Ah yes, the much rumored Amazon smartphone. We’ve been hearing about a smartphone coming from the online giant for what feels like years now. Last we heard, HTC was working with Amazon to create this smartphone which, doesn’t sound entirely all that crazy. HTC used to make phones for HP back in the day and they partnered up with Facebook for the First but, the less said about that, the better. Now though, we’re hearing that Amazon’s smartphone – whenever they decide to either launch it or even acknowledge its existence – will be shipping with some pretty incredible gesture technology.
Sources from Apple Insider, which despite their name have a decent track record with Amazon matters, have learnt that Amazon plans to use four camera modules in one device. That’s outside of the front-facing and rear-facing cameras all devices ship with these days. Instead, these four modules will apparently be placed at each corner of the device. These modules would then track your gestures in 3D space as another way to control the device. According to sources, Amazon is working with LiteOn, Primax and Sunny Optical to manufacture these special modules. As well as those four cameras, there’s said to be a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 12-megapixel front-facing camera. Whether or not the flagship and lesser models are still coming remains to be seen.
We’ve been hearing about the Amazon smartphone for a long, long time now and it’s beginning to look like either Amazon is really taking their time to bring something new to the table. Or, perhaps the Amazon smartphone is something that the online giant is just researching, something that they’re not confident enough in releasing to the market in its current form. No matter what though, an Amazon smartphone would probably retail for considerably less than most other smartphones which should hopefully drive down prices of other smartphones. Which, in the long run would be pretty good for all of our wallets. The question remains though, is there demand for an Amazon smartphone?