Amazon Phone???

[VT Andrew]

You heard me right, Amazon is throwing their hat into the smartphone ring. Enter the Amazon FIRE. Key features include a pseudo 3d graphics feature, firefly app which will let you take pictures of real world objects and buy them on amazon, and some cool tangle free earbuds that snap together magnetically. The camera will have optical image stabilization, which is quite high tech for a phone camera.

The price tag is cheap $199 and includes a free year of Amazon Prime. Hope you like AT&T because that's the only service option...

 

[Garemlin]

But without rooting you can't use the Android Market. And many top-notch apps are not available in the Amazon Appstore. Fail for us Android purists. No big deal for current Fire owners.

 

[micki]

My contract with Verizon is over. I'm thinking of getting this phone, when it comes out, and switching to ATT. Can anyone tell me how the service area and customer service compares to Verizon?

 

[Garemlin]

My contract with Verizon is over. I'm thinking of getting this phone, when it comes out, and switching to ATT. Can anyone tell me how the service area and customer service compares to Verizon?

I was with VZW for many years. Had two grandfathers unlimited data plans and two dumb phone plans. Got divorced last year. So earlier this year I took assumption of liability for the two data plans and one dumb line and sold them on ebay for almost $700. Switched to AT&T on their new 10gb no contract plan. Paying $140 a month for 10gb with three smartphone lines. I was paying almost $200 a month for 2 smartphone lines and a dumbphone line on VZW. Service is just as good as VZW around here. Thing I noticed, which really surprised me, is that I get better reception inside buildings with AT&T than I did with VZW. Only had to deal with CS once but had no issues.

 

[micki]

I, too, am grandfathered into the Unlimited data plan with Verizon. Spoke with ATT and they are able to give me a great price on wireless as I have my home phone, cable and internet with them in a bundle package. I just want to make sure they offer decent customer service. Looked up coverage area and it appears that it will work for me.

 

[Dhim]

I really like the phone, however I personally felt it should have come with the extra $100 subsidization to make it a $100 price point phone. The reason is that just like the Kindle Fire, Amazon TV, etc everything is backed by purchased through Amazon. The app stone on the phone is actually Amazons proprietary app store. Firefly is a direct gateway to Amazon products. Prime, while free for year 1 will tie into critical features on the phone and therefore make it a nobrainer to purchase for year 2.

It's a great phone, I just think with all the Amazon tie ins for purchase that it should come in at a cheaper subsidized price point.

 

[RynoSerious]

ATT has come a Looooooong way since the bell south days..

Their CS is great. In ga. The coverage is awesome as well

 

[RynoSerious]

And prime is 75.00 a year.. 125.00 for a full feature smart phone is great.. I just don't see me dropping my Iphone though.

 

[Dhim]

I guess I see your point with deducting the price of Prime. I didn't really factor that into the equation of pricing. I too am so locked into the iOS ecosystem that it would be tough to make a switch.

 

[RynoSerious]

I simply won't switch from iOS.. Apples stuff simply works WELL.

I don't jailbreak/hack or anything like that anymore, so getting free stuff is not even in the equation for me

 

[micki]

Cost of prime just went up. $99 now for new members.

 

[MistaKuraudo]

So hardware-wise, is there anything that sets this phone apart from the already popular ones?

 

[VaporJoe]

I like the idea but I HATE the fact its AT&T only. Verizon amazon! VERIZON!

 

[Dhim]

Aside from the more advanced accelerometer features, this is pretty par with the other high end Android smart phone. The camera has an edge on a few because of the optical image stabilization. But in this case the proprietary software has to be considered as it's a key selling point


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MistaKuraudo]

Yeah, I understand that. The whole amazon prime thing is pretty darn cool.

 

[Dhim]

I'm actually the opposite. I'm stuck to AT&T. I'm grandfathered into unlimited data. Verizon has the superior network, but dang if I want to give up unlimited.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MistaKuraudo]

I'm grandfathered into the unlimited data with AT&T too. I swear they throttle their data after a certain point though.

 

[Dhim]

They do, but its still enough to run HD netflix after about 5-6gb of monthy traffic so I'm fine with that. Also you mentioned Prime, check out the Firefly features of the phone. Really cool stuff.