Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos introduces the new
Amazon "Fire" Android based Smartphone on Wednesday.
As expected, Amazon on
Wednesday entered smartphone market with
Fire Phone, a device that has a 4.7-inch screen.
While in terms of specifications Fire Phone
looks similar to a high-end Android phone,
Amazon has utilized its strength as an e-retailer
to equip the device with a few extra features.
The device, which is powered by Android, comes
with a unique user interface, which uses
parallax effect — Amazon calls it Dynamic
Perspective — to offer user 3D-like picture on
the phone screen. The device achieves this
unique user interface by using four front
cameras to always monitor the position of a
user's head and then accordingly adjust the
image on the screen. These four cameras also
work in the dark because they use infrared to
monitor a user.
Fire sports a screen with HD resolution. It has a
2.2GHz processor, 2GB RAM, 13 megapixel
camera with optical image stabilisation, a
dedicated camera button, and stereo speakers.
But hardware is not something that Amazon is
counting on to sell Fire Phone. Instead, the
company is offering several unique features in
the device so that consumers can have better
smartphone experience.
Some of these features
are:
- Free unlimited cloud storage for photos
(probably taken with Fire Phone by a user) - Free access to one million songs
- Firefly: This feature uses the primary camera
in Fire Phone to recognize objects and television
shows and then can show users relevant
information like a Wikipedia page for an object,
a shopping link (obviously from Aamzon
website) to buy the object you are looking at, or
nutrition information for a bottle of soft drink.
Firefly can recognize millions of objects. - An app that allows users to seamlessly switch
between reading or listening a book. - Amazon Prime Video and Prime Music are
supported. - X-Ray feature that allows a user to access
information related to, for example, a TV show
he is watching is supported on Fire Phone. - MayDay: This service will allow customers to
click one button to connect to a customer care
executive.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shows off the app grid
on the new Amazon Fire Phone. (AP photo)
"Fire Phone puts everything you love about
Amazon in the palm of your hand—instant
access to Amazon's vast content ecosystem
and exclusive features like the Mayday button,
ASAP, Second Screen, X-Ray, free unlimited
photo storage, and more," said Jeff Bezos,
Amazon.com founder and CEO.
"The Firefly button lets you identify printed web
and email addresses, phone numbers, QR and
bar codes, artwork, and over 100 million items,
including songs, movies, TV shows, and
products—and take action in seconds. We
invented a new sensor system called Dynamic
Perspective that recognizes where a user's head
is relative to the device—we use it to offer
customers a more immersive experience, one-
handed navigation, and gestures that actually
work."
Bezos said that SDK for Firefly and Dynamic
Perspective will be available for developers so
that they could use these features to create
relevant apps. Just like Fire tablets, the Fire
Phone will use Amazon app store and not all
Android apps will be compatible with it.
For now, Fire will be available only in the US
and only through AT&T. The 32GB version of
Fire Phone will cost $199 with a two-year
contract. The 64GB version will cost $299.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shows off the 3D
features of the new Fire smartphone.
No comments:
Post a Comment