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Amazon Fire Phone

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Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#221

Post by npizzolato »

jds375 wrote: post #172
revscat wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's a #%&! finger covering up the screen now! At which point I use the abductor pollicis brevis, adductor pollicis, etc. to do something quite amazing: I move my thumb out of the way. Alternatively, I can use the same muscles to scroll the screen to a point such that I can see any obstructed content. The benefit of this method is that I maintain my original viewing angle. I also have finer motor skills in my th…

It's not about your finger being in the way necessarily, it's about usability. Supppose I'm eating lunch. It would be nice to read an article with my phone in one hand and hold my sandwhich in the other. Or if I'm lying in bed just reading. It would be great to not have to keep scrolling the phone with my other hand. I'd rather my phone just do it for me.

Can you not do all of that with one hand already? Reading while eating is actually harder if you need to tilt the device rather than swipe your finger. You could always place the phone on the table and just use your finger, or move the phone while you eat to keep it in your view without any of the tilting being interpreted as other things by the phone.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#222

Post by uptown »

stevenguichard wrote: post #99
Zelphyr wrote: post #69

Sounds like this phone does a good job of solving Amazon's problem of getting customers to buy more from them. I don't see how it makes my life any easier though. 3D? Ok, that is really cool. 2D hasn't really been a limiting factor for me though. One-handed navigation and autoscrolling? Wow, that just sounds terrible. I'm trying to read and my kid bumps my arm. Now where am I on the page? And how do I quickly get bac…

Mayday is actually a killer feature on a phone for Grandma. With 24/7 on-device tech support, relatives would never have to field tech support requests.

Wonder how large the cross-section is of people that could use that feature versus people that could remember / figure-out how to initiate that feature.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#223

Post by gknoy »

azinman2 wrote: post #137
mrcwinn wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone's experience is different I guess, but I have never once in my life found myself trying to peer around my own finger. Touching the screen to control where I want information to move is intuitive and precise. Tilting a screen is, for me, very counterintuitive and imprecise. And despite Sergey Brin claiming it's emasculating to touch a screen, I still find the experience a bit magical. Really I don't see the F…

Exactly. I've never felt like it was a fundamental issue because I can always move my finger. My biggest concern is this will be the new phone rotation that I always turn off because as soon as I want to read in bed it'll start to scroll constantly. Maybe they've figured this out but knowing the correct orientation plane to start, figuring out that I'm simply moving myself around or temporarily putting the phone down…

I noticed it most glaringly in playing Samurai vs Zombies. You tap to the right or left of your character to move them, and that means that my finger is directly in the way of seeing whether there are enemies to interact with.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#224

Post by nijiko »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #210
dkrich wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're saying that Amazon will be the big winner in the long run because they can control the phone, and the products you buy on Amazon? If I'm interpreting that correctly, I don't see how that holds. People use smartphones/tablets/televisions to consume many things. Amazon products are just one of them. I don't think that just because controlling the entire product ecosystem would work to Amazon's advantage means th…

Google sells you a device so they can show you an ad encouraging you to buy a rake. In turn Google gets a sliver of the profits from selling a rake in the form of ad revenue. Amazon sells you a device so they can show you an ad encouraging you to buy a rake. Amazon sells you the rake, has it delivered in 2 days, and makes 100% of the profit. It's not that people will actively look for that integration, but that it ex…

false, they buy through vendors so they don't make 100% of the profit.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#225

Post by [deleted] »

adamio wrote: post #207
jisaacks wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Searching via photos is awesome, but the only use case it seems well suited for is shopping. If I was bitten by a snake, spider, etc. I'd love to be able to snap a picture to quickly identify it and know whether or not to rush to the ER.

Extra steps are always best in an emergency... ~~~ Spider: Have a painful bite on the house! User: "Spider say cheese!" User: "Amazon Phone is this spider poisonous" Amazon Phone: Searching. This Spider does appear to be poisonous. User: "Amazon Phone call Uber 911" Amazon Phone: Calling Uber 911 Uber 911: Can you collect the spider to take to the ER? User: "Yes, I'll do that"

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#226

Post by Glide »

jds375 wrote: post #172
revscat wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's a #%&! finger covering up the screen now! At which point I use the abductor pollicis brevis, adductor pollicis, etc. to do something quite amazing: I move my thumb out of the way. Alternatively, I can use the same muscles to scroll the screen to a point such that I can see any obstructed content. The benefit of this method is that I maintain my original viewing angle. I also have finer motor skills in my th…

It's not about your finger being in the way necessarily, it's about usability. Supppose I'm eating lunch. It would be nice to read an article with my phone in one hand and hold my sandwhich in the other. Or if I'm lying in bed just reading. It would be great to not have to keep scrolling the phone with my other hand. I'd rather my phone just do it for me.

Still seems gimmicky because I can easy flick and scroll on my phone using one hand.

If that's the main thing the Amazon Fire has to offer I'm really not impressed.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#227

Post by peterwwillis »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #54
JohnTHaller wrote: post #42

From my post in another thread: It's $199 with a 2 year contract with AT&T, meaning it's a $649 phone (now confirmed). It's priced with other 'premium' phones like the iPhone 5S and the Galaxy S5 (both $199 with a 2 year contract, $649 off contract at AT&T). Unfortunately, Amazon's other products like the Kindle Fire are anything but premium hardware and software-wise. On the software side this is partially due to th…

How is this remotely competitive in a world full of $179 Moto G's? $219 Moto G LTE's? Or even a $350 Nexus? This seems like a phone from two or three years ago where $650 for a non-premium brand would have been passable. I just bought a Moto G LTE for my wife and its a wonderful phone. I don't see what Amazon would bring to the table for an extra $420. That's almost 10 months of service right there.

Different markets. The Moto G (and Moto E, cheaper at $130) have much lower specs, and there are phones that have the same specs as a Moto G or Moto E for half the price (like the AT&T Radiant) because they don't carry the "Moto" brand.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#228

Post by lancer383 »

stcredzero wrote: post #185

From the "About Fire Phone" video: "It's almost like the world is a hyperlink." That right there is gold! That is UX victory and low friction for users in a nutshell.

I can't tell if you're joking or not - personally, I cringed and felt like I was watching an episode of Silicon Valley for much of that video.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#229

Post by endergen »

IBM wrote: post #193
drcode wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make a good point: Apple: Sell at high price, modest tie-in revenue. Google: Sell at low price, modest tie-in revenue. Amazon: Sell at low price, high tie-in revenue. It does seem like Amazon is bound to win in the long run, based on pure economics, if this trend continues.

Except it isn't being sold at a low price, and doesn't really offer anything valuable to the customer that differentiates it from the competition. The implicit deal was always the product is sold at cost so they can encourage sales on the store, why would anyone pay full price for this?

It's likely subsidized by the AT&T exclusive. I believe it's $200/month plus some contract. Which means they may be getting kickbacks totaling more than $200/device which would improve their margins. Or more interestingly, mean the device can be higher end and impress people more while at least not being a loss for Amazon. It's basically a store interface, leading to increased sales. Firefly is like Shazam for products, people will likely buy way more from Amazon.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#230

Post by TrainedMonkey »

stcredzero wrote: post #194
TrainedMonkey wrote: post #68

This phone will find a market amongst amazon addicts. While not bleeding edge, specs are somewhat solid[0]. However what set Kindle Fire apart from competition and allowed it to gain foothold in the market was competitive pricing, I see none of that here. Amazon is obviously making a bet that software they are shipping with the phone will be a killer feature that will overcome the shortcomings, I do not think broader…

Amazon is obviously making a bet that software they are shipping with the phone will be a killer feature, I do not think broader market will agree. If the barriers to get users to spend money are lower on Amazon's phone, then this is exactly the right move to capture developer and content producer mindshare for their ecosystem!

Good point, made the edit to clarify that I meant that I do not think that software alone as a killer feature would be enough, considering the price of the phone.
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