One of the original selling points of Amazon’s Kindle Fire was the Silk browser, which promised cloud-accelerated speeds to users. Silk loads some webpage elements on the server side, and tries to predict which links you’ll click on next so it can preload the next page you’re likely to visit. Now, a member of the xda-developers forum has released what is apparently a port of Silk for other Android devices.
Amazon’s Silk Browser ported from Kindle Fire to other Android devices
Amazon’s Kindle Fire Silk browser, which promises faster browsing by loading some webpage elements on the server side, has apparently been ported to other Android devices.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire Silk browser, which promises faster browsing by loading some webpage elements on the server side, has apparently been ported to other Android devices.
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
The port requires a rooted phone, and should work with CyanogenMod 7 at least. While we don’t know exactly what the limits of the port are, and haven’t tested it ourselves, forum members report it working on the Motorola Atrix and Droid X. Anybody with a Galaxy Nexus is apparently out of luck, as the port isn’t working on Android 4.0. It’s not clear that you’ll actually get faster browsing times with Silk, but it’s great to see it opened up to more devices. If you’re brave and curious, you can download the port and follow the instructions at the source links below.
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