AT&T tipped to exclusively offer Amazon's smartphone

The Amazon smartphone will be an AT&T exclusive, it's reported, and is expected to begin shipping in September in time for the 2014 holiday season. The handset, so-far unnamed, is believed to be revealed on Wednesday this week by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in an event in Seattle, and use an innovative face tracking technology to deliver 3D graphics.

That system will rely on four front-facing sensors that together can do retina tracking, according to the WSJ's sources, and use that data to adjust on-screen images so that they look three-dimensional.

The phone will be sold solely with AT&T service, it's also reported, rather than coming in different carrier models as is common among Samsung, Apple, and HTC. AT&T already provides the embedded cellular connectivity for Amazon's Kindle range of tablets and ereaders, dubbed Whispernet, though the carrier's name is not used in Amazon's marketing.

Developers have already been given a sneak preview of the phone, it's said, ahead of the launch tomorrow. Amazon has been talking up its app selection in the Amazon Appstore, the company's version of the Google Play store for its modified version of Android, but it's unclear what coders will have to do to cater for the new 3D system.

While the big reveal is tomorrow, the phone still isn't expected to begin shipping for several months. That could well be to allow time for app makers to get up to speed.

SOURCE WSJ