Is the Amazon Fire Phone a good choice for music fans? A roundup of reviews
The reviews of the Amazon Fire Phone are starting to hit the web and there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of love out there for Amazon’s very first smartphone.
Music features don’t get much of a look-in but here are the comments gathered on the phones’ performance in that department.
Mark Sullivan from VentureBeat writes “...when I opened the Music section, the first thing I saw was all the records I’ve ever bought on Amazon, all ready for streaming. A swipe from the left brings out a panel that lets you list your music by artist, song, genre, etc.”
PcWorld remarks that “Amazon’s Music app doesn’t currently have a way to filter for Prime content, and won’t for months after launch” which is a real downside for consumers.
The Firefly function get a thumbs-up from Engadget, the site points out that the phone “scanned music and shows with near-perfect accuracy”. Firefly behaves similarly to Shazam and identifies music that is playing in the background, directing users to the corresponding track on the Amazon store.
According to CNET “Amazon's video and music stores have strong catalogs, but you shouldn't necessarily expect a lot of competing services to be available.” The site also points out that “If the Fire's lack of Google Play services douses your enthusiasm, this isn't the phone for you. It means no Google app store (or video or music downloads), no Google Now, and no Waze real-time feedback on the map.”
At least as Slashgear points out the Fire Phone's users should have no complaints with battery life: “Amazon suggests a full charge is good for up to eleven hours of video or 65 hours of music with the screen off.”
From what we can gather from these first reviews, the Fire Phone is an interesting attempt at creating an alternative experience for smartphone users, but its ecosystem limitations and its deep integration with the Amazon store could put off all but the most loyal customers of the online shopping site.
(Andrea Leonelli)