At $200 unlocked, the Amazon Fire Phone could be one of the greatest holiday bargains
Reports of alarmingly low sales for the Amazon Fire Phone weren’t all that surprising, though Amazon has never been interested in entertaining those reports. Whether that’s due to a policy to not comment on speculation or them being embarrassed about the phone’s performance is up in the air, but the company seems to have conceded defeat with their latest move: putting the Fire Phone up for $200 unlocked.
We’re not sure if this is a permanent price tag or just a promotion for the holidays, but it’s telling either way. It’s not often you see a phone going for $450 less than its off-contract price mere months after availability, even if it is for a big holiday sales promotion or some other special occasion.
When rumors of Amazon’s first phone were still just rumors it was exciting to think about what one of the world’s largest online retailers could offer. After all, their Amazon Kindle Fire line isn’t half bad for the price, and the world is always looking for unique and new options. But once the phone launched we saw the device for what it really is — an overwhelmingly shallow phone with underwhelming gimmicks. It was overpriced, to boot, coming in at $650 unlocked (or $200 on-contract with AT&T).
To be fair, this is still a very good deal if you consider everything it comes with. The biggest takeaway is the fact that Amazon is still giving away a full year of Amazon Prime with the purchase of the phone. A year’s subscription of Prime normally costs $100, so that effectively gives you a $100 phone. With a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset, a 4.7-inch HD display, a 13 megapixel camera and 32GB of internal storage we’d say that’s plenty of high-powered silicon for your dollars.
Despite all that goodness, though, not everyone feels the Fire Phone is up to scratch. Our Amazon Fire Phone review discusses many of the reasons why this device doesn’t charm the pants off of anyone like most Amazon products seem to, so be sure to take a look at that if you’re wondering what it has to offer.
Still, for $200 it could be a very decent smartphone for you or a loved one if you’re in dire need of an upgrade, though we would be just as quick to opt for an unlocked Moto G 2014. Here’s the phone on Amazon’s website if you’re interested.