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Amazon May Launch Smartphone with 3D Capabilities in September

I think that can be viewed as good news for Apple: it won't compete with the iPhone, but with the more gimmicky Android models.

People considering the iPhone won't be moved. people considering an Android phone might.
 
Finally something interesting again and not just screens bigger than 5".
 
Everyone needs 3D phones; if my phone was only two dimensional, I can imagine it would be pretty trick to grab hold of.
 
newyorksole said:
It kind of sucks that there is pretty much nothing these companies can do to get me to switch away from my iPhone.

I've had everyone iPhone since the first one on launch day and there is nothing enticing out there, except the next iPhone.
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Except that the next iPhone technically isn't out there yet. Unless they somehow figured out how to disguise a larger screen iPhone inside the current model. :D
 
Mug punters are everywhere; if you're unethical enough to exploit them for stale gimmicks, your business is more focused on dollars than good design.

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Internaut said:
Hmmm..... Having played with a Fire HD, I suspect it will be Apple level usable. But, if you think Apple is a closed ecosystem, wait 'til you see Amazon.
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I wonder if customers are allowed to remotely wipe Amazon off the internet, just as they can wipe your Kindle library; I'd like that "feature" massively, AND they can wipe YOUR GIFT CARD BALANCE if they close your account WITHOUT refunding you (think I'm joking? I've had it happen, and you can Google it too).

Theft is nothing except a day at "work" for Amazon.
 
3D seems to be the wrong selling point to focus on. While Amazon's approach may indeed be superior, all the previous attempts (e.g., HTC Evo 3D, LG Optimus 3D) have failed to caught on.

Amazon's strengths are limited to (1) Amazon Prime, (2) low price, and (3) Amazon.com distribution. Just figure out a make a competitive phone real cheap and create an MVNO for extremely low monthly fee.
 
Outside of the Kindle Paperwhite and Prime, Amazon products never excite me. Design isn't stellar and the gimped/proprietary version of Android doesn't help either.

But gd luck to them.
 
jayducharme said:
Seems to me to be a novelty and not really useful to most people. I guess for gaming or watching some videos it could be useful. But not for standard functions like e-mail, messaging or scheduling. And how many books would people read in 3D? Maybe Amazon has taken so long with their phone because they're struggling to find a way to differentiate themselves.
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Not everything would have to work in 3D. It's still a 2D screen using graphics trickery to generate a 3D image. Thus email, books, etc would probably be viewed just like on any other smart phone or tablet. The gimmick is probably aimed at gaming, which IS very popular on phones & tablets.

I popped into this thread expecting 500 bashes of another non-Apple product before any of us have even seen it and even I could sling a little bashing at a phone that will apparently require special glasses for its signature differentiating feature. But then I remembered a point in the late 80's or early 90's when the local arcade got this new game in that worked with holographic characters. I think it was cowboy/western themed and I don't think it was much of a game but the novelty of video game characters having height + width + depth had the kids lined up waiting for a chance to play it. (Update: here's the description of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Traveler_(video_game)) I believe it was one of those that charged double the typical rate at the time.

Again, I don't think the gameplay matched up with the gimmick of 3D graphics but there was no end of enthusiasm to play it at least once. If a smart device could roll out today with a similar effect, it might be enough to carve out a niche segment that would buy it to play the approx. 5 games that might ever be developed to take advantage of that feature. It wouldn't take wooing much of a percentage of all smart phone buyers to carve out a nice chunk of business.

Personally, as the first poster wrote, more competition, the better. Good competition pushes Apple harder. That's a win for Apple and us.
 
pgiguere1 said:
What is described here is just a parallax effect.

A parallax effect isn't the same as 3D, no matter how sophisticated the eye tracking is. The illusion only works when you're moving the phone around, otherwise it's just a regular 2D image, and both your eyes perceive the same thing (unlike true 3D where your left and right eyes perceive differently).
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A parallax effect is what the iOS 7 home screen does. The Amazon phone would probably be more like the Nintendo 3DS portable system, which uses an autostereoscopic screen to simulate 3D. If you're in a certain viewing area, your eyes receive two different images.

It's unfortunate that Amazon is going full-force into hardware now. I don't want one internet company to rule them all, but all of the tech giants seem to be on the course of a zero-sum game in which they desire to be a monopoly in the market.
 
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