Kindle Fire Phone - Hands On Review - Page 35

tomsem · 06-04-2015, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

The Play version has Prime Stations don't know about the one on Amazon App Store. I know The Fire Phone version was updated a month ago but no stations yet.

I installed the Amazon Appstore version on my Android phone. It does have Prime Stations. I'm still curious to know whether it is available for my vintage Fire, as the My Apps page suggests. I suspect not. But can't check that right now.

I wonder if that could be backed up to apk and installed on the Fire Phone. But not enough to try it myself. Especially since I've already restored the Google Play version.

Blossom · 06-04-2015, 08:54 AM

Everyone probably knows this but if you click the home button twice it brings up a quick links menu. I just discovered this by accident today. lol

tomsem · 06-05-2015, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

Everyone probably knows this but if you click the home button twice it brings up a quick links menu. I just discovered this by accident today. lol

I set up my wife's Fire Phone months ago but didn't pick up on it until I was setting up my own last week. Duh, it is the same as an iPhone; why didn't they just point that out? But the real revelation was discovering the Back swipe up from bottom gesture. I love it so much. I keep trying it on my Moto G (about to be retired) and am surprised when it doesn't work. The 'twist' to reveal notifications is a close runner up.

booklover6 · 06-05-2015, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

Everyone probably knows this but if you click the home button twice it brings up a quick links menu. I just discovered this by accident today. lol

I had no idea! Thanks for the tip.

jgaiser · 06-05-2015, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by booklover6

I had no idea! Thanks for the tip.

I knew about almost from the beginning, but only because my previous iPhone 4S used the button push to reach it's quick switch menu.

Blossom · 06-05-2015, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomsem

I set up my wife's Fire Phone months ago but didn't pick up on it until I was setting up my own last week. Duh, it is the same as an iPhone; why didn't they just point that out? But the real revelation was discovering the Back swipe up from bottom gesture. I love it so much. I keep trying it on my Moto G (about to be retired) and am surprised when it doesn't work. The 'twist' to reveal notifications is a close runner up.

Yeah me too on other devices I swipe up causing chaos because I'm use to doing it on my phone.

zebradude · 06-05-2015, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

Everyone probably knows this but if you click the home button twice it brings up a quick links menu. I just discovered this by accident today. lol

and you can swipe/close open apps from that menu as well!

Blossom · 06-05-2015, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zebradude

and you can swipe/close open apps from that menu as well!

How do you do that?

jgaiser · 06-05-2015, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zebradude

and you can swipe/close open apps from that menu as well!

Swipe up closes app. Worked the same way on my iPhone.

tomsem · 06-10-2015, 06:29 PM

Prime Music app for Fire Phone just got updated (to 4.4.5). It now supports Prime Stations. BUT, it does not support Flip or AutoScroll, as the builtin Music app does.

I keep wondering why FirePhoneOS cannot simply map Flip and Scroll events to swipe-from-left, swipe-from-right, mouse scroll down/up events for apps that don't use Fire Phone APIs directly. Seems like that would work most of the time, and would improve usability overall. Until we have a lot more Fire Phones in circulation, app developers are unlikely to do anything special for them. Of course it would help if Appstore had a way to discover apps that do have special support for Fire Phone.

I'm finally getting better at using Flip/Scroll and I'd like to use those everywhere that it makes sense to do so. For example, it's great that I can get a panel to slide out with Flip. But now I want to have that panel Autoscroll.

I am missing any sort of Goodreads integration, or copy/paste, in the reading app. Goodreads doesn't even appear as one of the Sharing options.

I'm compiling a list of Fire Phone 'improvements' like these...

Barbara1955 · 06-10-2015, 11:25 PM

Guess I on the update the app list... still no stations on mine

Do I need to do some thing to get the update?

tomsem · 06-11-2015, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katie1

Guess I on the update the app list... still no stations on mine

Do I need to do some thing to get the update?

Go to Appstore, and open Settings towards the bottom of the slide-out panel. Look at App Updates (towards bottom). You may see some pending updates there. Also check Appstore Settings to see if you have Automatic Updates enabled.

tomsem · 06-11-2015, 03:20 PM

So I notice that Amazon has managed to implement Cloud Collections in Yet Another silly way on the Fire Phone. Selecting an item, you are offered option to Add to Collection, Remove from Collection, or Remove from Device. The twist here is that if you pick Add, you cannot also Remove from the collection(s) it is currently in. Likewise if you pick Remove, you can only remove and not Add. So again it takes two operations to do what should take one (and does take one with all other implementations I've seen).

Barbara1955 · 06-11-2015, 04:22 PM

That's been on my Phone since I got it in Jan I am Always adding & removing from Collections! All you do is UnCheck what you want to remove & find the new collection you want to add it to & Check the box.

copyrite · 07-08-2015, 11:38 AM

Pardon me for not reading through this thread, but I have two questions:

Can the Kindle Fire phone use TTS in the Kindle App?

Anyone use this not as a phone, but as a Media device? Will it phone home to attempt to initialize an account, or is there a way to bypass this? My LG Volt (used for media only) is only annoying in that respect when I restart the device.

Thanks!

06-10-2015, 06:29 PM	#520
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,951 Karma: 27060153 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	Prime Music app for Fire Phone just got updated (to 4.4.5). It now supports Prime Stations. BUT, it does not support Flip or AutoScroll, as the builtin Music app does. I keep wondering why FirePhoneOS cannot simply map Flip and Scroll events to swipe-from-left, swipe-from-right, mouse scroll down/up events for apps that don't use Fire Phone APIs directly. Seems like that would work most of the time, and would improve usability overall. Until we have a lot more Fire Phones in circulation, app developers are unlikely to do anything special for them. Of course it would help if Appstore had a way to discover apps that do have special support for Fire Phone. I'm finally getting better at using Flip/Scroll and I'd like to use those everywhere that it makes sense to do so. For example, it's great that I can get a panel to slide out with Flip. But now I want to have that panel Autoscroll. I am missing any sort of Goodreads integration, or copy/paste, in the reading app. Goodreads doesn't even appear as one of the Sharing options. I'm compiling a list of Fire Phone 'improvements' like these... Last edited by tomsem; 06-10-2015 at 09:54 PM.

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06-04-2015, 08:54 AM	#512
Blossom Treasure Seeker Posts: 18,708 Karma: 26026435 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Kobo HD Glo, Kindles, Kindle Fires, Andriod Devices	Everyone probably knows this but if you click the home button twice it brings up a quick links menu. I just discovered this by accident today. lol

06-10-2015, 11:25 PM	#521
Barbara1955 Non-Techy Posts: 4,455 Karma: 15499273 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: WV---USA Device: Samsung Cell Phone & Amazon Fires & Kobo eReaders	Guess I on the update the app list... still no stations on mine Do I need to do some thing to get the update?

06-11-2015, 03:20 PM	#523
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,951 Karma: 27060153 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	So I notice that Amazon has managed to implement Cloud Collections in Yet Another silly way on the Fire Phone. Selecting an item, you are offered option to Add to Collection, Remove from Collection, or Remove from Device. The twist here is that if you pick Add, you cannot also Remove from the collection(s) it is currently in. Likewise if you pick Remove, you can only remove and not Add. So again it takes two operations to do what should take one (and does take one with all other implementations I've seen).

06-11-2015, 04:22 PM	#524
Barbara1955 Non-Techy Posts: 4,455 Karma: 15499273 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: WV---USA Device: Samsung Cell Phone & Amazon Fires & Kobo eReaders	That's been on my Phone since I got it in Jan I am Always adding & removing from Collections! All you do is UnCheck what you want to remove & find the new collection you want to add it to & Check the box.

07-08-2015, 11:38 AM	#525
copyrite Wizard Posts: 1,841 Karma: 4985051 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Maryland Device: Kindle	Pardon me for not reading through this thread, but I have two questions: Can the Kindle Fire phone use TTS in the Kindle App? Anyone use this not as a phone, but as a Media device? Will it phone home to attempt to initialize an account, or is there a way to bypass this? My LG Volt (used for media only) is only annoying in that respect when I restart the device. Thanks!