Flashback: how Amazon Fire Phone's big bet on 3D and impulse purchases failed

20 November 2022
Dynamic Perspective was a new, more impressive, more complicated take on smartphone 3D displays. Then there was Firefly - a Buy button for the world.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • KZK
  • 21 Nov 2022

Surprisingly I loved this phone, even though they don't sell in my country, I purposely ordered one from ebay and unfortunately because I was short in cash, I had to sell it. Nowadays I tried to look for it again and unfortunately it is so difficult to get it now.

    • J
    • Julian M
    • 58Z
    • 21 Nov 2022

    Amazon could have made this work, but a bunch of nonsensical decisions were made that meant the Fire Phone was DOA - the hardware was that of a midrange phone that was adequate, but the price was completely off. Remember this device is a notch under the Nexus 5 that came out the year before (same Snapdragon 800 processor), which was available for $300.

    What is odd though is how Amazon did not persist - one phone experiment and they called it off. Looking at the long list of Fire tablets, which were never cutting edge in any sort of way but agressively priced to insure they'd dominate the low-end market, I wonder why Amazon did not give it a second go after fixing what was most obviously broken with their first attempt.

      I have 3 of those, bought at bargain price for the family. Managed to install Google services on them and they were great phones, considering the price, which was low end money. They are not used anymore

        It was a dream phone for me then but with two problems
        1. It's was a pricey device
        2. it never able to reach in my country. Also did searching used market.

        It was indeed a good initiative, a 3D device.

        I still wish there must atleast 3 or 4 players in OS game. Windows Phone were really amazing. Miss my Lumia 720 and 520🫠.

          Anonymous, 20 Nov 2022Facebook's Metaverse has about the same chances of bei... moreThe difference is one knows when to give up while the other one doesn't.

            KrazzyDJ, 21 Nov 2022This Flashback series has been great in educating us about ... moreThe phones of the past certainly are interesting. Nowadays we don't get much of that novel factor in phones.

              This Flashback series has been great in educating us about the smartphone industry's history in general. Much more interesting than reading a Wikipedia article.

                • s
                • sr777
                • mFd
                • 21 Nov 2022

                Amazon can start again with entry level phone as a Amazon Basics phone.

                  • K
                  • K
                  • rKN
                  • 21 Nov 2022

                  Amazon needs to be broken up....i
                  t is funding religious conversions in india.

                    • D
                    • David
                    • 3HZ
                    • 21 Nov 2022

                    I loved the parallax effect head tracking on this, you got 3D without glasses or a stereoscopic screen. That is innovation in smartphones you don’t see anymore. But the 3D fad died really quickly.

                      Anonymous, 20 Nov 2022autostereoscopic screens are still the goat always wereImagine if they still used them on more modern phones? Nintendo 3DS emulation would be more accurate. I remember thinking the Fire Phone being a flop but thought the 3D stuff was pretty cool like the HTC Evo 3D I saw at a Best Buy in 2011. I can't believe it's been 8+ years already.

                      To me, 2014 felt like it happened last week. I remember that Malaysia Airline disappearing. I remember OnePlus One with Never Settle as their mantra. Some great phones came out that year...

                      OnePlus One
                      HTC One M8
                      Samsung Galaxy S5 and Note 4 (last to have removable batteries for a Galaxy S and Note)
                      LG G3
                      Motorola/Google Nexus 6 (with Lollipop/Material Design)
                      Sony Xperia Z3/Z3 Compact
                      Yotaphone 2

                      The 2014 lineup improved upon the 2013 lineups. Too bad the S5 was ridiculed for its plastic/Band-Aid design when it had both removable battery and water-resistant.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • 4GA
                        • 20 Nov 2022

                        autostereoscopic screens are still the goat

                        always were

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • s8e
                          • 20 Nov 2022

                          vrvly, 20 Nov 2022Amazon just gave up lol. 3D view even if only used in the g... moreRed hydrogen failed too. The market for such things is quite small, also, this technology isn't too advanced or appealing to consumers atm

                            • k
                            • kek
                            • GBh
                            • 20 Nov 2022

                            Honestly, the battery was its biggest weak point.

                            Everything else seems good for ita price point at the time. The shitty iPhone 6 had nothing going on for it and it suffered the bendgate

                              sadh, 20 Nov 2022They should do a flagship thing again. Sell it for $499, eq... moreLmao with today inflation 499 from even the likes of xiaomi wont give you that spec let alone amazon. Just keep dreaming

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • TSN
                                • 20 Nov 2022

                                It's a double edged thing really. For a devices' biz to really work, it's beyond specs meaning the backend, software, OS, apps and finally ecosystem, the whole works. Fire Phone's "differentiation" = 3D display was a really dumb play, totally out of Amazon's core depth. They could have just put out some decent big screened, MASS PRICED, long battery life phones positioned for say e-reading and media consumption to fit that Amazon brand. NOT AN E-SHOPPING phone that's just weird, a Kindle+Fire phone if you will. And still AVOID from directly competing vs. proper phone OEMs, because frankly they'd still lose as that'll just kill focus.

                                Fire OS is a hugely missed opportunity as Amazon, of all droid deployers, have the means and resources to fork it BETTER. If not for their ego of totally shutting Google out too quick before winning over the initial user base.

                                Look at e.g the Fire HD tablets for example. Bang for buck winners, BUT deserves a bigger adoption if not for Fire OS' limitations.

                                At this point though, maybe it's just too late as it's looking like Amazon is gonna can their entire hw/devices biz altogether if past weeks' news were accurate...

                                  Amazon just gave up lol. 3D view even if only used in the games would make it sell in many zero's. Even me who isn't gaming was fascinated by it so much I would even start gaming.
                                  I had new device then tho...
                                  Not sure if it was wrong marketing or some missing feature but I did like it for sure and I mention just one feature in one use case... what a shame.
                                  ...edit: is there anyway someone using similar tech? Cannot imagine 3D feature to not be popular. We surely lag behind after this went down, considering how old 3D related tech is and still a small progress. This was like 2.5D screen.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 3SI
                                    • 20 Nov 2022

                                    Facebook's Metaverse has about the same chances of being a success as this.

                                      This is a very underrated phone. I used this phone extensively back in the day. It was genuinely pretty good. The build quality was good (glass back panels were rare back then). It had stereo speakers. The performance was good for day-to-day usage. Display quality & battery life was pretty decent, but not impressive. Camera was mediocre. It ran on a forked version of Android, and it didn't have any Gapps (which is excellent if you're not a google fanboy). The 3D stuff might seem as a gimmick to you, but it looked cool (these kind of gimmickry features were all the rage back in those days). The 3D perspective wouldn't just show if you move the phone. You could keep the phone still, and move your head around it, and it would change the 3D perspective accordingly. I impressed some girls back in the day with this.

                                      Overall, I really liked this phone back in the day. It had a UI & features that stood out, and was overall very comfortable to use. Gapps-free life isn't as bad as you would assume, just ask any Huawei user.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • U{g
                                        • 20 Nov 2022

                                        Anonymous, 20 Nov 2022The interface looks good, kinda like windows phone. Design ... moreYeah i love this UI

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