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Amazon Fire Phone
70
Engadget Review
Amazon's debut phone isn't bad, per se, but there's little incentive for anyone to switch carriers or platforms to buy it. Its unique features don't provide enough utility, and come at the expense of both battery life and performance.
Pros
- Mayday provides quick access to tech support
- Comes with free year of Prime membership
- Good call quality
Cons
- Exclusive to AT&T, no global options
- 3D effects can cause motion sickness
- Limited ecosystem
- Dynamic Perspective and Firefly need some work
- Unique features hamper battery life and performance
View All Critic & User Reviews
Amazon Fire Phone
- Critic Reviews (10)
- User Reviews (4)
- 69AVERAGE CRITIC SCORE10 ReviewsNew York Times70Amazon's Fire Phone: Solid Device Beneath a LayerIn the Fire Phone, Amazon has built a really nice, solid, plain white house. You’ll love living in it, if you can ignore all the purple.Recode60Can the Amazon Fire Phone Take on iPhone and SamsuThe Amazon Fire phone is perfectly suited for people heavily invested in the company’s ecosystem, and who like to use their smartphones one-handed, as long as they like AT&T.Gizmodo70Amazon Fire Phone Review: A Shaky First StepNone of the Fire Phone's flaws are totally insufferable, but there's just no reason to suffer them at all. Fire OS is workable but mediocre as a smartphone operating system, and the hardware doesn't bring anything to the table that counteracts that.Wired60Amazon Fire Phonet’s not a bad phone, it just isn’t in the same league as a top-tier Android phone or iPhone. When you look past its purchasing powers and its fringe benefits—which can’t be ignored—what you have left is a relatively unexciting handset.Ars Technica70Review: Amazon’s Fire Phone offers new gimmicks,But the bigger question for most people isn't going to be "does this phone do anything useful"; it's "should I buy this phone rather than some other competing phone?" For the time being, the answer is no.GigaOM80Amazon Fire Phone review: It’s not for me, but AWho is the target audience here? Power users, not likely. But a mainstream Amazon Prime customer? Certainly.The Wall Street Journal70Amazon Fire Phone Review: Full of Gimmicks, LackinThe phone handset business is in need of new ideas, so I'm actually rooting for Amazon to make inroads that might disrupt the giants. But Amazon's first Fire isn't going to spark much.Engadget70Amazon Fire phone review: a unique device, but youAmazon's debut phone isn't bad, per se, but there's little incentive for anyone to switch carriers or platforms to buy it. Its unique features don't provide enough utility, and come at the expense of both battery life and performance.ZDNetNot RatedAmazon Fire phone: Hands-on first impressionsThe hardware is fine, but it is priced at the high end with the iPhone 5s, HTC One (M8), and Galaxy S5 and doesn't compete with these devices in terms of smartphone capability. I expected to see the Fire priced similarly to the Nexus 5, OnePlus One, or Moto X.WiredNot RatedA Visual Tour of Amazon’s New Fire PhoneIt may not come with the pixel densities, screen size, or bleeding edge processor that some of its competitors have, but the Fire Phone does offer some truly dazzling technological innovations—namely a new face- and gesture-tracking interface.PC MagNot RatedHands On With the Amazon Fire PhoneThe marquee feature here is Dynamic Perspective, which leverages four front-facing cameras and infrared technology to track a user's face and adjust perspective on the display accordingly. This serves a few purposes beyond simple eye-candy effects.TechCrunchNot RatedHands-On With The Amazon Fire PhoneAmazon touted the brightness of the screen during its presentation, though we couldn't really tell the difference from an iPhone with both cranked up.Ars TechnicaNot RatedAmazon Fire Phone hands-on: Double visionWhether the phone's unique features, particularly head tracking and comprehensive Firefly searching, prove disruptive enough to win doubters over remains to be seen.GizmodoNot RatedAmazon Fire Phone Hands-On: Great For Amazon, LessWe were excited about the phone coming into our hands-on, but ultimately, we walked away feeling somewhat unenthusiastic about it. It comes off as a bit gimmicky, and it's missing some features that would make it competitive with phones from the three major operating systems.EngadgetNot RatedAmazon's Fire Phone has average looks and high aspSpec-wise, it isn't the most impressive phone ... it's simply what you'd expect from an average phone. Of course, Amazon's focus is on what makes it unique; the gestures, imaging prowess, Dynamic Perspective and Amazon services are differentiating factors that it can boast over other smartphones.CNETNot RatedAmazon Fire Phone: Firefly shopping, dynamic 3D efIt seems a lot like a Kindle Fire, in phone form. But it has a few special features -- a universal scanning app, and a crazy set of infrared cameras that create 3D-like phone navigation -- that could set it apart from the competition.MashableNot RatedHands On: Amazon's Fire Phone Is More Than Meets tAmazon wants to make buying the Fire phone an easy decision for its tens of millions of Prime customers. It’s not only putting the Amazon store in its users pockets, it’s adding its whole range of digital content from music and videos to books.TechHiveNot RatedHands on with the Amazon Fire PhoneGestures only took me a couple minutes to get used to, and I could see how they might become indispensible once you really get accustomed to them.SlashGearNot RatedAmazon Fire Phone hands-onIt's solid, though doesn't feel especially premium in the hand. Think along the lines of a Nexus 4 rather than, say, an HTC One M8 or iPhone 5s. The rubberized outer edges are at least grippy and the whole thing is creak-free, aided by the fact that the battery is non-user-removable.The Verge60Amazon Fire Phone reviewAmazon’s consumption-first approach works on tablets, for watching and reading and shopping. But tablets are for fun. Smartphones are for work ... Amazon doesn’t understand that, and the Fire Phone doesn’t reflect it.Android CentralNot RatedAmazon Fire Phone hands-onThis isn't just a spec-matching phone to go out and play toe-to-toe with the Galaxy S5 and LG G3 — it's Amazon's take on what a phone should be, and it's packed in enough features and use-cases into a single device that more than a few people will be interested in it.VentureBeatNot RatedHands on with Amazon’s Fire PhoneThe Fire Phone’s “app grid” isn’t so different from app screens on other phones except that the icons have a 3D quality and move slightly as your head moves. This is because the sensors at all four corners of the front of the phone are detecting the relation of your head to the device.The VergeNot RatedAmazon Fire Phone: hands-on with the ultimate buyiYou have a homescreen with a giant carousel of your most-recently used apps and content, along with a standard app grid underneath. It involves a lot of big, chunky graphics on a black background, but it's a remarkably consistent aesthetic that works for casual use.Business Insider80REVIEW: Amazon's New Fire Phone Has Some Fun FeatuThis is a phone for folks who only want to live in Amazon's world and don't need access to the latest and greatest apps and services rival devices offer. I suspect most people don't fall into that category though.The Next WebNot RatedHands-on with Amazon’s Fire phone, the newest poThe Fire does have Nokia Here maps, but anyone that uses Android or even iOS will be disappointed to see their favorite mapping app missing. Having these apps missing from a tablet is unfortunate, on a smartphone, it’s a huge gaping hole.
- 80AVERAGE USER SCORE4 ReviewsEngadget Reader80July 5, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!I love my Fire. I like being individual with it not having a mainstream android phone or Apple product.I find it personally very user friendly the Fire user guide which 'Fires' up upon starting the phone give you the easy to follow low down on how to make the most of the feature such as peek,swivel, and tilt.I've read a review about someone complaining about the lack of back button. This is remedied on the Fire by just a simple swipe up from the bottom of any portion of the lower screen ( you dont have to swipe up from the bottom hand left hand corner only for example)There are two volume buttons and the camera/firefly button these are along the left side of the phone this are of CNC machined aluminium so is the Menu button and Lock button, these are nice to the touch. the camera is accessed by one click and firefly by holding the camera button and firefly 'Fires' up very quickly ideal for having to capture a quick picture or if you rapidly need to compare the price of an item or product you find on your travels against Amazon or google shopping or just to find out more about an item.Firefly is also great for identifying TV shows or music eliminating the need for an app like Shazam. Firefly identifys shows and music pretty flawlessly but some items and products aren't always correct first time. but it's pretty reliable for mainstream items. less so the more obscure the item.The ease of use to identify a TV show or film is a nice touch you simply open up Firefly and point it at whatever is playing on a screen in front you. it'll bring up the show,episode, IMDB information and how much it is on Amazon.The Mayday feature runs really well even without Wi-Fi, The attendants are always polite and extremely helpful. Once I forgot how to turn of recommendations in my Carousel and couldn't be bothered remembering so I did a quick wrist 'swivel' and pressed Mayday, within 30 seconds I connected with an attendant who quickly took control of my phone and turned it off showing me the process also. (Amazon Mayday attendants cannot see you but see your screen so I wouldn't recommend pressing the Mayday button when you're on Online Banking or something for example!There are multiple lock screens which make use of Dynamic Perspective which follow your movement from the lock screen allowing you to look around the scene.This is good if you want to quickly show off a 'cool' 'fun' and 'unique' feature of the phone.With regards to Network/Carrier it is possible to use a Fire Phone on Giff Gaff as this runs on the 02 network. All that is required to do is change a few APN settings which can be found easily online and how-to-guides on how to run an 02 Fire on giff gaff are available.Technically one could say the same for Tesco mobile as they run on 02 also but I don't quote me on this. Accessories wise can be a pain to find on the high street next to no stall or shop does Fire phone accessories and I ordered screen protectors and case from Amazon.Amazon maps is excellent as good as google maps. Amazon App store has had a load of featured app worth over £75 (at the time of writing) for free ranging from great space rpg Star Command to things like Smart Office 2 which is an excellent office app.Some people are not a fan of the Fire OS, sometimes I think because they're a bit too used to iphones or other android phones but I think it is unique and user friendly but it can depend on how one can pick up things quickly some people have complained about it's ease of use.The Fire user guide shows you how to make use of all dynamic perspective features and with a swivel of the wrist and tap Mayday and an attendant can help you with anything else anytime 24/7! But once you know it inside an out it is a real breeze of a phone!Engadget Reader80March 10, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!PROSDisplay is amazingGood battery lifeBuilt to lastUniquePowerful processorCONSAmazon App Store (VERY limited)I have tnjoyed everything about this phone with the exception of the app store. It is so limited it is unbelievable, hopefully Amazon fixes this soon, it has potential, it just needs some work. As far as the phone itself, the only flaw is I have had difficulty with the call quality, that's it.Engadget Reader80February 24, 2015Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!There's a lot to like about this in spite of a few flaws. - EngadgetEngadget Reader80December 29, 2014Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback!Having used a lot of Samsung and Apple smartphones, I wasn't expecting much from the Fire Phone, but I must admit, I have been pleasantly surprised.I was a bit skeptical about not having Google Services on this phone, but after using it for a few days I can't say I really miss it much. The included email application is good and works easily with both my GMail and Yahoo accounts. The maps program has built in navigation. I do miss having Chrome browser history shared between my browser and phone like it was with my Galaxy, but the Silk browser works just as well.Build quality is actually very good. The front and back are both high quality Gorilla Glass 3, but I am not 100% sold on the plastic edges. As a bonus, they are very grippy making the phone more difficult to drop, but on the downside the edge between the plastic and glass is noticeable.I am really impressed with how well dynamic perspective works, and it makes menial tasks like scrolling in a web browser by tilting the phone or pulling out the side menu very easy and is extremely reliable, much more so than eye scrolling. The lock screen is really cool because you can use the dynamic perspective to peek behind objects in the photo/scene. They include some games that use the perspective as well, like a clay modeling program, a puzzle game where you rotate a cube, and a cheesy game where you can play games with a monkey (peekaboo sorts of games and interacting with it).One thing I don't like with many Android phones is they are a hodgepodge of Apps and settings and don't really seem coherent. Amazon has done a good job making a very coherent and well designed product that feels very polished. Honestly it works as seamlessly as an iOS product as far as I am concerned. I know I will get down-voted by iOS fans for saying that.The screens are responsive, the icons are nice looking, the phone, message, mail, and browser icons are always easy to find, there isn't a lot of unnecessary widgets and clutter. The phone didn't really need any customization out of the box.The phone has the typical grid arrangement of Apps or you can pull down on the screen and bring up a carousel view which shows recent or pinned applications as long as their recent content (like Silk browser pages, combined email inbox, or Prime Music songs). This is a really neat view for quick access to frequently used applications.Battery life seems pretty typical based on my use. Similar to my Galaxy S4. Turning off dynamic perspective could extend this a bit, but I actually really like the feature.Mayday is a built in support App which I haven't tried yet, and Firefly works well for identifying products, shows, and music. I love that the camera has a hard button for turning it on and taking photos, this is much quicker and more stable than using soft shutter release buttons. The camera image stabilization works okay, but the flash seems to be a bit weak (or maybe just how camera chooses to expose). The face detect circles are nice and the camera seems to easily be able to recognize faces, even in fairly low light.The only real drawback to the Fire Phone is not having easy access to the play store, but I find many Apps are basically mobile web browser sites, so many of them aren't necessary at all other than for notifications, so if you don't find your App, maybe check the companies website and see if the mobile version will work just as well (this is especially true for financial Apps). I was worried this was going to be a deal breaker for me, in fact I bought the phone planning on trading it in for a different device, but I plan on keeping it now.P.S., Recommend to check it best price at www.seebestdeals.com/?p=1744Hope it helps.
Key Specs
TYPE
Smartphone
OPERATING SYSTEM
Android
SCREEN SIZE
4.722
INTERNAL MEMORY
321
CAMERA
Yes
CARRIERS (US)
AT&T
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