TechCrunch On Amazon's Upcoming Face-Tracking Phone

TechCrunch:

At launch, there will be just a couple of added gestures built into the operating system that utilize this system.

Apparently, the OS simply does not leverage the head tracking in a meaningful way and reportedly does not lend to the device’s usability.

The timetable for this launch is unknown. Apparently Amazon hopes that it will spawn a new breed of games and applications. According to the WSJ, Amazon has already showed the device off to key developers in San Francisco and Seattle so it’s likely the device will launch with third party support.

These statements contradict each other. Amazon isn’t utilising the software itself but is actively encouraging a “new breed” of applications? TechCrunch seems to be implying that Amazon will downplay a feature that they have dedicated a lot of hardware resources towards making possible.

I don’t think Amazon is stupid. They must know that if you go to the effort of fitting something with special sensors, it is wasteful not to (tastefully) exploit it everywhere possible. In contrast, BGR’s report (which includes pictures of a prototype unit) claims Amazon is aggressively applying the 3D feature across the system.