The very nice people at Amazon recently sent me one of their new, Fire phones. I was so grateful, I wrote my latest book on the device, Amazon Fire Phone For Dummies.
The Fire phone isn’t an Android phone. Sure, it uses a lot of Android’s guts, but the interface is unique. Also, it’s not a Google phone, as many of Google’s standard Android apps (such as YouTube and Gmail) are missing.
Of course, the first thing that hits you with the Fire phone is its amazing 3D-like screen.
The Fire phone features four eyeball sensors on its front. Those sensors track your face and present items on the screen in a 3D manner. It’s called dynamic perspective, and it’s kind of cool — but still it doesn’t get in your way as you use the phone. Figure 1 attempts to illustrate this feature.
Figure 1. One of the Fire phone’s lock screens, which is in 3D but not on this page.
Absent from the Fire phone is the standard Android Home screen — and all the widgets. Instead you’ll find the Carousel, which lists recent apps. The apps feature “hero widgets,” which are shortcuts to recent or important items relative to the apps.
Two panels, one left and the other right of the main screen, offer additional shortcuts and “delighters” that help you get the most from your phone.
As an avid Android user, it took me a while to grow accustomed to the Fire phone, but it wasn’t as steep of a curve had I switched to an iPhone (heaven forbid).
Beyond the custom skin, the Fire phone uses exclusively the Amazon App Store — not the Google Play Store. Amazon’s reasoning is that they thoroughly test every app, ensuring that it’s legitimate and doesn’t contain anything unsavory. This is a similar “walled garden” philosophy that Apple uses, but it does limit overall access to apps. For example, the Amazon App Store features about 200,000 apps versus the millions found at the Google PLay Store.
Aside from the subtle differences, the Fire is a great phone. The camera is phenomenal; it takes excellent photographs.
The big question is: Will it be a success?
After some initial fanfare and lots of promotions, I don’t see a lot of the Fire phone. It’s absent from the Amazon home page on the web. You can still find one available on AT&T Mobile’s web site, although it’s not showcased. And unless Amazon plans on putting the phone out on other networks, then maybe the device isn’t going anywhere.
Then again, I remember the Nexus One. It was Google’s first phone and it was pretty popular, but it wasn’t a success. Google has learned a lot since then. Perhaps Amazon can learn that same lesson, albeit more quickly?
