Amazon Fire Phone fail - price dropped to $199 after weak market response and poor reviews.

scrimshaw on 29/11/2014 - 21:17

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OC0USA6

Get ready for a fire sale. Or maybe not?

Amazon has cut the price for its unlocked Fire smartphone by 69% just four months after the phone first went on sale.

The company also just deleted thousands of negative online customer reviews of the smartphone on its website.

The latest discount first appeared on Amazon.com on Tuesday, dropping the unlocked 32GB price from its original $649 to $199; the price still includes one year of Prime service, worth $99, and is good through Cyber Monday (Dec. 1).

In addition to the price cut, Amazon deleted thousands of customer reviews of the product, leaving up only reviews posted since the price cut went into effect.

Just one review appeared as of noon ET Wednesday: "Dan" gave the Fire four stars out five and called the $199 price "awesome," adding that he wished it ran pure Android. (It runs the Fire OS, an Android variant.)

An Amazon spokeswoman said there weren't more reviews because the revised unlocked version just launched Tuesday on its Web site. She said it has been upgraded with added features such as text translation, a secure corporate VPN and user interface and performance improvements; those added features will be rolled out to existing Fire customers over-the-air in coming weeks, she added.

By comparison, customer reviews back in late October scored the device with just 2.4 stars out of five, based on nearly 4,000 reviews.

Various negative complaints included access to too few apps and concerns that the Fire got hot to the touch. Some users called the phone "gimmicky," pointing to various innovative features like Firefly for instant access to information on products and objects, customer support with Mayday and a sensor system with 3D-like capabilities called Dynamic Perspective.

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Comments

  • scotty on 29/11/2014 - 21:58

    It was dead on arrival back in June. $199 for a 720P Snapdragon 800 device is not bad though, although we can't use much the service that comes with it.

  • p1 ama on 29/11/2014 - 22:36
    +1

    I think the Fire Phone cops a lot more flack than it deserves. At its core it's not a terrible phone as some have been making it out to be. Granted, the initial price was far too high, but I find $199 a bargain for what you get.

    Sooner or later, someone on XDA is going to root and write a custom ROM for it, so the Google Apps issue will eventually be fixed. I believe there is already a root available for the phone.

    Sure it has some gimmick features, but in a phone market where everyone has such great and reliable phones, the only way to set yourself apart is via gimmicks. Look at everyone in the phone market recently, whether it be Apple or Samsung or anyone else, all their latest features are gimmicks.

    That said, perhaps another way to look at it is to see that the Fire Phone is first generation product which will, no doubt, have teething problems. I'm sure it'll eventually grow to a nice product.

  • Davo1111 on 30/11/2014 - 00:32

    Was set to fail with it's high price and locked down OS. A friend of the family lives in the US and buys everything they can possibly get through amazon. Not sure they would justify even the current price for firefly, which imo is the only redeeming feature.

    Apparently you get Amazon prime (worth $99) with the phone, so it makes it a somewhat more attractive offer.

  • c64 on 30/11/2014 - 08:52

    why would you want to buy it if it has lots of negative reviews?

    • Davo1111 on 30/11/2014 - 12:56

      the neg reviews were when it was a $700 phone.

  • adamren on 30/11/2014 - 14:18

    Once they crack it so you can root it, then it'll become on of the best phones! ;-p

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