7 Reasons Why Amazon Fire Phone Sucks

In case you don’t follow tech news and you might be considering buying the relatively new Amazon Fire phone which is now discounted down to $0.99 cents, DON’T DO IT! While this may seem like an incredible bargain for a new phone, there is a big catch – the phone sucks ass.

Sure, it is discounted down to a mere one dollar, but that is only if you sign up for a plan, which will cost you a minimum of $60 per month. You might think even that isn’t too bad, but it is. And if you’re the type of person trying to save money, then avoid this phone at all costs.

Lets take a look at the reasons why the Amazon Fire Phone sucks.

1. Expensive 2 Year Contract

If you want to use the Fire Phone it can only be on the AT&T network using one of their plans. So if you sign-up for a two year contract to get the 99 cent price of the phone, you’re locked into paying a minimum of $60 per month for unlimited talk & text, plus 300MB data… ugh, hardly a frugal option, especially compared to the many cheap mobile phone plans out there.

2. Costs $450 with No Contract

So perhaps you think that you’ll just opt out of the two year contract and buy the phone to avoid the high monthly rate, right? Not so fast sucker, the phone itself without a contract will gouge you of $450 smackers for something that is the equivalent of a third world generic feature phone. You could buy a Motorola Moto E for less than $100 and it’d blow the Fire Phone out of the water.

3. Only Works with AT&T

As mentioned it only works on the AT&T network which we all know is evil, so what’s the point. Forget about trying to use the phone on Sprint or T-Mobile, let alone any kind of MVNO like Republic Wireless or Ting for example.

4. 3D Feature is Useless Gimmick

One of the technologies which was promoted for the Fire Phone was its use of 3D technology in its user interface. However, many customers who did buy the phone reported that the 3D was just an annoying distraction and didn’t actually add to the enjoyment or usefulness of the phone.

5. Amazon App Store is Desolate Wasteland

So basically the Fire Phone runs off the Android operating system, yet it has decided to only make apps available that come exclusively from the Amazon app store. Of course, since this is a relatively new market for them the amount of apps is miniscule in comparison to the Google Play App store or iPhone app store. You would think that since they use the Android operating system, they’d enable the ability to access the Google Play store.

6. Clunky User Interface

Many customers who bought the phone have reported that the user interface was clunky and unresponsive, causing a lot frustration.

7. Amazon Advertising in Your Pocket

Typically if you’re trying to sell something that people actually want, a business needs to provide some kind of value proposition – you know, something that makes a customer’s life better. Well, this product did the opposite of that. Rather than catering to needs of customers, they created a product that catered to the needs of the Amazon business model.

Anyone who has taken a look at this phone can clearly see that its purpose is to get you to buy more crap (on Amazon) that you don’t need, with money you don’t have, to impress people you don’t like.


Hopefully none of my readers have bought into this lemon of a phone, but if you’ve been so unfortunate, please let us know what you think of it in the comments below. Am I off base with these critiques or is it any good at all?

6 comments

  1. Just got phone… sucks. Can’t do anything with it. Can’t even use emoticons in texts. WTF?! Or even transfer my contacts. None of my apps are compatable. I assumed that it would at least be a step up from my ancient HTC inspire but it is most definitely a few steps down. Very dissappointed. Only positive is that my prime membership is renewed for another year so I can stream.

  2. This is mostly incorrect information and misleading. The pricing has changed significantly and that has made this a good phone for some people. The phone is now 120 or 150 for the 32gb and 64gb and includes a year of amazon prime and a two year warranty. If you are going to buy prime anyways, all of a sudden this is the best bang for buck phone by a significant margin.

    The primary problem for most people is that it is following apples business model in terms of its implementation of its proprietary software ecosystem, and mostly without the benefits you’d get from Apple. I detest Apple for this and wouldn’t buy an apple product for this very reason. Fortunately it isn’t the same situation. Firefox is still android, and it is very easy to install the play store. In fact, it took me all of 15 minutes to install cyanogen on the phone, from the phone itself without using a computer, and have the mostly familiar android experience I’m used to. The reason I said mostly is because it is devoid of all of the junk you get with any stock android phone.

    Now, after a Google search and clicking a Reddit link, my phone transformed from one of the most hated phones on the internet, both in terms of value and software, to an outrageously good deal. It’s a 2.2 quadcore snapdragon 800/adreno 330 gpu equipped phone with a 2400mah battery, a not-so-bad pixel density of 312 @1280×720 and a front facing 2.1mp and excellent primary camera @ 13mp that shoots 1080 video @ 30fps. Without fireos. With Google play. For 50 dollars.

    Damn, 13mb pictures? With photos that size, even the 64gb will go quick. Fortunately, that is no problem because the phone has unlimited cloud storage for photos, along with other prime benefits.

    1. Sorry, I meant fireos is still android, not Firefox.

      I also wanted to point out that the phone you specifically mentioned by name as the phone that blows firephone out of the water is literally not even equivelant in any of its specs. That was a pretty weird example to use.

  3. I purchased the Amazon Fire Phone just after its arrival on the market. It didn’t take long to figure out I’d made a very big mistake. As mentioned, they have their own app store with very limited apps to choose from. My biggest complaint next to the number of malfunctions that have occurred with the phone. They are as follows:

    Slow operation

    Sound issues (people not hearing me on a continuous basis-zero sound coming in from my end and auxiliary cable or headphones not working)
    Volume changing on its own as though button is being pushed.

    Sending longer text breaks up and scatters them randomly when sent

    Back button not working on some apps (figured out I have to slide from bottom up to go back)

    Bottom line is, this phone sucks!!_
    Do not waste your money. Stay with one named after a fruit, you know the one that keeps the doctor away. I will be going back to it myself.

    1. *My biggest complaint next to the apps are the number of malfunctions that have occurred with the phone.*

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