Jeff Bezos just took the wraps off of Amazon’s new smartphone, the Fire Phone. Amazon’s foray into the smartphone space rocks a 4.7 inch IPS LCD HD display, Gorilla glass 3, a quad-core 2.2GHz processor, Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB RAM. The Fire Phone packs 13MP rear-facing with f/2.0 lens and OIS and even includes little motors that will correct the camera lenses to counter act blurry pictures from hand trembles. The Fire Phone also rocks dual stereo speakers, and will ship with headphones which are designed to be tangle-free. The Fire Phone will include a feature called Dynamic Perspective, which changes the view of pictures as the device is moved. Users will also be able to tilt the phone to scroll through web pages, e-books and more. The device has four front-facing cameras placed on the corners of the phone, and includes one camera centered in the top of the device for a total of five front-facing cameras. These camera power the Dynamic Perspective feature, auto-scroll and can capture amazing selfies. Each front-facing camera also includes an infrared sensor so the 3D effects can be utilized in the dark.
As one would imagine, the Fire Phone will work across Amazon’s ecosystem and will include unlimited photo storage via Amazon Cloud Drive. Second screen and X-Ray features are included on the Fire Phone, and allows you to cast or fling content from the Fire Phone to a Miracast device. Amazon’s Prime Music will provide streaming music to Fire Phone owners, as well as compete access to Amazon’s Appstore. Akin to Amazon’s Kindle devices, the Fire Phone runs Android at the core with a heavily customized Amazon UI running the show. That means no Google Play Store which will make Android owners think twice about picking up Amazon’s smartphone.
While the Fire Phone certainly has an impressive spec sheet and looks like a decent device, it will be hard for Amazon to pull non-Amazon customers into their ecosystem. For those Kindle owners who have a plethora of content and apps purchased from Amazon, this could just be the smartphone for you.
The Fire Phone will be available in 32GB or 64GB versions, and are exclusive to AT&T. The Fire Phone is available for pre-order today, and will begin shipping and landing in stores on July 25th. The 32GB Fire Phone runs $199 with a two-year contract and $649.99 without. The 64GB version costs $299.99 with a two-year contract and $749.99 off-contract.
Check out the press release below for more details.
| Introducing Fire, the First Smartphone Designed by Amazon |
| New breakthrough innovations—Dynamic Perspective, Firefly button, and moreSeamless integration with Amazon’s vast ecosystem—over 33 million songs, apps, games, movies,TV shows, books, and more
Only smartphone with Mayday, ASAP, X-Ray, and Second Screen Dynamic Perspective SDK and Firefly SDK now available Fire is available exclusively on AT&T, the nation’s most reliable 4G LTE network Limited time, introductory offer—12 months of Prime included SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jun. 18, 2014– (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today unveiled Fire, the first smartphone designed by Amazon. Fire is the only smartphone with Dynamic Perspective and Firefly, two new breakthrough technologies that allow you to see and interact with the world through a whole new lens. Dynamic Perspective uses a new sensor system to respond to the way you hold, view, and move Fire, enabling experiences not possible on other smartphones. Firefly quickly recognizes things in the real world—web and email addresses, phone numbers, QR and bar codes, movies, music, and millions of products, and lets you take action in seconds—all with the simple press of the Firefly button. See what people are already saying about Fire at www.amazon.com/Fire-Phone-Customers. “Fire Phone puts everything you love about Amazon in the palm of your hand—instant access to Amazon’s vast content ecosystem and exclusive features like the Mayday button, ASAP, Second Screen, X-Ray, free unlimited photo storage, and more,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “The Firefly button lets you identify printed web and email addresses, phone numbers, QR and bar codes, artwork, and over 100 million items, including songs, movies, TV shows, and products—and take action in seconds. We invented a new sensor system called Dynamic Perspective that recognizes where a user’s head is relative to the device—we use it to offer customers a more immersive experience, one-handed navigation, and gestures that actually work. And this is only the beginning—the most powerful inventions are the ones that empower others to unleash their creativity—that’s why today we are launching the Dynamic Perspective SDK and the Firefly SDK—we can’t wait to see how developers surprise us.” Dynamic Perspective—Immersive Smartphone Experience Dynamic Perspective uses four ultra-low power specialized cameras and four infrared LEDs built into the front face of Fire, a dedicated custom processor, sophisticated real-time computer vision algorithms, and a new high-performing and power-efficient graphics rendering engine. Dynamic Perspective features include:
Starting today, Amazon is introducing the Dynamic Perspective SDK that enables developers to build new experiences with this groundbreaking technology. Learn more about the SDK at http://developer.amazon.com/firephone. Firefly Technology–Illuminate Your World Firefly combines Amazon’s deep catalog of physical and digital content with multiple image, text and audio recognition technologies to quickly identify web and email addresses, phone numbers, QR and bar codes, plus over 100 million items, including movies, TV episodes, songs, and products. Simply press and hold the dedicated Firefly button to discover helpful information and take action in seconds.
The Firefly SDK is available starting today so developers can invent new ways to use this advanced technology. Later this year, Firefly will include artwork recognition, foreign language translation, and wine label recognition powered by Vivino. Learn more about the SDK at http://developer.amazon.com/firephone. Amazon Exclusive Features and Vast Digital Ecosystem—All Deeply Integrated Fire seamlessly integrates Amazon’s vast digital ecosystem for instant access to over 33 million songs, apps, games, movies, TV shows, books, audiobooks, and magazines, including thousands of exclusives. Plus, Prime members get unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes at no additional cost with Prime Instant Video, over 500,000 books to borrow with the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, and the all-new Prime Music—unlimited streaming and download of more than a million songs and hundreds of expert-programmed playlists—all at no additional cost. Fire deeply integrates Amazon exclusive services:
Beautiful Industrial Design & Powerful Hardware Built using premium materials, including Gorilla Glass 3 for the rear and front, aluminum buttons, stainless steel details and a rubberized polyurethane grip area, Fire is optimized for beauty, hand comfort and powerful performance:
Availability & Exclusive Network Partner Fire ships on July 25 and is available exclusively on AT&T—the nation’s most reliable 4G LTE network. Starting today, customers can pre-order Fire atwww.amazon.com/Fire-Phone, www.att.com and in AT&T retail locations nationwide. Fire with 32GB is available for $199 with a two-year contract—that’s an extra 16GB of memory for the same price as many other premium smartphones—or zero money down for as little as $27.09 a month from AT&T on Next 18. Fire is also available with 64GB for $299 with a two-year contract or starting at $31.25/month from AT&T on Next 18. Limited Time, Introductory Offer Starting today, customers can take advantage of an introductory, limited time offer—buy Fire and get 12 months of Amazon Prime included—FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items, unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Prime Instant Video, unlimited, ad-free streaming and downloading of over a million songs and hundreds of playlists, and over 500,000 books to borrow from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Existing Prime members get an additional 12 months added to their account. About Amazon.com Amazon opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by three principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire phone, Fire tablets, and Fire TV are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. |