Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos on Wednesday unveiled the Fire Phone — a smartphone that is an extension of the company’s Kindle Fire line of tablets — at an event in Seattle, Washington.
The smartphone will be released on July 25, 2014 (pre-orders begin now) and will be exclusive to AT&T in the US. It will cost $199.99 for a 32GB version and $299.99 for 64GB, with a two-year contract. AT&T customers can also buy the phone contract-free via the carrier’s Next program, for no money down and 24 monthly payments of $27.
The 4.7-inch device boasts a 2.2GHz quad-core processor, an Adreno 339 graphics processor and 2GB of RAM. It runs Amazon’s custom version of Android, called Fire OS, and the design has Gorilla Glass on both the front and the back.
The CEO demonstrated how the 3D display could be used to browse and shop, by tilting the phone a certain way, a user can move from one item to the next. The same feature can also scroll through web pages without touching the display.
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Amazon said it would make a software development kit (SDK) for the Dynamic Perspective available, so app developers will be able to design their apps to work with the display, which could be particularly useful for games.
One of the outstanding features of the Fire phone is the May Day button, which allows the user to make an appointment or go to the store, and lets you connect right away and get questions answered.
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As earlier predicted, the Fire Phone’s display is capable of display 3D images. Amazon calls the technology Dynamic Perspective, with a 3D effect that adds the illusion of depth behind the screen, rather than outward.
“The phone uses four special front-facing cameras, all with a wide field of view, to detect where the user’s head is at all times,” Bezos said. “Every camera is equipped with an infrared light so the Fire Phone’s 3D effect should work even in low-light conditions.”
Another new feature, Firefly, lets users scan any product, even music and TV shows playing in the background (à la Shazam), and brings them information on them from Amazon.com. The feature, which is activated via a dedicated physical button, works with restaurant signs and phone numbers, too. MyFitnessPal is integrated with Firefly to provide nutritional information on food.
Rumors surrounding an Amazon phone have circulated for years, but the first credible reports began months ago, saying the company was working on a mobile device with a special 3D-capable screen. More recently, AT&T was reported to be the exclusive partner for the phone in the US, and that Amazon’s secretive hardware company, Lab126, had been working on the phone for almost five years.
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Source: Mashable.com
Photo credit: Mashable.com
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