I did a switch from iPhone 5s to Amazon Fire Phone about a week ago. This is not the first time I switched from iPhone to Android (Nexus 4), I did a switch for a few months in Summer 2013. It was ok, but I really missed iPhone for some of the features, and its smoothness. I think I still miss some of the things on iPhone, e.g., the “Cellular” in Settings tells me immediately how much data I used on iPhone. On Fire Phone (android), the UI is not as good. There were some rough edges esp. when switching apps, it slows down or when I tap on something, the response is not immediate sometimes (Safari). But for the most part, for a $80 phone (the price was $179, and Amazon offer a year prime membership there, which costs $99 by itself), I think it’s understandable.
I did get a Fitbit Charge from Microsoft store because Fire Phone does not come with pedometer. I didn’t intend to keep the Lumia Phone, so I sold it on Amazon right away.
By the way, since Amazon released Prime Music Players, I was fascinated by it. Essentially I don’t need Apple iTunes anymore 🙂 The Amazon app store does have some limitation compared to Google Play store, and some popular apps are not there yet, e.g., BoA and weChat apps. I read it’s possible to side load play store apps, but haven’t done so myself. Also, I still have the original iPad mini, so I can still use iOS apps there.
Some of strong points of Fire Phone
1) Large screen compared to iPhone 5s: 4.7″ vs. 4.0″, that’s meaningful.
2) Large storage room too 32 gb vs 16 gb, considering the OS and app sizes, the real usable space for phone/video/podcast is much bigger.
3) The camera is also good.
4) Some fun factor added on Fire Phone (or android), e.g. the daily changing theme (home screen background), for one.
Some migration tips
1) The contacts: I tried to put them on Gmail contacts, it syncs automatically.
2) Prime music: I installed the app (note the pre-installed music app is not Prime music app), and download the songs/album I like to have again.
3) Data usage: there is no way for Fire Phone to control the usage of cellular data per app, which iPhone does. I just turn off and on Cellular Data as time goes.
4) Fitbit: with the Fitbit on hand, the measurements of my steps are more accurate, as I did not carry iPhone 5s all the time. I do wear Fitbit all the time.
Maybe I will write a review for Fitbit charge sometime. The one thing I did (after I learned from Amazon product review) is I bought this fasteners to make sure I don’t lose it.