yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Amazon Fire Phone] alfick3:
Wasn't it at $199 last week?
[Amazon Fire Phone] casualt:
Yes but then it went back up to $449 now it's $229
[Amazon Fire Phone] alfick3:
Ok. Maybe, hopefully, it'll come back down below $200. That was a selling point for my wife to get one for her. Maybe it will still be.
[Amazon Fire Phone] dimex:
Amazon probably sold it at $199 to get some off the shelves and into people's hands who wouldn't have purchased the phone otherwise. If you sort the reviews by date, a lot of 5 star reviews are from the fire sale.

They just want to bank on those positive reviews and then jack the price up again. Prospective buyers who don't know about the recent sale will look at the phone now and think it's worth the extra money.
[Amazon Fire Phone] Chazzum:
Chromecast Not Working For HBO Go or Netflix?

Did you actually try to use your Chromecast with the Fire Phone? I am not having any luck.

I Followed the sideloading instructions and have the Play store active...can download and install stuff from Play. Installed Chromecast, Chrome browser and also Netflix and HBOGO apps all from the Play store. While the apps all work (the Chromecast dongle is recognized by the Chromecast app), neither the HBO Go app or Netflix app give me the option to cast to my Chromecast. This could be a deal killer for me...may have to sent the Fire phone back if I cannot use it in conjunction with my TV & Chromecast device.

FWIW, I also tried the Amazon AppStore versions of HBO Go and Netflix with the same poor result. It's as if the apps don't see the Chromecast.

Has anyone been able to cast HBO Go and/or Netflix using the Fire Phone? If so, how'd you do it?

Thanks,
[Amazon Fire Phone] Chazzum:
Spent far too much time on this for so little reward.

Installed Starz android app and that shows chromecast icon and casts to chromecast dongle good. This made me realize it must be the netflix and HBOGo apps themselves that are the problem. Found older version of Netflix app 3.7.2 which gave me the chromecast icon HOWEVER when trying to cast message pop up the the tv screen that I need to update to a newer version of the app to cast...which doesn't work as new versions don't show the cast icon. HBOGO I couldn't find an older version that would show the chromecast icon.

Giving up for now. Any advice would be appreciated.
[Amazon Fire Phone] robocopvn:
Get mine today ! it's a pretty powerful device but amazon OS and appstore let it down. So now I wait till there is some great guys create a beautiful ROM for it :D
[Amazon Fire Phone] 454:
They have raised the price to $15 for a new SIM card, regardless of which one, without activation of a new line. Turns out, it only cost me $10 to activate another line (multi-line post paid account), which includes the new card, and the line can be cancelled at any time. :rolleyes:
[Amazon Fire Phone] Xyth:
You can buy a Tmobile Nano card with adapters from Amazon for $10 still. http://www.amazon.com/T-Mobile-Complete-SIM-Starter-Kit/dp/B00LPPHHFK
[Amazon Fire Phone] aramansell:
I used the chromecast to cast a slide show from files on my google + account to my tv for my business. (samples of our products). And that did work. I will try tomorrow to get it to work for other apps such as netflix. If I figure anything out I will post.

---------- Post added at 04:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:56 AM ----------

I found that the google now launcher for the device makes it feel like a fairly normal android experience and is about as good for me as a custom rom. I have also found that I LOVE the gesture for back button hope that is implemented in future devices. As for the appstore, it is very easy to load google services and after 15 minutes of installs you can have a powerful device (unquestionably the most powerful sub $200 phone unlocked) with a solid android user experience. My two cents.
[Amazon Fire Phone] Chazzum:
Did some more Chromecast testing this time with Youtube.

The YouTube app from Amazon's app store does NOT cast...no cast icon in the app. I cleared cache and data and uninstalled. Then I installed the Google Play version and viola...I can cast YouTube. So, so far I can cast Starz and YouTube but not Netflix or HBOGO. Not sure why some apps work and other's don't.

I gotta say, I'm liking this phone more and more. The camera is outstanding both front and rear. Colors are natural, indoor shots in office lighting come out perfectly exposed without flash. I'm also getting used to and even liking the Carousel, the back swipe up, two clicks to bring up the running apps bar. Hey, it is a bit different but then so is an Iphone . Just takes a little getting used to. The hatred for this phone is amazingly overblown. Glad I got it at $199...I was about to renew Prime anyways so, as many point out, it is really a $100 device. IMHO, one of the best deals of the past year.
[Amazon Fire Phone] robocopvn:
really ? We can actually install the google play service ? could you please show me how ? I am a very good reading-and-follow-guide.

with google play service we can have Gmail, Youtube, G+ app running as normal android device I suppose, rite ?

thank you
[Amazon Fire Phone] aramansell:
Look at Aztecwarrior25's post #9 in this this fire sale thread. (click on the first page of this thread)

His links work perfectly.
[Amazon Fire Phone] Xyth:
I also find that with the Google now launcher set as default and with Google play working the phone is as good, if not better than a Nexus 5. I have it setup exactly like my Nexus 4 and I would much rather use the Fire Phone even though the Nexus has android 5. I also really like the "swipe up" for the back function. Once I did it a few times it just felt "right".
[Amazon Fire Phone] robocopvn:
OMG I didn't see that. Now with google play, gmail, youtube, G+ and the whole apps that needs play frameworks :D :laugh:

seems to be an early Christmas gift for me. thank you

some report said this is not stable as the notification that the frameworks stop working appear all the time. can you please confirm this ?

add:

follow instruction, everything works like a charm. And this is even more stable than on the kindle tablet.

However the Google Play store is pretty old (version 4.1) can I install the newer version (5.1) over it ?
[Amazon Fire Phone] en5:
Metro PCS

Has anyone (else) tried this phone with the Google apps on Metro PCS?

I'm running the 3.6.8 Fire OS. The phone seems to function properly, but once the Google apps are installed I seem to lose cellular data capabilities (phone calls / SMS still work). I tried a factory reset which did not immediately resolve my cellular data issue, but it came back on the following day. I figured it was a fluke, so I tried re-installing the apps following Aztecwarrior#25's instructions on the first page and now I've lost my cellular data connection again.

It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me - but I don't know what, if anything, Google and Fire could be fighting for in the background that could cause this. All of the apps, etc. are working as normal, at least when connected to WiFi.

Thanks.
[Amazon Fire Phone] alfick3:
Maybe the APN? Here's a link to the MetroPCS APN settings: http://androidforums.com/threads/metropcs-guide-faq-info-of-apns-bands-etc.810843/

Hope it'll help you.
[Amazon Fire Phone] en5:
Thank you for the quick reply! I tried changing the APN, it was set to "T-Mobile US LTE" which I would have imagined should work (now that Metro utilizes the T-Mobile network), and I switched it to the "MetroPCS LTE" APN and it immediately connected to the LTE network. I tried flipping it back to the "T-Mobile US LTE" APN and now it's online with that as well.

Very strange, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth on this one. It's working now so I'll leave that alone.

Thank you very much!
[Amazon Fire Phone] alfick3:
Glad I could help. I'm on Metro as well, with my Moto G. I'm considering one of these Fire Phones for my wife come tax refund time in February or March and we'll be putting it on Metro as well. It'll be replacing her LG Motion.
[Amazon Fire Phone] Xyth:
Yes, I'm running Play store version 5.1.11
[Amazon Fire Phone] karlleuang85:
does not work

it does not work
[Amazon Fire Phone] plympton:
What do you mean? Of course it works. Have 3 phones I've done it to!
[Amazon Fire Phone] 454:
It's going to be interesting if we start to see refurbished units showing up on Amazon at a heavily discounted price-point. All those returned phones need to go somewhere.
[Amazon Fire Phone] Sineras:
Issue with 'Amazon' apps

I managed to get everything set up as post #9 indicated. Almost everything runs fine from the Google perspective. Some play store apps still say 'incompatible' and my password app doesn't seem to adhere to the 'lock after 5 minutes' setting.

The one big issue I have now is that some of the baked in Amazon apps (Kindle reader, Music) are frequently crashing. Music seems to crash whenever I try to view the cloud songs. Is this a matter of letting the Google Play Store automatically update apps and borking whatever Amazon has set up to communicate back to the mothership?

Edit; Actually I just thought of another issue. Even with a different launcher (tried Google Now, Nova, etc.) I can't seem to get a widget on the screen or change the wallpaper. Anyone else able to do so?

Otherwise, happy with the phone.
[Amazon Fire Phone] robocopvn:
It works perfectly. On my friend's fire phone and mine.

So maybe you just need to sit back, and relax for few minutes and try it again.

Or you can describe your problems so everyone may help :)
[Amazon Fire Phone] nothingshocking:
I noticed Amazon Apps crashing when having any other launchers installed. Deleted the launchers, but nothing worked still, then restored the phone and added Google Apps back, but no launchers and no more crashes. Not sure if that was the cause of the Amazon crashes for certain, but I am not adding them back to test.

I don't think you are getting custom wallpapers until there is a root for this OS and no downgrading with the unlocked phone right now.
[Amazon Fire Phone] Xyth:
The only time I get "incompatible" on the play store is when the app needs a newer version of android than we have, Like 4.3 and 4.4 that need newer features like Bluetooth 4.0. This should be resolved when we get android version 4.4 soon (Fire OS 4.0).

Yup, if you use Play store to update Amazon Prime music and Kindle they get borked. Uninstall Prime music from the play store and that fixes it. I now have 2 Kindle app icons, one works fine and one won't launch, and can't be uninstalled, but I can live with that rather than doing a full reset to clear it. Make sure you toggle off auto update on those 2 apps in the play store or it will happen again.

I'm running the dashclock widget on the Google Now launcher main page and a few plugins for that and it works great. Wallpapers are not working but I always just use a black wallpaper to save power so this is actually a blessing for me :)
[Amazon Fire Phone] Sineras:
It's odd because the apps were working for a while after I had the launcher in place. Then one after another they stopped working.

I also had installed Twitter and LinkedIn from the Amazon AppStore. After a while, AppStore said they needed to be manually updated because they were sideloaded and then the manual update failed.

I've since reset the phone and this morning put all of the google stuff back on, making sure that Google Play auto-update is turned off. So far so good on the lack of app crashing.
[Amazon Fire Phone] blcistheking:
Anyone having issues using hangouts for sms/calling over wifi?
[Amazon Fire Phone] Mensarius:
Was the phone supposed to support wifi calling? I have read anything about it having that feature :/
[Amazon Fire Phone] gale2000:
I haven't tried hangouts yet, but Freeodmpop works perfectly using wifi. I'll try Hangouts later today.
[Amazon Fire Phone] maker5432:
This works great for me. No issues.
[Amazon Fire Phone] ediebol:
Wallpapers work on Buzz Launcher, but widgets do not... A bunch of other launchers work with widgets...

Still trying to find one that works with both!
[Amazon Fire Phone] robocopvn:
big launcher works with wallpaper, but they dont support widget :D

I choose this :D
[Amazon Fire Phone] theprov:
Is it possible to change keyboard? I tried with google keyboard without success.
[Amazon Fire Phone] robocopvn:
check this : http://xdaforums.com/fire-phone/general/amazon-fire-phone-keyboard-t2972332
[Amazon Fire Phone] hoahongxanh:
I see the link guide how to install play store - liliputing.com/2014/12/install-google-play-store-amazons-fire-phone.html

Does it work?

I tried to install as the instruction at page 1. When I logged in the "add a google account", it appeared " couldn't sign in - your username and pass don't match. Try again'.

Help me please, thaks
[Amazon Fire Phone] Sineras:
Disable 2 factor authentication.
[Amazon Fire Phone] hoahongxanh:
Thks a lot. I tried and this worked well.
[Amazon Fire Phone] Aztecwarrior25:
Unlocked GSM Price Dropped to $189

Damn $10 cheaper now - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OC0USA6 we mus truly need to liquidate this surplus units produced ..

And heads are a rolling - They even fired/demoted the managers in charge at Amazon Lab 126 for the Fire phone
[Amazon Fire Phone] Buzzy42:
Gotta wonder how much farther it can possibly go, especially with the free year of Prime included... part of me wants to wait for $150, part of me thinks they might drop the Prime or whatever if they go too much lower.

It'd be a great secondary phone for travel (I'm on Verizon, so... nothing international for me!) and general tinkering with.
[Amazon Fire Phone] mikeydubs23:
Amazon Fire Phone GPE

Could you imagine an Android Fire Phone GPE? They'd be gone in no time. While I was able to install the Google apps, I couldn't convince anyone in the family that it was a good phone. I think I have to return it, even at this price. The showstopper for me is the Bluetooth, without 4.0 I can't use it for connected devices like my Garmin so I'll stick with the terrible battery life of my Nexus 5.
[Amazon Fire Phone] gale2000:
My fire phone bluetooth connects with all my devices, kit kat, jelly bean, and windows 8.1.
[Amazon Fire Phone] ged92781:
I saw the price drop too. I was reading this article yesterday about how the Fire phone was made by and for Jeff Bezos. I'm not sure how true that really it, but I'm glad to have gotten mine and the price I did.
[Amazon Fire Phone] mikeydubs23:
Are you saying it has Bluetooth 4.0 and will connect to low power Bluetooth devices like fitness trackers? This is what I read in the specs "BT 3.0 + EDR (does not support Bluetooth Low Energy)", but I couldn't imagine why any company would put out a phone now without BTLE especially when the plan all along was such a high pricepoint. I could understand skimping if you were building a cheap phone, but that's not what this was intended to be aside from these weird and often random firesales (it's back up to $449 again).
[Amazon Fire Phone] cloudwatcher:
Damn, back up to $449 now. Guess it was a one-day thing.
[Amazon Fire Phone] robocopvn:
as a marketer, I'm pretty sure they're using the pulse pricing tactic. Like the name, they will continuously drop the price for a short time and then back to normal, then for a period of time they will do the same and the same. This will create the media attention, plus it will create the much more demands from consumers. People will wait for the next pulse and click the buy button, they're afraid this will be the last time. The next pulse will be next month I think :D.

I personally think Amazon should remove the dynamic perspective. This will cut the cost a lot ( 4 cameras ) and increase the battery life. To be honest, after 3 days, I turn it off forever :D
[Amazon Fire Phone] Xyth:
The Firephone has the BT 4.0 hardware, it just needs an OS update to 4.3 or better to activate it.

Qualcomm WCN3680 802.11ac combo Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM chip

The WCN3680 chipset does indeed support Bluetooth LE 4.0. Amazon has promised to enable this option in the future. Until then, any BLE devices, such as the current slate of smart watches, are incompatible with the Fire Phone.
[Amazon Fire Phone] mjstallion:
Yup the deal is dead.
[Amazon Fire Phone] zombie1991:
Don't disable 2 factor, just create a new app specific password and use that instead.
[Amazon Fire Phone] mikeydubs23:
I know I didn't initially read this correctly and now what I think you are saying is that Amazon needs to completely port their Fire OS to a version of Android 4.3 or higher. So we're not talking about an easy switch to flip. Clearly it wasn't something important to them and again I can't imagine why they developed in anything less than the standard at the time which was kitkat 4.4.

Aside from this BLTE issue, it's somewhat impressive with the Google apps side-loaded with Google now launcher.
[Amazon Fire Phone] Xyth:
Amazon has stated several times they would be updating the fire phone to Android 4.4 this year (hopefully soon). They have already ported Fire OS on the Kindles to 4.4 so most of the work is already done.
[Amazon Fire Phone] hungrymr2:
I asked amazon if they could give me the 189 deal, and they did and gave me a 1 day shipping. So i'm getting this tomorrow. Soooooo maybe the fire sale is still kinda going on? I hope they update this phone to at lease kitkat, so I can start using my android watch.
[Amazon Fire Phone] gale2000:
Unlocked Fire Phone price is $199 again at Amazon.
[Amazon Fire Phone] iTelegraph:
Go to the Google Play Store and install Nova Launcher. Its settings are well explained. Just set the "home page" setting (in Nova settings) to Nova Launcher. If you need to go back to the Fire Launcher, you just need to change that setting to "Fire".

---------- Post added at 06:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:42 PM ----------

Actually, you have to do one thing more. You need to go to your list of "purchased" apps in your account on the Amazon website and delete it there.

I had installed The Week "Kindle Tablet Edition" from the Amazon Store, which crashed frequently. After I did the Google Play installation, I deleted it and installed The Week 'US Edition", which was just a later version. However, I kept getting notifications to update TheWeek. It wasn't until I deleted the original "Kindle Tablet Edition" from my Amazon account that the notices stopped.
[Amazon Fire Phone] robocopvn:
a new pulse has arrived. $199 this time. will last few days :D
[Amazon Fire Phone] gino23:
Does this work for v 3.6.5 AT&T?
[Amazon Fire Phone] venussuz:
Debating on holding out for a lower price

I got the Fire Phone during the BF sale, so already got it for the great price of $199 with Prime. But seeing that they've pulsed it several times since, once at $189, I can't help but think it will go lower. Now that I know how to set it up as I want (install google play, either dodol or vire launcher and use a notification app to let me know I've missed something) it wouldn't be much of a hassle to return it and wait for the price to go down to what I consider the optimal point, $159 with Prime. Which I'd have to do in the next few days because of the holiday return schedule. Admittedly, I'd also like an extension to figure out if the problems I'm having lately with one contact are because of the phone (only ported for Phone use January 10) or the new MVNO I'm using. Switching back to my old phone should tell me that.

I really like the phone - it's miles better than the HTC G2 I'd been using, but there are things that make using it less than I would have hoped for.

TLDR version - Bought the phone at $199, thinking of returning it hoping it will go down to $159. Opinions on that happening?
[Amazon Fire Phone] robocopvn:
After BlackFriday, it was sometimes $220, sometimes $189 but most of the time $199 and $450. Analyst shows the material cost of fire phone is ~$200.

And they give you $100 for Prime. So I personally don't think it will go cheaper. In fact, it would go around the price $200
[Amazon Fire Phone] mikeydubs23:
Returned it

I returned it yesterday. No BTLE yet, $72 prime the other day, and no telling what will happen when they do upgrade to KitKat to enable BLTE made it an easy decision.
[Amazon Fire Phone] venussuz:
Thanks, I didn't realize the materials cost was that high. I think I'll be keeping it then, because as others have said it's a great phone after a few tweaks have been made. Now that I'm getting notifications thanks to the Dynamic Notifications app, it rocks.
[Amazon Fire Phone] litan1106:
NO Bootloader unlock, no buy.
[Amazon Fire Phone] russy23:
your loss mate
[Amazon Fire Phone] manojvasanthram:
Google Play Services has stopped

Hi everyone,

I followed the instructions to install google play store and was enjoying the fire phone with all my fav google apps for 4 months. But I do not know what happened, I constantly get Google Play Services has stopped. I click OK and it doesn't go and the phone is pretty much unusable. I have also tried to do factory reset and again install. The moment i install the basic 4 apps and open google play store for signing up, it starts updating Google Play services and i have the issue again. When i downgraded google play services to a lower version, I wasn't able to use any Google apps.

Has anyone faced similar problem ?? Any solution ?? Any ideas ??

The Hardware is so worth for $200 .... a nice phone but now its troubling me a lot ... :( :)
[Amazon Fire Phone] hedger48:
me too

Same problem. Working fine for 3 months, now I get this error repeating. Please help.
[Amazon Fire Phone] Vanb85:
I've posted this on 2 other threads already, but it's the same all around. So, I'll just quote it here too:

It looks as though everyone is just going to have to wait for Google to fix what they broke before the Google apps will work again on anyone's phones.
[Amazon Fire Phone] Aztecwarrior25:
Firephone is $179 again: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OC0USA6/
[Moto G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Cirelle2000:
MOD EDIT

Please remember the rules, especially this one

Do not ask how to do something that could get XDA into trouble.

Thread closed
[Moto G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] adizz4:
MOD EDIT

This might be against xda ToS.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] code101:
If this has been asked before then I apologize (and a mod can delete this question), but has anyone heard anything about us getting Android L (or 5.0 or Lemon Meringue Pie or whatever it's gonna be called)? I had a look around online and can't find any info other than a couple of sites from a while ago saying it'll get it but everything since then only refers to the S4 onwards. I'm guessing it might not get it as the phones now a few years old, even though it still is a superb phone and could run it OK.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Higgs_Boson:
Official Android L sounds highly unlikely to me when considering the age of this phone.

Now, a fork off of the original like CM11, AOKP, etc sounds more feasible.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Ainz_Ooal_Gown:
Couldn't we just port Official Touchwiz Android L from a S4 or S5?
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] Higgs_Boson:
Don't see why not, but it's a lot of work and need devs who are willing to dedicate their time to it.

It would be easier if porting from CDMA to CDMA, but if the kernel version changes, there is a lot of work to be done with drivers, too.