Browsing the web on one of Amazon’s Kindle e-readers is like taking a step backwards in time. It’s clunky and has only limited support for web standards, and bare-bones JavaScript capabilities.
But now Amazon may be looking to add browser engineers to the Kindle team, according to the job listings on the company’s website.
A job posting for a browser engineer at Lab126, the division of Amazon that develops the Kindle, indicates the company is looking for somebody to develop “an innovative embedded web browser” for a consumer product.
The role at Lab126 includes designing new features for a new browser while supporting the existing code. Job requirements include familiarity with current web standards and web rendering engines, as well as experience with Java and embedded Linux, both of which the Kindle runs.
The Kindle’s current browsing experience is notably subpar. It’s good enough to check your e-mail, post to Twitter or read Wikipedia, but it doesn’t handle images or more complex web apps particularly well. It certainly doesn’t live up to the same vision of the mobile web being outlined by the iPhone, or Android phones like the Droid or Nexus One. And with the coming of the Apple iPad and other threats to Amazon’s dominant e-reader, which should behave on the web about as well as (if not better than) the iPhone, the Kindle had better improve its browser if the device is going to continue to compete with these more capable devices.
Amazon recently launched a beta program for third-party app developers who want to build software for the Kindle.
Apparently, the job listing has been up for a month, but I only became aware of it once CNET’s Stephen Shankland tweeted about it.
Calls to Lab126 and Amazon on Monday morning went unreturned. I’ll update this post if and when I get more information from Amazon or anyone else.
Meanwhile, if you have any advice about improving the Kindle’s browsing mojo, leave it in the comments.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Wired.com
Amazon just got caught with its pants down. Now trying to play catch up. Too little.. too late.
Next to the iPad the Kindle will look as outdated as Palm Pilot is next to the iPhone. Kindle’s screen is black and white… too slow to ever support video. E-Ink is over-rated… it is already being phased out. Kindle’s operating system is too unsophisticated to do anything more than just be a e-reader. Don’t waste your money on the Kindle…at least wait till the iPad is released to check them out side by side. Besides…iPad is sexy like Maria Sharapova and Kindle Dx is like well… Susan Boyle (a one trick pony and not so easy on the eyes).
Its got to be pretty obvious that in just a little over a month the Kindle is going to be just as popular as the Nomad Jukebox is amongst mp3 players now.
Apple fans will be surprised that the Kindle does not go down the tubes, but will remain the reader of choice. And yes, the web browser is clunky, but “FREE” means a lot to me. I can handle “FREE” better than the $360 the iPad user will shell out each year for anywhere-web-access, which the Kindle already has built in.
Me thinks Jason and Chris doth protest too much..(i.e. applefanboys)
By the by I have a GEN1 Kindle. I can not tell you the number of people who find this device ‘as cool as any thing Steve ‘Snobs’ ever stole or as he says invented. Gota laugh. Guess I partial to non-apple stuff
I would disagree with the browser being “notably sub-par”. The browsing experience is so far below par that “sub-par” is by contrast the outright flattery. The Kindle browser should be marked “emergency use only” and thought of in the same vein as the “emergency biscuits” found on lifeboats. Not something you’d consume if you didn’t absolutely have to!
The Kindle is good for one thing, reading books bought from the largest seller of useful eBooks in the world (500,000 out of print books from Sony is hardly useful!)
Unluckily for Amazon this will not be enough to withstand the coming onslaught of tablets. However, as a Kindle owner I will stick to using it for as long as I have to, at least until I find a better way to get access to more good eBooks. In the eReader market, content and not hardware is king!
Nothing like Kindle squandering their lead by being too busy raking in the cash to bother to stay on top of things. Or heck, even just producing a product that satisfied minimal needs. Like the (also limited iPad), the tech will be leapfrogged by some fantastic options in the next few months.
Note to Amazon: Please please please make this backwards compatible to Kindle 1. Early adopters just keep getting screwed by amazon!
A better version of the kindle will be here in just 1 month.
The ipad.
People seem to forget that the Kindle is meant for reading books, not browsing the web. This is why it isn’t backlit with millions of colors. It’s appeal is in its simplicity. Yea a little bit of browsing is cool, but this product isn’t made to compete with the likes of the iPad. They’re in different markets completely.
Amazon should be spending its time to give the Kindle SOME KIND OF FILING SYSTEM!!! Unlike competitors, and to my understanding from using my wife’s two Kindles, there is no way to sort your books by anything but alpha for name and author. You can’t even mark books as read, or sort them into types of books. Its horrible with 10 books..but the damn thing allegedly can hold thousands of books…with no way to organize them. I’ve sent many e-mails to Amazon pleading for upgrade…but nothing.
I wish it had no web browser whatsoever (except to sites where I could get an e-book, even perhaps other than Amazon.com.)
Aren’t we past the point where just because everything *can* have a web browser, it *must*? Where we can have elegant, *cheap*,optimized, single-purpose electronic devices instead of these cumbersome Swiss Army knives? The Kindle to me is a book, I relate to it as a book, after you buy about 20 books on it its amortized cost is about that of a book. I charge it once every few weeks, I don’t have to configure it, I didn’t ever have to think hard about using it, I don’t have to pay monthly, it’s a book.
I don’t need another pseudo-laptop in my life. If I need to get on the Web, I’ll use one of the half-dozen devices within reach at any time that can do that, and if my Kindle costs $40 more beause they have to support it going on the Net all the time, I’m out.
Sounds weird, but since I read to relax, I find it a *relief* that the web browser is so s**y as to be unusable. Inferior technology, superior user experience, lower cost, is not necessarily a loser…
The Kindle and iPad are completely different markets. I certainly don’t want to read a novel on a backlit LCD screen with at most 10 hours battery life (probably less), when I can grab my kindle and have weeks of battery life and my eyes still in-tact.
e-paper is meant for reading. A new browser would be welcome I suppose, but I never browse the web on my Kindle. I have lots of other devices I can do that from.
@Ark:
I agree with an organization system for the books. The sorting system is horrible, even something simple like the ability to make folders and put your books into them would be a vast improvement.
The Kindle will take a big hit with the iPad. The eInk technology was promising, but wasn’t really there when the Kindle was produced. Next to the iPad, the Kindle just won’t sell. The Kindle is $300 vs. the iPad’s $500 and the iPad is bigger, brighter and faster. Plus, it can do so much more. A better comparison is the Kindle DX vs. the iPad since the screens are the same size. Both of those units are $500.
What are the Kindles advantages? eInk and Free 3G? eInk has promise, but it just isn’t ready. The two weeks of power is nice, but when you live in a world of electric outlets everywhere, who cares if you have to charge your device every night? The free 3G is mainly for downloading books. The iPad has WiFi which is pretty ubiquitous and free. The iPad does come with 3G which can cost you, but you can do so much more with the 3G than just download books.
However, to Amazon, the Kindle was suppose to be a sideshow. The real promise of the Kindle was to kindle the ebooks market, and Amazon can still produce an ebook store for the iPad. In fact, the Apple iBook store is not included. You have to download it from the iPad’s App store much like the Amazon’s Kindle application.
Amazon should not bother with upgrading the Kindle. The only way the Kindle can survive is if Amazon gives it away for free or at a very reduced price. (Very possible: Imagine a college program with free Kindles which let students get their text books in the form of ebooks.).
Instead, Amazon should fully embrace the iPad and convince iPad users to use Amazon’s Kindle bookstore. Make the Kindle bookstore more appealing. Add features that Apple hasn’t added yet (like consistent page numbering) Amazon’s Kindle bookstore will probably will have more books than the iBook store has — at least at launch date.
Unfortunately, Amazon is attempting to compete head on which is a major but common mistake. Under Jobs, Apple stopped trying to compete head on with Microsoft and all of the PC manufacturers. Instead, it competed on service, quality, and user experience. This has turned Apple from a company that was going down in flames into a technology leader that keeps other companies awake at night.
Um, I swear by Apple products, household full of iPods and MacBooks. Tthe Kindle is for just reading books. If I want the other stuff I’ll just break out my Macbook. Let’s keep the book readers just that, devices to read books. If I’m that worried about browsing in a portable environment I’ll just break out me iPod touch.
Haha. Keep digging that hole, Amazon. It’s over.
i PREFER browsing on my kindle, as opposed to my iphone, when pictures don’t need to move or make noise. i almost regret getting the iphone (in fact, i DID regret it, badly, after two days of novelty lust) - reading on it is horrific, and the bells and whistles (and hundred dollar bills) i could have lived without, had i not been suckered and seduced by my friends and the zeitgeist. i’m eager to see what amazon comes up with. i’m hoping it’ll support non-latin characters.
The iPad will not knock the Kindle out of the market for one simple reason. The iPad won’t fit in my purse. The Kindle does. (and no, I don’t want to read novels on a iPod touch, thankyouverymuch)
Including a geo-locator would be great for maps and directions.
Agreed.
The iPad will have it’s place a well will the Kindle. I am a Kindle owner and the fact that I can store all of those books, have fantastic battery life on a single charge, perfect size and weight…it’s perfect…for its purpose. The Kindle and the Nook and all the other ereaders will be here for quite some time. The iPad won’t replace anything, it’s just another niche item.
The Ipad will not replace the Kindle. You will probably need glasses if you don’t already wear one after finish reading a novel on the ipad.
the Kindle only seems old school compared to the ipad. I don’t want to use my kindle to play virtual pinball and all that. It is a pleasure to read with, it’s battery lasts forever, and it’s screen doesn’t hurt the eyes even after hours of use.
I can’t honestly imagine the ipad being the e-reader of choice. It does so many other things that I can’t imagine people ever reading more than blips and blogs on it.
The browser on the kindle really is for emergency use only though, like someone wrote below. I don’t really care about using it that much when I can get a suitable internet experience from my computer.
A general purpose browser is not very interesting in and of itself on the Kindle, but if it was used as a vehicle to build kindle specific apps, suddenly it is a bit more interesting. I see content providers like newspapers using JavaScript/CSS to build applications to sync and read their content on or off line. This is similar to the architecture that Palm is using in WebOS, and Google is pursuing with ChromeOS. So my interest in a “browser” on the kindle is nil, but it might be a very effective component under the covers.
Kindle will remain dominate over the others because it appeals to the avid reader who would like to still have the authentic feel of paperback books. It’s an e-reader not a laptop….I don’t want all of that crap on my Kindle just so I can read nor do I want to pay for it, it’s FREE for a reason.
The Kindle for reading is way better than the iPad will be. The Kindle looks like paper and does not cause eye fatigue like computer screens.
I’m not sure why anyone needs an iPad. Still trying to figure that out.
The best thing Amazon could do would be to introduce the browser to the concept of security by trashing JavaScript completely. The *last* thing this user wants is the exploit du jour running on my Kindle! Yes, webmasters, it is my computer not yours. Now go to your room for timeout.
So sad for Amazon, but good for customers.
The Kindle 2 offers a very large library of tens of thousands of e-books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs via Amazon’s familiar online store; built-in free wireless “Whispernet” data network–no PC needed; built-in keyboard for notes and navigation; a faster processor speeds up the device; with 2GB of internal memory,And has a voice-recog capability.
More Details: http://bit.ly/kindle-2-details
Yeah Amazon is screwed. I’m so glad I resisted the Kindle kraze and held out for Apple’s offering. For those of us who can’t just throw money around for multiple gadgets, the Kindle is just a poor investment. Whereas the iPad fills the e-reader and netbook niche splendidly.
One huge difference in the readers abilities is the accelerometer! Why oh why did Amazon not include this common, easily incorporated, technology in the Kindle?? I sold mine simply because i could not get comfortable with it, like you can with a book. If it had this technology i would still own it and love it.
two words, Opera browser - should fly on this hardware.
Yep, I have one, second generation. Hope the new stuff works on it. The interface struck me immediately as, like, DOS. Couldn’t believe how bad it was. Worse than DOS - no mouse. But it IS just a reader, and does fine as that, long as you can figure out how to get past the proprietary formats ‘n stuff. Those here who understand that and appreciate its relative simplicity and thriftyness know it will have a long, if not glorious, life.