When Amazon first introduced the Fire phone , one question kept popping up in my mind: "Why?" Why is the company entering the smartphone race? Why would someone choose this handset over the iPhone or any flagship device running Android or Windows Phone? And why would anyone ditch their carrier just to get this AT&T-exclusive handset?

Amazon Fire Phone Sample Photos 4 IMAGES

Amazon Fire Phone Images 6 IMAGES

Unfortunately, after spending some quality time with the device, most of these questions remain unanswered.Available now for $200 USD on contract, Amazon's first smartphone has some tough competition. At this price, shoppers can choose from Apple's iPhone 5S , the LG G3 Samsung's Galaxy S5 , or the HTC One (M8) —all of which are available through any carrier. Sure, none of the aforementioned phones come with 12 months of Prime membership free of charge, and don't include a set of face-tracking sensors, but they are arguably the best phones on the market. Even if purchased outright, the $649 price tag makes the Fire considerably more expensive than the Nexus 5 Motorola's Moto X , or the high-powered OnePlus One To battle the top-tier smartphones of today, Amazon equipped the Fire with a 4.7-inch 1,280 x 720 LCD screen, a 2.26GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chip, and 2GB of RAM—in other words, this is a premium-priced Android phone with mid-range specs. The phone also includes a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 2,400mAh battery that can get most users through a whole day, and is available with either 32 or 64GB of built-in storage with no option to add a microSD card.While the Fire's screen may not boast the high-resolutions found on other flagship handsets, it's still nice to look at. At this size and resolution, the phone provides a pixel density of 315ppi—the iPhone 5S, for comparison, has a pixel density of 326ppi—and color reproduction and viewing angles are great. You may not brag about this sub-5-inch 720p screen, but you likely won't complain about it either.The body of the Fire phone resembles LG and Google's Nexus 4 smartphone from 2012, with Gorilla Glass panels covering both sides and a slightly tapered soft plastic band wrapped around the edges. The front side somewhat reminds me of a newer iPhone, featuring a less curvy frame than the Nexus 4 and a lone home button just below the display.I'm not a fan of glass rear panels, as plastic or metal are surely more durable in the long run, but the Fire is a well-built handset, nonetheless. The relatively compact phone has some weight to it, so it feels sturdy without seeming heavy, and the smaller screen and curved, rubbery sides make it comfortable to hold. The volume rocker and dedicated shutter button on the upper-left side of the device are a bit too close, though, and it wasn't uncommon for me to launch the camera instead of lower the volume.The rear-facing camera, with its optical image stabilization, f/2.0 lens, and HDR capabilities, does a decent job at capturing colors and detail, but there are very few photo settings and picture quality isn't nearly as good as other high-end phones found in the same price range. To hold all of the photos, Fire owners are given unlimited Amazon Cloud Drive storage, free of charge.In addition to a 2.1-megapixel shooter, the front side of the Fire is home to four additional cameras that act as face-trackers for a variety of functions. Using what Amazon refers to as Dynamic Perspective, users are able to view additional details or manipulate images and apps by either tilting the phone or moving their head.When viewing app icons or one of the pre-loaded lock screens, tilting the device will create a sort of parralax effect with objects moving or following along with the user. If tilting while looking at sections of the phone's UI that include lists—like from the home screen when app store suggestions are provided—extra information may be presented, such as app store ratings. When searching for a type of destination in the maps app, tilting will alter the perspective while also providing Yelp ratings.While cool, this particular selling point of the Fire is also incredibly gimmicky. It works, but it doesn't necessarily improve the experience in any significant way. In fact, you can turn off the motion-tracking features and the phone will present you with almost all of the extra information without having to take any action.Once past the hardware, the Fire phone presents users with Amazon's own unique take on Android. This isn't a skin like Samsung's TouchWiz or HTC's Sense. Rather, it is a whole different approach to the mobile operating system. Some similarities do exist, like the pull-down notification shade and share functionality, but other areas can feel foreign to experienced Android users.For one, navigation is handled a bit differently. The Fire only includes one navigation button, unlike the usual three (home, back, and recent app list) that come on regular Android phones. This single button works much like the one found on an iPhone, with a single tap getting you back to the home screen and a double-tap bringing up a multi-tasking list, while long pressing activates voice search. To take place of the Android "back" button, users need to swipe up from the bottom of the display. Coming from a standard Android phone, this takes some time to get used to, but once familiar, this approach works just fine as a replacement.The Fire phone also does not have the typical Android home screen set up. Instead of customizable pages with grids for apps and widgets, Fire OS 3.5 highlights individual programs by way of a carousel of apps. Each page shows a giant app icon and below it are options that directly deal with the app, or a selection of other apps available in Amazon's Appstore.When the carousel is set to the camera app, for example, a preview of my gallery can be seen below, allowing quick access to recently-captured photos. When looking at the email app, recent messages are displayed, and previously-visited sites are listed under the Silk Browser icon. Not all apps work this nicely, though, so moving over to the Facebook or Instagram app will show a list of other apps you can download, instead of displaying recent posts or uploaded photos.Since it isn't a Google device, the Fire phone utilizes Amazon's Appstore to populate its app list. Amazon's options aren't quite as robust as the Google Play store, but many of the major options can still be found—except for Google's own apps, which could be a major turnoff for those who are heavily invested in the company's ecosystem.If you're all in with Amazon Prime, though, then the Fire could be the phone for you. Everything you might be looking for is here: Instant Video, Music, the Kindle app, and, of course, more than a few ways to buy things from the Amazon store.By far the most interesting way to shop using the Fire phone is through the Firefly app. By utilizing the phone's rear camera, simply pointing at an object will (usually) bring up a listing in the Amazon store. The whole process is generally fast, whether scanning a magazine to find a way to purchase the specific issue for yourself or when identifying an entire object like an office phone. The handy Firefly can also identify music or bring up IMDB information for a show or movie just by listening in on the audio, while also providing ways to purchase or rent the discovered content.Amazon's interpretation of Android is unique, but some of its navigation elements are inconsistent and can be confusing. For Amazon's own apps, swiping from the left or right edge of the screen or tilting in either direction will bring up contextual menus, but this functionality isn't built into other apps. In the case of Twitter and Facebook, tilting does nothing and trying an edge-swipe will just move you between the apps' tabs.Fire OS also takes away one of the staple features of Android: home screen customization. The carousel, with its icons that take up a third of the screen, are a huge waste of space, as is the limitation of allowing only four apps or folders to exist on the main home screen. If you enjoy personalizing your phone, you should definitely look elsewhere.