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Amazon to Release New Update For Silk Web Browser With New Distraction-Free Reading Mode

amazon-silk-icon-twitter[1]Amazon published a teaser post earlier this week on the Amazon Silk blog, finally revealing to the world what the next incarnation of Silk will look like.

The new version of Silk doesn’t appear to have been included in the Kindle Fire update which rolled out last week (I don’t have it, at least), and Amazon hasn’t said when it will be released, but Amazon did give us a few glimpses at the new look.

Update: The Silk update is being rolled out as I type. I got it sometime in the 3 hours since I published this post.

When you launch the app for the first time, you’re going to see a completely new quick launch page that focuses on "most visited" section of the old launch page. Across top of the screen you’ll find a new menu button in the upper left corner and a redesigned tab bar which is expected to be easier to read. That left menu button will cause a menu to slide out of the screen, just like with many other late generation Android apps (including the Kindle Android app).

After you start browsing you’ll also find a new button in the upper right hand corner with a new reading mode:

reading_view_button[1]

This new reading mode works just like the reading modes found in Safari, the old Nook Tablet’s web browser, and many other web browsers. Click the button and you’ll be able to read the contents of a page without distraction from ads:

reading_view1

And at the bottom of the screen you’ll find a new pull tab in place of the menu bar:

chromeless_view

Amazon has other improvements coming, including a new bookmarks menu and performance enhancements to the underlying rendering engine.

Again, there’s no release date mentioned, but I would bet that whatever tablets Amazon releases this Fall will probably ship with the newest version of Silk. The rest of us will likely also get the new features in the next couple months.

Amazon Silk blog

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Comments


Michael Anderson August 14, 2013 um 5:06 pm

Oh wow … not sure when it happened, but apparently I *do* have the update.

Nate Hoffelder August 14, 2013 um 5:17 pm

Do you have the Silk update? Or last week’s update?


XRay August 14, 2013 um 9:17 pm

I too have it evidently, since this evening. I wish they would allow it to open in bookmarks instead of history. And, I’ve had "reading view" since buying my Fire HD two months ago.

Nate Hoffelder August 14, 2013 um 9:51 pm

I just got the update.


Vonda Z August 16, 2013 um 10:08 am

Note that this update seems to have affected the ability to access YouTube’s mobile website via Silk. Since the update, every time I try to access YouTube, it redirects to the desktop version, which uses Flash and is incompatible. My son’s upgraded Fire HD has the same problem. This happens whether I type in the URL manually or use a link, and the menu option to request another view – all views take me back to desktop version.


Wanda Allworth August 20, 2013 um 9:21 pm

Help!!! I want to take "Silk" off of my apps! Can you help me?

[email protected]

Nate Hoffelder August 20, 2013 um 9:45 pm

Do you mean that you want to remove the icon from the carousel?

Press and hold the Silk icon until a menu pops up. Select the option "remove from Carousel".


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