While Amazon’s first smartphone, the Fire Phone, may have underwhelmed those who were expecting something at par with its competitors in the market, it is considered a work in progress and may yet find its stride in later versions. An update the software of the current phone promises better battery life (a must for all devices now) as well as a slew of other new features that should please the early adaptors who already have gotten themselves the Fire Phone.
Fire OS 3.5.1 brings with it dozens of system upgrades that would enable your smartphone to have longer battery life. It also now allows you to quickly switch between apps and close running apps just by double pressing the home button, not the long press which is how other Android phones usually do it. You can also now make app grid collections, which are folders to house or group certain apps or certain content from the grid itself. If you have too many apps already, you can now pin the ones you use the most to the home carousel so that it would be easier to find them.
In terms of multi-media functions, there are also slight improvements with this update. You can now use 11 images to create lenticular photos instead of the previous 3. You can also share higher-resolution videos to your friends through MMS (may have additional charges with your carrier) or through email. In terms of email, if you receive notification of an email that you don’t want to read, you can delete it directly from the home screen so that your inbox will not be clogged with unwanted email.
Given how Amazon Kindle Fire has slowly grown on tablet users (especially those who use it primarily as a reading device), the Fire Phone (or at least its later versions) may still surprise the smartphone market later on. For now, users might be pleased with the continued rollout of improvements on the software side at least. You can update your phone directly through the settings or manually download the updated Fire OS from Amazon.
SOURCE: Amazon
The update has made my Fire battery at least as good as my former Note was and that was my primary complaint after making the switch. Love my Fire Phone. Syncs my Gmail & Google calendar perfectly and one handed operation is smooth and fast.