

To reload a page, tap the Refresh icon (it looks like a curved arrow) in the web address field. When the page opens, you can tap a link to follow it. Tap one of the suggested websites in the Most Visited list, or tap Search the Web in the search field to type an address for a website you want to visit (see Figure 2). Launch Silk from the Carousel or the App Grid (see Figure 1). Drawbacks include trying to tap the correct link when multiple links are crowded together on the device's smaller screen. You have the ease of mobility and getting online anywhere that wireless or cellular access is available. You'll find that browsing the Web on your phone has both perks and disadvantages. Much like working with the browser on your desktop computer, you can customize your Fire phone's Silk browser, bookmark sites, and review your browsing history. Let's take a closer look at the Silk browser. Of course, Silk is equipped with the bells and whistles you may be accustomed to from other browsers, including the ability to share web pages, add bookmarks, save pages to read later, and search individual page content it also provides an especially helpful feature: requesting the desktop view of a site, as opposed to its mobile version. Silk analyzes web traffic patterns, preprocesses pages, and uses predictive technology for faster page loads. Many options for optimizing your web-browsing experience are ready at your fingertips, and you have the benefit of holding your Fire phone in landscape orientation to increase the content's visibility.Īmazon's Silk browser has been optimized for the mobile platform to create a more responsive browsing experience on your Fire phone. The experience of using your phone's web browser is similar to using the web browser on your desktop computer-just with a smaller screen.
#Silk internet browser tv
(A note on the browser’s Appstore page, however, says that it’s coming to the new Fire TV in December.Your Amazon Fire phone offers great features for experiencing the Internet. But it has not yet launched on the new Fire TV, possibly because that device runs the new Fire OS 6. The decision to not make a public announcement could be the company is tied up with its re:Invent conference in Vegas, or it may be waiting until the browser is fully compatible with all Amazon Fire TV devices before making an announcement.Ĭurrently, the app works on the 1st and 2nd generation Fire TV devices, the 2nd generation Fire TV Stick, and all versions of Element and Westinghouse’s Fire TV Edition televisions, Amazon says. The app’s release was first spotted by AFTVNews, which pointed out the beta version of the Silk browser had leaked this June, hinting that a launch was in the works.Īmazon has not yet formally announced the app’s arrival, but it did confirm the news to us via email this afternoon. You can play, pause, fast forward and rewind these videos using the buttons on the remote, instead of the cursor, which makes for easier viewing. The app includes a section of content called “Trending on the Web,” which highlights popular videos, including those from news sources like CNBC, CNN, Fox and others. That’s functional, but obviously more cumbersome than just grabbing your phone (that’s probably nearby anyway) to perform a search or load a webpage.īut the point of the Silk browser for Fire TV is not really web searches – it’s for online video.

The cursor, for example, moves around via the directional buttons on the remote. But then again, browsers aren’t really a great app for use on TVs in the first place. Overall, however, the browser is a fairly bare bones app that doesn’t seem like it was carefully customized for use on a television’s screen. It also uses as the default search engine, and supports searches via voice, thanks to its integrations with Fire TV’s voice remote. The app offers several standard web browser features, like the ability to search or enter URLs, access bookmarks, move forward or back, save passwords, and more. With little fanfare, Amazon launched its Silk web browser for Fire TV, allowing users with Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire TV Edition televisions to surf the web from their big screen.
