Fire Phone Sale! - $229 12/8

[Tom]

This is a pretty great unlocked phone for $200. And Amazon's app store is a lot better these days, it's still not the Play store but it's a million times better than Windows store.

And..Amazon customer service really does kick ass, so Mayday could be very useful.

If Google or Microsoft even have customer service departments, they are WELL hidden.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The HP Touchpad became an amazing tablet for only $100-$150 with custom ROMs. It was definitely a good purchase.

Though I don't think this will be even remotely as good a deal. I'll pass on this.

Maybe. I think it was a POS though. The standby battery was and is terrible with custom ROMs. Its half decent but most people don't tweak that far. 3 people so far have asked me to install CM for them on their TouchPads. I ended up getting an iPad 2 because it was far more useful.

 

[ImDonly1]

Maybe. I think it was a POS though. The standby battery was and is terrible with custom ROMs. Its half decent but most people don't tweak that far. 3 people so far have asked me to install CM for them on their TouchPads. I ended up getting an iPad 2 because it was far more useful.

Never installed Android on the TouchPad, but it was terrible on webOS.
First, out of the box, my WiFi would not connect to the tablet at all. This was apparently a common problem. Which means you could not get past the setup screen. It seems the WiFi would only connect at certain distances away from the router. The thing also took forever to turn on/off I believe. Have no idea how they released that thing in the state it was in.

 

[bbhaag]

I'm using one of these right now and my Prime membership is up tomorrow.
Do you guys think this would be a good upgrade?

 

[cronos]

I'm using one of these right now and my Prime membership is up tomorrow.
Do you guys think this would be a good upgrade?

Hell yeah. But you have Verizon, so unless you are switching to AT&T or T-Mobile (or any of their MVNOs), the phone won't work.

 

[Bateluer]

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2852382/amazons-fire-sale-phone-is-now-just-199-unlocked.html

The company also just deleted thousands of negative online customer reviews of the smartphone on its website.

 

[Deeko]

At effectively $100, this is a great deal. I ordered one, mostly just to play around with it + test apps before submitting them to the Amazon app store. No, it's not a great phone, but are you really going to find a better, contract free, new, LTE equipped phone at that price? I'm doubting it.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Think if it would have started at this price with an unlocked bootloader. They would be the darling of the Android world right now.

 

[Deeko]

Think if it would have started at this price with an unlocked bootloader. They would be the darling of the Android world right now.

Yea, that's what I had assumed they'd do all along - do like they did with the Kindle Fire, a reasonably specced device at a low price off contract. I was really shocked when they announced the initial pricing. It's not that it was a terrible phone, it was just at a very terrible price.

 

[bbhaag]

Hell yeah. But you have Verizon, so unless you are switching to AT&T or T-Mobile (or any of their MVNOs), the phone won't work.

Damn I missed that part in the description...:/ I need to stay with Verizon so no new phone for me.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yea, that's what I had assumed they'd do all along - do like they did with the Kindle Fire, a reasonably specced device at a low price off contract. I was really shocked when they announced the initial pricing. It's not that it was a terrible phone, it was just at a very terrible price.

They are just too stubborn about their OS. Their reasoning for dropping the reviews is basically "we updated the OS so it's better now." Newsflash Amazon- if you didn't pay Google to add the play store you didn't fix your phone. Or at the very least leave the bootloader unlocked so we can fix that for you.

They seem determined to have a version 2. I wonder what that will look like.

 

[notposting]

Damn I missed that part in the description...:/ I need to stay with Verizon so no new phone for me.

You will be needing to change your plan anyway, so assuming you aren't under contract, you can get a smartphone on Verizon (with contract) for $200 or under pretty much. And $200 is the newest flagship pricing, at that.

Decide what platform you want (Android, iOS, WP, B- no just kidding) and then go from there deciding what kind of phone features matter as well.

edit: though, you may be able to just buy a phone off contract and add data to your plan at $30/month as well. This makes things a little different. Used market is obviously different but can still get some good devices there.

Hidden gem if you go that way: Lumia 928 (Windows Phone), update it to Dev Preview 8.1, they run around $100-125 on eBay for good/very-good condition used. Very nice camera, if a smidge slow, but has xenon flash and excellent low light capability. Solid speaker also. Just bought one for my mom.

 

[Graze]

...I would be the biggest fool to even consider selling my Nexus 4 for this!

 

[Thump553]

Somewhat seriously thinking of doing this, have read a bunch of reviews so I know what I'm getting into (I think). I would be renewing Prime soon anyway.

Question-I would be coming from a Verizon MVNO (pageplus)-any suggestions on something similar in ATT world? Data usage would be low probably, but need rock solid call ability (in Connecticut, both ATT and Verizon have great coverage). Only paying $30 per month now, would like to stay in that ballpark.

PS-thought about the Lumia for awhile, but that's T-Mobile, coverage too spotty.

 

[cronos]

Somewhat seriously thinking of doing this, have read a bunch of reviews so I know what I'm getting into (I think). I would be renewing Prime soon anyway.

Question-I would be coming from a Verizon MVNO (pageplus)-any suggestions on something similar in ATT world? Data usage would be low probably, but need rock solid call ability (in Connecticut, both ATT and Verizon have great coverage). Only paying $30 per month now, would like to stay in that ballpark.

PS-thought about the Lumia for awhile, but that's T-Mobile, coverage too spotty.

If you need solid high speed data (not necessarily *a lot* of them), it is tough to beat AT&T's own Cricket or GoPhone. Either of these have really good options around $30, depending on your needs.

For paygo (usage of $20 or lower), then you go to MVNOs such as H2O wireless or Airvoice.

Btw, there is an AT&T version of the Lumia, too.

 

[zerogear]

Still $150 too much.

 

[Deeko]

Picked one up, it came on Saturday. You know, it helps that I didn't really have high expectations, but it's really not that bad. The OS is pretty fluid, the camera surprisingly good, and the app selection has improved quite a bit since I had the original Kindle Fire.

It has its issues...some of the built in apps are too simplistic (camera and maps come to mind), in general I would like it a bit more customizable, but for the price of essentially $100, there really isn't much that will perform this well.

 

[Oyeve]

What are the 4 lenses on the front of the phone for?

 

[paperwastage]

What are the 4 lenses on the front of the phone for?

3D effect... to track your face/eyes and preset the right perspective

http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-fire-phone-features-stereovision-cameras-for-face-tracking/

 

[poofyhairguy]

Picked one up, it came on Saturday. You know, it helps that I didn't really have high expectations, but it's really not that bad. The OS is pretty fluid, the camera surprisingly good, and the app selection has improved quite a bit since I had the original Kindle Fire.

It has its issues...some of the built in apps are too simplistic (camera and maps come to mind), in general I would like it a bit more customizable, but for the price of essentially $100, there really isn't much that will perform this well.

Does it really get hot while gaming like people say or is that a myth?

I have to sign-up for Prime again so thinking about this instead as a backup phone.

 

[Midwayman]

720p seems such a weird choice for display. Wonder if the ability to serve them lower bandwidth files has anything to do with it?

Also the lumia 635 isn't even close in terms of hardware. It's 854x480 resolution for god's sake.

 

[pyrolyser]

I personally thought about pulling the trigger on the Fire Phone, particularly considering the 1 year Amazon Prime membership but after checking xda, I decided to pass. $50 less might have made it an impulse buy

 

[Commodus]

720p seems such a weird choice for display. Wonder if the ability to serve them lower bandwidth files has anything to do with it?

Also the lumia 635 isn't even close in terms of hardware. It's 854x480 resolution for god's sake.

720p makes sense around this size and lower, since you're not as likely to see the benefit from going to 1080p as you would on phones over 5 inches. I look at the iPhone 6 and Xperia Z3 Compact and don't see many reasons why they must step up to 1080p, even if it'd be nice to see that down the line. It'd hurt battery life and brightness without offering a practical improvement.

 

[cronos]

Also the lumia 635 isn't even close in terms of hardware. It's 854x480 resolution for god's sake.

If you are addressing this to me, my bringing up the Lumia 635 was somewhat tongue in cheek, directly addressing the statement by someone else who said "have you seen the kinds of phones you can get on sale for $39 nowaays? this is no fire sale...."

 

[gmaster456]

I find Amazons app store to be better than WP honestly. If I needed a $200 phone this would be a strong contender. I could also see this being a decent starter phone for someone.