Can you browse the Internet on Amazon Fire tablet?.
If you buy an Amazon Fire tablet, you might be surprised to find that you have access to one web browser: Silk.
Transfer Bookmarks from Firefox to Chrome(Opens in a new browser tab)
Silk is Amazon’s own web browser. It does everything you need a web browser for, including bookmarks, fast web browsing, and a modern interface.
However, it is also deeply integrated with Amazon products and services, as is pretty much everything else in the Amazon Fire tablet itself.
In this article, we’ll explore all the inner workings of the Silk browser. If you’re new to using the Amazon Fire tablet, you know what to expect from web browsing.
The Silk Browser: An Overview
To launch the Amazon Fire Tablet Browser, simply browse through the apps on the tablet until you see the Silk Browser.
Tap this icon to launch the browser. As with most browsers, you’ll see tabs at the top, a URL box below it, and a search box above eight links for quick access.
These include:
- Bookmarks
- History
- Shopping
- News
- Four Websites recently accessed.
You will see a “Page Settings” link at the bottom of this page. If you choose this, you will see a menu where you can enable or disable the search box above the quick links on the page.
This is a useful setting because you can always use the URL field at the top as the web search field, so the second search field on the page is kind of redundant.
The Silk Browser Right Menu
You will find basically the same options, whether you touch the three dots in the upper right corner of the browser (for the right menu) or the three lines in the upper left upper corner (for the left menu).
On the right-hand menu, there is a grid with icons for each area you can explore.
Instant Recommendations
The first thing you might notice is the large Get Started button at the bottom of the menu, with no detailed description.
If you do click Get Started, you’ll see an option to enable Instant Recommendations.
This feature tracks information about the web pages you visit so that the Silk browser can make recommendations. These guidelines include other relevant articles on the Internet related to the topic you are reading or similar searches.
Obviously, there are some privacy concerns associated with this, as information about your views must be transmitted to Amazon’s servers so that Amazon can develop offers for you.
If you are not worried about this, select “Enable”. If you do not want all your Internet activities to be transmitted over the Internet more often than necessary, select “Close”.
Bookmarks
Click the Bookmarks icon in the menu to go to a list of bookmarks, which you can optionally organize into subfolders.
If this is your first time using the Silk browser and opening bookmarks, you will notice the option to import bookmarks from Chrome.
To do this, you need to perform several steps on another computer or mobile device.
You will need to open Chrome elsewhere and install the Silk Bookmarks browser extension.
- Open the Silk Bookmarks extension.
- Sign in with your Amazon credentials.
- Close and then reopen the extension and select Import.
Finally, open the Silk browser on your tablet and return to the bookmarks page. Click the three dots in the upper right corner to open the menu and choose Import from Chrome.
During this process, all bookmarks from the Chrome browser are transferred to the cloud through the Silk extension and then to the Silk browser on the tablet.
This is a rather complicated process, but at least it will save you the time it takes to restore your entire bookmark library.
Of course, to save any sites you visit with the Silk browser, select the bookmark icon in the URL field.
Add Bookmarks Toolbar Button to Google Chrome(Opens in a new browser tab)
When you do, you will see two options:
- Add Bookmark: This will be saved to your bookmark library.
- Pinto my favorites: This will pin the icon for this site to the quick links section of the new tab page
Reading List
You will also see a reading list on the right menu. If you touch this, you will see two options:
- Save to Reading List: Add the URL to your list of articles you want to read later.
- View Reading List: Browse the list of articles you want to read.
If you choose “View Reading List”, you will see all the pages added. They are color-coded so you know which ones you’ve read.
If not read, the title will be orange.
When you read each title, they turn black.
While reading them, you can delete them individually, or simply select the trash can in the upper right corner to clear them all.
The Reading List is a useful feature to just save what you want to read quickly later, but you really don’t want to clutter up your browser bookmark list.
Save bookmarks for things you want to visit often and use your Reading List for things you want to read later, then move on to the next.
Your Amazon listings and shopping link
Of course, since the Amazon Fire tablet is an Amazon product and the Silk browser is an Amazon app, it’s no surprise that there are Amazon-specific links in the right menu.
The first one is your lists. It just takes you straight to the wishlists in your Amazon account.
You will also see a “Shopping” link, which will take you directly to Amazon. Because where else would you like to shop besides Amazon, right?
Other Right Menu Links
You will also see the following links in the right menu of your Silk browser.
- News: Visit a carefully selected page from a long list of news sources (which you can customize).
- Downloads: View all downloaded files.
- New closed tab: Similar to the Incognito tab in Chrome.
- PC Site: forces websites to display the PC version of the site
- Print: Prints on a page on your printer.
- Dark / Light theme: Switch the browser between dark or light modes.
Silk Browser Left Menu
If you select the left menu icon, you will see all the same options that were available in the right menu.
There is one exception. You will find the settings here.
In the main settings menu, you will find everything you can customize in the Silk browser.
These include:
- Payment Methods: Save cards in your browser for one-click payment while shopping.
- Passwords: Enable automatic password saving and automatic login for websites
- Addresses: Save URLs in your browser that can be used to auto-fill web forms.
- Accessibility: Adjust the size and scale of the text in the browser if you find it difficult to read small text.
- Silk Home: Customize the Home, Amazon, and News tabs.
An important area is the ability to customize the news tab. You can customize which articles and popular news items you see by managing news providers and sources.
On the sources page, you will see a list of all available news sources. You can select “Block” to remove anything you don’t need.
In the Privacy menu, you can enable Do Not Track or Use Secure DNS for added privacy and security.
If you do decide to use secure DNS, you will need an available provider and enable this option in your Silk browser.
In the advanced settings menu, you can change the default search engine that the Silk browser will use.
Select Search Engine from the Advanced Settings menu and then choose your default search engine.
Reading View and Sharing
Another feature available in the Silk browser is Reading Mode.
This is a full-screen mode designed to remove all distractions and allow you to fully focus on the article you are reading.
If you have Reading Mode enabled in your settings (it is enabled by default), you will see “Show in Reading Mode” at the bottom of your browser page.
Just tap it to enter reading mode.
When you do this, you will see the entire screen shifted and the article reformatted as the standard journal article format.
Some people love this feature so they can really focus on what they are reading. Other people find this view redundant and unnecessary.
If you want, you can turn it off in your browser settings.
Another useful feature built into the browser is the Share icon in the browser’s right menu. Using this, you can share the page with others via Facebook, Twitter, email, or even to another device via Bluetooth.
This is a handy feature that allows you to quickly share pages even on sites that don’t have built-in social media icons.
Is the Amazon Fire Tablet Web Browser Any Good?
The Silk browser has its pros and cons. It is an efficient and fast browser that works as well as any other browser you may have used in the past.
Since it’s built into the Amazon Fire tablet by default, you can rest assured that it will update alongside all the other major apps. However, it lacks many of the bells and whistles found in other major browsers.
There are no extensions or add-ons here, so you’re really stuck with what you have. And since it’s built by Amazon, you’ll have to deal with all the links and other features that are designed to entice you to use Amazon’s services.
–
Can you browse the Internet on the Amazon Fire tablet?
Can you browse the Internet on the Amazon Fire tablet?.
TOP 10 Best Amazon Fire HD Tablet Cases(Opens in a new browser tab)