Amazon's new Ice phone?

[ZodWallop]

Looks like Amazon has learned their lessons from the Fire phone. They're allegedly working on an Ice phone that runs Android rather than Fire OS and...

unlike the company’s failed Fire Phone, the new smartphones — allegedly branded “Ice” — would have access to the full line of Google services and apps, including the Play Store.

Here's the article from The Verge.

Here's a Forbes article.

They both seem to source from this Gadgets 360 article.

[Atunah]

I my opinion the mistake with the fire phone was that they released it with a 2 year expensive plan only. I don't do plans, I do prepaid, so I need a unlocked phone. I would have liked to buy the fire phone, it had nice features. That was the time I was looking for a prepaid carrier and a phone. When they finally offered it unlocked, it was way out of my price range. I ended up going with a nice android phone for $200 and cricket.

Now they have a few phones on discount with some screen apps. Those phones though are stock android, do not run Fire OS. If I needed a phone right now, I'd get one of those.

I am surprised that they would be trying again, instead of just doing what they doing now. Discounted phones from known manufacturers. The MotoG Plus is really nice looking and a nice discount. But I can't justify a new phone as my going on 2 year zenfone is still going strong.

Curious though. Depends on the cost and features.

[tubemonkey]

Another problem with the Fire Phone was Amazon's decision to throw it under the bus so soon. Released just a few months before 4th gen Fire Tabs and nearly a year after 3rd gen devices, Amazon decided it no longer deserved the same upgrade path 4th gen devices receive, so it stalled at the same level as 3rd gen devices.

Bottom line: Amazon's not to be trusted with their phones.

[booklover6]

We are using 3 Fire phones as prepaid AT&T go phones. All are still going strong, though I put the Google play store on both of my boys phones last week. Of course I got them cheap. I really like the camera on it. That's why I plan to keep using it as long as I can.

[barryem]

I also got a Fire Phone cheap when Amazon was selling them out. I forget what I paid. I think close to $125 but I'm not sure. It's the 32 gig model.

I've never used it for a phone. I bought it because it's built-in Kindle app allows manual scrolling, a feature I like a lot.

It's not a bad device. For what I paid for it it's a very good device. If I'd paid full price I probably would have returned it. Everything works pretty well but it's user interface is very awkward and non-intuitive and it's battery life isn't all that good. I have a bunch of videos on it along with MX Player. It's an excellent pocket size ebook reader and Audible player. It's a handy device at times.

It's big show-off feature, the 3D thingy that alters the pictures based on your viewing angle is one of the silliest features I'd ever heard of. I tried a number of it's built-in 3D wallpapers and they are kind of impressive but who cares! They're just wallpapers. They had to add some fairly expensive hardware to make that work, to say nothing of developer's time. I've often said that the new Nook Glowlight Plus's capacative Home button was the dumbest design feature in tech history and I still think so but that 3D Fire phone feature is surely number 2.

Barry

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Atunah

I my opinion the mistake with the fire phone was that they released it with a 2 year expensive plan only.

That and Fire OS means no Google. And at the time, they weren't crystal clear on it. Tech sites mentioned it, but the general user didn't know. My sister worked at an AT&T store at the time and neither she nor her manager knew it didn't run Android as we know it. I won a bet on that one

If you owned any other Android phone and bought the Fire, you had to buy your apps over again (if they were in the Amazon app store).

If they had been upfront and sold the phone as a cheapie like they do with their tablets, they likely would have done better.

[Atunah]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

That and Fire OS means no Google. And at the time, they weren't crystal clear on it. Tech sites mentioned it, but the general user didn't know. My sister worked at an AT&T store at the time and neither she nor her manager knew it didn't run Android as we know it. I won a bet on that one

If you owned any other Android phone and bought the Fire, you had to buy your apps over again (if they were in the Amazon app store).

If they had been upfront and sold the phone as a cheapie like they do with their tablets, they likely would have done better.

Having google store in general isn't probably as important to me as it seems to be to many folks. I mean I use fire tablets and I do not have any paid apps from google anyway. Only apps I ever paid for were from the amazon store. But I guess many folks care about those things. I use my paid amazon store apps on my android phone. .

Maybe now that I have used my phone for some time I'd miss the google store a tad, or maybe not. I don't miss it on my fires. It does make transferring stuff easy on android. When I moved from a moto to a zenfone, it was pretty painless.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by barryem

I've never used it for a phone. I bought it because it's built-in Kindle app allows manual scrolling, a feature I like a lot.

I think there are probably not a lot of people actually using the device as a phone, especially now that it is a few years old.

On mine, the built in Kindle app is abysmally slow. It takes over a minute just to show any books. I have less than 20 on the device. Needless to say I almost never read books on it. (I find the Kindle app on my Fire tablets slow, too--but the phone is the absolute worst.)

I wonder if Amazon will follow the same concept they have with newer Fire tablets and make them with a crappy low resolution screen? I bet they do. They don't seem to be interested in better quality screens any more. They sem to be more interested in turning out lower spec Fire tablets rather than higher spec ones.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I wonder if Amazon will follow the same concept they have with newer Fire tablets and make them with a crappy low resolution screen? I bet they do. They don't seem to be interested in better quality screens any more. They sem to be more interested in turning out lower spec Fire tablets rather than higher spec ones.

Understandable, given that they're selling them as Amazon content consumption devices, probably at pretty much cost price. It's not as if there aren't higher-spec devices available for those who prefer them.

[John F]

Originally Posted by HarryT

.. Amazon content creation devices, ...

Did you mean consumption?

[HarryT]

Yes, I did indeed .

[Barty]

My brother bought a fire tablet and returned it because it didn't have Google play store and some apps he needed. I sent him a how-to for loading Google play services and store. He bought another one and returned it too because it was too complicated to do. Maybe Amazon will bring out an ice tablet.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Barty

My brother bought a fire tablet and returned it because it didn't have Google play store and some apps he needed.

Didn't he do any research before he bought it? It's not exactly a secret that it doesn't have the Play store .

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Didn't he do any research before he bought it? It's not exactly a secret that it doesn't have the Play store .

I think it's not a secret here. But I'd bet the average Joe picking up a Fire tablet couldn't tell you whether it comes with the Play store or not. They don't care, until they need something from it.

I wish Amazon would end their feud with Google already. In this instance at least, Amazon is just being jerky.