Amazon is basically giving the Fire Phone away these days
For all of its winning endeavors in the digital hardware market including the Kindle and Kindle Fire ranges, Amazon's smartphone efforts have not gone so swimmingly. The Fire Phone is widely considered a failure of the epic variety, and despite the online retailer's promises of sequels, a lot of work needs to be done if Amazon's smartphone division is to be taken seriously. As a further testament to how the Fire Phone has, ahem, crashed and burned, the 32 and 64 GB models of the device are now available for £99 in the United Kingdom, equating to around $150. Given that the device apparently costs $205 to build, well.. you don't need us to do the math, but it's not good.
It's difficult to fathom that when the Fire Phone first launched, Amazon wanted as much as $749 for the unlocked, 64 GB edition. With the company now trying to shift it for $600 less — almost a year to the day that it was first announced — perhaps Amazon's banking on the old adage that Brits love a bargain.
Since both the 32 GB and 64 GB variants are at £99, those looking to take advantage of savings up to £280 ($440) will probably want to go with the more spacious edition, particularly since there's no microSD slot in tow with either.
Software-wise, you get Amazon's custom Fire OS UI running on top of Android KitKat, and with a 13-megapixel shooter, quad-core processor and 2 gigs of RAM, it offers a fair amount of bang for its decreased buck.
The only real caveat, besides the general consensus that the device isn't all that great, is that it's locked to the O2 network. If you're tethered to one of the many carriers that piggyback off O2 like GiffGaff or Tesco, however, then you should be okay.
Will you be buying the Fire Phone for £99 ($150)? Let us know in the comments!
source: Amazon via Android Central
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