Amazon Fire Phone Reviews: Solid But Overly Ambitious 58
An anonymous reader writes: Amazon's Fire Phone launches later this week, and the reviews have started to come in. The hardware: "There's nothing terribly special about the Fire Phone's hardware, but there's very little to turn you off either." "The nice-looking IPS display in the Fire Phone gets bright enough for outdoor viewing, and it has nice viewing angles—a necessity for a phone that's meant to be tilted around and looked at from every which way." "An indistinct slab of glass and plastic, the Fire Phone looks more like a minimalist prototype than a finished product."
Software: "Firefly can recognize lots of things, but it's incredibly, hilariously inconsistent." "Firefly is the one Fire Phone feature you'll want on any phone you're currently using. Let's hope that it gets enough developer support that it isn't just a link to Amazon's storefronts." "First, and to be absolutely clear, Dynamic Perspective will impress you the first time you see it, and Amazon is pretty good at showing it off. ... But if there's some cool, useful functionality to be had from super-aggressive, super-accurate face tracking, the Fire Phone doesn't have it." Conclusion: "Smartphones are for work, for life. They're not toys, they're tools. Amazon doesn't understand that, and the Fire Phone doesn't reflect it."
Software: "Firefly can recognize lots of things, but it's incredibly, hilariously inconsistent." "Firefly is the one Fire Phone feature you'll want on any phone you're currently using. Let's hope that it gets enough developer support that it isn't just a link to Amazon's storefronts." "First, and to be absolutely clear, Dynamic Perspective will impress you the first time you see it, and Amazon is pretty good at showing it off. ... But if there's some cool, useful functionality to be had from super-aggressive, super-accurate face tracking, the Fire Phone doesn't have it." Conclusion: "Smartphones are for work, for life. They're not toys, they're tools. Amazon doesn't understand that, and the Fire Phone doesn't reflect it."
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
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From what I've read on /. the phone is nothing more then an attempt to create a 24/7365 advertising device for their own ego centric needs. There a cheap ass company to begin with, why would people expect something like their Kindle, or Fire Phone to be any different.
The NSA is literal being helped by the makers and service providers. And they should be the least of your concerns with the US and its other agencies, and throw in local/state law enforcement into that mix.
Bias (Score:3)
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My quick personal take on the Fire Phone: it is functionally and aesthetically awful
Joshua Topolsky @joshuatopolsky
Just like Amazon's website.
"my preferred Android podcast app..." (Score:1)
Lost interest right there. The author sounds hipster.
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It does prove, however, that the world is being taken over by pod people [wikipedia.org].
How thrilling... (Score:5, Insightful)
Where do I sign?
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Re:How thrilling... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, but only because Amazon refuses to release the app for Android because they want you to buy a Kindle/Fire Phone instead, so you can be locked into their walled garden.
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Knowledge Brings Understanding - Ignorance Breeds Fear
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True, but Understanding of others' Ignorance also Brings Fear
Also, it's a Futurama reference [wikia.com].
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Thank you kind stranger for this wonderful review, so I can now follow slashdot's best practices - of not actually RTFA
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I think the specs race is basically over. Apple's specs allow them to make a fast phone in a small body with relatively good battery life. Android phones are generally made with the same 'generic' parts, and have comparable battery life by virtue of having a bigger case to cram a battery in. But all told, the phones are pretty close together, no matter what tricks each company is playing. (And I would argue that battery life is becoming a more dominant spec request as time goes on. I'd much rather have a lo
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There's nothing offensively wrong with it; but the price tag befits a device that is genuinely compelling in some way, which it isn't.
So so phone... (Score:2)
Amazon's smartphone breakfast, lunch and dinner will be eaten by companies like Xiaomi http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-22/the-latest-slick-cheap-smartphone-from-xiaomi-chinas-rising-mobile-power?google_editors_picks=true [businessweek.com]. They do only one thing
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Considering this phone is pretty much a store in your pocket, designed from the ground up to make it easier for people to buy things, Amazon might have a shot at making it sucessful. As long as consumers like buying things...
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I am excited for a google-less android phone. Read this article, and realize that this phone is our best and only hope:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets... [arstechnica.com]
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It is pretty stark how lousy de-googled Android is; but Amazon isn't really here to change the dynamic of effectively closed control of the platform, just who controls it. Getting models with a 'clean' AOSP firmware(typically excl
they're also toys though (Score:5, Insightful)
"Smartphones are for work, for life. They're not toys, they're tools."
Eh, if that were strictly the case, the market would be a lot different. Smartphones are a lot of things: tool, toy, fashion, entertainment.
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Posting to remove moderation error (meant to click insightful, accidentally hit redundant!).
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"Smartphones are for work, for life. They're not toys, they're tools."
Eh, if that were strictly the case, the market would be a lot different. Smartphones are a lot of things: tool, toy, fashion, entertainment.
Exactly.... if that were the case the Windows CE and PalmOS smartphones would have sold a lot better than they did in the early 2000's. They were actually much better suited for real work than Android or the Glitzy iOS interface. The CPU's were weak and they had no 3D acceleration but they were actually USEFUL.
The majority of smartphone users basically treat them as phones they can play games on and check facebook. There's maybe 3 people in my office that know how to use their phone effectively for anyth
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Yup, smartphones are toys.
I haven't done a single bit of productive work on my smartphone.
"Indistinct and more like a minimalist prototype" (Score:1)
Translation:
less sleek than an iPhone = bad
more sleek than an iPhone = bad
looks like an iPhone but isn't = bad
is an iPhone = wow what a beautiful design steve jobs did it again from the grave
Content is the King! (Score:3)
I insist that we need the final "YouTube" for Live TV. Let all the broadcast to join it and put their live content on a single WW catalog.
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Don't confuse Broadcaster (local, with local ads, and merely 'affiliated' with a network) and the Network (National, with national ads). The broadcasters's business model strongly resembles the car dealerships', and just like Tesla is getting well-funded pushback from the dealers, a proposed change in that model will get pushback from the state and local pols that depend on local TV to advertise in their districts.
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That's kind of what the UK's Project Canvas was supposed to do. TV guide entries and on-demand catalogue entries both point to the same object in the database, so if you try to watch a show or movie that's not currently airing, it quietly redirects you to the appropriate streaming service instead. When you throw IPTV support into the mix you suddenly have a platform where there's no functional difference between content coming off the web, HDD, or airwaves, recorded or live. From that it's a short hop to a
Face tracking? (Score:2)
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You want to let the NSA get a full 3D representation of your face, from multiple angles, just to make sure the citywide cameras can track you everywhere, so their job is far easier for them?
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It's a way to make the display appear 3D. The camera tracks your face, determines which direction you're looking from, and adjusts the display accordingly. Ideally, it's meant to be 3D without glasses and without the strict distance requirements and eye strain of the 3DS. And according to the reviews, it works well but doesn't really have practical applications other than looking cool.
Pointless (Score:3)
It's a way to make the display appear 3D.
That's what it does but not why you would want it. Like others here I'm failing to see any utility for this "feature". It's sort of cool as a technology demo but I just can't see any practical use for this. It does sound like a great way to reduce battery life, slow the interface, and create unnecessary bugs however. Possibly with a motion sickness chaser for some folks!
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Only reasonable thing I can think of is autofocus for video calls. But most phones already do a good job of that. Perhaps Amazon choose a poor camera and had to implement this in software.
Ok, I got nothing.
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There were rumours before the phone's announcement that it would allow you to look at items in their catalogue at various angles in a natural way. Perhaps the content for that didn't turn up or they realised how time consuming it would be to make a Quicktime VR of every single item they sell.
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One potential perk that they didn't think of is automatically orienting the phone's screen to face you without relying on the accelerometer. (If I put my phone down on the desk or hold it at a shallow angle, it doesn't know which way's "up", but the Fire Phone knows where my face is so this shouldn't be a problem.)
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Or does a Microsoft and discriminates based on the colour of your skin.
https://www.google.co.nz/searc... [google.co.nz]
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So the phone can display a 3D model of a car, and shift the perspective and scaling of the car as the phone and / or your eyes move relative to it. Dynamic Perspective.
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well... everybody's just driving along fine, it's a four lane highway. Traffic is moving nicely. this is the current market.
Boom, you get to drive on the shoulda now mutha fucka.
Dynamic Perspective.
Oxymoron? (Score:4, Insightful)
Firefly can recognize lots of things, but it's incredibly, hilariously inconsistent." "Firefly is the one Fire Phone feature you'll want on any phone you're currently using.
Why would I want to have a software feature on the phone i"m currently using that is incredibly, hilariously inconsistent?
Can't take the sky away however (Score:2, Insightful)
On the plus side, at least it can't take the sky from you...
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Amusement?
The only benefit I've found with Google Suggest is funny suggestions it comes up with.
Try it: Go to google.com and start typing something like "Why does my"
But.. but... how can this be... (Score:1)
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Well, it's utterly possible that Amazon pre-emptively chose to license the patent. But unlikely.
Because it's a design patent. Which aren't really patents in the normal sense. A "normal" patent is a utility patent - it describes a machine that does s
um (Score:2)
It's an $800 phone
Proprietary store (you can't install standard google apps and I doubt your old apps will move to this phone)
Performance is about Equal or slightly better to existing phones you can get for $1 on contract like my HTC one(M8) or the Galaxy S5
Only new feature is "3D" which, like very "3D" offering in every other product to date, it's not actually 3D, it's fairly annoying, a gimmick and will get turned off within hours of getting the phone.
So you'd buy this why?
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely
Silk browser (Score:3, Insightful)
First try (Score:5, Funny)
"Firefly can recognize lots of things,"
Nice for a first try, but thanks, I'll wait for the Serenity model.
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So what exactly is new and innovative from Samsung?