amazon fire phone

[norseamd]

so amazon has announced their new phone

wondering what type of evil dystopian shit they have planned next

phone is not only expensive and stuck on at&t but full of spy features

why even buy

The phone is exclusive to AT&T, and will cost $199 with a two-year contract for a 32GB device and $299 for a 64GB device

The phone's most-hyped capability, of course, is its motion-tracking screen—four cameras on the front of the device track your head as you move it around, along with infrared lights to make sure the feature works even in dark rooms. You can move and tilt the phone to shift the contents of the display (images, maps, and so on), subtly creating a glasses-free 3D effect that doesn't rely on the user keeping their head or eyes in a particular position. The phone will let you flip through images and scroll through Web pages by slightly tilting the device, rather than relying solely on finger input. A third-party SDK is available so that developers can add this "dynamic perspective" feature to their own apps.

Bezos also demoed a new feature called "Firefly" that can identify songs being played in a room, episodes of various TV shows, and art. Firefly can recognize phone numbers, e-mail addresses, barcodes and QR codes, and other items, importing them into the phone and making it easier to contact people (and, of course, buy stuff) without needing to do a lot of extraneous typing. These images are taken by the camera, sent to Amazon's cloud, and sent back to the phone to save the phone's processor and its battery life. Amazon has created a third-party SDK that developers can use to come up with their own uses for Firefly.

 

[Printer Bandit]

i'm afraid of the future.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...r-investing-AI-research-track-technology.html

can we go back to the 90's?

 

[sportage]

User first question...
How do I disable this feature? That feature? Can I make it more like a ......phone?
Determines a song title so u can then purchase it?
Yeah right.
Who do they think they are. Apple?
I can just see going into the screen u want, accidentally tilting the phone, and flying into some other section you didn't want. Then u have the wrist flicking thing where you get frustrated and flick the phone out the window.
Add in live tech support taking control of your phone. And there U R.

 

[Rakehellion]

So it has Shazam, OCR, and gyroscope features. So revolutionary.

 

[dabuddha]

$650 for the phone. No thanks. I'll stick with my Nexus

 

[Vdubchaos]

I will never EVER do any business with ATT. Simply for the fact that they come knocking on my door trying to sell me shit.

Also, if it wasn't for my workphone, I wouldn't have a "smart" phone at all.

 

[purbeast0]

$200 is expensive lol?

 

[DesiPower]

User first question...
How do I disable this feature? That feature? Can I make it more like a ......phone?
Determines a song title so u can then purchase it?
Yeah right.
Who do they think they are. Apple?
I can just see going into the screen u want, accidentally tilting the phone, and flying into some other section you didn't want. Then u have the wrist flicking thing where you get frustrated and flick the phone out the window.
Add in live tech support taking control of your phone. And there U R.

I you want a phone that good for just talking, get a iPhone and stop butching

 

[DesiPower]

$650 for the phone. No thanks. I'll stick with my Nexus

That's the standard price of any new phone... iPhone5, S5 all cost the same if not more.

 

[vi edit]

$200 is expensive lol?

For what should have been a sub $400 non-subsidy phone, yeah. $200 *on contract* is expensive. These don't even have access to Google Play store.

Bleh.

Oh and the Fire OS can die in a fire. It's horrible on a large real estate tablet. It would be infuriating on a limited phone display.

 

[purbeast0]

For what should have been a $400 non-subsidy phone, yeah. $200 *on contract* is expensive. These don't even have access to Google Play store.

Bleh.

why "should" it have been $400? because you said so?

 

[DesiPower]

For what should have been a $400 non-subsidy phone, yeah. $200 *on contract* is expensive. These don't even have access to Google Play store.

Bleh.

Fire Phone App Store pretty much has everything you need

 

[cronos]

The Fire Phone bashing is over here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2386057

 

[vi edit]

Is chrome on there? How about your smaller banks? How about piles of smaller vendors that you may work with that are on play but not there? I tried a Kindle Fire for a bit and the big gaming and social stuff are there, but the little apps I use day to day are not.

Sure you can try and side load, but that's err...beside the point?

I don't need to deal with another fractured market place.

 

[vi edit]

why "should" it have been $400? because you said so?

Because that's what it would need to be successful. That's what murdered the MotoX up front. Priced too high on subsidy. This has a smaller screen than most "flagship" android phones, a gimpled OS and market space, and locked in to a specific carrier.

 

[CPA]

Also, if it wasn't for my workphone, I wouldn't have a "smart" phone at all.

Same here.

 

[Printer Bandit]

whatever happened to facebook home / facebook phone? i feel that this will have the same fate.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Why would someone buy this versus say the LG G3?

 

[vi edit]

Why would someone buy this versus say the LG G3?

Or the upcoming iPhone6 or a giant ass S5 or a HTC One or even the existing iPhone5s all of which can access Amazon content already and have much more mature and supported market places.

That's why I said this needed to roll as an unsubsidized phone along the lines of the Nexus/Moto phones. Then you can put it on an MVNO like Cricket/Straight Talk/whatever or ATT or T-Mobile if you want a bigger name. It's not a premium phone.

 

[poofyhairguy]

That's the standard price of any new phone... iPhone5, S5 all cost the same if not more.

The S5 provides way more hardware value for that cost.

S5 vs Firephone
Modern SoC vs Last year's SoC
1080p screen vs 720p screen
Removable storage vs non-removable storage
Bluetooth 4 vs Bluetooth 3
2,800mAh battery vs 2,400mAh battery
16 MP camera vs 13 MP camera

Slays it.

 

[Aharami]

For what should have been a sub $400 non-subsidy phone, yeah. $200 *on contract* is expensive. These don't even have access to Google Play store.

Bleh.

Oh and the Fire OS can die in a fire. It's horrible on a large real estate tablet. It would be infuriating on a limited phone display.

yep.. hated using the kindle fire HD. Didn't like the OS at all!
and the cure chick didn't even show up in the mayday feature

 

[SlitheryDee]

I'm not really compelled by it. It's priced like a flagship phone, but the hardware is a step below what is shipping in other similarly priced phones. Firefly and Dynamic Perspective both seem interesting, but possibly annoying after the novelty has worn off. The screen has a lower resolution than other similarly priced phones. It runs Fire OS.

The price and FireOS are the two main sticking points for me. I thought one of the hallmarks of the Fire line was that it was sold at an incredibly low price for the hardware that was in it. That was what made the original kindle fire such a game changer, because on straight specs it wasn't anything special either. This phone has the specs of a high end phone and is priced exactly like I would expect a high end phone to be. It's just not doing anything for me.