Rumors of an Amazon phone have been around for, like, ever. Cavemen were passing around rumors of an Amazon phone on stone tablets.
Well, after an eternity of waiting, it seems like we're finally about to get the white whale that is the Amazon phone, hot on the heels of Amazon releasing its Gary Busey-approved Fire TV.
BGR has what it says are the first images of the new phone, and it looks familiar. It's tough to see exactly what the phone looks like because of a bulky case (which makes it look like a Nokia Lumia phone), but it's pretty safe to say that this phone will be a rectangle with glass on the front and some sort of plastic (or metal, maybe) on the back.
There's one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb, though, and that's the fact that there are five (yes, FIVE) cameras on the front of this thing. One is for the standard selfies and whatnot, but the other four are apparently infrared cameras that are used to produce 3D effects.
"Beyond those two units, the device houses an additional four front-facing cameras that work with other sensors to facilitate the software's 3D effects," BGR reports. "One source tells us these four cameras, which are situated in each of the four corners on the face of the phone, are low-power infrared cameras.
"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."
That'll be interesting to see implemented, for sure. BGR goes on to say that the 3D cameras will be used for everything from the lock screen and the launcher to the maps app and Amazon's many e-stores. If they somehow worked in 3D views for products on Amazon, that would be amazing.
The phone's specs are more on the modest end, with a Snapdragon processor under the hood, 2GB of RAM and a 4.7-inch 720p screen (noticeably smaller and less sharp than the 5ish-inch 1080p screens of the Nexus 5, HTC One M8 and Galaxy S5). Their version of Android also appears to be heavily modified, with what appears to be a single, HP WebOS-like home button on the bottom (which also draws some comparisons to Nokia's X phone).
But knowing what we know about Amazon and its previous hardware in the Fire line, this phone will probably come very much on the cheap, justifying the slightly lesser specs. Amazon will also surely include its Kindle Fire "Mayday button," which should be a phone seller for those that aren't as technologically inclined as others. BGR also says the phone could be releasing as early as this summer.
What do you think of the idea of an Amazon phone? Is this the one that'll finally flop for the Amazon empire, or is it the real "next big thing?" Let us know in the comments.
