Yep,  It's now official
Available direct from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Fire-Phone-32GB-AT/dp/B00EOE0WKQ
 
etc
 

http://online.wsj.com/articles/amazon-unveils-smartphone-1403114271
 
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/18/amazon-phone
http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/18/5819516/meet-the-fire-phone
http://gizmodo.com/amazons-fire-phone-is-here-at-last-developing-1592702508
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/06/amazon-announces-its-first-smartphone-the-fire-phone/
http://time.com/2895275/amazon-fire-phone/
http://m.t3.com/news/amazon-announces-the-amazon-fire-phone
Firefly:"It's basically the easiest way to spend your money you'll ever find."

Edited June 18, 201412 yr by Grahame

AT&T only, and $649 without plan?  Good luck with that.

I noticed a distinct lack of .flac support.  

 

"Audio: Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3), non-DRM AAC, MP3, MIDI, OGG, PCM/WAVE, AAC LC/ELD, HE-AAC (v1 & v2), AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AMR-WB+, Audible Enhanced format (AAX)"

The internets are not happy

 

Fire Phone UI is a mess - https://twitter.com/joshuatopolsky/status/479330755987124224

So why bother?”-Benedict Evans, analyst

“Amazon’s new phone makes sure that the direct line from your bank account to Amazon never tangles.”-@davepell, start-up investor

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27909104

"kindle" -> "fire"

 

Oh, I get it.

 

Does Amazon sell .flac files?  If not, there's your answer.

 

Pretty sure not.  Only .mp3 and physical format to the best of my knowledge.  So why PCM/WAV but not .flac?

 

Anyway, I am all for market competition, but a phone from Amazon?  They have the customer base to think of the idea, but I'm not sure how they think they can compete with companies like Samsung, Google, and Apple.  Getting the owners to easily check out at Amazon is one thing, but unless there is that "gotta have it factor" and intuitive UI, people are not going to have them in their hands.  Gone are the days of having multiple devices in pockets: it's pretty much only smartphones, so Amazon will have to bring their A game if they want people to switch over... and I'm not really seeing it.  Nothing that others have, unless that Dynamic Perspective is what they are going with, but that seems to be a pain.  I'm not into the hand motion thing.

 

Imagine if I drop the damn thing.  What would I have bought on Amazon?  Or is that their plan? 

Edited June 19, 201412 yr by roadtonowhere08

I'm as big a fan of Amazon as anyone, but this phone is a stupid idea.  The head tracking tech was more thought-out than I expected, but it's not going to sell them any phones. I'm really surprised they aren't tossing in something like a special data plan that includes unlimited usage of Amazon Prime's streaming services.

How about they make Prime 2 day again, that would be great.

Prime is still 2 day for me, and they still describe it as that on the site.  

I'm looking at 2 weeks for prime, but it's my own fault.

I think Amazon is throwing everything at the wall, and hoping that something sticks.  All because Wallstreet has finally noticed that they make basically no profit.

 

I think it's times like this where companies falter and do more harm than good.

Edited June 19, 201412 yr by roadtonowhere08

also its not cool looking. 

Giant fail, just like facebook phone.  That was real, right?  Real and fail?

Giant fail, just like facebook phone. That was real, right? Real and fail?

Jesus I forgot about that.

So many awesome phones right now, I think we've hit a point where a new phone is not the most exciting thing in the world. The tech seems to have leveled off.

I remember my AT&T iphone.

 

 

Never again.

"590 nits of brightness"

 

Umm, what is the nits to lumens ratio?

 

Never heard of that before.

Edited June 19, 201412 yr by aardvark baguette

Most LCD TVs are about 450nit. High bright displays are about 700-800nit. Seems the screen would not be great in direct sunlight.

"590 nits of brightness"

 

Umm, what is the nits to lumens ratio?

 

Never heard of that before.

 

They don't convert cleanly. 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candela_per_square_metre

 

http://www.unitconversion.org/luminance/nits-to-lumens-per-square-foot-per-steradian-conversion.html

 

Lumens has very little meaning for comparing devices.  

A 96" TV putting out 1000lumens is not as bright as a 48" TV only putting out 700lumens... By a reallly wide margin. 

I prefer candelas.

I remember my AT&T iphone.

Never again.

This.

Y'all have nothing to worry about, Colin will fix it all.....

 

But until then, no thanks for me as well.....

Good point. We'll have to ask Colin if he gets a new company phone and what it is!

Good point. We'll have to ask Colin if he gets a new company phone and what it is!

does it run the metro interface?

does it run the metro interface?

 

I see what you did there.

As opposed to the "sporno" interface?