# K3 browser & HTML5



## sponge (Aug 28, 2010)

I'm someone who's considering getting a Kindle 3, and I've heard that the K3's browser is actually WebKit based. This has caught my interest as the K3 could be an excellent platform for webapps for managing/saving content, sites like Instapaper. I haven't seen much on the net written about it besides the basics, so I was hoping someone here with a K3 could try a couple of things on it quickly and report back.

Specifically, I'm curious what the K3 browser scores across the various tests on http://www.html5test.com/ and the benchmark scores for http://www2.webkit.org/perf/sunspider-0.9/sunspider.html

I'd greatly appreciate anyone who could help me out!


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

I'll do it now... give me a few minutes.


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)




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## sponge (Aug 28, 2010)

Awesome, thanks! Shame theres no local storage available, especially with how iffy 3G connections can be sometimes. Hopefully the browser will improve with time, just having a webkit base is already good news. No embedded fonts is a bit of a bummer, but hopefully you can access all of the on-device ones properly. 

For comparison's sake, the iPad scores 127 +1 bonus on HTML5 Test, and SunSpider places it about 2x-5x faster. (Firefox 3.6 only gets 139 on the test.) Promising results for the K3, especially if Amazon continue to improve the browser.

Looks like this still leaves lots of room for some cool stuff to be done though. Hopefully you can sneak some of the UI blocking or expensive calculations in during when you know the screen is being redrawn to further improve the experience.


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## Cloysterpete (Aug 21, 2010)

Just think how good the browser could be by the time we get to the kindle 5 which I'm expecting to be the first kindle with a colour touchscreen. I can't afford a data connection for my mobile phone so this will be awesome for me, even if all I really NEED to do online when out and about is check my e-mail, I don't do all that facebook and twitter bollocks lol. So handy to have if you stuck unexpectedly somewhere, now whether the k3 is small enough to take around is another question, they should have removed all hat dead space above the keyboard and made it much smaller.

I'm thinking if the browser continues to develop and has color and video etc then there's no-way Amazon will continue to give us it for free, Amazon pay AT&T 15c a mb which is a heck of a lot for data, I bet they don't pay that much in the UK as there's four or five 3G networks here so the competition for Amazons custom probably drives prices down.

Smart of them to have the device default to wi-fi whenever possible, they'll have a couple of million kindle 3 kicking around in 6 months time so imagine how much that would cost them in fees if they were all 3G only devices.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Frankly, I suspect there is some impetus on Amazon's part to keep the browser so-so and the keyboard clumsy to use, at least if they want to continue providing free 3G connectivity: if it's too good and easy to use, Kindlers would be using it all the time.  (Maybe they can supply a souped-up version for those of us getting the WiFi-only K3?  )


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## 911jason (Aug 17, 2009)

sponge said:


> ...especially if Amazon continue to improve the browser.


I doubt we will see any improvements to the browser, at least not until the next Kindle is released.



Cloysterpete said:


> ...now whether the k3 is small enough to take around is another question, they should have removed all hat dead space above the keyboard and made it much smaller.


Have you ever used a Kindle? That "dead space" above the keyboard is usually where my thumb rests when holding it to read. Not all the time, but often enough that I'd miss it were it removed.


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## lark (Aug 30, 2010)

NogDog said:


> Frankly, I suspect there is some impetus on Amazon's part to keep the browser so-so and the keyboard clumsy to use, at least if they want to continue providing free 3G connectivity: if it's too good and easy to use, Kindlers would be using it all the time.  (Maybe they can supply a souped-up version for those of us getting the WiFi-only K3?  )


I'd agree with this with the old kindle browser. However, as illustrated above, I do not feel the browser is so-so at all. Think about all the resources being requested and downloaded with the new browser.

What I'd like to see are some screenshots of Google Reader being used on the Kindle. I feel there is an excellent market for web based RSS apps, specifically sites optimized via media queries.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

911jason said:


> I doubt we will see any improvements to the browser, at least not until the next Kindle is released.
> 
> Have you ever used a Kindle? That "dead space" above the keyboard is usually where my thumb rests when holding it to read. Not all the time, but often enough that I'd miss it were it removed.


Exactly. I wish people would realise that the Kindle is an e-reader and stop trying to turn it into a mini iPad or some such. I'd much prefer Amazon to be spending their time and resources on making it an even better reader. All I want to do on it is buy and read books, I don't want to pay for 'extras' so I can surf the web or check my email.


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