This Could Be Our First Look at Amazon’s 3D Smartphone
(BGR)
Amazon’s plan for world domination is going swimmingly: It has a massive store for everything, a tablet, a streaming TV box, a drone army, and now it is launching a 3D smartphone to ship in September, the first of its kind.
A trusted tech source, BGR revealed what it says are the first exclusive photos of the Amazon phone prototype, as well as some details about the device’s specs. According to the sources, the phone will be 4.7 inches long diagonally, (similar to the Moto X, but smaller than the HTC One and Samsung’s Galaxy 5); have 720p HD resolution; 2 GB of RAM; and a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It will also power Mayday, Amazon’s specialized, personalized customer service system.
Most interestingly, it has six cameras. The two main cameras are on the back of the device (14 megapixels), and there is also a front-facing camera. There will also be four other front-facing cameras, on each of the corners of the phone. These are low-power infrared cameras that, according to BGR’s source, will create the 3D experience without the aid of glasses.
“The device’s extra cameras are used to track the position of the user’s face and eyes in relation to the phone’s display. This allows Amazon’s software to make constant adjustments to the positioning of on-screen elements, altering the perspective of visuals on the screen,” BGR says. The 3D effect will also appear in the main applications, such as maps, the bookstore, the music store, and Amazon’s digital market.
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The online shopping giant has slowly but surely been moving toward the smartphone world. Its Kindle Fire has successfully allowed the brand to build up its own app store and beef up its sales of digital content. However, Amazon still trails behind its competitors, mostly because it lacks a strong mobile component. On April 11, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that the Amazon Appstore, which launched in March 2011, had more than 200,000 apps available, serving 200 countries. By comparison, there are currently 1,200,198 apps in the Google Play store, which launched October 2008. Apple launched its App Store in July 2008, and it has more than a million apps as well. Amazon’s upcoming smartphone will likely skyrocket the number of apps available to its existing customers. Based on the growth of competitors, it is possible that Amazon could be in the millionaire app club in two to three years.
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Amazon has set itself up for a perfect phone launch, as well. It has a successful streaming product to incorporate into the phone, a growing app store, and a growing business in Amazon Prime, which (despite the recent price increase) has created a loyal customer base — perfect for marketing this newest device and the many other Amazon products it can deliver.
(BGR)
As for the actual look and feel of the phone, it isn’t clear yet, as Amazon has not officially revealed the details. The images obtained by BGR show a bulky, boxy design, but this is due to the protective shell on the outside of the device that is meant to hide key parts of design from leaks. (Like this one, oops.) While there is much about Amazon’s new product remaining to be revealed, the phone is definitely coming, and currently aiming for a September release date. We can only hope it will be delivered by a friendly drone.
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This article was originally published at The Wire.
