Amazon planning 2014 smartphone with advanced 3D gesture & eye tracking input - source

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Amazon has partnered with a number of Asian compact camera module makers for advanced sensors that could allow 3D gesture and eye tracking input on a new smartphone launching next year, AppleInsider has been told.

Amazon smartphone


People familiar with the company's plans, who have accurately shared information on Amazon's future products in the past, indicated that Amazon is apparently planning to launch its new smartphone in the second quarter of 2014. The device is expected to include an array of sensors that will allow entirely new input methods.

Amazon's rumored flagship smartphone is said to include a total of six compact camera modules. Four of them are reportedly VGA cameras, located at the four corners of the device, that will allow for 3D gesture and eye tracking.

Sources indicated the device will include another two, more traditional forward and rear facing cameras for picture and video capturing. The rear facing lens is said to be a 13-megapixel camera, while the forward facing one will reportedly be 12 megapixels.The latest rumors suggest Amazon may compete with Apple's iPhone by offering smartphone users entirely new ways to control their device.

Amazon is said to have partnered with three key compact camera module (CCM) makers for all six anticipated lenses: Primax, Liteon, and Sunny Optical. Primax is expected to be the major component supplier for Amazon's rumored device, with more than a 50 percent market share.

Many of the details provided are consistent with rumors that surfaced earlier this month about a so-called "Project Smith" said to be in the works at Amazon. It's been reported that Amazon will release a premium flagship handset with 3D sensing capabilities, as well as a more budget-minded entry-level device.

But a source who spoke with AppleInsider went a few steps further, revealing details about the components included inside the device, including the six aforementioned camera lenses. In addition, the device is said to include a 4.7-inch touch panel, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.

The camera lenses alone in the new device are said to cost Amazon about $40, which would be a significant investment for the company. As a result, this person said the handset with 3D gesture input and eye tracking is likely to be a premium smartphone.

That would place Amazon in direct competition with Apple's iPhone, which currently leads the way in the high-end smartphone market with its iPhone 5s. 3D gesture and eye tracking would also help differentiate Amazon's rumored handset from existing smartphones on the market, which rely largely on touchscreen input with some limited voice controls.

Amazon


Amazon has become an increasingly larger competitor to Apple in recent years, squaring off with iTunes in digital content sales and even with the iPad via its Kindle Fire line of touchscreen tablets. But to date, Amazon has not released its own smartphone model, despite longstanding rumors.

But that may change in the first half of 2014, if the latest claims from sources bear out. It's said that suppliers working with Amazon are planning to build anywhere from 5 million to 10 million units in the second quarter.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    Am I the only one that does not want to make in air gestures to my phone?
    Eye tracking? You had better not blink!
    What happens when you are in the dark?

    6 battery sucking cameras and the processors to run them? There goes battery life.
  • Reply 2 of 21
    Originally posted by Many News Organizations, Hopefully


    “Amazon shares plummeted yesterday after the launch of their first smartphone. Customers, unaware of the new ‘Blink To Buy’ feature, found themselves making hundreds of purchases in the course of simply using their phone for tasks unrelated to purchasing. Cited also in this problem were the rotating banner ads, visible on every screen of the device, as part of its subsidy program.”


  • Reply 3 of 21
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BS. That's Amazon's motto.
  • Reply 4 of 21
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

     

    Nicely done!

  • Reply 5 of 21
    Of course it's iPhone because that seems to be the only phone on the market.
  • Reply 6 of 21
    It's sad really. Amazon has lost it's way and really has no clue what it wants to be anymore. Lack of leadership is hurting them.
  • Reply 7 of 21
    danoxdanox Posts: 2,804member
    All designed to pump up the stock.
  • Reply 8 of 21
    danox wrote: »
    All designed to pump up the stock.

    Yeah, RUMORS of an Amizon phone coming at some unannounced time in the future and their stock goes up... Actual sales of Apple iPhones in the tens of millions at 37% margins and Apple's stock goes down... Makes sense???
  • Reply 9 of 21
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Can someone explain how any of this sells content or a subscription to Amazon Prime? Seems to me this is about impressing the tech press and tech geeks even though none of them would ever buy an Amazon phone because it doesn't run stock Android.
  • Reply 10 of 21

    6 cameras = NSA approved

  • Reply 11 of 21
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    A further increase in revenue and a further postponement of profitability.
  • Reply 12 of 21
    A phone that watches you make gestures?

    Why don't they call it the Amazon KIN-ECT-DLE? :D
  • Reply 13 of 21
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member

    Doesn't Samsung have this kind of shit in the S4? I haven't come across, or heard of, a single person who actually uses the eye-tracking/gesture features- probably because they barely work. 

  • Reply 14 of 21
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post

    Why don't they call it the Amazon KIN-ECT-DLE? image

     

    Is ‘Blaze’ used already? 'Kindle Blaze’ sounds like something they’d do.

  • Reply 15 of 21
    jessijessi Posts: 302member

    Remember, these "Rumors" are just Amaozn Press-releases whitewashed thru an intermediary to generate hype.

     

    Amazon produces crap, but they know there's a lot of gullible sites like AI who will simply print BS that seems to threaten Apple.

     

    I worked there, and never a more dishonest company have I experienced.

  • Reply 16 of 21
    Is ‘Blaze’ used already? 'Kindle Blaze’ sounds like something they’d do.

    How about Amazon "Smoke and Mirrors."

    How many starts does the New Amazon phone get? Apparently from all the gestures: one star.
  • Reply 17 of 21

    Wow! Awesome!!! If this rumor is true then we'll have the ability to make all different kinds of faces to tell the phone what to do!

     

    Imagine, if you will:

     

    Let's say you're controlling the music player: Scrunch your face if you don't like the music track -- then the player skips to the next track. Unfortunately if you happen to inadvertently smell someone else's fart and make the same face you'll move to the next track by mistake and ruin your music-listening experience. (Note that the Amazon instructions remind you that it's easy to keep a straight face if/when you smell your own farts.)

     

    Make a "surprised face" with your mouth closed if you want to discover new music tracks. Make the same surprised face but with your mouth open if you want to discover new apps.

     

    Grimace (the same face you'd make with with a difficult bowel movement) and then use your right index finger to make a pig nose... and that blacklists a caller.

     

    Yes, this is exactly what we've all been asking for. 3D gestures to control... a phone.

     

    Now just add Google Glass and the experience will be complete.

  • Reply 18 of 21
    mknoppmknopp Posts: 257member
    Um... hasn't Samsung already released a phone with gesture input and eye tracking? And weren't both pretty much proven to be too gimicky and unreliable to be truly useful?
  • Reply 19 of 21
    froodfrood Posts: 771member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by quinney View Post



    A further increase in revenue and a further postponement of profitability.

     

    A great strategy and why Amazon continues to do well.

     

    Say you had $70 billion in revenue with expenses of $50 billion leaving you with $20 billion on hand....

     

    1) Declare $20 billion in profits:

               Be honest and get taxed @$7billion leaving you with $13 billion.  What next?

                     a) invest 13 billion in the company (this would make no sense given you already accepted paying taxes)

                     b) give it back to shareholders

                     c)  throw it in the bank

               Be sneaky and offshore and get taxed @$1 billion leaving you with $19 billion on paper

                     a) throw it in the bank

                     b) fight off the company owners as they say "if you're not going to do anything with our money, give it back to us"

     

    or.....

    If you have confidence in your ability to continue growing your company and make even *more* revenue...

    2) Simply reinvest the entire $20 billion back into your company as an expense

           a) pay no taxes.  You made "no profits"  (that is why 1a above makes no sense... if you are going to reinvest it, do it *before* you are taxed on it and reinvest $20bil instead of $13bil).

           b) grow like crazy

     

    As long as your market is large enough that it continues to let you grow, there is no reason to take profits.

     

    Apple could similarly have avoided taxes on much of their profits if they chose to reinvest in themselves.  Imagine if they had spent that $100 billion plus building semiconductor fabs in the US, building more data centers, hiring better engineers to focus on a more reliable cloud, hired more testers to avoid bugs....

     

    Maybe that would have been a better use of the money, or maybe it would not have.  Apples leaders felt it is better to take the profits and have them floating around in a bank account off an Irish subsidiary that is based literally out of 'limbo.'   Amazon could do the same but instead chooses to target $0 profits and reinvest in itself with the belief that the market can sustain its reinvestment.  That's risky- it provides both a higher probability of growth and a much greater risk of failure.

     

    So it boils down to both Apple and Amazon doing very well.  One is being a little more conservative and is guaranteed 'something,'  the other is taking more risk with the hopes of higher gains.  Wall Street will be good to either method as long as they always deliver 'more'

  • Reply 20 of 21

    Want to earn money & help your family without going anywhere.........I make $60h - $92h...how? I'm working online now its ur turn to make money at home...................... Buzz55.?om 

    Just open Home tab nd make money

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