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  (Source: wingadgetnews.com)
Amazon is likely taking these smartphone executives in because of its upcoming smartphone release

Amazon has snagged yet another major smartphone executive, who has coincidentally joined the e-tailer's team the same time as rumors of an Amazon smartphone started to leak.

Robert Williams, former Senior Director of Windows Phone business development at Microsoft, has started working for Amazon now. He will act as the Amazon App Store director.

Williams is the second known smartphone executive to join Amazon recently. Brandon Watson, former head of Windows Phone Developer Experience at Microsoft, joined Amazon as well. He is now the Director of the Kindle Cross Platform team.

Rumors of an Amazon smartphone began trickling down the pipe earlier this month. Amazon is reportedly working on the device with Foxconn International Holdings Ltd.

Amazon smartphone features remain unclear right now, but a recent report indicated that it will have a 4 to 5-inch screen. It is expected to compete with the
iPhone, which will now have a 4-inch screen, and Samsung's Galaxy S III, which is a bit on the larger side at 4.8 inches.

Amazon plans to release the new smartphone either later this year or early next year. The e-tailer is currently testing the device.

Source: The Verge



Comments     Threshold


Is this a Win?
By retrospooty on 7/12/2012 6:51:36 PM , Rating: 4
If you ask me, Windows mobile is a great OS (as of 7.0)... But still isnt gaining much ground in marketshare. If you have to rate groups at MS's mobile division, the software engineering is doing a fantastic job while the management is a total fail.




RE: Is this a Win?
By StevoLincolnite on 7/12/2012 6:57:48 PM , Rating: 2
I think it's an advertising problem.
Windows Phone isn't a household name along the lines of the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.
And it really is a great OS, just if you mention it to someone their response will probably be: Wut.


RE: Is this a Win?
By kleinma on 7/12/2012 7:10:56 PM , Rating: 4
That will change with Windows 8, because you will be able to have a phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, xbox, etc.. with a consistent UI and ecosystem surrounding it.


RE: Is this a Win?
By othercents on 7/13/2012 8:33:53 AM , Rating: 3
Windows Phone 8 will definitely help, but more so because application writers will be able to easily port their code over to Windows Phone 8 vs Windows Phone 7. The lack of applications really made it hard to choose Windows Phone 7. There are also issues with the alert system on Windows Phone 7 and hopefully get fixed in 8.

I do like the concept of one operating system to do it all, however I don't want to loose my legacy software I currently use on my PC.


RE: Is this a Win?
By Pirks on 7/12/2012 8:36:29 PM , Rating: 1
It's not just advertising, it's multiple serious limitations inside the OS itself.

No SD card. Tiny flash amount on the phones, 16GB is not enough. Crappy multitasking (because far from all apps in marketplace support Mango style multitasking). Moronic downscaling of pictures and videos when you upload them to SkyDrive via WiFi using WP standard OS feature (sharing from picture hub). No way to properly stream music from SkyDrive. If you get 3rd party app to do streaming (SkyMusic) then there is absolutely no way to download music from SkyDrive anyway. Screens are too small and low resolution by moderns standards. CPUs are weak too, GPUs are a joke.

This is why I'm going crapdroid as of today. I'm getting myself a Galaxy Note which I'll upgrade to ICS and as soon as JB is released by XDA I'm getting it too, hopefully this fall.

Hear that retro? Now I'll be pwning anti-RIM trolls with THREE major smartphone OSes in my family :P iOS is not there though, because of crappy iPhone screen and lame case with glass on the back.

But fear not! When BB10 and WP8 are out and I compare them with JB then my opinion might change again, you never know!


RE: Is this a Win?
By Stevethewalrus on 7/12/2012 9:06:26 PM , Rating: 2
Do you think that the any of that matters to the average user or iSheep though? And most windows phone 7.x devices run better than android with less power GPUs and/or CPUs anyways.

I've used a note but it wasn't my favorite TBH, but I seen a lot worse in the way of android.


RE: Is this a Win?
By Pirks on 7/12/2012 10:13:01 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
most windows phone 7.x devices run better than android with less power GPUs and/or CPUs anyways
True, but those stupid limitations kill the platform for me. When the WP8 is out without those limitations - I'll reconsider. Or if Android turns out to be a horrible experience, much worse than WP7.5. Then I'll be back in Ballmer's camp, hehe ;)
quote:
I've used a note but it wasn't my favorite
I got Note because of the best screen and one of the fastest CPU/GPU chips out there right now, I heard that Note N7000 pwns almost every other Android handset in benchmarks, so I paid extra to get that N7000 version instead of slow crap that US version of Note has inside (N7000 is international version, not US).

So maybe you got the US version instead of international, it has much slower chip inside so no surprise you found it not so good. Hopefully this won't be my case :) Especially after I flash JB on it this Fall.


RE: Is this a Win?
By Belard on 7/13/2012 12:56:19 AM , Rating: 2
Nexus7 just came out, has ICS installed... why not get that?


RE: Is this a Win?
By Pirks on 7/13/2012 3:16:56 AM , Rating: 3
7" is way too large for a phone, 5" is perfect IMHO

Besides, I'd be more interested in Surface as my tablet, not any Android or iOS device


RE: Is this a Win?
By Reclaimer77 on 7/13/2012 1:05:49 PM , Rating: 1
Wait wait, you've been calling Android "crapdroid" for months now, and you bought a Note? Calling Android garbage, Samsung phones garbage, and you buy one...

God you're such a fucking troll Pirks. I would pay someone good money if they could stop you from being here.

I think you're full of shit and say you buy stuff just to get attention. First RIM was the best, but you bought a WP 7.5. Then Android was "crapdroid" and now you bought a Galaxy Note. The fuck? How many phones do you buy in one year anyway!?


RE: Is this a Win?
By Pirks on 7/13/12, Rating: 0
RE: Is this a Win?
By StevoLincolnite on 7/12/2012 10:13:18 PM , Rating: 2
Screen size is a non issue, the resolution can be though.
Windows Phones have just as many screen size choices as Android; even large screens (4.7") like those found in the HTC Titan.

I've personally not bought a Smartphone yet, but I do want a Windows phone because it does look slick and ties into Xbox Live nicely.
Not to mention another stopper for me is that the current phones cannot be upgraded to Windows Phone 8; which I would probably want as well as most new Apps and games will be targeted at that OS when it's released.

I think if Microsoft cemented itself as a Gamers phone and released a killer must-have exclusive game, that may help get people talking about it. - Halo for instance threw the Xbox and Xbox 360 on the map.


RE: Is this a Win?
By Pirks on 7/12/2012 10:36:50 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I do want a Windows phone
Wait for WP8 and don't get any WP7.5 handset!


RE: Is this a Win?
By slunkius on 7/13/2012 12:58:37 AM , Rating: 2
I don't get it. One day its "WP7 for the win, HTC Titan rocks, Android is for lamerz". Next day its "i bought Android, will be happy to upgrade to new Android version someday if possible, don't buy WP7, Apple still sux". I guess tomorrow it will be "i got an iphone, woohoo!"


RE: Is this a Win?
By ritualm on 7/12/2012 10:37:36 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
No SD card.

Wrong.

Source = http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/17/windows-phone-7...
quote:
First off, Microsoft had never intended Windows Phone 7's storage to be expandable, swappable, or removable...

We're told that on the first boot after a reset, the phone checks the inserted card and formats it -- but that's not all that happens. One of our tipsters reminds us that the "S" in SD stands for "secure," and though most platforms don't make use of SD's security features, Windows Phone 7 most definitely does. After the format, the phone randomly generates a password that it stores in its internal Flash and then uses to secure the card, essentially bonding the card with the phone. By its design, a password-secured SD card (or microSD card in this case) can be read only with the password; otherwise, your only option is to erase it.

Basically, with Windows Phone 7, there is no option to use expandable SD cards, because the very moment you put it into a WP7 phone you won't be able to access it with anything else except that WP7 phone you used.

Or a Nokia Symbian phone for a reformat operation.

Oh wait, it gets better!
quote:
What we've learned from our tipsters and from documents culled from Microsoft, Samsung, and others is that the big issue is random access performance -- a figure that isn't taken into account in a card's class rating. Ironically, Microsoft discovered in its testing that cards with higher class ratings actually performed worse on Windows Phone 7 because the tweaks card manufacturers make to achieve high sequential throughput can actually hurt random access times.

If there is one big positive about WP7, it's that the experience is consistent across brands and models.


RE: Is this a Win?
By TakinYourPoints on 7/13/2012 3:28:53 AM , Rating: 2
It is all about advertising and quotas.

Very few people care about things you mentioned. Even with lower specs WP7 handsets for its first year was much smoother than top-end Android handsets. Sadly, WP7 specs haven't kept up while Android finally got a decent OS with ICS, so that is past.

Android has a massive marketing push from carriers. Look at all of the billboards and TV ads that Verizon/ATT/Sprint run pushing Android. They spend hundreds of millions marketing it. If you go to one of their stores then they'll push Android over everything else they have available due to higher internal sales quotas. They push Android because carriers have total control over the platform, not because it is objectively the best option for customers.

If things were "fair" then WP7 would have gotten better attention when it was released. Unfortunately Microsoft failed at marketing the platform and carriers threw it under the bus at the expense of Android. It didn't have a chance even though it was clearly superior to Android up until earlier this year.

At CES 2011 it was Android trash everywhere. Better WP7 handsets were in a sad little corner in the Microsoft booth. Marketing in the rest of the world paralleled that.


RE: Is this a Win?
By retrospooty on 7/13/2012 8:26:21 AM , Rating: 2
"This is why I'm going crapdroid as of today."

??? LOL /facepalm

You are quite possibly the most mentally unstable fanboy I have ever come across. You buy a platform, champion it like like there is no tomorrow and anyone that bought differently than you is an idiot, then you find its flaws and change your tune and act as if everything you have been arguing all along didnt happen.


RE: Is this a Win?
By theapparition on 7/13/2012 11:04:06 AM , Rating: 2
That happens every day with 20 people here, but what's most annoying about him is he does it all while acting like a 12yo girl.


RE: Is this a Win?
By retrospooty on 7/13/2012 1:16:17 PM , Rating: 2
"while acting like a premenstrual 12yo girl."

ftfy ;)


RE: Is this a Win?
By Pirks on 7/13/2012 2:54:14 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
anyone that bought differently than you is an idiot
Nah, this is what you say, not me. I said "anyone who bought crap is an idiot", and you turned it into "anything but what I bought is crap and their users are idiots".

You are a master troll, sir, but I got used to your trolling and lies about me a long time ago. You can do shit about it buddy so troll on hehehe ;)


RE: Is this a Win?
By retrospooty on 7/13/2012 5:43:43 PM , Rating: 2
Your a nut... Enjoy your "crapdroid" though. I played with a Note for about 10 mins. The screen is simply awesome!


RE: Is this a Win?
By Pirks on 7/13/2012 9:51:22 PM , Rating: 2
Thanks, I'll need to learn that beast OS if I wanna have my own customized phone that does what I want the way I want. WP7.5 was close but I could not download music from the cloud and the internal storage was just 16 GB which was tiny and not expandable. And I could not browse my Windows file shares! I wanted to play some movie over WiFi from my Windows PC and WP7.5 can't do that at all (I think... maybe I'm wrong on that, I hope I am :)

Maybe I'll be free from those limitations on Galaxy Note but then I'll have to learn how to uninstall carrier crapware, how to root it and tons of other sysadmin stuff. Not gonna be fun but we'll see, if it's stable and not as horribly slow as it used to be last year when I check it out then maybe I'll agree that crapdroid is not crap anymore. Pray now.


RE: Is this a Win?
By retrospooty on 7/14/2012 8:15:40 AM , Rating: 2
You should wait a few months for the Note 2. It will come out with Jelly Bean.

Ironic, that to do what you want to do, you have to get the most flexible expandable phone OS that you have been crapping on all along. ;)

It's kind of like a Mac user being forced into buying Windos to fill the gaps that Mac's lack. =)

I'm tickled.


RE: Is this a Win?
RE: Is this a Win?
By Pirks on 7/14/2012 9:03:14 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
You should wait a few months for the Note 2
Doesn't make sense financially. I've got a killer deal by getting my current Note N7000 in mint condition (new in open box) for $400, been hunting for a long time to get such a low price, and Note 2 will cost double that in October when it comes to market. Paying double the price for a device that's like 10% better is not something I usually do.
quote:
Ironic, that to do what you want to do, you have to get the most flexible expandable phone OS that you have been crapping on all along
If Google didn't swear multiple times that they fixed slowness and lags in JB I would probably wait for WP8 but since JB is out now might as well give it a try soon. I think in couple of months we'll see some XDA builds for Note and then I can see for myself if crapdroid stopped being crappy or not yet ;)

I'll keep watching for a similar phablet with WP8 on board, could be even better purchase later next year.


RE: Is this a Win?
By NellyFromMA on 7/13/2012 11:30:11 AM , Rating: 2
I don't think they care to push Win Phone over Win 8 at this time. A success with Win 8 (at least on tablets)effectively IS a win for Win Phone 8.

They need to be seriously compelling to beat out the hype with Android and iOS, why spend marketting dollars on something that still needs more time to be the definite superior product.

No, instead they are marketting their most important product which ends up being a super set of what their next phone product will be. If touch is a win on Win8, by extension WP8 is in good shape.

It's strategy my friends..... isn't that clear? These markets are WAY more up for grabs than people think. Especially when the majority of users are on 1.5 - 2 year upgrade cycles...

They will go to the most attractive devices, INDEPENDANT of OS (so long as they are reputable as it stands). The users en masse just don't care who makes it as much as they care about how well it works.

MS rep is ironclad. As many naysayers as there are, there are infinitely more supporters and enthusiasts.

As long as they deliver as they have been, they will be fine. Even at the predicted price points, the Surface devices appear premium compared to even the (new) iPad. We'll see soon.


RE: Is this a Win?
By crispbp04 on 7/14/2012 11:29:50 AM , Rating: 2
If you saw the larger picture you'd understand why any push for Windows Phone 7/7.5 has been underwhelming. Microsoft never intended to get a large user base for this platform, just one large enough to prove the metro concept works for Windows 8. Calling it a management fail is only scratching the surface. Could you imagine if 30% of the market owned a windows phone 7 device only to find out they have no upgrade path to windows 8? It would be outrage. Early adopters who use windows phone (like myself) knew there was a risk going in that this could happen. I'm not upset since I'm getting WP7.8, but I can't wait for a nokia pureview running windows 8 on verizion with an hd screen... just sayin


The rumor is...
By Pirks on 7/12/2012 6:57:52 PM , Rating: 2
...that Sinofsky is consolidating the old Windows Phone team with his Windows/RT team so we'll see even more people leaving MS, especially those who belonged to the Windows CE realm, like this Williams guy.




RE: The rumor is...
By kleinma on 7/12/2012 7:12:47 PM , Rating: 2
makes sense as WinPhone 7 slowly goes away and makes way for WinPhone 8. I applaud this move because if they didnt do it, we would likely see lots of differences come out between WinRT and Windows Phone. It is better to have it all on the same page under the same umbrella


RE: The rumor is...
By Chadder007 on 7/12/2012 8:11:30 PM , Rating: 3
So....the Lumia phones really were a Beta test phone...


RE: The rumor is...
By Pirks on 7/12/2012 8:45:19 PM , Rating: 1
Just like iPhone 2G was a Beta test phone too


RE: The rumor is...
By Aloonatic on 7/13/2012 3:13:57 AM , Rating: 2
The key difference, that the iPhone was worth having as it was really the only phone of its type available at the time where as, by the time the Lumia came out, there were plenty of smart phone options about.

It's such a shame, I do actually really want a Windows Phone, but their insistence of keeping low screen resolutions in WP7.x (i assume to keep the "buttery smooth" interface buttered) meant that they just weren't something that I could use.


Huge marketing problem for MS
By tayb on 7/12/2012 8:42:53 PM , Rating: 3
Windows Phone 7.5 is a great OS. 7.9 and 8.0 look like excellent upgrades. The problem is that people hear "Windows Phone" and they don't think WP7 and Metro they think horrible nasty Windows Mobile. And it doesn't even seem like Microsoft is even trying to rectify this.

Microsoft is extremely naive if they think they can make a great OS and the name itself will sell itself. In the PC market that's probably true but it's not true when you are getting kicked in the mouth in the mobile market.




RE: Huge marketing problem for MS
By Pirks on 7/12/2012 9:01:56 PM , Rating: 1
This has been successfully addressed by the "Smoked by Windows Phone" global marketing campaign, that's still ongoing and moving from country to country after leaving the US. The Lumia 900 brand got such rave ratings and huge sale numbers on Amazon not just by itself and without any marketing help, be sure about that.


RE: Huge marketing problem for MS
By tayb on 7/12/2012 9:45:34 PM , Rating: 2
It's been addressed so well that the only time I've ever even heard of the ad campaign is by you referencing it here and when MS failed to "pay up" a few months ago. That's it. I have not seen a television ad, internet ad, physical ad, bill board, email, etc. You name, I haven't seen it.

The Lumia got rave reviews and a specific COLOR sold out but the sales have already died out. Apple and Samsung are obliterating MS/Nokia right now.


Why isn't Amazon's Kindle Fire an app?
By quiksilvr on 7/12/2012 6:43:13 PM , Rating: 2
I think the collest idea would have been the Kindle Fire running ICS (Jellybean now) and have Kindle fire as an app and as an option to load at start up. That way you get a cool, sleek Amazon interface (that only the Fire can fuel your need for) for Amazon needs and then switch the ICS for other needs, giving you the full flexibility of both worlds.

Limiting it to just the Amazon universe (and their appstore, which I still don't really get the purpose of) makes it more difficult for developers. They have to make an app that works on all versions of Android and THIS too?

So in the end, as much as I love Amazon, I don't like the limiting OS, nor the fact that the PS3 and 360 get Instant Video App whereas Android and iOS do not.




By Camikazi on 7/13/2012 10:33:23 AM , Rating: 2
Cause Amazon sells those things at a loss and makes it money on people buying apps, movies, books and products through Amazon. Letting people use any store they want will make the losses much worse and the whole endeavor not worth it.


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