Amazon Fire Phone, Gah!!

IsabelEmilyD · Jun 20, 2014

I was thinking of upgrading to iPhone 6 this year, but am seriously considering the Amazon Fire Phone instead. It's set to be released 07/25/2014.

I mean, it's a kindle phone! I feel like it's the perfect phone for writers. But it will be the first model, and I think AT&T is the only one offering it, for now. I'm not sure if that will change.

Any thoughts?

veinglory · Jun 20, 2014

I like the infra-red camera tech, but I will certainly not be buying the debut model. It is bound to be absolutely bugtastic and not support many of the apps I need.

IsabelEmilyD · Jun 20, 2014

veinglory said:
I like the infra-red camera tech, but I will certainly not be buying the debut model. It is bound to be absolutely bugtastic and not support many of the apps I need.

Yeah, that's what's making me hesitate, since it's the first model and all. But then again, someone had to own an original iphone! Bragging rights

robjvargas · Jun 20, 2014

First version *and* Amazon proprietary.

I'll wait.

BenPanced · Jun 20, 2014

Great. It has bells and whistles and approved Amazon machinery and extra little devices that make it go *ping* but in this day and age, nobody seems to sell the phone. They want you to buy the camera and the storage capacity for all of your photos and music and the great new games coming out, but HOW DOES THE PHONE SOUND? DOES IT WORK? CAN I GET GOOD RECEPTION OR DOES IT SOUND LIKE TWO TIN CANS STRUNG BETWEEN A BIT OF TWINE?

Or am I asking for too much?

jeffo · Jun 20, 2014

You're asking too much. Phones today are not really for talking.

Hoplite · Jun 20, 2014

BenPanced said:
Great. It has bells and whistles and approved Amazon machinery and extra little devices that make it go *ping* but in this day and age, nobody seems to sell the phone. They want you to buy the camera and the storage capacity for all of your photos and music and the great new games coming out, but HOW DOES THE PHONE SOUND? DOES IT WORK? CAN I GET GOOD RECEPTION OR DOES IT SOUND LIKE TWO TIN CANS STRUNG BETWEEN A BIT OF TWINE?

Or am I asking for too much?

I like my phone. It has two apps: 1) it makes and receives phone calls, 2) it makes and receives text messages (it's a $20 flip phone).

Agreeing with others that I'll wait for at least the 2nd generation before I seriously consider Amazon's phone. However, if I do join the masses in getting a smart phone it'll probably be this since my wife and I have Amazon-everything-else.

Shadow_Ferret · Jun 20, 2014

Really, what is the point of the infrared sensors? Do I really need my phone stalking my face?

As far as it being a phone for writers... How? I mean, that's why I switched to my windows phone so I could seamlessly work on my docs in Word without any compatibility issues.

veinglory · Jun 20, 2014

IsabelOdonnell said:
Yeah, that's what's making me hesitate, since it's the first model and all. But then again, someone had to own an original iphone! Bragging rights

I got the third iPhone and felt smugly efficient about it.

veinglory · Jun 20, 2014

Shadow_Ferret said:
Really, what is the point of the infrared sensors? Do I really need my phone stalking my face?

I can see the potential for just poking the phone at things and having the internet identify them. And so forth. It is a genuinely new phone ability which the app makers will come up with uses for that I suspect will be nifty and possibly even useful.

Little Ming · Jun 20, 2014

Shadow_Ferret said:
Really, what is the point of the infrared sensors? Do I really need my phone stalking my face?

IIRC, it's for the 3D images.

IsabelEmilyD · Jun 20, 2014

Shadow_Ferret said:
As far as it being a phone for writers... How? I mean, that's why I switched to my windows phone so I could seamlessly work on my docs in Word without any compatibility issues.

Okay so maybe saying it's a phone for writers is an overstatement. I was thinking more along the lines of a phone for readers (which writers usually are), since it comes along with the amazon prime subscription and the online library.

Basically, it's a win-win for readers like me who primarily use kindle/amazon for reading. AND it's a phone. It would serve as a nice 2 in 1 device, for me anyway.

But I don't wanna' switch to AT&T, and I don't wanna' pay $649 for it either. So methinks I'll wait until other phone carriers can carry it.

Caitlin Black · Jun 20, 2014

If the release schedule is anything like what they had for the other Kindle devices, Australia should have the Amazon Fire Phone sometime in 2016...

So I'm not planning on getting one any time soon. Though a phone-for-readers does sound appealing.

Maxinquaye · Jun 20, 2014

I would maybe buy the fire-phone if I enjoyed the idea that another greedy sociopathic oligarch would get a permanently online camera and sensor-deck straight into my real life so that the oligarch could exploit the data this generates to sell me stuff, and resell that data to the highest bidder.

Besides, I think this phone might get banned in the EU.

Shadow_Ferret · Jun 20, 2014

Well, I'm on Verizon, so we'll get it a few years down the road probably and by then it'll have either proved itself in the marketplace, or failed. I guess even I was excited about it, it wouldn't matter.

As far as it being a reader's phone, every phone already has some sort of Kindle app available for it.

Little Ming said:
IIRC, it's for the 3D images.

Right. Somehow it senses where you are looking with the infrared sensors then does something with the image to create a pseudo-3D effect.

That seems to me like the least useful aspect of it.

Kerosene · Jun 20, 2014

It might have been a good idea if Amazon was going to subsidize part of the price in the hope that you'd buy more from amazon using the apps on the phone (like consoles used to be). But at $650, I can't justify using a locked-down android OS. The Samsung Galaxy S5 just came out, for $100 less, with better specs, and you can root+install custom firmware on it.

Shadow_Ferret · Jun 25, 2014

That's the thing, right? Why pay $650 for what at this point amounts to a gimmick when you can get a whole skew of smartphones for a lot less.

We just got my youngest son a Droid Maxx for FREE! You can't beat free. And he probably has the best smartphone in the house now.

Mojocastle · Jul 28, 2014

It struck me as being a smaller Kindle Fire that makes phone calls. Conceptually interesting, but to be honest, I didn't consider it to be that different from other models currently on the market. Except the free Prime membership.

robjvargas · Jul 29, 2014

WillSauger said:
It might have been a good idea if Amazon was going to subsidize part of the price in the hope that you'd buy more from amazon using the apps on the phone (like consoles used to be). But at $650, I can't justify using a locked-down android OS. The Samsung Galaxy S5 just came out, for $100 less, with better specs, and you can root+install custom firmware on it.

No, no. For that extra $100, you get Amazon Prime free for one year. See, Prime is $99/year, so for $100, you get that for free!

See?

cathyfreeze · Jul 29, 2014

Mojocastle said:
It struck me as being a smaller Kindle Fire that makes phone calls. Conceptually interesting, but to be honest, I didn't consider it to be that different from other models currently on the market. Except the free Prime membership.

See, i never got the interest in Prime memberships. It says: " Borrow one book a month, with no due date." Woop-de poop. I buy 2-3 books a week and i like to re-read 'em. How's one book a month justify $99 a year (if, yahno, you don't buy the phone)?

sassandgroove · Jul 29, 2014

oh no that's not prime. Prime is free 2 day shipping on all your orders and a lot of times we get them in one, and we can stream some shows and movies, and music, and we can borrow some kindle books, which would be a good way to see if we want to buy it. the subscription thing you are talking about is a different service.

anywho after reading this thread I'm more interested in Shadow Ferret's phone.

bearilou · Jul 30, 2014

sassandgroove said:
anywho after reading this thread I'm more interested in Shadow Ferret's phone.

Me too!

Amazon Fire Phone, Gah!!

IsabelEmilyD

veinglory

volitare nequeo

IsabelEmilyD

robjvargas

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

jeffo

Hoplite

Return of the Coffee Shield

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

veinglory

volitare nequeo

veinglory

volitare nequeo

Little Ming

IsabelEmilyD

Caitlin Black

Wild one

Maxinquaye

That cheeky buggerer

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

Kerosene

Your Pixie Queen

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

Mojocastle

robjvargas

cathyfreeze

I lost my fever! I need it back!

sassandgroove

Sassy haircut

bearilou

DenturePunk writer