# Amazon Fire Phone



## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

Verge have the updates:

http://live.theverge.com/amazon-phone-liveblog/

Hoping we get a kick ass phone from Amazon which strengthens their ecosystem.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Announcing round about now-ish

Plenty of speculation already. 4.7" screen, 2GB of RAM, Qualcom processor, Six cameras(!), 3D display? Let's see what this is about. Live announcement stream here: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/18/amazon-phone-liveblog/

No video stream, sadly.







*not official image.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

GAH... I just started a thread too. Can mods please merge?


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Amazon blasting their naysayers before announcing their revelotionary new handset!


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

What backtracking FOOLS the tech review sites are! (haha Engadget just had to post this on their live stream)


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

Fire phone. POW!


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

quad-core 2.2GHz processor, Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB RAM.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

BAM! And it looks... just like every other phone! look close and check out the multiple camera action though.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Those earphones don't look like every other pair though. Nice.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

flat cables FTW. I just bought one for the iphone, much better at keeping untangled.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Free unlimited photo storage


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## DrRingDing (Jun 18, 2014)

Fuck Amazon and their poxy phone that probably invades your privacy in horrific ways.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

"We're bringing Second Screen and X-Ray to the Fire Phone." You can fling your video to any Miracast device (such as the Fire TV).


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## DrRingDing (Jun 18, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> Free unlimited photo storage



That definitely won't be used for nefarious deeds.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

'Mayday' help (?)


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Demoing 'Firefly'

Firefly uses the camera to recognize books, DVDs, phone numbers, QR codes, CDs, URLs, games, bar codes... It recognizes them and finds them in its database.

Also listens (just like Shazam and related services), so it can pull up the tune on services like iHeartRadio (clearchannel) and Amazon Music (who'd have thunk it).

Also links to phone numbers taken on images. Interesting, but meh.


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## DrRingDing (Jun 18, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> Demoing 'Firefly'
> 
> Firefly uses the camera to recognize books, DVDs, phone numbers, QR codes, CDs, URLs, games, bar codes... It recognizes them and finds them in its database.
> 
> Also listens (just like Shazam and related services), so it can pull up the tune on services like iHeartRadio (clearchannel) and Amazon Music (who'd have thunk it).



.......and has the ability to send off data from the microphone to it's servers?


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Dedicated firefly button, for fireflying on the fly...






...so you can buy, buy, buy

*from Amazon


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## AverageJoe (Jun 18, 2014)

Isn't this the phone that projects 3d images?


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Winos rejoice


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

AverageJoe said:


> Isn't this the phone that projects 3d images?



Supposedly.. they're leading up to it now.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Now for the science bit






"What if there were a thousand artists standing by to redraw the picture every time you moved your head?"

IMAGINE!


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Some kind of 3D trickery involving maps and the Empire State Building


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> Free unlimited photo storage



That's huge news. Really big deal for phone camera users...


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

DrRingDing said:


> Fuck Amazon and their poxy phone that probably invades your privacy in horrific ways.



C'mon how are they any different from Google or Apple in this respect??


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Music services and players on smartphones are all fine and dandy but you still can't beat an ipod classic for simplicity, ruggedness, battery, and storage. 

Particularly when doing long travel without wifi or 4G (i.e. most places outside of the city).


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

*tin foil hat*


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

At ALL times


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

Not sure there's much point talking about the look of a phone anymore...they all rip off/ are influenced by each other. Clearly the game is ecosystem and content now...


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> *tin foil hat*



Even when you're in another room?


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Even then


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

"We had early prototypes working within the first week of our project." One example was a piece of headgear with a light on it. The problem is, you have to wear that piece of headgear. "That would never be *commercially* practical."

*cough* google glass *cough*


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## tommers (Jun 18, 2014)

So they can neutralise you when necessary.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> "We had early prototypes working within the first week of our project." One example was a piece of headgear with a light on it. The problem is, you have to wear that piece of headgear. "That would never be *commercially* practical."
> 
> *cough* google glass *cough*



That's quite a dig at Google...cocky even.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Some new Disclosure-esque band presumably


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

They can find friends based on a database of faces?


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> They can find friends based on a database of faces?



Perfect for the stalking enthusiast.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

This really is one hell of a smart smartphone!


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Bloke from AT&T, Ralph de la Vega is on stage now.






"It's addictive and an absolute breakthrough. I"m going to buy a whole lot more things now!"

look at yer man from Amazon's happy face


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Already up on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Fire-Phone-32GB-AT/dp/B00EOE0WKQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1403117755&sr=1-3&keywords=fire phone

$199 with a two-year contract, or $27 per month on Next. This is for 32GB.

12 months of Prime included


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Some official images:


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

All done.

It looks interesting for sure. Good to see some genuine innovation/competition for the other manufacturers to step up to. Design-wise it's nothing to look at though. I like that they've respected the one-handed user and not gone for some monster sized device. Shame there wasn't much made of the speakers. I thought the HTC One phone was really being innovative when they incorporated Beats Audio but then their new model ditched it. If they really wanted to be different they could've spent as much time creating a good speaker as they have with dynamic perspective stuff.

Also, it's very 'black' looking. No fancy wallpapers or eyecatching colourful screensavers. I dunno if they're just trying to stand out from Apple and Google but it looks a bit dull. They seem to be focusing on the male-tech enthusiast market over the style concious/teen/female ones.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

Nothing truly new but a very clever piece of leveraging all aspects of Amazon to get people to buy more from them. Basically they've created a phone which is actually just another shop front. Smart.


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jun 18, 2014)

Looks like a decent device. Will sell (relatively) fuck all.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> Already up on Amazon.com
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Fire-Phone-32GB-AT/dp/B00EOE0WKQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1403117755&sr=1-3&keywords=fire phone
> 
> ...



Nice move to include prime, that's more than just quick delivery it also includes things like LoveFilm (now rebranded as Amazon Instant)...


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Looks like a decent device. Will sell (relatively) fuck all.



I'm not so sure, they do good business with their kindle devices and they have the front page of one of the worlds most visited websites to sell it from.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Looks like a decent device. Will sell (relatively) fuck all.



That'd be a good quote for their next big screen presentation.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 18, 2014)

Also, good point well made. There are a lot of key apps missing


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## DrRingDing (Jun 18, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> C'mon how are they any different from Google or Apple in this respect??



So, Casuals United should be adored because the North West Infidels and Britain First exist?

What a strange comment.


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## DrRingDing (Jun 18, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> This really is one hell of a smart smartphone!



One hell of a telescreen.


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## editor (Jun 18, 2014)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Looks like a decent device. Will sell (relatively) fuck all.


It may stand a chance in the US (where Amazon are traditionally much stronger) but there's nothing in this handset for me.


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## elbows (Jun 18, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> C'mon how are they any different from Google or Apple in this respect??



Devils in the detail on that one. Those three corporations all have different business models/prime revenue streams which will lead them to collect and (ab)use data in different ways, with quite some overlap in some but not all information domains.


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jun 18, 2014)

DrRingDing said:


> One hell of a telescreen.


You really are quite odd about this stuff.


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## DrRingDing (Jun 18, 2014)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> You really are quite odd about this stuff.



You have no idea what we're letting ourselves in for.


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## elbows (Jun 18, 2014)

DrRingDing said:


> You have no idea what we're letting ourselves in for.



The technology is well ripe for all sorts of horror on this front but it takes more than just the capability to turn that hellish vision into reality. 

It requires a change in nature of our political systems, systems of control, marginalisation, distraction, etc. And carrot v stick balance, and levels of weakness/fear/internal and external threats to the state.

Personally I would never exclude the possibility of such changes over a lifetime, but its futile to dwell on it excessively so long as the situation in our countries remains a long way away from that form of control. And that should we move towards that way at some point, there is every chance people will then give a shit and cover their backs accordingly or mess with/reject the technology in interesting ways. I'm not complacent, but it's simply too early to evoke such visions and expect the multitude to take it seriously. Of course there are exceptions, i.e. the minority who in some sense may be engaging in rebellion in a manner the existing political & security apparatus wants to watch. But its a bad idea to evoke specific Orwellian visions that were actually not talking about surveillance and control of an entire populace in that way, but rather a subset of that populace, whether it be 'party members' or even broader 'political classes' in general.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

I really hope it does well, it seems the perfect devices for anyone who loves buying stuff from Amazon. And lets face it the smartphone market could really do with a bit more competition seeing as Microsoft has failed to provide any...


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 18, 2014)

DrRingDing said:


> So, Casuals United should be adored because the North West Infidels and Britain First exist?
> 
> What a strange comment.



It's no stranger than acting like Amazon are innovators in privacy invasion but to your broader point yes in this day and age if you use any digital product you give up any real privacy whether you like it or not. It is just the world we live in now...


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## elbows (Jun 19, 2014)

Generalised, defeatist, 'get with the times man' bollocks from you as usual on this topic.

Its simple really, stop talking about privacy as if its one thing. Privacy from whom, and what data?

Privacy from state security and intelligence services? No, not under most circumstances and the choice of hardware and software vendors doesn't matter that much.

But in many other ways, there is plenty of choice and its completely acceptable and sane to discuss the differences that different corporations business models make.

Googles core is about all about data and advertising. Amazon badly want to flog you content, rather than make a tidy profit on selling the hardware. Apple want to sell you expensive hardware. This makes a difference to what we can expect, especially if we talk not just about privacy but also intrusive advertising.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 19, 2014)

elbows said:


> Generalised, defeatist, 'get with the times man' bollocks from you as usual on this topic.
> 
> Its simple really, stop talking about privacy as if its one thing. Privacy from whom, and what data?
> 
> ...



Sorry fella but you can do better than your usual boring attacks. Play the ball not the man eh?


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 19, 2014)

The point about privacy is there's no point complaining about while actively supporting it through the consumer choices you make, it's a tedious distraction on a tech forum...


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## elbows (Jun 19, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Sorry fella but you can do better than your usual boring attacks. Play the ball not the man eh?



You can quite rightly accuse me of attacking you because I most certainly do, but I go to tedious lengths to play the ball as well.



Kid_Eternity said:


> The point about privacy is there's no point complaining about while actively supporting it through the consumer choices you make, it's a tedious distraction on a tech forum...



Contradicting yourself in a single sentence, impressive. Your arsewipe view of privacy appears to leave no room to actually discuss the details, which really do vary depending on the exact consumer choices made, the corporations involved, etc. The very fact the issue of privacy has come up on a thread about an Amazon device indicates that plenty of people can spot the differences and think they are worth discussing.


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## editor (Jun 19, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Play the ball not the man eh?


That would be a perfectly excellent idea for you.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 19, 2014)

elbows said:


> You can quite rightly accuse me of attacking you because I most certainly do, but I go to tedious lengths to play the ball as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Contradicting yourself in a single sentence, impressive. Your arsewipe view of privacy appears to leave no room to actually discuss the details, which really do vary depending on the exact consumer choices made, the corporations involved, etc. The very fact the issue of privacy has come up on a thread about an Amazon device indicates that plenty of people can spot the differences and think they are worth discussing.



Discussing with a stranger on the net but doing what about it exactly? See the point? I'm dismissive because it's pretty much a waste of my time to argue about it with a stranger who's doing nothing about it yet condemns others for not caring about the issue.

The threat against privacy is bigger than one company (or state for that matter) or this thread. So how about we drop stroppyness and just get back on with the news...?


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 19, 2014)

editor said:


> That would be a perfectly excellent idea for you.



You really can't wait to stick the oar in can you? And with your usual shocking hypocrisy...sad stuff.


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## salem (Jun 19, 2014)

Back on topic - this 3d screen. It's an interesting way of doing things but I would have thought it requires rendering of the image in 2d on the fly based on the users head position. That is OK when making wireframe models of buildings or menus (as shown in the demo) but would it work on any other non-vector sources? Doing so with a non-vector source might be possible but I'd have thought the processing power required would be huge.

Based on what I've seen (the BBC video/article here and this thread) it seems a lot of effort  to go to and presumably has a cost/size/battery cost - are there any real world uses for it?

And is this running the same android based OS as the tablet? I think that means it can run some android apps but not all?


skyscraper101 said:


> Demoing 'Firefly'
> [snip]


This firefly thing seems to be along the lines of google goggles. But wtf is going on with that demo shot - what's the connection between the two links and the sign? 

To be honest I'm really underwhelmed by it. The fact it ties in with amazon isn't a huge boon to me but even if I did use Amazon heavily it's still going to be a benefit a couple of times a week at most? But how hard is Amazon to use now anyway? You can be done in a couple of clicks even using current tech.

It just seems like they're trying to hard to find their USP in the market for the sake of it.


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## DrRingDing (Jun 19, 2014)

Change for the better really only comes from below.

A good place to start on this topic would be to stop whooping and cheering like an evangelical Christian when a new tool of our oppression is unveiled.


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## editor (Jun 19, 2014)

DrRingDing said:


> Change for the better really only comes from below.
> 
> A good place to start on this topic would be to stop whooping and cheering like an evangelical Christian when a new tool of our oppression is unveiled.


Your phone oppresses you?


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## editor (Jun 19, 2014)

salem said:


> And is this running the same android based OS as the tablet? I think that means it can run some android apps but not all?


It runs a customised version of Android so loads of useful apps won't appear in Amazon's own app store.


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## DrRingDing (Jun 19, 2014)

editor said:


> Your phone oppresses you?



It's an extremely powerful tool that is not used by only by the owner but the state to monitor you......and you're paying a premium for it.


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## editor (Jun 19, 2014)

DrRingDing said:


> It's an extremely powerful tool that is not used by only by the owner but the state to monitor you......and you're paying a premium for it.


How does that work if I'm on a PAYG SIM with no contract?


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## DrRingDing (Jun 19, 2014)

editor said:


> How does that work if I'm on a PAYG SIM with no contract?



1. Did you buy that SIM with cash anonymously off the street?

2. Have you only topped up that SIM with cash anonymously?

3. Do you request contacts not to save your number in their phone with your name?

etc etc


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## twentythreedom (Jun 19, 2014)

HELLO GCHQ 

*waves*


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## editor (Jun 19, 2014)

DrRingDing said:


> 1. Did you buy that SIM with cash anonymously off the street?
> 
> 2. Have you only topped up that SIM with cash anonymously?
> 
> ...


All perfectly possible if you're that bothered. I'm not.


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## DrRingDing (Jun 19, 2014)

editor said:


> All perfectly possible if you're that bothered. I'm not.



Don't get me wrong I love technology.....but we do not take our privacy seriously.


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## editor (Jun 19, 2014)

DrRingDing said:


> Don't get me wrong I love technology.....but we do not take our privacy seriously.


It's up to you what level of privacy you elect to give up in exchange for the convenience of mobile services, but in the grand scheme of things that process started with the invention of the mail service, land lines etc etc.


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## DrRingDing (Jun 19, 2014)

editor said:


> It's up to you what level of privacy you elect to give up in exchange for the convenience of mobile services, but in the grand scheme of things that process started with the invention of the mail service, land lines etc etc.



You're quite right this started a long time ago. 

Most people are totally unaware of the level and intimacy of the surveillance they are under.......even post Snowden.


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## DrRingDing (Jun 19, 2014)

editor said:


> It's up to you what level of privacy you elect to give up in exchange for the convenience of mobile services



I disagree. The vast majority of people do not read the TOS of their technologies. Even if you did read the TOS, will you truely understand the ramifications of the exact legal wording of them? Even if you have the inclination to read all this gumpf AND you are legally switched on enough to understand the risks the chances are there are further intrusions into your privacy via this medium that the manufacturer is not admitting or is even aware of.

This increase in total surveillance is a massive threat to the feeble chance we have to change the society we live in.


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## elbows (Jun 19, 2014)

Didn't help regimes deal with the arab spring in most instances though did it? And they often got desperate enough to attempt to block various social networks rather than keep them on for information gathering. Information technologies massive potential for both the forces of oppression and the struggle for freedom and positive change will remain intact, and I can still cheer the positive potential without being complacent about its evil opposite.

As for this phone, the 3D makes for some lovely demos and there may be some useful potential there, will take time for developers to find out. For now the uses for it presented in the demo were mostly just gimmicks designed to grab attention, just like the equivalent, far less sophisticated, stuff Apple did with wallpaper in iOS 7.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jun 19, 2014)

Far more traditional remedies helped regimes deal with the Arab Spring, not just state control over ISPs.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jun 28, 2014)

DrRingDing said:


> Change for the better really only comes from below.
> 
> A good place to start on this topic would be to stop whooping and cheering like an evangelical Christian when a new tool of our oppression is unveiled.



That's another albeit related topic but yes all phones are basically the perfect tracking and profile devices that we willing fill with as much information as we can in return for some experience, product or service...


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