# Amazon Kindle smartphone for 2012?



## Kid_Eternity (Nov 17, 2011)

Wouldn't surprise me if this was true. Amazon are building an eco system and having a smartphone line makes perfect sense. I'd welcome this move big time!



> “Based on our supply chain channel checks in Asia led by Kevin Chang, Citi’s Taipei-based hardware research analyst, we believe an Amazon Smartphone will be launched in 4Q12. Based on our supply chain check, we believe FIH is now jointly developing the phone with Amazon.
> 
> However, we believe that Amazon will pay NRE (non-recurring engineering fees) to FIH but the device and multiple components will actually be manufactured by Hon Hai’s TMS business group (the same business group that makes Amazon’s E-reader and the 8.9” Amazon tablet). We believe the smartphone will adopt Texas Instrument’s OMAP 4 processor and is very likely to adopt QCOM’s dual mode 6-series standalone baseband given QCOM has been a long-time baseband supplier for Amazon’s E-reader.”


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## editor (Nov 17, 2011)

Dead cert, I reckon.


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## bmd (Nov 18, 2011)

What would it do that the app doesn't?


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## Kid_Eternity (Nov 19, 2011)

It'd be a smartphone running a fork of Android like the Kindle Fire I reckon. Solid build, Amazon ecosystem, possibly a good alternative.


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## Hocus Eye. (Nov 19, 2011)

If the Amazon smartphone was bigger than the usual phones, perhaps as big as one of the new notepad phones then it may have a market. I sometimes read books on my ordinary sized smartphone and while it is do-able it feels a bit cramped.


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## bmd (Nov 19, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> It'd be a smartphone running a fork of Android like the Kindle Fire I reckon. Solid build, Amazon ecosystem, possibly a good alternative.



I'm still not getting it. Not being awkward its just that there are plenty of smartphones out there with the screen real estate and processing power to run the Kindle app and be the Kindle that way. What else would this one do? I'm guessing the ecosystem is the thing but I'm not sure what that is.


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## Kid_Eternity (Nov 19, 2011)

Bob Marley's Dad said:


> I'm still not getting it. Not being awkward its just that there are plenty of smartphones out there with the screen real estate and processing power to run the Kindle app and be the Kindle that way. What else would this one do? I'm guessing the ecosystem is the thing but I'm not sure what that is.



What do you think of the Kindle Fire?


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## bmd (Nov 20, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> What do you think of the Kindle Fire?



It looks like a cheaper version of an iPad (not a bad thing). I'm guessing the ecosystem is their app store etc? I have a 4th gen Kindle and it has features that I started out not using but I do now, like the keyboard (for grouping books together by author, not sure why I have to do that rather than the Kindle but anyway). BUT, if I bought one again it would be the one without the keyboard etc. In fact, scratch that, I wouldn't buy one. I'd buy an iPad or maybe a Kindle Fire. I think what I like about the iPad over the Fire is the integration with phone and computer. Maybe the Fire does that too, I'm not sure. I also think if Amazon aren't careful they will confuse people into not buying any version of a Kindle.

In a recent interview Gabe Newell talked about how he believes the future of all of this is wrapped up in four things: net, phone, tv and computer (I think!) and he was pretty convinced that Apple were about to come up with a product that wraps all four together. I am betting on that too, which is why I am going Apple. I don't think Amazon are in that place yet where they can bring something to the market that people will believe in that wraps all that up.


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## Kid_Eternity (Nov 22, 2011)

What put me off the Kindle Fire was the forking of Android, I'd prefer a proper tablet running Android for real if I was going that route.


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## bmd (Nov 22, 2011)

Having had a few years experience with Android and a few months with Apple I wouldnt go with any Android tablet. I prefer the whole Apple experience (ecosystem?) and one advantage I think Apple has over Android is that because of the way it works it makes using it much easier ime. For instance Android's app store is still evolving whereas Apple's is, generally speaking, static. I'm not sure of what experience I'll have with a Samsung Android tablet but I am pretty confident that I'd be happy with the next generation of the iPad. I can't be bothered to find out either because I'm happy with how my Apple stuff works and that's with a quite short experience Vs a quite long one.


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