The first Amazon Fire Phone was unveiled on Wednesday, and the newest smart phone boasts 3-D ‘Dynamic Perspective’ technology and Firefly, a program that can be used to scan products for more information.

Dynamic Perspective

The Dynamic Perspective technology was highly stressed at the conference as the feature that sets the Amazon Fire Phone apart from its competitors, such as the Android or iPhone.

“Experience interactions not possible on other smartphones,” reads the description of Dynamic Perspective.

Dynamic Perspective allows users to get a different view and experience of the onscreen content depending on their perspective, resembling a hologram. It also allows users to change the onscreen perspective by tilting the phone. In the demonstration, Amazon Chief Executive Jeffrey Bezos showed how Dynamic Perspective can be utilized in the map app, allowing users to get different views of a building or street. But the main draw of Dynamic Perspective will no doubt be the gaming possibilities.

Amazon Fire Phone Facilitates Online Shopping

While the Dynamic Perspective might entice prospective customers to buy the phone, analysts are particularly interested in the new phone’s Firefly technology. Firefly allows users to scan any product for information. Similar to the music app Shazam, Firefly will be able to tell users what song is playing based on a short sample or what film or TV is playing. It also works on signs, phone numbers and food products. Firefly will also send users directly to the product’s Amazon.com page for purchase. Should Firefly take off, analysts predict it will usher in an entirely new era of online shopping and will only serve to fortify Amazon’s status as a retail giant.

“[Firefly] is potentially a real threat to bricks and mortar retailers… Scan a product or listen to music, and you’re delivered straight to the page on Amazon on which you can purchase it. Impulse shopping just went to a new level,” said Altimeter Group analyst Rebecca Lieb.

Furthermore, customers who pre-order the phone now will receive a full year subscription to Amazon Prime, which provides subscribers with access to streaming video and free shipping, which will give users further incentive to shop within the Amazon company. Fire phones will also come with 1,000 ‘Amazon Coins,’ valued at $10, for use in the Amazon Appstore.

Other features of the Fire Phone Amazon is hoping will make the phone competitive with the iPhone include a camera with optical image stabilization and free unlimited cloud storage for photos. A 32GB Amazon Fire Phone is available for purchase for as low as $199.00 and is only available through AT&T.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.