Photos and specs have been leaked on what looks to be Amazon’s entry into the Android smartphone market. The phone is known as the Blaze, and it looks stacked with a 1.2 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8660 processor, 4.3-inch Mirasol display. Other specs include 512MB ram, 32GB of internal storage and a 5MP rear facing camera. The Blaze will also come with a front-facing camera for video chat, and have may also have a near field communications (NFC) chip for electronic point of purchase (ironic considering Amazon is an Internet based eCommerce site).
But what is really noteworthy is that it comes with an embedded solar panel on the back to recharge the battery throughout the day. And harkening back to it’s Kindle roots, the Mirasol display is supposed to be very stingy on battery life. It doesn’t rely on back-lighting like other Smartphones and it’s easy to read in direct sunlight. The Blaze will be powered by Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), have HSPA+ data services, and will also have a custom Amazon Blaze UI which will offer integration of Amazon services and access to user accounts similar to Google’s accounts are on every other Android handset.
And the word is that Amazon has plans to put out regular software updates to address the issue of fragmentation. And by the looks of the advertising graphic below, the Blaze looks to be made available on AT&T and Verizon. No word on pricing just yet, but it looks to launch in early Fall, if at all. There some dispute as to if this is a real device (and we know that Amazon has been recruiting Android engineers) or just an April Fool’s joke. If it is, it’s a pretty elaborate one.
[via Android Police]
This was an April Fools joke by Android Police. LMAO, you’re like the 4th Android news site to fall for it.
Lol, Yeah I was going to post “April Fools” I saw Android Police’s tweet about it. lmfao
How about all the boneheads below that are sharing it out via Twitter? LOL
4th? There’s been at least a dozen to report on this and delete the post later.
ummmm seriously…You should probably re-check your sources.
April fools. Seriously. How dumb are Android blogs becoming these days?
April fools. Seriously. How dumb are Android blogs becoming these days?
I believe that the pictures are seem a little fake but, I have no doubts that #Amazon would be trying to Make a #Android based #Tab / #eReader to go head to head with the #nook. They just have too.
I believe that the pictures are seem a little fake but, I have no doubts that #Amazon would be trying to Make a #Android based #Tab / #eReader to go head to head with the #nook. They just have too.
The pics are admittedly fake. Android Police said so. Until there’s actual proof this is a fucking rumor.
Yes, they just have to, because the Kindle is such a flop, isn’t it?
The iPod was hardly a flop either, but sales have shifted inexorably towards the iPhone. It’s not absurd to predict the same thing will happen with the Kindle, particularly when integrated two-in-one ePaper/LCD displays go mainstream.
Yes, they just have to, because the Kindle is such a flop, isn’t it?
How dumb are blog commenter these days? It is mind meltingly obvious that Amazon are about to enter the Android market in a big way. Do you really think their app store makes sense in any other context? Maybe this screenshot is a fake, but it’s clearly going to happen.
It might also explain why Google have been so coy about releasing Android 3.0 source code – they don’t want Amazon storming in and trying to dominant / takeover their nascent tablet market. Amazon could easily produce a Kindle tablet tied to their own services with Android marketplace nowhere in sight. They could even partner up with Yahoo or Bing for any apps that Google doesn’t want to supply.
There is too much money to be made for Amazon not to do it. Kindles can’t compete against an iPad. They can’t even compete against the B&N Nook color. There is an Amazon tablet inbound and in that context everything else makes sense.
It’s fucking fake. Please announce a retraction and how stupid you are.
It’s fucking fake. Please announce a retraction and how stupid you are.
are you kidding me
I think the author of this post didn’t get the April’s Fool.
What’s the point in April fools things like this? There’s nothing unlikely about the story at all, nothing to make somebody feel like a fool for believing it. April fools should be funny, not bland and utterly believable.
That reminds me – there was one on Richard and Judy a few years ago about a Start Trek style Universal Translator device – you talk into it and it repeats back what you said in another language in your own voice (they didn’t go so far as to claim it would work with any language, even one the machine had never heard before). With the Google Translate app we’re now halfway there – it can’t be that hard for them to develop an algorithm that analyses your own voice and allows the computer to speak in it, can it? That would be quite funky.
Sorry, went off on a bit of a tangent there. Am on a night shift, bit bored.
looking good and stylish……must be user friendly too 🙂
it’s a good looking phone and it has android. It’s a dream !