Kindle Fire Phone - Hands On Review

[Blossom]

I love mine! I don't have any complaints. I no longer use it as a Phone due to the costs but I still use it as a tablet. I now have a $5 dumb phone for emergencies that Uncle Sam pays for. Tiny little thing! http://www.amazon.com/TRAC-FONE-ALCA.../dp/B00XWSLWDQ

I think the Fire Phone would have been successful had Amazon not tried to market against the iPhone which caused a ton of unnecessary reviews which made buyers wary.

It makes a great eReader and Media player and has a lot of storage! I like it better than my Kindle Fire 6 that collects dust.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I love mine! I don't have any complaints. I no longer use it as a Phone due to the costs but I still use it as a tablet. I now have a $5 dumb phone for emergencies that Uncle Sam pays for. Tiny little thing! http://www.amazon.com/TRAC-FONE-ALCATEL-ONETOUCH-HANDS-FREE-INCLUDED/dp/B00XWSLWDQ

I think the Fire Phone would have been successful had Amazon not tried to market against the iPhone which caused a ton of unnecessary reviews which made buyers wary.

It makes a great eReader and Media player and has a lot of storage! I like it better than my Kindle Fire 6 that collects dust.

I use a flip phone. It's probably smaller than your phone.

iPhone pricing coupled with AT&T exclusivity killed the Fire Phone. By the time they dropped the price and unlocked it (lowered the price of the unlocked version), it was too late.

[tomsem]

It was always available unlocked. Of course then it cost $650 (including 1 year of Prime).

It was admirable that they wanted to compete head to head with iPhone, but they needed to ship this in 2013, not a couple of months before the iPhone 6, which by then was what everyone was waiting for. It was simply too late to market.

But I also think Amazon was delusional about their ability to sell a lot of these the first year out. They should have expected to lose money (and a lot of it!) entering an already very competitive market, and use the first months as a way to learn, refine, and re-target the next device so as to do better in subsequent years. The 'long term view' that normally characterizes their business decisions seems to have been lacking in this case.

Assuming they are not going to continue in the smartphone business, I think it calls into question the premise for the Fire platform. Maybe they don't need a great app store, but smartphones are what app developers want to target first, since those get heaviest use and go everywhere and are more numerous, as compared to tablets. I think Amazon App Store is becoming a lower priority for developers over time, and it's going to fall behind even Windows app store in that ranking.

And yes, the Fire Phone has pretty much sidelined my HD6, which I thought was fine for quite awhile. But now it feels too heavy, battery drains too fast (even when it is just sleeping) and takes too way much time to recharge.

I think we can at least expect a replacement for HDX7 this fall. When the heck will they ship a LiquaVista device?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by tomsem

It was always available unlocked. Of course then it cost $650 (including 1 year of Prime).

Thanks; I edited my remarks.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I use a flip phone. It's probably smaller than your phone.

iPhone pricing coupled with AT&T exclusivity killed the Fire Phone. By the time they dropped the price and unlocked it, it was too late.

I agree. I'd forgotten it was locked till last Holiday season.

My mom has a flip phone and her phone is bigger than mine!
As you can see the phone is really tiny. I can't shoulder hold it when talking like I could my LG Vortex and I thought it was small! I'm not complaining though it's free til we get back on our feet. That's the Fire Phone underneath so anyone upgrading from dumb to smart be prepared for the size differences!

[Avwriter]

The Fire Phone is back up for sale. $130 I was convinced we had seen the last of them. Get 'em while they last.

[Barbara1955]

Where? US web site says Unavailable

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Katie1

Where? US web site says Unavailable

That sale went really fast. If you blinked, you missed it.

[Barbara1955]

Guess I Blinked

[Avwriter]

Yeah, that sale only lasted a few hours. If you still want one, stick it in your wish list and check back periodically for the next few days. It could happen again.

[Breathinlady]

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/...tag=TREd47db54

So sad...I think the Fire Phone is done, BUT I am so happy with mine. It gave me a nice phone that gave me a lot of features I wanted at an unbelievable price. Being on a rather limited budget it gave me a better smart phone than I would otherwise be able to purchase. Thank you Amazon....I just hope you can give us a bit of continued support.

[tubemonkey]

eBay has new Fire Phones on sale for $125 each and it includes a year of Prime.

[Avwriter]

Amazon now says that more will be in stock on Sept 7, now priced back up at $159. I really wonder what strategy is behind the pricing? Indeed, is there one, or have they simply hooked up a random number generator?

[Barbara1955]

Originally Posted by Avwriter

Yeah, that sale only lasted a few hours. If you still want one, stick it in your wish list and check back periodically for the next few days. It could happen again.

It was on my WL & I check it several times a day! Cant figure out how I missed it

[Avwriter]

Originally Posted by Avwriter

Amazon now says that more will be in stock on Sept 7, now priced back up at $159. I really wonder what strategy is behind the pricing? Indeed, is there one, or have they simply hooked up a random number generator?

Oh well, after only an hour, it is gone again. They need to rename it the "peekaboo phone."