Amazon Fire Phone offers 3D views and gesture controls

Amazon has unveiled its first handset, offering 3D
visuals - thanks to four face-tracking cameras on
its front - and gesture controls.
The Fire Phone allows its user to change an image's
perspective by moving their head, rather than
creating "pop-out" effects.
The owner can also scroll through a webpage or
bring up menus by tilting the smartphone in their
hand.
Chief executive Jeff Bezos announced the phone at
a press event in Seattle.
One industry watcher had doubts about what was
on show.
"We've seen similar gesture controls on Samsung's
Galaxy range, and not many people use them," said
Francisco Jeronimo, a mobile devices analyst at
market research firm IDC.
"Unless the experience is extraordinary it can
come across as a gimmick. I'd be surprised if
Amazon has succeeded when Samsung hasn't, but
I'll need to try it.
Mr Bezos showed how the "dynamic perspective"
effect could be used to help navigate maps by
looking around the side of landmarks
The launch comes at a time when Amazon's tablet
sales appear to be on the wane, despite recent
price promotions.
Mobile content
The basic version of the Fire Phone, with 32
gigabytes (GB) of storage, will cost $199 (£117) on
top of a two-year contract with AT&T - the only
network to offer it initially - on 25 July.
That is the same price
AT&T charges for the
16GB versions of
Apple's iPhone 5S and
Samsung's Galaxy S5.
The "dynamic
perspective" effect is
made possible by the
inclusion of four "ultra-
low power" cameras
coupled with four
infrared LEDs, which
permit the device to
keep tracking the
position of the user's
eyes and mouth in the
dark.
The process only
requires two cameras, but the firm said the extra
two meant users would not need to worry how they
held the handset.
Mr Bezos gave the example of looking at a dress'
design from different angles as an example of how
the effect could be used, and showed how a
handset could be tilted afterwards to make it move
onto another garment.
Another innovation introduced by the Fire Phone is a
dedicated side-button to activate Firefly, an app that
allows it recognise text, images and sound in the
smartphone's immediate vicinity.
It can be used to bring up information - for example
details of a wine, the name of a song, or information
about a painting - and when relevant, the chance to
buy the same or a related product from Amazon.
The facility relies on Amazon's computer servers,
so will not be available when the phone is offline.
"Firefly is not just about taking you back to the
Amazon store, it's about knowing so much more
about consumers - things Amazon would not have
known before," noted Carolina Milanesi, from
research firm Kantar Worldpanel Comtech.
The Firefly facility could encourage owners to make
impulse purchases from Amazon
The device also takes advantage of several other
online services the company offers, including:
Mayday - the ability to call up an Amazon
adviser via a video feed, with a promise of a
response within 15 seconds
ASAP - a facility that pre-loads video content
to the phone from the firm's Prime Instant
Video collection, basing its choices on the
user's past viewing behaviour
Cloud Drive - the firm's internet based storage
facility, which is being used to offer "unlimited"
space for the photos it takes
Prime Music - access to more than a million
songs that can be downloaded or streamed,
although new releases are not included
Several of these services will only remain available
if the owner renews their Amazon Prime
membership after a year, at an annual cost of $99