot of Web browsing, so I'd sometimes take the Kindle if I didn't have a busy day, and be able to circumvent the Big Brother software.

Of course, one time I was using it at the airport and it froze, I realized I had nothing to reset (like a paperclip) and ended up unraveling a wire keyring to use as a resetter. The alt+shift+F wasn't working for me at all. 

It is sort of useful if you're traveling or away from your usual computer (like if grandma has no Internet), but it is slow, and seems fairly buggy. Hey, it's free, though (for now, at least). 

I have a feeling that if it worked really well as a browser, we'd soon find that Amazon is wanting to charge a fee. Because most Kindle lovers are more into books, and because the browser is so primitive, I hope people won't use it so much that we have to start paying.


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

reset is alt+shift+R not F


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## megan (Dec 27, 2008)

Thanks for clearing that up. It was the only "outstanding" question that I had about the Kindle after reading the FAQ's.


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## megan (Dec 27, 2008)

Thanks for clearing that up. It was the only "outstanding" question that I had about the Kindle after reading the FAQ's. I had (incorrectly)understood the Amazon website to mean that only Wikipedia.org was free.


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## artsandhistoryfan (Feb 7, 2009)

Ann Von Hagel said:


> The Kindle isn't REALLY a browser, of course. Ahe Basic Web function is really just so we can download books and check out Wikipedia. I've pretty much decided it's not much use for anything else. However, if you use the 'mobile' versions of the sites it will work better -- they're mostly text without all the pictures and moving stuff. Not all sites have mobile versions but some do. . . .I don't know how to find out which, though. Maybe someone else does?
> 
> Ann


 Usually a word like 'mobile.' before the site name will bring it up if there is one. Or, 'm.' before the site URl.

'Default' mode in basic web works very fast for sites that don't require javascript and I disable pictures because I just want to see the text when I'm googling. And that makes the web-browsing less likely to crash, bringing you back to home screen.

Yesterday I was at a circuit city fire sale (they're going out of business, sadly, in my view as I loved being able to view things there in person and I would then buy if the price was competitive).

I was in front of two different products, all of which I could get at 30 to 40% off but they were sold out except for the demo unit and they were selling those. I wished I could get to my home computer or a store computer somewhere and check out reviews and current pricing.

And then I remembered I could. So I pulled out my Kindle and put it down, doing google searches for the model numbers of the products and 'review' following that, and I got tons of info.

I found I could get new items matching those lower prices and I also read about defects in one product while finding that the 3rd item that I had picked up (an unusual, higher priced software package going at 40% off) was getting top ratings so I kept that one.

But I often google out on the streets to find stores that match certain keywords.

The other night, while almost asleep, I wondered what the buzz was about a tv show I had seen and decided to google it and was much entertained for awhile by the conversations, reading it on the Kindle.
Since it is a drain on the battery, my adapter was plugged into it.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Andrys, sounds like you have a lot of experience and comfort with the web browser aspect of the Kindle. . . .I admit I haven't bothered with that aspect of it much as I usually have a computer handy. . . but it's good to know.  If you'd like to start a thread with useful sites that you know work that would be great. . .folks could add on when they've found sites that work for them.  I can sticky it to the top of the forum and I'll keep it pruned so it stays an easily accessible source for good 'kindle-able' websites.

Thanks,

Ann


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## Veronica (Jan 23, 2009)

Leslie said:


> Actually, the 1st-gen iPod cost $360. I bought two for my kids for Christmas that year (yikes!). They both died 13 months later. I was annoyed about that!
> 
> L


Leslie, I assume you meant the iPods died, right?


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