HomeComputingMobileInternetGamingElectronicsExtremeDealsExtremeTechComputingWho in their right mind would buy Amazon’s Fire Phone?Who in their right mind would buy Amazon’s Fire Phone?By Sebastian Anthony on June 19, 2014 at 9:38 amComment
Share This articleAs Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, strutted calmly around the stage in Seattle and reeled off the Fire Phone’s long, long list of features, I started to become inordinately excited. As a tech writer, I’ve always found it hard to not get excited at things like magnetic tangle-free headphones, stereo speakers, cloud-based computer vision (Firefly identification), and a head-tracking 3D interface. But as the dust settled and my pulse returned to normal and I begun to think less like techfreak and more like a rational human being, I started wondering: Who would actually buy Amazon’s Fire Phone? Would you? Would your friends? Would your mom?
On paper, the Fire Phone is a capable device. The tech specs are good, but not top-notch — for its flagship price of $200-on-contract you’d expect flagship specs, but both the screen and SoC are lacking. The camera, a 13-megapixel unit with optical image stabilization (OIS), sounds quite exciting. Curiously there’s 802.11ac WiFi, but no support for Bluetooth 4.0/LE. There’s no removable battery or micro SD card slot. Hardware-wise, the Fire Phone is a bit like a weaker, less attractive HTC One M8… but priced the same, for some reason.
Fire Phone camera, versus Galaxy S5 and iPhone 5S.Amazon hopes that two new features will make up for the Fire Phone’s rather optimistic pricing: Firefly and Dynamic Perspective. Firefly uses the rear camera to identify objects and phone numbers. This feat of computer vision is apparently done in Amazon’s cloud, rather than on the phone (good for battery consumption, bad for data usage). The idea is that you can point your Fire Phone at a bag of jerky or a DVD, and then buy it on Amazon via your phone. Dynamic Perspective uses some forward-facing infrared cameras to track your head, and then alters the phone’s display to give the impression of 3D.
Killer features, or just gimmicks?
Firefly is predicated on the idea that users really want to scan and buy stuff while they walk around. Amazon would absolutely love it if we all started one-click buying things with Firefly, but I’m not sure if that’s what consumers want. I’m sure there will be times when Firefly comes in handy, but I don’t know how many people out there would buy an Amazon phone specifically for it. As we covered earlier today, you are making a big concession when you opt for Amazon’s Fire OS instead of Android or iOS. Does anyone remember Google Goggles?
Dynamic Perspective is neat, but I worry about its long-term usefulness. It’s not full glasses-free 3D like the 3DS; rather, it just lets you “peek” around objects by tilting your phone or moving your head. The problem is, apps will have to be specifically tailored to support Dynamic Perspective. On stage, Amazon showed us a single game and the Maps app. This isn’t to say that developers won’t add support to their apps and games, but don’t forget this is Fire OS, not Android. Fire OS apps are usually just repackaged Android apps; expecting developers to add something as significant as 3D support, without comparable 3D functionality in either Android or iOS, is a long shot. Unless the Fire Phone explodes in popularity (unlikely), the only developer that will embrace Dynamic Perspective is Amazon. It might be fun to look around the lock screen or a bottle of sriracha in 3D… but how long will that keep you hooked?
Next page: Who would actually buy the Fire Phone?
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Tagged In hardwaresoftwaremobile computingsmartphonesandroidiosappsamazonamazon primee-commercefire osfireflyamazon appstorefire phoneShare This Article .article {margin:0px !important;}.AR_1 {margin :0 0 20px 0 !important;}.AR_2 {margin:0 0 20px 0;} CommentPost a Comment http://www.joncole.info/ Jon Cole The one person I can think of that would buy this is my dad, who is already heavily invested in the Kindle UI and ecosystem from owning a Kindle Fire Tablet and using the Amazon App Store on his current Samsung phone. By the same token, however, the AT&T exclusivity means he’ll never buy it because he’s similarly invested in buying his cell service from Verizon.
http://www.korioi.net/ KoriosOnly Amazon fan-boys and heavily Amazon involved users would buy this phone I think. And they are not so many. Amazon will shoot itself in the foot with this phone.
SpideyBryI’m not disagreeing with your comment, but I am so tired of the use of “fan-boy”. Is it just me?
ZibidibodelIt’s not just you.
Mo LillaneyThey should have just created an app with all the killer amazon features for each platform. Integrate music, video, marketplace, firefly, and dynamic perspective all into a single, well developed app. Makes a lot more sense to me than an entire product centered around it.
Andrew FinkenbinderNobody is going to buy this thing at that price.
Ray CPersonally I have no interest in this phone, but I guess it will be great for people really into constantly buying stuff from Amazon. As far as features or gimmicks, it’s always a gimmick when it’s not your preferred platform. I really don’t care much for this phone from what I see, but I’d be willing that most people who would call any feature a gimmick, would be raving about how great it is were it on their preferred platform.
Sean O’NeillAmen to all of the comments. This could be a big bomb for Amazon. My Nexus 5 was $350, literally half the price of this phone. Does Amazon really think that this thing is going to compete with the S5, the Iphone 6, or the Nexus? They must be insane.
Sean O’NeillImagine if they tried to do this with their tablets. A 16GB Kindle HDX that is Wifi only and costs as much as a comparable Ipad Air ($500) would get absolutely destroyed in the marketplace. People buy Kindles because they are cheap hardware for the features that you get.
mori bundThis thing is (very much like the FacebookPhone) DOA.
Sean LumlyI can see this device doing very well. I don’t necessarily see this handset selling huge numbers out of the gate, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it gain significant momentum gradually as have previous Amazon devices. I suspect that the market that they are targeting is not likely the type that comment below these types of articles, and presumably pour over spec sheets.
In this case, I think that the killer feature is simplicity. The ability to get live tech-support (mayday) and training right on your device is a very powerful idea that I’m sure will make novice users much more confident. The launcher also has the impossible-to-misuse quality of the iOS launcher. The handset should be very easy to jump in and use, with less complexity than many flavours of Android.
Where the phone falls short (IMO) is the styling. It certainly looks functional, but seems very generic and bland next to some of its flagship competition. It remains to be seen if this matters to its target market, but I would guess that it would.
Moz GrenAn excellent summary of my own feelings on this subject. It looks like I’m the target customer – middle aged and middle class -
and I might have been interested. I can’t see how this is an
improvement on my almost 4 year old Nokia N8 though – and I don’t want
Amazon in my pocket.
I can’t really argue about your points on the price, I think there are a lot of interested people who will pass because they can’t quite stomach a $700-800 price tag, even with a free 12 months of Prime thrown in. However, as fair as your points were on their ecosystem, we were all saying the same thing about Android 4 years ago…and though Amazon is not Google, it’s still Amazon. I think they have a shot at being able to build a respectable ecosystem for themselves.
PhobosGood luck to them, I think they should come up with this 2 or 3yrs ago. Kind of like MS, late to the party in smartphones and tablets.
http://www.mrseb.co.uk/ Sebastian AnthonyYep, indeed. I almost put in a Windows Phone comparison actually. It’s a pretty similar scenario. (But sadly, I think Amazon actually has a larger captive audience and might actually do better than WinPho.)
SpideyBryI’m still very happy with my Windows phone. I’m excited about the upcoming Cortana feature. From what I’ve read so far about the amazon phone I am not interested in switching to it.
DustinALedonneI’m sure there will be times when Firefly comes in handy, but I don’t know how many people out there would buy an Amazon phone specifically for it. As we covered earlier today, you are making a big concession when you opt for Amazon’s Fire OS instead of Android or iOS. Does anyone remember Google Goggles? http://sn.im/290xdj8
brekinapezNow why would anyone want to order a bag of beef jerky from Amazon? A case, maybe, but are you really going to go in the convenience store, online order the bag of jerky SITTING ON THE SHELF IN FRONT OF YOU, add in shipping and wait for the bag to arrive? Real men don’t wait for jerky.
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