Are there two Amazon Kindle phones on the horizon?

Home / News / Are there two Amazon Kindle phones on the horizon?

Rumours of an Amazon phone have appeared numerous times over the past few years, but now the fires of speculation have been re-stoked.

According to TechCrunch’s sources, Amazon is currently working on not one, but two phones, the first of which is codenamed ‘Smith’. But is there anything special about it?

An extra dimension

Apart from conjuring up memories of the Matrix, Amazon’s mystery phone reportedly has four front-facing cameras which will track your head, lock onto it and serve up some fancy 3D UI effects.

The video above demonstrates the sort of 3D effects that are possible with head tracking tech and it opens up the possibility for some serious UI eye candy. As well as motion sickness, if iOS 7’s transition effects are anything to go by.

Not only that, but the phone will also apparently be able to identify real-world objects before matching them to products in the Amazon store.

The second phone (which lacks a mundane code name) is not expected to arrive this year, nor will it have fancy 3D screen powers.

With the new Kindle Fire HDX tablets on the way, a new Kindle Papwerwhite and now two potential smartphones, Amazon looks like its taking this hardware game very seriously indeed. Stay tuned for more info as we get it.

[TechCrunch via The Verge]

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Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.