A smartphone was the only thing that was missing in the dream world of Amazon vouches Jeff Bezos. The device that the Internet entrepreneur unveiled from his pocket, is more portable than smartphone. “Can we build a better phone for Amazon Prime members?” was the rhetorical question of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos after which he revealed the Amazon Fire Phone and rumors of its own Amazon phone confirmed.
Amazon not only sells books, gadgets and music, it also makes its own devices. It started 10 years ago with its own e-reader (Kindle) and then a tablet (Kindle Fire), and tonight we finally have the Amazon Fire Phone announced, the first smartphone from the U.S. company. This unit has an interesting 3D function. Before we talk about the new acquisition, we first explain why Amazon deliver these products. Amazon sells stuff, including digital content like books, music and movies. Amazon makes its own devices put on the market so cheap that they are almost irresistible to consumers. The “catch” is that the Amazon products only work with the services of Amazon itself. So the buyer of the Amazon Fire Phone is also a user of the service from Amazon.
Amazon Fire Phone
First, the ‘nerdy’ specifications: The Fire Phone has a 4.7-inch display with 720p resolution and a Qualcomm chipset (reputedly the Snapdragon 800, Adreno 330 graphics and 2.2GB of RAM). The device has soft rubber exterior and a sheet of Gorilla Glass 3 is present both on its front and on its back. It has support for 4G LTE.
There are stereo speakers on the phone that are better than the average phone according to Amazon Fire Chief, Bezos. The earbuds that come in the box have a tangle-free cable and they snap to each other thanks to built-in magnets. At the rear is a 13 megapixel camera with optical image stabilization and f/2.0-lens, the latter ensures that you do not get moving pictures. Bezos says that the quality of the camera of the Fire Phone can compete with that of the Samsung Galaxy S5. Amazon is throwing in free unlimited photo storage in its Cloud Drive.
On this phone you can use all the services from the Amazon including firefly that lets you scan real-world objects to get detailed digital information. Bezos says it can scan 100 million objects and takes less than a second to work and is activated via a dedicated “Firefly” button on the Fire Phone. 3D is also fun: get the device, as expected and hoped, a 3D interface with it. The 3D images follow the head of the user thanks to the Dynamic Perspective technology, using different cameras in the unit.
The Fire Phone also features ASAP technology, which allows videos already be buffered before you watch them, so that they can start immediately and without interruption.
Amazon is taking pre-order for the device now through its website and will be priced at the high-end industry standard of $199 for a 32GB model and $299 for a 64GB model with required data and voice plans on a two-year contract.
Photo credit: Amazon / Steve Jurvetson
YouTube: ‘Amazon Fire Phone hands-on’ by The Verge
