Amazon has finally unveiled its own smart phone which is called as the Fire Phone. Like the Kindle, the Fire Phone is running on Fire OS 3.5 which is a forked Android operating system that’s focused on Amazon’s library of books, videos and apps.
For a standard smart phone user, this might not be appealing but it can be appealing for existing Amazon users that consume lots of content on a regular basis. At first glance, it may appear to be a smart phone version of a Kindle but it does pack a couple of unique features of its own.
Fire Phone Hardware
The hardware is pretty much the same as last year’s flagship device with a 4.7″ IPS display that does 720p HD resolution and it runs on a 2.2GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 800 processor with 2GB of RAM. There’s a 13MP f/2.0 camera at the back which is enhanced with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) for sharper pics. It also comes with a front facing 2.1MP camera and both cameras are able to shoot Full HD 1080p videos. There’s a choice of 32GB or 64GB storage on-board and it gets juiced up by a 2,400mAh capacity battery.
In terms of design, it has a rubberised frame sandwiched between 2 panels of glass on both sides that are toughen with Gorilla Glass 3. Even the micro USB port is stiffen for a more smoother feel when you plug in the charging cable. Taking inspiration from current flagship devices, it also features chamfered edges for an uprated look.
Considering music is essential with mobile devices, the Fire Phone comes with a tangle free earphones out of the box. that not only is flat but the earphone buds can be kept together with magnets. If you prefer to listen without headphones, the Fire Phone also gets dual front facing speakers that’s enhanced with Dolby Digital Plus audio processing.
May day
Amazon prides themselves with customer service and they are aiming to maintain that for a smart phone. Fiddling around with a new device can be troublesome especially when it is the first Fire OS based unit. For moments that you need some help, there’s May Day where help is one tap away. Their main goal is to answer your call within 15 minutes and from their current benchmarks they pride themselves of answering within 10 minutes. The service is open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
Firefly
When it comes to optical recognition, there are all sorts of apps like Google Goggles. On the Fire Phone, they have something similar called Firefly which is proven to be able to scan anything super quick and you can scan items continuously while it gets saved in the background. It even recognises phone numbers too and it even attempts to correct them in the background if the image isn’t clear.
Apart from imaging, Firefly is also able to recognise TV shows and music by audio recognition. During the announcement video, the Fire phone was able to detect a specific episode from Game of Thrones from just a few seconds of recording.
Dynamic Perspective
The biggest feature which appears to be gimmicky is its Dynamic Perspective. Remember the parallax wallpaper on iOS 7? Amazon has taken a step further where it even gives a sense of depth based on the position of your head. At the front of the Fire Phone are 4 front facing cameras which constantly detects your face with a sophisticated algorithm.
On the lock screen, there are couple of dynamic perspective 3D wallpapers which moves with you. This 3D UI capability is also extended to Maps and reader where it claims to offer a more immersive experience. This is quite similar to Samsung’s Smart Scroll but it gets help of detecting depth with multiple cameras. 3rd party developers can tap into this too as Amazon is releasing the SDK for it as well. A 3D game called Angry Tofu is one of the first to implement Dynamic Perspective where you can tilt around based on your movement.
Fire Phone availability
The Amazon Fire Phone will be sold exclusively in the US on AT&T and it is priced at US$199 with a 2 year contract. Outright, it costs US$649. Shipping is expected to start on 25th July. To make the deal sweeter, they are throwing in additional 1 year free Amazon Prime subscription which gives you unlimited access to more than a million songs. For more information, head over to Amazon’s Fire Phone listing.
