Is Amazon's Fire phone a game changer?
Yesterday, Amazon announced its first smartphone (simply called the Fire phone), and we were wondering if it could be considered a game changer. As you may know, one of the novelties that the handset offers is Firefly - Amazon’s new software-based service that uses the phone’s rear camera to recognize an impressive number of items (more than 100 million). After Firefly recognizes an item, it provides info about it, and allows you to instantly buy it. Having an Amazon Fire phone in your pocket means that you always have a pretty powerful shopping machine at your fingertips (which, let’s face it, isn’t necessarily a good thing for your bank account).
Amazon's Fire Phone Is A Killer Shopping App
Amazon’s new Fire Phone is less a phone than it is a killer app, one that will more completely tether shoppers to the retail site.
Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the device in a much hyped event. And now, one day later, there is much to talk about particularly when it comes to home the phone will impact retail.
Mobile is the fastest growing component in retail. More shoppers are accessing product information, researching purchases and using devices to access discounts. Nearly one third of shoppers now exclusively use mobile to research products before they buy.
Amazon Fire Phone Preview - CNET
From afar, Amazon's Fire Phone doesn't give us anything we haven't seen before. In fact, it looks a lot like other black smartphones: a Gorilla Glass (3) front and back, rubber-rimmed sides, chamfered edges, and a physical home button. There's a physical camera button as well, which launches both the camera and Firefly, Amazon's new scanning-and-shopping app.
Look closer, and the phone's five front-facing camera lenses peer back at you. Four of these, one in each corner, are infrared eyes that work in service to all the 3D and motion effects. But there's one front-facing camera, too, for selfies.
At the launch event, Amazon emphasized the importance of operating the phone one-handed, and the rubberized spines definitely do that. The corners felt a little sharp where the back of the Fire Phone meets its spines, but the slick glass backing does add a subtle premium feel. Still, the Fire Phone doesn't scream "luxury craftsmanship" the way Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would have you believe when touting touches like steel connectors to prevent USB wobble, magnetic headphones (which we didn't see in our demo), and Dolby Digital Plus virtual surround sound, which we didn't get a chance to hear.
4 Reasons The Amazon Fire Phone Will Fail
Much to the chagrin of CEO Jeff Bezos, it didn’t take long for consumers to voice harsh criticisms on Amazon’s first smartphone, unveiled this Wednesday. From “being 7-years late” – it’s rumored to have been in development for 5-years! – to “I can already access all the Amazon services from my smartphone,” or “how is it really different,” the Amazon Fire Phone is definitely lacking a “wow factor,” failing to capture the imagination of the general public. So why so much skepticism?
Well, here are 4 main reasons for that:
- High price. At $650 without contract,
- Bulky and heavy.
- Lack of differentiation.
3D-like dynamic perspective, a nice power-hungry gimmick,
Firefly, an app – that could end up in other smartphones. - Fewer applications. App Store has some 240,000 apps, compared to more than 1.2 million apps in Google Play or Apple's AAPL -0.35% App Store.
Mobile is so 2010. So why would Amazon throw its hat into the game of phones?
That’s the thing — it didn’t. The company is headed into battle in two other markets full of potential: real-world commerce and digital advertising.
Amazon Fire Phone vs. LG G3: Spec Showdown | Digital Trends
Since Amazon hopes to gain ground in the smartphone market, we’ve decided to throw it up against some of the best smartphones around. So how does the Amazon Fire Phone stack up against LG’s upcoming G3 phone? Take a look at our side-by-side spec comparison to find out.
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