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Amazon Fire phone review: a unique device, but you're better off waiting for the sequel
After producing a long line of e-book readers and tablets (not to mention a set-top box), Amazon has its sights set on the smartphone market. But finding success here won't be easy, even for an established tech giant like Amazon. With the Fire phone, the online retailer is coming in as an unproven underdog, hoping to bring iPhone and Android users into its fold. CEO Jeff Bezos says the only way to do that is to differentiate; to wow potential buyers with new features they didn't even realize they needed. These unique offerings include 3D head-tracking, product scanning and fast help from customer service agents.
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 phone has average looks and high aspirations (hands-on)
It was only a matter of time before Amazon launched a smartphone. In the past 10 years, the company's extended its reach from the online realm into physical hardware, and after the addition of the Fire TV recently, the smartphone was the last major device genre it hadn't explored. Amazon's filled that void with the Fire phone, an AT&T-exclusive smartphone that ships in late July for just under $200. CEO Jeff Bezos spent over an hour on stage discussing the new phone's litany of features and how its uniqueness gives it an advantage over most other handsets the Fire phone will compete with. It's true: No other devices have six cameras and quick access to tech support, and features like Firefly and Dynamic Perspective help give the device a flavor of its own.
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's Firefly recognizes everything you see and hear, then lets you buy it
So yes, Amazon's phone is a real thing... and it's turning out to be quite a sales tool, too. Jeff Bezos just pulled back the curtain on the device's Firefly feature, which scans music, art and even products you have lying around in the real world. Why? So you can buy it all from Amazon, of course.
Amazon announces the Fire, its first-ever smartphone
Yep, it's a phone alright. Amazon officially unveiled the Fire today at a special press event held in Seattle. Consistent with the rumors, Amazon's first-ever handset has a 4.7-inch Gorilla Glass display with an HD-resolution screen (720p). That makes it the same size as the Moto X, which was also supposed to be a phone for the masses. It also has a rubberized frame with aluminum buttons, a quad-core 2.2GHz processor, Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM. As for the camera, there's a 13-megapixel rear-facing one equipped with an f/2.0 lens and optical image stabilization and the ability to capture 1080p video. The phone's display will have 590 nits of brightness, dynamic image contrast and a "circular polarizer," which will likely be used to combat glare. There's also a dedicated camera key and, luckily for all you amateur photogs, it'll come with free unlimited cloud storage for photos as well. Other features include global LTE and connectivity with nine bands of LTE, quad-band GSM, five bands of UMTS, 802.11ac support, WiFi channel bonding, NFC and Bluetooth. It even supposedly has great battery life, promising nearly 285 hours of standby time, 22 hours of talk time, 65 hours of audio and 11 hours of video playback. It'll be available exclusively from AT&T for $199 if you want the 32GB version, or $299 if you prefer the 64GB. Alternately, you can get the 32GB version for as little as $27 a month or the 64GB for around $31 a month if you opt for AT&T's Next program. If you'd rather go off-contract instead, you can get the phone directly from Amazon for $649 for 32GB and $749 for 64GB.
Tune in to our liveblog of Amazon's phone announcement tomorrow!
Amazon has taken a crack at e-readers, tablets and even set-tops, so it was only a matter of time before the company turned its sights to the ripe smartphone market. Of course, we've also heard about this project for the last three years, so it's about time Amazon actually launched an official device. And from what we've heard so far, the company won't have to try very hard to be different from its competition: Rumors indicate the new device will come with six cameras, a 4.7-inch screen and a suite of clever 3D tricks. Aside from that, we're relatively in the dark about what to expect, so you'll want to stay glued to our liveblog of the launch event starting tomorrow at 1:30PM ET, linked below! Amazon's phone launch liveblog June 18, 2014 1:30:00 PM EDT
Amazon's likely announcing its new phone on June 18th (update: yep, it's a phone)
What has six cameras, a large screen and tracks your head? Amazon's new phone, probably. The company's first handset has been long rumored and occasionally leaked, but now the company seems ready to make it official: Jeff Bezos is hosting a hitherto unannounced "launch event" later this month. The company's page for the event is little more than a invitation request form, but an attached teaser video meshes well with the purported phone's rumored head-tracking capabilities. "It moved with me!" exclaims an unnamed tester, staring at an object just out of frame. Sounds neat.
The Engadget Podcast is live at 12PM ET!
After last week's Very Special Episode, we've grabbed a Hair of the Dog (or two...or three), a bit of rest, and we're back for a regular ol' episode of The Engadget Podcast. We're discussing a triplet of topics that are assuredly close to your heart and head: the experimental and bizarre phones from Amazon and Google, and the hit security flaw that all the kids are raving about (Heartbleed). The show starts at 12PM ET sharp(ish), so grab your favorite plate of leftovers, a set of cans and a comfy seat. And tune in!
Here's Amazon's phone: six cameras and a 4.7-inch screen
Rumors of an Amazon-made phone are nothing new, but today the rumors enter reality more firmly: what you see above is what BGR claims is the Amazon's first phone. "Whoa, that's super ugly!" you might be saying. Cool it, that's just an enclosure around the device itself preventing prying eyes (like our own) from seeing the actual design. The good news is we can still learn a few things about the device without the enclosure removed: five cameras up front (reportedly a sixth out back) and a trio of buttons along the left side handle power and volume. The screen is reportedly of the 4.7-inch variety -- which lines up with previous rumors -- and puts Amazon's first phone on the same scale as Motorola's Moto X (among others).
Amazon phone reportedly coming in September with glasses-free 3D
Stop us if you've heard this one before: Amazon's getting ready to launch a phone. This is actually one of the longest-running rumors we've heard, with the first reports stretching back to 2012. So what's different this time? According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is already showing off prototypes of the handset to developers and is gunning to announce the device by the end of June with a September release. The report tells us that Amazon wants to differentiate itself from other top-of-the-line flagships by adding four cameras with retina-tracking tech, making it possible to project 3D images without needing glasses. Rumors of a "Kindle phone" (or multiple phones) have been floating around the internet for ages, and this isn't even the first time we've heard that Amazon was working on a 3D-type display -- the Journal began reporting last May that the project would enable visuals that "seem to float above the screen like a hologram." Given how much smoke we've seen, there's quite likely fire. We wouldn't be surprised to see some news come out around the same time as Google's I/O developer conference, but we're more curious to find out exactly what Amazon plans to do with this retina-tracking tech and how developers will be able to take advantage of it. Needless to say, it certainly would add an interesting element to our already endless Instagram feed.
Former Windows Phone Director Robert Williams joins Amazon, stirs rumor pot
We're no CSI, but if we were Amazon, planning to make a phone, we'd definitely want to make sure developers were happy, that we had some weight in the patent world, and had an idea of the end design. With that all sorted, we'd likely hire a senior Director of Business Development from a major competitor -- which is exactly what has happened. Robert Williams, formerly of said position at Microsoft Windows Phone is joining his fellow WP alumni, Brandon Watson, over at camp Bezos as Director of the App Store. Of course, this could just be a strategic move on behalf of the company's Android market, and the Amazon phone is still very much just a rumor, but with more pieces of the puzzle starting to fit, and the book seller's ability to turn things on their head, we're far from ruling it out just yet.
