Amazon Fire Smartphone Review: Review Roundup, Specs, Expert Opinion & Price
- Chad Arias
- Jun 27, 2014 01:22 PM EDT
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A new challenger has entered into the crowded arena of smartphone developers, and it's a big name backing the product: Amazon.
The massive online retailer recently unveiled their highly anticipated smartphone, "Fire," which is looking to add innovative technology at a reasonable price.
The Fire features a 4.7-inch Gorilla Glass screen, with aluminum buttons and a rubberized frame. The rubberized frame is a nice addition, seeing as how easily phones are dropped, scrapped or scratched. The iPhone 5S has a 4-inch screen in comparison.
The Fire's greatest feature is its exceptional camera and when combined with its patented Firefly technology, the Fire will be a force to be reckoned with. The Fire has an impressive 13-megapixel camera and shoots video in 1080p. Plus, depending on what a user needs the phone for, Firefly, an industry-leading technology, could become extremely useful.
The Fire will only be available through AT&T in the U.S. and under contract the 32gb version sells for $199 and the 64gb for $299. The Fire can also be purchased directly through Amazon, without a carrier, $649 for the 32gb, or $749 for the 64gb.
Now, those are the basics. Let's get on to the reviews.
According to Phys.org, the Fire is, well, unlikely to catch fire. The reviewers over at Phys say that "as cool as the innovations are, they won't be enough to overcome the daunting obstacles will face," and that the Fire is more likely to "burn out" than become a success.
According to Arstechnica.com, the Fire's $649 price tag is playing with fire, and not in a good way. They say:
"Like the Kindle Fire, a low price combined with Amazon's reach would be enough to open the smartphone market to new customers who otherwise wouldn't have considered it. [The announcement] made it clear that's not what we should expect from the Fire Phone, though. At $199 on a two-year contract and $649 off contract, Amazon is firmly in the price range of higher echelon smartphones from Apple."
The Globe and Mail confirm the thoughts, saying that the Amazon Fire puts its own need ahead of yours, and that "because it runs Amazon's own custom Android version called Fire OS, users would have to give up the many of the apps they've accumulated on an iPhone or regular Android, and may have to make do without many others. Though Amazon have said big apps like Whatsapp and Uber are on the way, quite a few others like Snapchat aren't, and major Google apps like Maps and Gmail will never show up at all."
Not every review has been quite as negative, though.
Cnet.com is pretty thrilled with the idea of the phone's 3D Dynamic Perspective, even if they haven't yet had a chance to tool around with it.
And although Wired.com says it may be to the phone's detriment, they use the word "magical" when describing a lot of the features. They're just worried that the phone may cross the line between being magic, and being frustrating.
While these opinions are all fine and well, only time will tell if Amazon is able to succeed with their innovative handset.
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