Amazon Silk is a web browser developed by Amazon for their Kindle Fire tablets. Since it’s inception, Silk has been well received among Kindle Fire users because of it’s speed. It uses a split architecture, due to which some of the processing is performed on Amazon’s servers to improve webpage loading attributes. The frontend of Silk is based on the WebKit (browser) engine. Until recently, Silk was only available for Kindle Fire users, however, it has now been ported for other Android devices. The credit for this feat goes to XDA-Developers forum member “TyHi”, who was able to successfully port “Silk” for other Android devices. The process of porting the Silk browser, currently only works on rooted Android devices and involves side-loading a few APKs, as well as pushing around some files to a few system directories. If you would like to give your Android device a taste of the slick and speedy Silk browser, then check out the step-by-step guide given below.
Android users who have their devices rooted, can proceed by following the below instructions:
Step 1: Download the installation the package from XDA Developer’s forums link given at the end of this post.
Step 2: Now, extract all the package files and transfer them to the SD card/storage medium of your device.
Step 3: Using a root-level file explorer (such as perhaps the Root Explorer), select and copy all the files from the transferred System/lib folder to /system/lib folder. You’ll need to mount the R/W permission for the destination folder to complete this specific operation.
Step 4: Install all APKs, which are included within the ported System/App folder.
Step 5: Make sure that you copy the com.amazon.cloud9-1.apk file from the transferred /sdcard/System/App directory to the same folder within your Android device’s internal memory.
Step 6: Reboot your Android device and you’re good to go!
Enjoy the Amazon’s Silk browser on your Android device.
While testing the browser on HTC Desire Z running CM7.1, the results appeared to be a bit mixed. While websites loading time and rendering seemed to work just fine, there were some issues with the app adjusting to the smaller display size of the device. This was especially the case while running in portrait mode. Having said that, if you’re interested in trying out this port on your Android phone or tablet (such as perhaps your Nook device), then hit head over to the link given below to download the Silk Browser package.
