Amazon reveals its 'Fire Phone' smartphone

Retailer launches its attack on smartphone market

Amazon has confirmed its long-rumored assault on the smartphone market with the unveiling the 'Fire Phone'.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed the device at a special event in Seattle on Wednesday. Sandwiched between two sheets of Gorilla Glass, measuring at 0.35 inches thin, is a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm processor, paired with an Adreno 339 graphics processor and 2GB of RAM. On the back is a 13-megapixel camera.

The phone packs a 4.7-inch, 720p resolution screen capable of displaying the illusion of 3D effects thanks face tracking tech Amazon calls 'Dynamic Perspective'. Essentially, four front-mounted cameras change what is being displayed on screen in relation to angle of your view of the screen, creating a sense of 3D depth.


Amazon promises this will provide new experiences for gaming on the device. "Move your head to look around a world or control a character's movement in popular games like Lili and Snow Spin," reads the official blurb. "Use the peek feature to see more of the battlefield in Saber's Edge. Plus, look for exclusive new titles from Amazon Game Studios later this summer."

Amazon is also leveraging its established cloud storage business, offering users unlimited storage for photos taken with the on-board camera.

A 'Firefly' feature will let users scan various media and products, from music and movies to phone numbers and restaurant signs, to bring up information on the product in question.

The phone will connect - in similar ways to Apple's Airplay tech - to TVs and other electronics, apparently including Xbox and PlayStation consoles, to pass content to them for viewing on a larger screen.

Amazon services, including Prime Music and Prime Video, are also deeply integrated.

The Fire Phone launches in US on July 25 with two-year AT&T contracts starting at $199 with 32GB of internal storage. A 64GB model will cost $299 on the same contract.

EU release details were not announced, although there tends to be at least a six-month split between US and EU launches with Amazon products.