Peeking Inside Amazon’s Kindle: The Web Browser

Earlier this week we touched a bit upon the topic of Amazon?s debut of its own e-book reader, dubbed Kindle, focusing a good deal on the general stuff concerning the item. You know, how the device would presumably do in an era still mostly averse to electronic books; whether it?s selling point of ?free? wireless 3G access will make it a hit; whether the experience is similar enough to the tried-and-true pulp-based paper equivalent to warrant the attention it?s so far received. The basics, more or less.

What we didn?t really talk much about ? if at all ? was the device?s Web browser, which, you?re likely quite aware, is something we tend to focus on here at Profy. What with the Internet being the focus of this publication and all.

So we?ve decided, however belatedly, to shine some light on the Kindle?s software side; specifically, the Web browsing experience it offers. Why? Well, for one, it?s a relatively slow Friday, what with a great deal of residents of Silicon Valley having reserved this day as one for recuperation from their Thanksgiving feasts. Secondly, it?s just what we do. We shoot the [bleep] about all things Webilicious, big or small. So here goes.

You?re likely aware of the Kindle?s hardware provisions. Its big buttons. Its wireless radio. Its big frickin? buttons. And, oh yes, the E Ink display. That grayscale marvel that works wonders for the preservation of battery life, among other conveniences.

The display is the device?s strong suit, for sure. It displays the text of novels and bios and poetic verse superbly. It?s size makes for quite good formatting. It?s efficient as hell. Anything you throw at the thing structured in the way of your average paperback or hardcover volume comes out as the author intended.

And, not surprisingly, that slab of E Ink can also be quite annoying, especially if you use it to view some of your favorite websites.

Now, I understand the E Ink display installed in the Kindle isn?t primarily intended for Web browsing, and that the onboard browser isn?t quite up to the task when searching out anything other than basic HTML. (Of course, it?s logical to think that, with time, things will get better.) But one can?t help highlight these unsatisfactory aspects of the device, because it?s being marketed as something which can tackle general Web browsing tasks. Which, according to several reviews published so far ? I?ll refer primarily to thoughts given by the New York Times opinionator David Pogue ? it really cannot.

To be fair, it?d be much too much to rebuke Bezos and his project of three years? development for failing to deliver proper AJAX and Flash compatibility right out the gate. While one would ideally very much like to see Web 2.0-compliance in full from the start, such things just don?t happen on a whim. Gradual steps are needed.

Yet it nonetheless must be said that the Kindle, while a genuinely admirable invention, is not a pleasurable Web browser by any means, and one would be advised to give it a good bit further examination before handing over $400 ? if in fact the Web access feature is the part of the sales pitch made by Amazon that?s led one to pull out the plastic from the billfold.

You can certainly expect to have for yourself a very good digital reader of your text files, be they Dickensian epics or short whitepapers or whathaveyou, in the Kindle. Most anything that?s written and displayed in word is enjoyable to read. But don?t expect much more from the device. If you do, you?re in for some disappointment.