So how soon does Amazon fire the Fire?

[rootabaga]

Lots of articles talking about what a flop it is, here's just one.

Amazon Fire Phone Proves To Be an Expensive Flop - NBC News

 

[mikedt]

Basically it's an Android device, that's not compatible with Android. You can't load APKs into it from third-party sources, and it has nothing Google in it. Effectively Fire OS, is it's own closed walled-garden, proprietary operating system and ecosystem, run by Amazon. Apple iOS is very much the same, but at least that's very popular. Microsoft has already silently killed-off Windows RT for tablets, that was a flop as well. The Amazon Fire phone is only available from one carrier, ATT....who do they think they are....Apple?

We have a similar thing to Fire OS here, called Aliyun OS, developed by Alibaba. Basically a fork of Android, that doesn't load APKs from outside it's own walled-garden app store, run by Alibaba. But it's rather popular and is supported by a number of device manufacturers, including Philips.

 

[bjacks12]

While my fire tablet (1st gen) serves its purpose fine, I'm not a fan at all of their ui and lack of gapps. And the phone definitely doesn't work at its price.

 

[Isonium]

Basically it's an Android device, that's not compatible with Android. You can't load APKs into it from third-party sources, and it has nothing Google in it. Effectively Fire OS, is it's own closed walled-garden, proprietary operating system and ecosystem, run by Amazon. Apple iOS is very much the same, but at least that's very popular. Microsoft has already silently killed-off Windows RT for tablets, that was a flop as well. The Amazon Fire phone is only available from one carrier, ATT....who do they think they are....Apple?

We have a similar thing to Fire OS here, called Aliyun OS, developed by Alibaba. Basically a fork of Android, that doesn't load APKs from outside it's own walled-garden app store, run by Alibaba. But it's rather popular and is supported by a number of device manufacturers, including Philips.

You can side load Apps and it does come unlocked and unconnected to AT&T but as much as I like the phone, it is sluggish, it gets hot, and battery life is horrible. The dynamic perspective is cool but ultimately not a huge feature I could live without. The one thing I love about the Fire Phone is the speaker stero sound. It is better than any phone I have every had and is great for watching Netflix, etc... I can see why it flopped but I don't regret getting one as I knew what I was buying at the time. I don't use this as my main phone, it is an additional line I carry. Did I mention it is kinda heavy too?

 

[nickdalzell]

I heard that the Fire Phone is also extremely low spec and very limited in what it can do. it's nowhere close to flagship territory, given the price off-contract. reading online it seems that people only bought the thing for the free trial of Prime.

It's just a rehash of the same tired mantra that was the Facebook Phone and before that, the MySpace Phone (Aka Helio Ocean). It's as if Amazon took some cheap Net10/StraightTalk handset (say, a ZTE Merit), slapped a newer version of Android on top, and their Kindle skin, all on a device with paltry RAM and internal storage. it lags, has horrible battery and if i recall correctly, no Google Play. (could be wrong about that last point though)

 

[mikedt]

I heard that the Fire Phone is also extremely low spec and very limited in what it can do. it's nowhere close to flagship territory, given the price off-contract. reading online it seems that people only bought the thing for the free trial of Prime.

It's just a rehash of the same tired mantra that was the Facebook Phone and before that, the MySpace Phone (Aka Helio Ocean). It's as if Amazon took some cheap Net10/StraightTalk handset (say, a ZTE Merit), slapped a newer version of Android on top, and their Kindle skin, all on a device with paltry RAM and internal storage. it lags, has horrible battery and if i recall correctly, no Google Play. (could be wrong about that last point though)

The Fire phone is Snapdragon 800, 2.3GHz, 2GB RAM, 13 megapixel camera, HD screen, 32 GB storage etc. so I think it's more or less flagship as many flagships made this year. Not the absolute highest specs, like 3GB RAM and Snapdragon at 2.5GHz, but nothing exciting though.

It's main feature, gimmick or novelty is the supposedly 3D thing that uses all the cameras to track your face. Price is around $600 off contract, which is similar to an iPhone 6 or flagship Samsung probably. Thing is it's only for ATT and only available in the US, which is somewhat limited.

Amazon is big enough and popular enough and has their own ecosystem, which is already used for their Kindle Fire tablets, they ain't going to put a rival one in, like Google.

 

[Isonium]

The Fire phone is Snapdragon 800, 2.3GHz, 2GB RAM, 13 megapixel camera, HD screen, 32 GB storage etc. so I think it's more or less flagship as many flagships made this year. Not the absolute highest specs, like 3GB RAM and Snapdragon at 2.5GHz, but nothing exciting though.

It's main feature, gimmick or novelty is the supposedly 3D thing that uses all the cameras to track your face. Price is around $600 off contract, which is similar to an iPhone 6 or flagship Samsung probably. Thing is it's only for ATT and only available in the US, which is somewhat limited.

Amazon is big enough and popular enough and has their own ecosystem, which is already used for their Kindle Fire tablets, they ain't going to put a rival one in, like Google.

The phone comes in an unlocked version, off contract, and compatible with GSM/3G/LTE carriers. You can get the unlocked 32GB version off contract for $199 with a free year of Amazon Prime (normally $99) included. As my family uses Amazon Prime and Amazon's eco-system that essentially makes it a $100 phone off contract.

That being said, the phone flopped. Frankly it is better than I expected, but I am not using it as a primary phone. I probably would have smashed it by now if I was. For my purposes it is fine.

As for Apps, Amazon's store sucks. Google Play is not on it and as far as I can tell can't easily be installed, but you can side load apps on it just fine.

 

[nickdalzell]

Odd since the Fire HDX has Google Play... The original Kindle Fire did not.

 

[bjacks12]

Yeah. It is odd. Mine is the original, and unfortunately doesn't have Google Play. I've sideloaded an app or two, but I don't use the thing much. The most time I spend on is it when I play Plague inc.

 

[Isonium]

I didn't know the Fire HDX has Google Play... I will have to take a look at my wife's HDX.

 

[mikedt]

Can't see why Amazon would put Google Play in their device, intended for buying and consuming Amazon's own content and services.

 

[nickdalzell]

I rooted my original Fire and put CyanogenMod 11 ROM on it.

 

[funkylogik]

The Fire phone is Snapdragon 800, 2.3GHz, 2GB RAM, 13 megapixel camera, HD screen, 32 GB storage etc. so I think it's more or less flagship as many flagships made this year. Not the absolute highest specs, like 3GB RAM and Snapdragon at 2.5GHz, but nothing exciting though.

It's main feature, gimmick or novelty is the supposedly 3D thing that uses all the cameras to track your face. Price is around $600 off contract, which is similar to an iPhone 6 or flagship Samsung probably. Thing is it's only for ATT and only available in the US, which is somewhat limited.

Amazon is big enough and popular enough and has their own ecosystem, which is already used for their Kindle Fire tablets, they ain't going to put a rival one in, like Google.

I think they're selling it in the UK too mate. I've seen ads for it anyway

 

[bjacks12]

I rooted my original Fire and put CyanogenMod 11 ROM on it.

How does it run?

 

[nickdalzell]

No ART, a bit slow, and it has only 8GB of internal, no microphone and no GPS. Google Now crashes. Enabling ART causes a boot loop

I did it to say it could be done. It doesn't officially support the Fire. Google Play Store and their associated apps work though.

 

[Isonium]

Turns out Google Play Store is really easy to install on the Fire Phone (with the latest firmware) and works great. You don't have to root the device or anything. The only thing that I don't like about it is that the preview image for apps in the Carousel are high resolution on Amazon store, but the image it selects for play store are low resolution and blurry. It is a minor annoyance, but it is distracting. I love having play store however. All content from Google except movies and TV work perfectly. The video playback is broken. It play a few seconds and glitches. I suspect it is a DRM problem maybe?

 

[nickdalzell]

Blurry app icons from Play Store were a problem with the stock launcher on the original fire.

 

[psionandy]

I think they're selling it in the UK too mate. I've seen ads for it anyway

Walked past an O2 store this afternoon, and they have posters up bundling it with a Kindle fire HD tablet on a 24 month contract.

If O2 did decent data allowances I may even have considered it. My parents/parents in law are big kindle fans, but are PAYG rather than contract folks, so it they could tap into that demographic then they could shift a lot of units, to customers who will then channel even more cash to amazon

 

[El Presidente]

The phone comes in an unlocked version, off contract, and compatible with GSM/3G/LTE carriers. You can get the unlocked 32GB version off contract for $199 with a free year of Amazon Prime (normally $99) included. As my family uses Amazon Prime and Amazon's eco-system that essentially makes it a $100 phone off contract.

It's £399 off contract in the UK, which is nearly 3 times the price of the device in the States!

 

[mikedt]

It's £399 off contract in the UK, which is nearly 3 times the price of the device in the States!

Not only is it a classic rip-off Britain job, it's also locked to O2 as well, even though it's off contract and clearly unsubsidized. O2 is not my first choice of carrier in the UK.

 

[funkylogik]

Yeah I'm a Three guy.
£15 per month for 300mins, 3000sms and unlimited data

 

[mikedt]

When I was in the UK during the summer, was using Lebara. International calls to China +86, 1p a minute, and paid £12 for 2GB of data, which was enough for time I was there. O2 is at least £1 a minute for calls to the PRC.

With the Fire phone being locked to O2 UK, take that overseas on a trip, can't use a local SIM, have to do roaming... £££