We get our first look at Amazon’s smartphone that’s set to be out in a few months and it will allegedly have six cameras to facilitate a glasses-free 3D interface.
While online retail giant has started its assault on our living room with the Amazon Fire set-top box going on sale earlier this month, it seems the company is not content with this branch out of its online business, as Amazon is allegedly set to enter the highly competitive smartphone market later this year, too. Over on BGR, the first images of Amazon’s as-of-yet-nameless smartphone has seemingly leaked into the wild along with a few other important details. Important to note, the images shown has a protective shell intended to prevent unauthorized people from seeing the physical design. But we do get a rough outline on how the phone looks even with the casing.
According to the site’s multiple sources, Amazon is developing two smartphone models, with the higher-end device allegedly set to be out “in the coming months.” Below are the rumored tech specs of the top-end Amazon smartphone.
– Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
– 2GB of RAM
– Run a heavily customized version of Google’s Android operating system similar to the version that powers Amazon’s tablets.
– 4.7 inch display
– Will feature a 720p HD resolution compared to its rival devices that have 1080p HD resolution have
While the phone specifications themselves might not be that impressive, Amazon’s big draw for its smartphone will supposedly be its “glasses-free 3D software interface.” The unnamed sources state that higher-end smartphone will include a total of six cameras, with four of these to be front-facing that will work with other sensors to facilitate the software’s glasses-free 3D effect and will work just like the Nintendo 3DS’ 3D feature, and as well as HTC’s EVO 3D smartphone that was released back in 2011.
The four front-facing cameras are said to be situated in each of the device’s four corners of the phone’s face and will allegedly be low-powered infrared cameras. The front-facing infrared cameras will be used to track the position of the user’s eyes and face in relation to the phone’s screen. This will allow Amazon’s own software to constantly adjust the positioning of the on-screen elements. It’s said that there are several areas of the smartphone’s software that will implement this 3D feature.
Right from the phone’s lock screen, the smartphone will include several wallpapers with “perspectives that shift as the user tilts the phone from side to side as well as up and down.” Aside from wallpapers, the 3D effect will also be applied to app icons and other “core elements” of the user interface. Multiple apps will reportedly be compatible with this feature as well, with one example said that moving the phone while using the maps app will change the view of various objects on the display. Another example given is the 3D effects’ implementation with Amazon’s various online stores, wherein shifting the position of the actual phone, users browsing will be able to see 3D product images at different angles to reveal details that can’t be seen in standard 2D images.
As for the device’s main method of taking pictures, it’s set to feature a resolution of 13 megapixels. Additionally, aside from the four front-facing cameras that will be used for 3D, the unit will also have a standard front-facing camera that can be used for video chats, and for Amazon’s Mayday customer service feature.
Finally, one source claims that Amazon is also working to recruit “big” outside developers in its quest to have a number of key third-party apps available at launch that will take advantage of smartphone’s unique 3D interface. Amazon is said to make a set of APIs available to third-parties, and will also assist developers “in other ways,” too.
No exact release date or price have been shared for the high-end smartphone, but Amazon is said to be preparing an announcement in the next two to three months, with the actual smartphone launching sometime this summer. The lower-end model, which will cost less, will debut at a later date. If what you’ve read seems like your cup of tea, you’d better be living in the US or at least be ready to import the device, as it will allegedly be available in the US only — at least initially.
With Amazon already selling gaming controls, and the company’s smartphone allowing a 3D interface, could we be playing glasses-free 3D games with actual game controllers on our phones soon? Come to think of it, would you even want to do that?
Source: BGR
