On June 18, 2014, Amazon announced the Amazon Fire Phone that they designed and developed. It matches Google’s Nexus 5 in processing power with a Qualcomm SnapDragon 800 processor. Its 4.7” IPS screen has nearly the same pixel density as the same sized screen on the iPhone 6. The 13 Megapixel OIS camera is one of the better cameras available on a slim smart phone. The 2.1 MP front camera, 2GB of RAM, NFC, LTE, GPS, and stereo speakers fill out the requirements for a flagship phone's hardware. The 32GB or 64GB option for storage allow it to compete with the best available phones.

In addition to all these features, Amazon set itself apart with a few exclusive features. The principal unique feature is dynamic perspective which produces a 3D effect by tracking changes of movement of the user in relation to the phone's position and vice versa. The 3D effect was built-into Amazon’s FireOS which was built on Android 4.2.2 Jellybean. FireOS is successful on Kindle devices which primarily provide media access and Amazon’s ecosystem at a low price in part by directing the user to Amazon sources and content. The Amazon App Store is limited by not carrying any of Google’s popular apps or many others. Android is normally known for its ability to be customized, but wallpapers, keyboards, launchers, ringtones, widgets, and more can not be installed. The Amazon Fire Phone has excellent hardware, but the neat trick of 3D menus, lock screens, and games is not worth sacrificing the experience of a purer Android experience.

On July 25th 2014, the phone was released as an AT&T exclusive at $649. Criticism was mostly directed at FireOS and its limitations. The gimmicks did not impress enough to make it a popular phone. Forbes magazine said that the user interface is where “all goes massively wrong for Amazon,” continuing on, “the Fire Phone UI makes very little sense to me.” TechRadar cited that “it's frustrating and confusing at first, and it's still a nuisance even when you get used to it.” After many poor reviews, the price of the AT&T version was dropped to $449 in September.

On November 25th 2014, an unlocked version of the Fire Phone was put on sale for $199, with a year worth of Amazon Prime included, which normally costs $99. Not knowing how long the sale and promotion would last, many people bought up the phone. Finding the limitations of the device, many workarounds were shared to make the phone more like a normal Android phone. This new information likely helped continued sales of the phone.

After the fire sale, Amazon raised the price to $449 unlocked, with the Amazon Prime promotion still intact. Several times they brought down the prices to $189, $199, and $229 for limited periods of time. From 1/21/2015 to 1/28/2015, Amazon offered the phone for $199.

The Fire Phone has excellent hardware, especially at $199 with a year of free Amazon Prime. All Amazon has to do is provide a method for consumers to unlock the bootloader in order to put a custom ROM on it as HTC, Sony, Google, and Motorola have done already. This would open the door for the Android Development community to create efficient and feature rich versions of the latest Android OS and load them onto this powerful phone.

FireOS can be found on all Kindle devices. The reason why it is such an impediment on the Fire Phone is because a phone is more often used for quick tasks and is more dependent on notifications, rather than tablets which are used more often for lengthy media consumption. With the cumbersome FireOS, the normally pleasant experience of Android OS is diminished.



For a success story of a device that was critized for its OS and then revived and celebrated after its unlocking please read about the HP TouchPad. After WebOS development stopped, the tablet was put on a fire sale for $100. The bootloader unlock was made available and ROMs were developed by the XDA community to use it to its full potential.



Here is a list of features that are not available on the Fire Phone by default and some solutions:

Installable by sideload:

Google Play Store

Google Play Services

Google Framework

Google Account Manager

Applications not installable from the Google Play Store or Amazon App Store



Installable from the Google Play Store once setup:

Google applications (including Maps (street names are distorted), YouTube, Hangouts, and Gmail (sync issues))

Custom Launchers

Widgets on certain launchers (GO Launcher)

Many more applications excluded from the Amazon App Store



Activated with ADB commands after install:

Third-Party Keyboards



Only available with a new android ROM install:

Google Maps and others displaying street names correctly

Wallpaper

Ringtones

Widgets on all launchers

Onscreen button customization

Dynamic perspective software removal

Pre-installed application and game removal

Custom lock screens

Multiple user profiles

Applications that require root

Custom backups

Reliable syncing and notifications

Support for more languages

Other customizations



Features available on newer Android versions:

Many optimizations and features

Bluetooth 4.0 for Android compatible wearables