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Over 60,000 people, including Amazon customers, applied to attend the Amazon launch event today. Just after 1:30 p.m. Eastern, CEO Jeff Bezos took the stage. He began by explaining that Amazon Prime has been growing steadily since it launched, shooting up in 2011:
Amazon Prime membership growth chart http://t.co/Z1LMoItf6F pic.twitter.com/OVYVVHXYkF
— The Verge (@verge) June 18, 2014
About twenty minutes into the event, Bezos asked the all-important question:
Jeff talking about #amazonphone at the #amazonevent @Q13Fox pic.twitter.com/sTuMQ7T3lT
— Kate Yeager (@KateYeagerQ13) June 18, 2014
As it turns out, yes! To the surprise of, well, no one, Amazon has created a phone. It is called the "Fire Phone."
here's the fire phone: http://t.co/B8jqc5QP3K pic.twitter.com/72ATr5qu8y
— Sarah Perez (@sarahintampa) June 18, 2014
The Fire Phone has a Gorilla Glass 3 screen with a rubber frame. The screen is 4.7 inches with a 590 nits screen, making it ideal for outdoor use, and a direct competitor for Samsung Tab S. The processor is 2.2 GHz, quad-core with 2 GB of RAM. As expected, the cameras pack a punch. There is a 13 MP camera, with optical image stabilization.
The first perk of Amazon affiliation: free unlimited storage for photos in Amazon Cloud Drive.
Amazon also put some curious thought into the sound. There are dual stereo speakers with dolby virtual surround, and tangle-free cables on the earbud headphones (which I’m pretty sure are made with magic.) The earbuds are magnetic, which seems to be the secret to their tangle-free promise.
tangle free headphones! take that apple ;) http://t.co/B8jqc5QP3K pic.twitter.com/6ffOs6n3km
— Sarah Perez (@sarahintampa) June 18, 2014
Now, let’s talk cameras. We know that cameras were all the rage during the Amazon phone rumors. The phone has a shutter button on the side, so you can go straight to taking pictures instantly.