Amazon Reveals New Fire Phone To Challenge Apple And Samsung Devices
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Amazon has taken the wraps off its own smartphone: the Fire Phone has a premium price but also some extras to set it apart from the iPhone and other Android devices. One of the features is free photo storage in the cloud.
"Can we build a better phone for Amazon Prime members?"
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos says the answer is yes -- but the key to the Fire Phone is that Prime subscription service.
"Ultimately, it's about getting people to buy more things on Amazon," CNET's Roger Cheng says an app called Firefly will help you add things to your virtual cart.
"Take a photo of any image, and it'll immediately get you a link to that product as well as a way to buy that product on the Amazon site," Cheng said.
Fire Phone snaps shots in 13 megapixels, but several other cameras push the 4.7" display to sort-of 3-D. Amazon calls it Dynamic Perspective: scroll through a web page or e-book or look around the corner on a map without touching the screen.
"It's about $200 [32 GB] on contract; $300 if you want to get more memory [64 GB]."
And for now, exclusive to AT&T. Early adopters will get a year of Prime for free; after that, it's $100 per year.
