The Amazon Fire Phone might not live up to all the hype, despite being a top-seller at Amazon as the smartphone is getting a mixed array of reviews.
Some have even said the device is weird.
The smartphone industry is highly competitive and reviews of these devices pop up just as fast as the products are released. The Fire Phone didn't fare well in early reviews posted online, as a Tech Times article from late July points out, and the feedback isn't getting much better.
But one interesting feature does seem to be perking potential buyers' interest. The Firefly scanning feature scans data including speech, photos, and images, and that data can be used to help users make informed purchases.
Posters and other material images can be scanned to locate books and other items and the microphone can be used to identify movies and songs. Firefly, like most voice and image scanning and recognition software, still makes plenty of mistakes though.
Yet, as one reviewer notes the feature is useful for the information gathering but didn't significantly alter shopping habits.
One good smartphone benefit seems to be the free year of Amazon Prime subscription smartphone owners get. And one review site makes note of the smartphone's impressive tech specs as compared with other devices, such as Fire's four-camera 3D UI feature.
The Amazon app store, on the other hand, isn't get the best of reviews either. Price and ecosystem development are considered mediocre at best and could probably use some work, based on user reviews.
One reviewer, who spent two weeks with the Fire calls it "weird." For $200, users can get a 32GB version and another $100 will get them a 64GB version, so there is plenty of available storage and the prices are still better than the iPhone in most cases. Like the iPhone, though, it is only available through an AT&T contract.
The latter reviewer described the phone as different from other phones in major ways, but not necessarily better. It was also described as comfortable to hold but a bit on the heavy side.
The display has good resolution, but the reviewer noted the glass casing on it has real potential for easy damage. Images look rather sharp, but not stellar, according to this particular user. The Fire OS was also noted as the one feature that set it apart from others. It is based on an open source Android version, but users can't exactly tell from looking at it. The software is customized by Amazon to feature its own line of content first and foremost.
