I bought the Amazon Fire Phone!

When the Amazon fire phone was first announced in June 2014, the Internet went crazy.  Everyone was excited to see a new product hit the market, and I have to admit I was excited too.

It was released one month later in July 2014, and it didn't get the welcome most people expected it to receive.  The reason that it did not get such a warm welcome, is because of the price! The phone came in at $649 for the starting price, which is ridiculous when compared to the current pricing on other devices at the time!  Amazon fire phone actually has really good specs, and can compete with the current phones on the market.  If you think about it, it actually offers more than most of the phones on the market today as far as features.

The basic specs - It has a 13 megapixel camera on the on the back of the device and a 2.1 megapixel on the front.  It comes with the snapdragon 800 processor by QUALCOMM clocked in at 2.2 GHz, and uses the Adreno 330 GPU.  As a 4.7 inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, with the pixel density of 312 pixels per inch.  Memory capacity on the device comes in a 32GB unlocked version from Amazon, a 32 or 64GB version with 2GB of RAM from AT&T.  Stereo speakers are also included, and a 2400 mAh non-removable battery. No SD Card slot in this with this phone. 

So let's move on now to the reason a lot of tech bloggers more than likely do not like this phone. There is something called Amazon Fire OS!  IT HAS  LOCKED BOOTLOADER!  (So WHAT!!!)  Also it was exclusive to AT&T when I first launched into 2014.  I believe the price, the operating system, and the exclusive item to AT&T only was a huge mistake by Amazon.  The device may run on android 4.4.4, but it has a huge overlay by Amazon which some think it's a bad idea.  When people hear the word Android, immediately feel like they should have Google services on whatever device that is in question.  But when I compare this to all the other phones out there that run android, and have an overlay...this one looks like a winner.  Well let me tell you why, the good stuff.

• How many other phones give you a free year unlimited subscriptions to music, movies, videos, books, cloud storage, and lots more? 

• How many other phones have 4 cameras on the front of the device, and can give you what's called '3D Dynamic perspective UI? ' 

• How many phones with a 13 megapixel camera, that actually takes really good photos and videos?

• How many phones do you have currently that have 24 hour live video chat customer service directly from the device?

The point I'm trying to make is, this device is actually a really good phone.  For the current price it offers much more than the average unlocked device that you can purchase on the Internet.  So if you are worried about it not having Google services, you're going to miss out.  Having an overlay on the device with android is not a bad thing, because in most cases it actually brings the device to life.  Depending on how heavy the overlay is, and what the overlay offers.  Prime example, the Samsung galaxy note line!!!  But there's a huge difference in the galaxy note line, and the Amazon fire phone.  The Amazon fire phone actually offers you something new, fresh, exciting, fun, and entertaining. Which is another reason why I decided in 2015 to actually purchase the Amazon fire phone for myself.  If you are a person who liked webOS back in the day like I did, you would love the Amazon fire phone.  The OS is buttery smooth, and flows across all screens.  At the time of this post January 10, 2015, I've had the phone for 24 hours. And I have to tell you I have really been enjoying it!

While this is just my first hands on an initial impressions of the device, I think I'm going to like it. I'm going to use this phone as my 'daily driver' for the next seven days, and I'll check back with you here two or three times in that week.  I'll let you know how I feel about it. If I like it, if I hate it, if I just can't do it.  I'm going to tell you everything I dislike about it sure, and I'm gonna tell you everything I like about it as well.  I'm also going to tell you if I recommend the device, like I do with every other device that I purchase.  So stay tuned to my blog make sure you share this post, so we can find out how others who have owned the device feel about it. 

Remember, if it's not about Tech, it's not worth talking about.

J. Williams