When we turn the time back to 2014, 10 years ago, we will find that the mobile phone market at that time was still "vibrant" and "a hundred flowers blooming". That year, the iPhone 6 debuted, Apple's mobile phone size made a breakthrough, and it officially entered the era of large screens. iPhone sales hit a record high; LeTV Mobile was officially established, preparing to compete with Xiaomi in terms of cost-effectiveness; Huang Zhang announced that he would be appointed CEO of Meizu again, and the brand strategy shifted from "small and beautiful" to "big and comprehensive". The Meizu MX4 released in 2014 gained a good reputation...
In overseas markets, Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce platform, is also gearing up to make a splash in the booming mobile phone market. In June 2014, Bezos officially released Amazon's first mobile phone, FirePhone. However, this was also Amazon's last mobile phone. The FirePhone attracted many consumers at the beginning of its launch, but it soon fell out of favor in the market and lost out in competition with other products.
Today, 10 years later, Xiaolei spent 200 yuan to experience Amazon’s only mobile phone product again. Through a nostalgic journey, he reviewed the gains and losses of FirePhone at the product level.
(Photo source: Photographed by Lei Technology)
With 6 cameras, were the mobile phones from 10 years ago so rolled up?
The most eye-catching hardware feature of Amazon FirePhone back then was that it was equipped with 6 cameras. However, unlike what most people think, most of them are not for imaging. Specifically, it has only one rear camera, which is used for daily photography; and five front lenses. In addition to the centrally located selfie camera, the other four lenses are evenly arranged in the four corners of the front of the phone.
(Photo source: Photographed by Lei Technology)
The function of these four unconventional cameras is to capture the user's face in real time to accurately locate the user's perspective, thus serving the "naked-eye 3D" function. When Xiaolei actually experienced this phone, he found that the icons and screensavers in the system adopt a 3D three-dimensional design, and different shapes can be seen at different angles. And this is achieved through these four cameras.
(Photo source: Photographed by Lei Technology)
According to Amazon's original vision, the 3D content on FirePhone must not only be 3D icons, but also include 3D videos, games, etc. captured by the camera. But unfortunately, with the premature death of Amazon’s mobile phone project, these are now no longer available. Even the most basic 3D icon function is limited to several Amazon's own system applications. Third-party application icons do not have this effect because they have not been adapted.
(Source: Lei Technology)
Therefore, for Xiao Lei who will experience this mobile phone in 2024, the existence of these four cameras will do more harm than good and can only "increase power consumption."
In terms of performance, the FirePhone is powered by the Snapdragon 800 chip, which is basically the same performance as the Snapdragon 801 on the Xiaomi Mi 4 of the same year. It has 2GB of memory and 32GB of storage. It was naturally the flagship back then. Of course, in 2024, the performance of FirePhone will definitely be insufficient, and it will be difficult to control mainstream games. Due to system version restrictions, it couldn't even run AnTuTu and GeekBench4. Xiaolei had to use GeekBench3 to run it. The single-core score was 880 and the multi-core score was 2668, which is basically the same as Xiaomi 4.
(Source: Lei Technology)
In terms of cameras, the FirePhone’s rear lens has 13 million pixels and supports optical image stabilization, which was pretty good back then. It is worth mentioning that this phone is equipped with a physical camera button, which allows you to quickly call out the camera app and press the shutter even when the screen is locked. Even if I try it again today in 2024, Xiaolei believes that the physical camera button is still a better solution for imaging scenes.
(Photo source: Photographed by Lei Technology)
In terms of specific imaging, the FirePhone's sample photos are definitely not enough to read now. In the daytime when the light is sufficient, overexposure sometimes occurs.
(Photo source: Photographed by Lei Technology)
In terms of advantages, one is the fast imaging speed, the other is the more accurate color reproduction, basically what you see is what you get.
(Photo source: Photographed by Lei Technology)
FirePhone is equipped with a 4.7-inch 720P screen with a maximum brightness of 590 nits. The quality was quite good back then, and now it can be said that the display effect is exquisite. However, since this is a machine from ten years ago, the LCD screen has aged and has an obvious yellow cast.
In terms of battery life, the battery capacity of this phone is 2400mAh. In Xiaolei's opinion, this is a major shortcoming of the FirePhone. The battery capacity is small, and there are 6 cameras that consume a lot of power. If used normally, it has to be charged several times a day.
Highly customized FireOS: exquisite, but not easy to use
The system of the FirePhone in Xiaolei’s hands has been upgraded to the latest version of FireOS4.6.1. Many people may be confused when they see FireOS. It is actually Amazon’s customized Android system for tablets and mobile phones. Unlike most overseas brands, Amazon does not directly use native Android, but deeply customizes a system that is completely different from the UI interface to the interaction method.
(Source: Lei Technology)
The first is the basic interactive operation method. In 2014, most mobile phones still use Android’s three diamond buttons, namely return, home and menu. But the FirePhone did not do this. Instead, it was equipped with a physical Home button on the chin of the phone. Click to go directly to the home page, and double-click to call out the task interface, just like the iPhone at the time. The return operation is directly replaced by gestures. Swipe the home button from bottom to top to return. Frankly speaking, the sensitivity of gesture operations is not particularly high, and sometimes it is difficult to trigger.
The second is the UI interface. FireOS can be said to have been greatly improved compared to native Android. It is worth praising that the icons and UI of FireOS are very exquisite and relatively simple. Its setting interface is quite interesting. Each sub-category option has a specific and detailed description, so users can directly understand its specific meaning. For example, in the "Display" option, there will be screen brightness adjustment, font size, wallpaper, etc. They are not just a few simple words, but a whole sentence, but the keywords are bolded.
(Source: Lei Technology)
If Amazon's mobile phone business can continue to operate normally and FireOS continues to evolve step by step, then it has a good chance of growing into a distinctive Android customized system and making its own differentiation. But obviously, the failure of the mobile phone business made FireOS on FirePhone unfinished. The version number stayed at 4.6, and the corresponding Android version number was 4.4.
This will cause Xiaolei to encounter a lot of trouble when he wants to use FireOS to install third-party applications in 2024. Today, few applications still support Android 4.4, and it is also difficult to find old versions of applications that are compatible with Android 4.4. Xiaolei spent a lot of effort to install the Wandoujia App Market on it, but the old versions of many apps can only be traced back to around 2019, which is still too new for this 2014 phone.
(Source: Lei Technology)
Seeing this, some people may question: Is it too difficult for a mobile phone from ten years ago to be able to install software in 2024? Coincidentally, Xiaolei still has a 2015 Xiaomi Note, which is a Snapdragon 801 model and is considered the same generation as the FirePhone. However, Xiaolei upgraded it to MIUI8 based on Android 6.0, and its compatibility is still far better than Android 4.4. In addition to daily apps, Xiaomi Note can support commonly used utility apps such as LocalSend on Xiaolei's Android phones, but FirePhone cannot.
In general, Amazon's FireOS can be said to be very unique. It has made differences from native Android in UI design and interaction logic, which made people shine in the mobile phone market that year. However, as an abandoned system, subsequent updates and maintenance of FireOS have long been stagnant. To people today, it is just a "fossil of the Android customized system."
Why can’t FirePhone replicate the success of Kindle?
At that time, many people were optimistic about Amazon's mobile phone business. The core view was that Amazon had an advantage in content and could compete with its opponents through software profitability. Indeed, Amazon has many Internet content businesses, including online movies, music, e-books, etc., and it is a major player in the streaming media market to this day. Back then, Amazon launched the FirePhone with the purpose of promoting its own Internet business. FireOS is made into a highly customized version, essentially to have stronger control over the device and better integrate its own services.
But judging from the entire history of smartphone development, attempts to make up for hardware losses through profit from Internet content have failed without exception. In the early years, Xiaomi, 360, and LeTV all tried this route but failed. Looking back, Apple is the most profitable mobile phone brand in terms of mobile content, but it is also the mobile phone brand with the largest hardware profits.
(Photo source: Photographed by Lei Technology)
The reason is simple. In the Android camp, Internet content is not closed and cannot form an exclusive advantage on a single brand of device. Amazon’s own content can be obtained by other Android phones and even iPhones, so the advantage of Amazon’s mobile phone in this regard does not exist. The e-book mobile app provided by Kindle can also be provided. The situation seems to be similar, but the Kindle's ink screen has unique advantages in hardware, while the FirePhone does not.
At the hardware level, FirePhone's configuration is not weak, but it has no differentiated advantages compared to competing products, and the naked-eye 3D effect is more gimmick than substance. More importantly, Amazon wants to bundle FirePhone with its own Internet services in a deeper way, but the price of the phone itself is not cheap. The bare metal price is US$649, which is the same as the popular iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5. It can be said that it has no chance of winning.
Moreover, Amazon surrendered too quickly. The head-on effect in the mobile phone market in 2014 was far less severe than it is today, and the FirePhone was quickly abandoned after its launch. In fact, given Amazon's own strength, if it can lower prices and adjust its strategy in the future, it might actually be able to do something great.
But Bezos obviously did not have this confidence. In June 2015, one year after the release of FirePhone, a large number of Amazon mobile phones in stock were sold out at reduced prices and flowed across the ocean into the Huaqiangbei market. These second-hand FirePhones in good condition are priced at just over 400 yuan on e-commerce platforms, giving phone enthusiasts back then the opportunity to buy FirePhones at a discount. The low price and decent configuration made this phone quite popular among domestic digital enthusiasts.
Today in 2024, when I look back at the FirePhone product, Xiao Lei’s feeling is: Amazon threw a pebble into the raging river, and the short-lived ripples quickly disappeared, and nothing has changed.