The long rumored Amazon phone is official!
The Fire Phone builds off of Amazon’s Kindle ecosystem, delivering a similar “FireOS” user interface running on top of a custom build of Android. This means 3rd party Android apps will be compatible, but Google services wont be included as this will use the Amazon App store instead of Google Play.
The hardware is a mix of mid-range and high-end. I’m glad to see the slightly smaller 4.7″ screen, though it’ll come in at 720p instead of the terrific 1080p found on the HTC M7. The venerable Qualcomm 800 quad-core is on board backed up by 2GB of RAM, plenty powerful for gaming on this screen resolution. Storage comes in 32GB and 64GB flavors, with no MicroSD card expansion it seems like a good platform to push Amazon Cloud Storage, as you can upload photos taken from a Fire Phone for free.
The Fire Phone camera sports a 13MP rear camera with Optical Image Stabilzation, and that shooter supports 1080p video and multi-frame HDR. Dual stereo speakers are found on the top and bottom of the phone, and Dolby provides the audio processing software. This is all powered by a 2400mAh battery, which is starting to feel a little lean for this kind of phone hardware these days.
Amazon has a couple unique features to add to the mix as well. Dynamic Perspective is their name for a collection of sensors which will allow apps to be controlled and respond to gestures. Firefly uses the camera to quickly scan and recognize info like barcodes, phone numbers, addresses, household items, media, and more. Mayday makes a return from the last Kindle Fire providing real time human support over video chat. Lastly, the Fire Phone will also come with one free year of Amazon Prime.
And of course, this phone will support AT&T’s LTE network. Pricing is ballpark for a premier smartphone. $649 for the 32GB off contract or $199 on a two year agreement. Add $100 for the 64GB version. Fire Phone can be pre-ordered now, and Amazon expects to ship the phone in late July.
Is this the phone you’ve been looking for? Does Amazon have the services you’ve wanted on a mobile? Leave us a comment below!