Amazon Launches Fire Phone, Ignites the Smartphone Market

Amazon Fire Phone - 3D Effects

Here are some of the things that make Amazon’s Fire Phone a unique beast among the thousands of smartphones available on today’s market.

The Seattle-based e-tailer had to implement some unique features into the Fire Phone, in order to ensure its success and survival on the market. Below are some of the aspects that should increase people’s appeal for the Amazon Fire Phone over the competitors’ offers.

At the event hosted by Amazon at Fremont Studios in Seattle, Jeff Bezos made sure that everyone understands that the Firefly app is the feature that’s placed center-stage. As always, it’s not the hardware that’s the most important for Amazon, but the software ecosystem that it creates, and the integration of Amazon services so that they perfectly complement the hardware.

Firefly is the equivalent of Shazam for everything Amazon-related. It can identify songs, and then take you to the Amazon page belonging to the album, but it goes way beyond that. Once you point the camera at a phone number or a bar code, Firefly detects it and lets you interact with it accordingly.

More than that, it can detect movies and TV shows, so if you like it, you could think of it as Shazam for video content.

Luckily, if you happen to be in a hurry, you don’t need to unlock the screen and go through the app drawer to launch Firefly. Amazon gave that some thought and added a Firefly button to the Fire Phone. In other words, it takes just one second to access more than 100 million items from the e-tailer’s website.

In case you need help while using the Fire Phone, you are encouraged to launch the Mayday app that will get you in touch with a customer support representative right away. Now that’s what I call a company that cares about its clients!

Of course, the 3D effects are also important, as they’re done in a unique way. The four cameras that adorn the corners of the 4.7″ display detect the position of your head and eyes, and adjust the displayed content accordingly, so that it seems 3D at all times.

Fire Phone users will also get one year of Amazon Prime at no additional cost. That means that they can access Prime Music, Prime Instant Video, and Kindle books a lot faster than typical Amazon customers.

The e-tailer sweetened the deal even more by offering unlimited photo storage in the Amazon cloud drive. If you like shooting a lot of photos, this will definitely be up your alley.

The Fire Phone will be available on July 25 on AT&T exclusively, at least for the time being. The 32GB version will cost $200, while the 64GB one will be $300, both of them with two-year contracts. That being said, would you consider buying one?

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the first rumors about Amazon’s phone and the six cameras that the Amazon phone comes with.

Amazon joins up with Epix, adds thousands of flicks to Prime Instant Video roster

Amazon joins up with Epix, adds thousands of flicks to Prime Instant Video roster

Truth be told, Amazon's Prime Instant Video selection isn't the most comprehensive library on the net, but it's well on its way, thanks to a new licensing agreement with the Epix. The entertainment network, which partners with studios that include Lionsgate, MGM and Paramount, brings access to recent blockbusters like The Avengers, The Hunger Games and Thor, along with evergreen gems like Justin Bieber Never Say Never. Most importantly, it means Netflix is no longer the only subscription streaming home for those titles after its two year exclusive deal ran out. Amazon's streaming service, which includes thousands of movies and television shows, enables customers subscribing to Prime for $79 per year to stream content without additional monthly fees, in addition to benefits that include discounted shipping and a Kindle book loan program. The terms of the deal have not been announced, but the press release (available in full after the break) lists the partnership as a "multi-year licensing agreement," benefiting customers in the US.

Continue reading Amazon joins up with Epix, adds thousands of flicks to Prime Instant Video roster

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Amazon joins up with Epix, adds thousands of flicks to Prime Instant Video roster originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 10:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon says more items are now shipped with Prime than free shipping, dishes a few other stats

Amazon says more items are now shipped with Prime than free shipping, dishes a few other stats

Amazon isn't one to provide a lot of specific numbers on the products and services it offers, but it has confirmed today that its $79 a year Prime service recently crossed a fairly significant milestone. The company says that more items are now shipped with Prime's two-day shipping than with its standard Free Super Saver Shipping -- which is, presumably, quite a lot. Of course, Prime has grown to become considerably more than just a premium shipping option since it launched in 2005, and Amazon has also taken the opportunity to divulge a few other details on the service. On Prime Instant Video, it says that it now offers 22,000 titles for streaming, a growth of 70 percent this year -- it also notes, somewhat interestingly, that 96.4 percent of the Prime video catalog is viewed in any given week. As for the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, it now counts 180,000 titles, the most borrowed of which is The Hunger Games.

Continue reading Amazon says more items are now shipped with Prime than free shipping, dishes a few other stats

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Amazon says more items are now shipped with Prime than free shipping, dishes a few other stats originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon and NBCUniversal expand Prime Instant Video deal, let you stream Parks and Rec in one place

Amazon and NBCUniversal Cable & New Media Distribution today announced a deal that will expand the mega-retailer's streaming selection by hundreds of episodes, including the likes of Parks and Recreation, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, Heroes and Battlestar Galactica. Prime users will be able to check out older seasons of those shows on their computers, iPads, Xbox 360s, PlayStation 3s and, of course, Kindle Fires. Non-Prime subscribers can also try out Prime Instant Video's 22,000 movies and TV shows for one month, gratis. More information and lots of excited quotes about the deal can be found after the break.

Continue reading Amazon and NBCUniversal expand Prime Instant Video deal, let you stream Parks and Rec in one place

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Amazon and NBCUniversal expand Prime Instant Video deal, let you stream Parks and Rec in one place originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 09:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon, Warner deal brings Fringe, The West Wing to Prime Instant Video exclusively

Amazon deal brings Warner TV shows including Fringe, The West Wing to Prime Instant Video exclusively

The battle between Amazon's Prime Instant Video and Netflix Watch Instantly continues to heat up, with Amazon following up a slew of rollouts on new devices like the Xbox 360 and the addition of a queue by locking up some exclusive TV content from Warner Bros. According to the press release (included after the break) Amazon's agreement means episodes of Fringe and The West Wing will be "On Prime Instant Video First" and not on other streaming services for the summer. Stats show and Netflix has repeatedly indicated that subscribers view more TV content than movies on these types of services so content exclusives may become even more important differentiators. Other shows specifically named include Dark Blue, Alcatraz and The Whole Truth, hit up the Prime site to see any other less prominent names that may have escaped mention.

Continue reading Amazon, Warner deal brings Fringe, The West Wing to Prime Instant Video exclusively

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Amazon, Warner deal brings Fringe, The West Wing to Prime Instant Video exclusively originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon Prime Instant Video gets MGM Studios movies and TV shows, dances with a few wolves

Amazon Prime Instant Video gets MGM Studios movies and TV shows, dances with a few wolves

Amazon is building steam on its Prime Instant Video additions, as it's following new Paramount content just a few weeks ago with video from the MGM Studios stable. The new movies and TV shows mostly reach deep into the back catalog with classics like Dances with Wolves or the definitive spaghetti Western, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. A few more recent titles have crept into the collection, mostly in TV: if you're a fan of the Stargate universe, you're set. MGM video is folded into the $79 yearly Prime subscription and will let you relive Thirtysomething on a raft of devices, including your PS3.

Amazon Prime Instant Video gets MGM Studios movies and TV shows, dances with a few wolves originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon adds ‘hundreds’ of Paramount movies to Prime, signals a Clear and Present Danger to free time

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Amazon is keeping its pace of expanding Amazon Prime's video collection every few months, and today it's Paramount's turn to swell the ranks. Instant Video is getting 'hundreds' of Paramount's movies, including both relatively recent movies like Nacho Libre and Mission: Impossible III as well as back catalog titles like Breakfast at Tiffany's and Clear and Present Danger. As always, the movies are watchable anywhere you've got broadband, and they don't add a premium to the $79 yearly Prime subscription. Just be prepared to explain why you're watching Urban Cowboy on your Kindle Fire at the airport.

Amazon adds 'hundreds' of Paramount movies to Prime, signals a Clear and Present Danger to free time originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 May 2012 10:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon Instant Video app for the PS3 brings both Prime subscriptions and VOD along

Amazon Instant Video app for the PS3 brings both Prime subscriptions and VOD along
While Amazon has continued to grow both its video on-demand and all you can eat Prime Instant Video services content-wise, playback on the TV is still limited to relatively few devices. You can add a major one to the list however, since the app has just started popping up on the PlayStation 3, as pointed out above by Joystiq. While the Xbox 360 has always supported the downloadable files brought over from PCs since the days of Unbox, beyond the Roku boxes and a limited selection of Blu-ray Players and HDTVs, the PS3 is immediately the service's most widely available connected TV platform. If you're looking for it, it should pop up right below competitor Netflix under the video services tab the next time you power on your console.

Update: PlayStation.Blog has posted some official information -- hit the link below or check out a video demo embedded after the break.

Continue reading Amazon Instant Video app for the PS3 brings both Prime subscriptions and VOD along

Amazon Instant Video app for the PS3 brings both Prime subscriptions and VOD along originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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