In an industry already saturated with numerous manufacturers, Amazon stands out with its first plunge into the smartphone market. Offering the usual perks for Amazon Prime members, the Fire phone adds a bevy of cool, new features to elevate your smartphone experience. The e-commerce giant is offering the Fire phone handset through AT&T, and it's available now for pre-order, with an estimated July 25 shipping date.
The 4.7-inch phone sports several unique features, including Firefly , a new recognition tool with its own physical button (which doubles as a camera button), a 3D interface, and the Mayday help service.
Despite the strong effort, Amazon faces stiff competition; flagship Apple and Samsung phones have prevailed as the most popular and successful mobile companies -- with loyal fan bases to prove it. On the hardware side, it's in the ballpark of comparable smartphones, housing a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU, an Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 13-megapixel rear-camera.
Below, we compare Amazon's new handset to the Apple iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S5 marquee devices. Device specs tell only part of the story, especially with smartphones that offer gobs of premium software features, so keep an eye out for our full review of the Amazon Fire phone once we get our hands on it.
How do you think the Amazon Fire phone compares? Let us know in the comments section.
Amazon Fire phone
Apple iPhone 5S
Samsung Galaxy S5
Dimensions
5.5 x 2.6 x 0.3 inches; 5.6 oz.
4.87 x 2.31 x 0.3 inches; 3.95 oz.
5.5 x 2.9 x 0.3 inches; 5 oz.
Display
4.7-inch IPS LCD HD; 1,280x720 resolution; 315 ppi
4-inch Retina display; 1,136x640 pixels; 326ppi
5.1 inches; 1,920x1,080 pixels; 431ppi
Operating system
Android-based Fire OS 3.5.0
iOS 7
Android 4.4
4G LTE
Yes
Yes
Yes
Wi-Fi
802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GH and 5GHz)
802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GH and 5GHz)
802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz)
NFC
Yes
No
Yes
Bluetooth
v3.0
v4.0
v4.0
Rear camera and recording
13-megapixel; 1080p full HD video
8-megapixel with 1.5µ pixels, 1080p full HD video
16-megapixel, 4K HD video
Front-facing camera
2.1-megapixel; 1080p full HD video
1.2-megapixel camera; 720p HD video
2-megapixel; 1080p full HD video
Processor
2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800
Proprietary A7 with M7 motion processor
2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801
Capacity
32GB and 64GB
16GB, 32GB, and 64GB
16GB, 32GB
Expandable memory
No
No
Expandable up to 128GB
Battery life
2,400mAh. Usage time online up to 11 hours; standby time: up to 12 days
Usage time online up to 10 hours on 4G LTE; standby time up to 10 days
2,800mAh, removable; usage time up to 27 hours, standby time up to 20 days
Carriers
AT&T
AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint
AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint
Available colors
Black
Gray, white, gold
Black, white, blue, and copper
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Discuss: How Amazon's phone stacks up: Amazon Fire vs. Apple iPhone 5S and Samsung GS5
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