Gadgetory

this is the fire phone Amazon's latest addition to its hardware lineup in some ways it's like any other smartphone it has a 4.7 inch 720p display much like the Moto X it has a Snapdragon 800 processor just like the HTC One it's 199 dollars on a two-year contract just like the iphone and just about every other smartphone on the market but amazon will throw in a free year of prime it has a 13-megapixel camera which jeff bezos compared to both the iphone 5s and the samsung galaxy s5 on specs alone it's a nice smartphone just like any other smartphone and it's hardly top of the line but the fire phone isn't just like any other smartphone that's why everyone in today's event got a copy of mr. pines purple house bezos's favorite children's book the fire phone is different from every phone on the block and it's different in some crazy ways obviously the most talked about feature of the new phone has to be its 3d interface amazon calls a dynamic perspective and it allows visuals on the display to have more depth things don't really pop out but rather move farther in thanks to four front-facing cameras as well as a motion sensor the fire phone can constantly track a user's head and since its depth in order to redraw images quickly you can tilt the fire phone in different directions to see more information from apps play games resize images scroll through websites without using your fingertips and most impressively move various layers of the user interface around as though they were physical objects in front of you the fire phone also boasts an impressive camera complete with a 13 megapixel sensor fast f/2 aperture and optical image stabilization the phone even has its own dedicated camera button for quick and easy access amazon also expects users to take a lot of photos that's why the company is offering unlimited photo and video storage and Amazon Cloud Drive for free while amazon has stressed the sound quality of the fire phone more often than not you'll probably be using headphones that's why the fire phone is paired with earbuds that are supposedly tangle proof with flat cables and magnetic buds that stick together and yes it's got a mic and buttons for playback control and volume and if this really is the panacea of tangle-free ear where well amazon will sell them separately for 2499 no word on how compatible they'll be with other devices however the fire phone second screen feature allows you to fling any video you're watching from the display to your Amazon fire TV it's a clear counter to Apple's AirPlay and another way to get people more invested in amazon's hardware ecosystem meanwhile Amazon's also brought its x-ray feature from the kindle fire tablets into its phone letting you click on an actor to learn more about them from their IMDB page by the way amazon also owns a TV finally amazon's ASAP feature attempts to predict what video you'll watch next on prime instant and pre cashes them for you so video plays immediately and choose it Mayday is Amazon's way of providing help through instant tech support / video chat 24-7 from the device itself Mayday was first introduced late last year with the kindle fire HDX it works on Wi-Fi and cellular amazon is trying to create a seamless experience for its products but the infomercial like demo video beforehand drove home one idea using a phone is really really hard you're going to need someone to hold your hand according to AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la vega made a customer service can offer a quote warm handoff to 18 keith technical support of course once you fully enter 18 t's world all bets are off but the feature that makes the phone truly an Amazon phone is Firefly it's so important that it even gets its own button amazon is always focused on making its devices a portal into its online store now that the company has its hands on your smartphone it's making access to its story easier than ever with one press the fire phone boots up its camera to see what you're seeing and listen to what you're listening to the Firefly sees a barcode a button will pop up allowing you to buy the item on amazon a Firefly here's a song it'll prompt you to check it out on Amazon music or buy tickets on stubhub if Firefly here's Game of Thrones it will show you the show's IMDB entry and then of course offer options to buy or rent more episodes on Amazon the service recognises 100 million items and purchasing them happens with just a simple tap but while the fire phone is unique sometimes that isn't for the better there's no Bluetooth Low Energy support which means some wearables won't work the fire phone runs on a fork version of Android which means it doesn't have google apps like Gmail and it doesn't have the Android Play Store Amazon zone App Store has over 240,000 apps but that's just a sliver of what Android or iPhone app stores have as with kindle fire and fire TV this phone is first and foremost a portal to amazon services and especially its store remember every picture is one click away for being an online order with free two-day shipping