Categories: Devices: Smartphones & Cell Phones

Fire Phone, The First Smartphone Designed by Amazon

Fire Phone is a 3D-enabled smartphone developed by Amazon.com, which marks Amazon’s first foray into the smartphone market. This is followed by the success of the Kindle Fire tablets running the Fire OS operating system. The phone was launched as an AT&T exclusive in July 2014.

The Fire phone is notable for its hallmark feature Dynamic Perspective. It uses four front-facing cameras and the gyroscope to track the user’s movements. The OS then adjusts the UI so that it gives the impression of depth and 3D.

Other Amazon services on the Fire phone include X-Ray, which is used for identifying and finding information about media, Mayday, the 24-hour customer service tool, and Firefly, a tool that automatically recognizes text, sounds, and objects and offers to buy items through Amazon’s online store.

Prior to its release, the Fire Phone had been rumored to be under development since 2010. Indeed, the first mention of a future phone designed by Amazon appeared in August 2010 in the New York Times. In 2012, The Wall Street Journal contended that Amazon was testing a smartphone, with a screen size between four and five inches. In 2013, reports claimed that Amazon would partner with HTC to create a “Kindle Phone”. This phone would be free with an Amazon Prime membership.

The Fire Phone uses a 4.7 inch, IPS LCD, Gorilla Glass 3, polarized touchscreen display with a pixel density of 315 ppi. Its frontside features the screen and a rounded rectangular home button below the display. The back houses the camera, LED flash, and a secondary microphone.

On the top of the phone there is a lock/power button and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The left side of the device has 3 buttons made of anodized aluminum: two volume buttons and a camera shortcut button.

When the camera button is pressed, the camera app opens. When the camera button is held down, Firefly is opened. The bottom of the phone has the primary microphone, a micro-USB connector port, and dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital sound processing.