Amazon announces Fire Phone with 4.7" 3D head tracking display & Firefly smart scanner, exclusive to

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  • Reply 101 of 225
    thrangthrang Posts: 1,034member
    How long before there's a fire sale? ;)

    If you're happy with and invested in the Apple ecosystem, there is no compelling reason to switch away. And I don't know many people who aren't very happy with the ecosystem.

    I don't see the long term benefit of the pseudo 3d at all (I bet most people turned off the similar, more subtle feature on their iPhones)

    It might steal some thunder from existing Android manufacturers

    Plus, new IPhones and ios8 are around the corner, so the flames Amazon is fanning now will get severely doused in a few months. Despite whatever niceties the Fire has, there will be a lot more sniffing than biting....
  • Reply 102 of 225
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jkichline View Post

     

    Now with 6 cameras including infrared... so the Android hackers can watch you undress.


     

    In glorious multi-angle or 3D!

  • Reply 103 of 225
    airnerdairnerd Posts: 693member

    So it watches and listens to everything at all times.  It is tied to an online retailer who is known for shutting out brands and sellers, which likely leaves you with no alternative.  No thanks.  If Apple doesn't have a song I still have a way to buy and get it onto my phone.  Will Amazons phone allow a book that is not being sold through Amazon to be on it? 

     

     

    And just not thrilled that it will be listening and looking at all times to make offers for you to buy stuff.  I promise that is what it is about.  Popups saying "I hear you are watching Family Guy, would you like to buy a box set?"

  • Reply 104 of 225
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Danox View Post

     

    Orange county? doesn't Amazon have a software development wing located in Orange county California? which means you probably work there by the tone of your comments.


     

    Danox, there are Orange Counties in several states, including Florida, New York, and Indiana.  And any Micky-Mouse troll can claim to be from any one of them.

  • Reply 105 of 225
    steven n.steven n. Posts: 1,229member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tt92618 View Post

    Bezos doesn't care if he sells 25 million phones this year.  What he cares about is how many consumers entering his ecosystem end up leaving it. Because ultimately a consumer in Amazon's ecosystem translates directly into higher sales for Amazon.

     

    I am saying they will be lucky to sell 1-2 million phones this year. I am amazed at the number of people that don't see most of Amazon's business is precariously perched on the edge next to billion dollar losses they can never recover from. They have made more profit from selling AMZN than every single other item they have ever sold. When the stock finally goes pssssss.... Amazon will loose its primary means of paying talent, buying companies and expanding. They will then have to use what little cash they have.

  • Reply 106 of 225
    tt92618tt92618 Posts: 444member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TeaEarleGreyHot View Post

     

     

    Danox, there are Orange Counties in several states, including Florida, New York, and Indiana.  And any Micky-Mouse troll can claim to be from any one of them.




    Do you always assume that everyone who disagrees with you, or with whom you disagree... is a Mickey Mouse troll lying about their location?

  • Reply 107 of 225

    I'm really quite intrigued by this. It seems to implement, in a novel way, some technology that has been displayed in gimmicky ways previously. I'm yet to see the phone and use it, so can't actually say this isn't gimmicky. But it does seem quite innovative, and the Amazon Prime lock-in is brilliant - it's just a shame that I personally have a large dislike for Amazon. The major, major (and I think, crucial) is the UI - it looks just as ugly and difficult to use as most Android phones I've seen. If the UX is crappy, then they can throw all the features they like at it, but it won't gain traction. 

  • Reply 108 of 225
    theothergeofftheothergeoff Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Steven N. View Post

     

     

    I am saying they will be lucky to sell 1-2 million phones this year. I am amazed at the number of people that don't see most of Amazon's business is precariously perched on the edge next to billion dollar losses they can never recover from. They have made more profit from selling AMZN than every single other item they have ever sold. When the stock finally goes pssssss.... Amazon will loose its primary means of paying talent, buying companies and expanding. They will then have to use what little cash they have.


    hmmm....AMZN  36B in Assets, 3B in LT debt.  10B in equity.  80B in sales a year.   Not really precariously perched. 

     

    They run their business more like a Target than an Apple, which makes sense in a couple ways (they are a retailer, and no one is like Apple)   In fact looking at their financials, they are pretty much just like Target, with less debt.

     

    No one is screaming that Target is on the brink of never recovering, and they had a terrible 6 months.

  • Reply 109 of 225
    Dude, you have a point!  People are so critical!

    Amazon has a lot more than marketing muscle, it has big systems behind the phone.  Music, video, audible, and enough programmers to get the basic apps, and Amazon's big old cloud.

    Apple has far more marketing muscle. They have some of the most talented marketing team and make some of the best adverts and know exactly how to get consumers interested in their products. I personally saw the first gen iPad mini advert then went and bought one; their adverts create an emotional attachment. They are far more capable than amazon, it's one reason the ipad is more successful than the kindle fire.
  • Reply 110 of 225
    adonissmuadonissmu Posts: 1,776member

    WOW! Everyone is trashing this phone on Wired. 

  • Reply 111 of 225
    ingelaingela Posts: 217member

    Yes it can make calls, but I think we are looking at it the wrong way if we think Apple, Microsoft and Google are this devices competition. It is a product catalog that is also a phone. That is also a remote. It makes consumption of Amazon products, digital or physical more convenient to consume than the shopping mall. The killer app is Amazon services.

     

    Amazon now thinks that the smart phone is now just a commodity like mail order catalogs. Like the CD's that AOL kept sending you in the mail. 

     

    I think the real question is,

    Can any major retailer ever be able to compete with Amazon?

     

    Certainly not Sears, Macy’s or JCPenney. They are moving so fast and pulled ahead so far ahead of the retail competition that I think there is little hope for the old concept.of the major retailer.

     

    Actually Amazon is the high tech version of the old mail order catalog that turned Sears, Roebuck & Company into the powerhouse that it was. They took that then innovative concept of the catalog that Sear popularized (and abandoned) and ran with it.

    We will not be seeing any JCPenney or Sears branded phone any time soon.

  • Reply 112 of 225
    palegolaspalegolas Posts: 1,362member
    That face tracking must be a huge deal for them. 4 cameras dedicated to tracking!? It'd better be good! Does the amazon version of Android allow general Android apps? It looks kinda different, doesn't it?
  • Reply 113 of 225
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    adonissmu wrote: »
    WOW! Everyone is trashing this phone on Wired. 

    There is a lot to trash. It doesn't matter how many great features it has a premium priced smartphone in 2014 needs to have BT4.0/BLE. It's even more odd that they decided to include 802.11ac when I know BT4.0 is much more widely used and useful than 802.11ac today.
  • Reply 114 of 225
    arviarvi Posts: 17member
    Might be overpriced for the market. Wondering how good performance is in the real world. Wondering what the impact of 3D files would be on your data plan. Dual-Side Gorilla Glass? Guessing Jeffie loves that old Apple design too much. Its very classy after all. Easier to hold with rubberized edges? Wondering how long a battery charge lasts when using the phone all day. Especially with all those gimmicky bells and whistles. Someone was questioning how secure the cameras would be against a mean hacker - valid point. Unintended groin shot? But with no independent eval, we're all just wondering if it'll survive the market. But Jeffie has big bucks. Let's wait till the techno peepers have their say.
  • Reply 115 of 225
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    You know, if they had have put just one more camera on this I would have been swayed...

    I'll wait for the 4D model: The Amazon Retrenched Phone.

    Is anybody aware that Amazon opened up their Australian storefront recently and begun encouraging Australian members to change their Amazon accounts to the Australian ones?

    However, they forgot just one thing: you couldn't buy anything.

    Amazin' Amazon.

    Just amazin'.

    I look forward to them applying this kind of foresight to the phone market.
  • Reply 116 of 225
    adonissmuadonissmu Posts: 1,776member

    Amazon is the only company in the US that everyone buys products from yet they still can't make a profit. Doing this strange and off vision hardware releases is why they have never been able to turn a profit. 

     

    I wonder what would happen if I walked by a porn shop with FireFly on... 

  • Reply 117 of 225
    tt92618tt92618 Posts: 444member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    There is a lot to trash. It doesn't matter how many great features it has a premium priced smartphone in 2014 needs to have BT4.0/BLE. It's even more odd that they decided to include 802.11ac when I know BT4.0 is much more widely used and useful than 802.11ac today.



    How many people buying a phone even know what BLE is?  I'll wager you it is under 1%.  Not only is BT LE barely used by anything at the present time, almost NOBODY that would actually buy one of these things knows what it is, or will care.  

     

    Is a consumer buying this going to say "oh no, I cannot get advertisements from Starbucks when I walk by because there is no iBeacon support", or "oh no my fitbit cannot send me ultra low power notifications?"  Hardly.  The lack of LE support is something that will have almost NIL impact.  And as for BT 4 - explain ONE reason the average consumer is going to even notice or care that it has BT3 vs 4?

  • Reply 118 of 225
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    tt92618 wrote: »

    How many people buying a phone even know what BLE is?  I'll wager you it is under 1%.  Not only is BT LE barely used by anything at the present time, almost NOBODY that would actually buy one of these things knows what it is, or will care.  

    Is a consumer buying this going to say "oh no, I cannot get advertisements from Starbucks when I walk by because there is no iBeacon support", or "oh no my fitbit cannot send me ultra low power notifications?"  Hardly.  The lack of LE support is something that will have almost NIL impact.  And as for BT 4 - explain ONE reason the average consumer is going to even notice or care that it has BT3 vs 4?

    1) By your logic not knowing the origin of the name Bluetooth means that the technology is not only worthless but also unused by anyone that doesn't know it's named after a 10th century Scandinavian king.

    2) It's not about knowing what the initialism BLE stands for but rather having your BT4.0 capable devices work with it, like a huge number of fitness trackers, health monitors, and styluses, computer keyboards and mice, but more importantly, even if you have a device that will have back support for BT 2.1 it's important for the UX in terms of battery life that it will support 4.0.
  • Reply 119 of 225
    bobschlobbobschlob Posts: 1,074member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pmz View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tt92618 View Post



    Here it comes: 100's of comments about how this is crap and can't possibly be cool because Apple has already invented everything of merit in the known universe.



    Two down, and many more to come.



    You can't say it LOOKs like crap since to me it looks exactly like a frigging iPhone. Clearly, no one has had a single idea since Jonny Ive in 2006.


    That won't stop people from saying it looks like crap though.

  • Reply 120 of 225
    Looks great!
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