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Amazon is reportedly interested in buying Boost Mobile
If helping to create a competitor is a necessary condition to get the Sprint/T-Mobile deal done, then perhaps Amazon can help. A report from Reuters suggests the retailer is interested in buying Boost Mobile from the combo, particularly because it would come with the ability to use T-Mobile's network for six years. The unnamed sources also claimed the company could be interested in spectrum the newly-merged pair would have to divest. Amazon has tried to get into the mobile business before -- remember the Fire Phone? -- and it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see it add wireless to the suite of services it offers. Yesterday's report pointed to the possibility of a cable company trying to rise up as the fourth major mobile operator, but if Amazon can pass regulatory scrutiny, maybe Prime will cover one more thing pretty soon.
Amazon drops the price of the Fire Phone to £99, again
Remember Amazon's Fire Phone? It hasn't even celebrated its first birthday yet but you'd be forgiven for never giving the retailer's first smartphone a second thought. In a bid to rectify the device's original sky-high pricing, the company took a hit and dropped the cost of the Fire Phone to £99 back in January. Now it's back. For the next week, you'll be able to pick up the 32GB model for under a ton, with the 64GB version setting you back £179. For some reason, the 64GB model is actually £30 more than it was during Amazon's previous Fire sale, but you're still making a £200 saving on either O2-locked device.
Amazon slashes the cost of its Fire Phone to £99
Amazon's Fire Phone has been a huge flop, and it seems like the company is just about ready to throw in the towel. Following multiple fire sales in the US, Amazon has dropped the price of its first smartphone by up to 75 percent in the UK. That puts the 32GB model at £99 off-contract, down from £400, and the 64GB variant at £149, which is £330 cheaper than before. The reductions expire at the end of the day, however, so if you're intrigued by the handset's unique Firefly and Dynamic Perspective features, you'll have to act fast. Of course, such a heavy price cut doesn't solve the Fire Phone's larger problems, such as its underwhelming Fire OS software, and the fact it's still locked to O2, even without a contract. More importantly, this is an early sign that Amazon is waving the white flag in the UK -- it's a sure fire way to move stock while it focuses on perfecting its successor.
Don't call it a fire sale: Amazon's Phone is now $199
When we reviewed Amazon's Fire Phone, we said that you'd better off waiting for the sequel. That's good advice for you, but not ideal for the company, since it ate a $170 million loss and has $83 million worth of unsold devices piled high in warehouses. It's probably for that reason that the company has, once again, slashed the off-contract price of the handset down from $449 to $199. Technically, of course, since the device comes with a year's free Prime subscription (worth $99), you're only really paying $100, which you have to admit is pretty damn cheap. You're still probably better to wait for the follow-up, though.
U-Verse app gets more live TV channels, launches on Amazon devices
AT&T is making U-Verse more appealing with each passing day. After the carrier revealed it would beat Google to the punch on bringing gigabit internet to Silicon Valley, now U-Verse is getting a great deal of fresh content and making its way to additional mobile devices. Aside from launching on Amazon's Kindle Fire HD and Fire HDX, as well as the Fire phone, the U-Verse app today also welcomed over 50 new channels to its catalog of live TV streaming channels. This includes Cartoon Network, CNN, EPIX, ESPN, GolTV, HBO, HGTV, TBS, TNT and Travel Channel, plus many others -- most of which you can watch even if you're away from your home network. All in all, definitely a boost for U-Verse subscribers, and if you aren't, it's at least good to know that U-Verse looks to be a solid choice, especially now that DirecTV is joining AT&T's ranks.
Amazon's first Fire phone update tackles its big interface problems
Generally speaking, Amazon's Fire phone hasn't had the warmest of receptions, and the online retailer is looking to improve things with its first major update for the device. To start with, the flagship smartphone from Amazon is finally capable of multitasking, a feature that's hard to believe could be missing to begin with -- double-pressing on the home button now lets you quickly switch between apps and tasks. In this new version of the handset's Fire OS, Amazon has also introduced App Grid Collections, aka application folders; Carousel Pinning, which lets users pin their favorite apps to the main home screen; and the ability to take Lenticular photos with 11 images rather than only 3, something that should make the optical illusion better on those type of images. Perhaps most importantly, however, this update is said to bring "dozens" of system tweaks which improve the Fire phone's battery life, and we all know how important that is.
Repairing the Fire Phone's cameras is more difficult than you think
The intrepid disassemblers over at iFixit have torn Amazon's Fire phone asunder in order to determine how repairable it is, but what did they find? At first blush, things seemed promising, with standard Torx screws holding the chassis together, but after that things started to get sticky. The battery, for instance, is attached with an adhesive tab, but the five front-facing cameras are all held in place with liberal dollops of glue. So much so, in fact, that do-it-yourself repairs are nearly impossible unless you're patient enough to melt each component out of its adhesive prison. Getting spare parts isn't ideal either, since the components share so many resources that you can't just replace one piece -- you've got to buy the lot. That's why the phone scored a measly 3 out of 10 for repairability, which is yet another reason not to buy one.
Amazon CEO scribbles on customer's iPhone after Fire phone event
Amazon is going all-in with its iPhone competitor, the Fire Phone, and company CEO Jeff Bezos took the time to have some fun with one of Apple's devices after revealing his new gadget at its debut event last week. A few of Amazon's biggest fans were on-hand for the event, and afterwards they got a personal visit from the CEO himself. Upon being asked to autograph an iPhone, Bezos took a quick jab at the device with a playful scribble. This means war! No, in all seriousness, it's nice to see a CEO engage in some playful gamesmanship, as many are often far too by-the-book for such antics. Of course, the customer in question knew exactly what he was getting into when he asked for an autograph on his Apple device, and Bezos was all too happy to oblige. Of course, whether or not the Fire Phone can be considered an "upgrade" from the iPhone is something I'll let you decide. This isn't the first time an Apple competitor has taken a Sharpie to one of the company's products -- Microsoft's Steve Ballmer famously autographed a MacBook Pro with "Need a new one?" back in 2010.
Weekends with Engadget: Amazon's Fire Phone, 3D-printed body parts and more!
This week, we went hands-on with Amazon's Fire Phone, learned about T-Mobile Test Drive, investigated laser-cut clothing and more! Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last seven days. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
3D puzzler Saber's Edge joins Fire Phone games roster [update]
Developer Hibernum Creations is bringing turn-based strategy puzzle game Saber's Edge exclusively to Amazon's Fire Phone. Describing Saber's Edge as one of only two games tapped for this sort of exclusivity arrangement, Hibernum Creations seems thrilled to be working with the online retail giant. "This is a great achievement for the team at Hibernum, in Montreal, since we were the only Canadian mobile gaming studio selected and entrusted by Amazon for the development of this new original property to be launched this summer," the developer stated in a missive to press. Though specific details on Saber's Edge are scant, Hibernum notes that the game will take advantage of the Fire Phone's Dynamic Perspective technology, a neat feature that tracks a user's facial positioning to deliver three-dimensional imagery on an otherwise two-dimensional screen. Update: This article previously stated that Saber's Edge was coming from a "partnership" between Hibernum and Amazon Game Studios. Hibernum has revised its statement to claim responsibility as the game's primary developer.
Engadget Daily: Amazon's ultimate weapon, T-Mobile Test Drive and more!
Today, we take a deeper look at Amazon Firefly, learn about T-Mobile Test Drive, review the ASUS Padfone X and investigate the biggest third-party games from this year's E3 event. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Engadget Daily: Amazon's Fire phone, Adobe's digital sketching hardware and more!
Today, we take a look at Amazon's new handset, the Fire, go hands-on on with the $22,000 Vertu Signature Touch, learn about Amazon's new Firefly feature and review Adobe's set of premium sketching accessories. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
The Fire phone is Amazon's ultimate hardware weapon
Amazon's first phone is finally here. But what makes it such a curious little device isn't all that (lackluster) 3D, head-tracking stuff; it's Firefly, the company's new visual search engine. Amazon may have been born unto the internet as a modest bookseller, but it's now become a services company: There's the Kindle Lending Library for e-books, plus streaming services like Amazon Instant Video and Prime Music. Amazon's also a hardware maker. And this time, the company's made something that lets you text mom and use a powerful image-based search system to shop Amazon.com with one touch. It's the Fire phone, and it feels like the inevitable marriage of Amazon's device and services initiative.
Amazon's Fire has a multi-perspective display that moves with you
After weeks and weeks of being rumored, Amazon's finally unveiled its first smartphone: the Fire. And, as expected, there are 3D-like features on board, with something the company's calling Dynamic Perspective. Thanks to this, Amazon's Fire will be able to do a number of neat things across different apps; for example, if you're looking at a picture, the view of it will change as you move the device around. To show off the effect, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos used a 3D aerial view of the Empire State Building, which made the iconic building look as if it were popping out of the Fire phone's screen. The web browser can also take advantage of the Dynamic Perspective feature, allowing you to easily scroll through pages by simply tilting the phone.
Amazon gets into the cell business with the Fire Phone [Update: Price, pre-orders]
The Fire Phone is Amazon's first foray into the smartphone market, announced today at an event in Seattle. The Fire Phone has a 4.7 inch Gorilla Glass display and an HD resolution screen, as reported by Engadget. It has a 13 megapixel, rear-facing camera with a dedicated camera button, plus unlimited cloud storage for photos. The Fire Phone comes with a rubberized frame, aluminum buttons, a quad-core 2.2GHz processor, Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM. The Fire Phone has dual stereo speakers and support for virtual Dolby Digital Plus surround sound, plus Amazon's free, 24-hour Mayday customer service program. A new feature for the Fire Phone is Firefly – using the camera, the phone will recognize games, books, DVDs, phone numbers, QR codes, art, CDs, URLs, bar codes and other scannable items. Users will then be able to purchase these items directly from Amazon with the tap of a button. From the sound of it, Amazon's Firefly could be super-effective. The Fire Phone also has a 3D interface with a head-tracking system called Dynamic Perspective, which can be used for games. Update: The Fire Phone is available exclusively through AT&T, the 32GB version for $200 and the 64GB version for $300. Off-contract, the phone is $650 for 32GB or $750 for 64GB, directly through Amazon. Pre-orders start today.
Amazon's Fire phone will come with free, unlimited cloud storage for photos
Amazon just announced the much-anticipated Fire phone, and along with some solid display and camera specs, the handset offers unlimited photo storage via Cloud Drive. In an on-stage comparison with the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 5s, the Fire's 13-megapixel rear-facing camera looked pretty capable -- especially with low-light performance -- and Amazon clearly thinks you'll be snapping up plenty of pictures. Free, unlimited photo storage definitely sets Amazon apart from Dropbox, Apple's iCloud and Microsoft's OneDrive, among other services, though Google also offers unlimited storage. Follow our liveblog for more news from the event in Seattle.
