Rumours of an Amazon smartphone have been around for a few years now, but the reality of a new device from the retail giant has never been closer.
The success of the KindleeReader had commentators questioning when, rather than if the company would enter into the tablet and smartphone race.
The first hint appeared in September 2011, when a report in the New York Times emerged that claimed one of its reporters had been told Amazon was in the early stages of developing its own smartphone.
However, it wasn’t until November that same year that the first real shreds of evidence that Amazon had begun working on a smartphone emerged.
In a report to investors, financial giant Citigroup said that it had evidence from Amazon’s supply chain that the online retailer had contracted Foxconn to build it a smartphone. According to that report, it was supposed to be launched during the fourth quarter of 2012.
The fourth quarter of 2012 came and went with no sign of an Amazon smartphone.
Indeed, rumours only strengthened around Christmas 2012 as the Amazon Kindle Fire HD – Amazon’s first fully fledged tablet – emerged as a critical and commercial success.
Roll on to 2014 and the latest news is that Amazon is potentially including 3D capabilities into its latest device. So what do we know so far? Read on…

Amazon smartphone: Design

So far, the only glimpse we have of what the Amazon smartphone could look like emerged in April 2014 with a leaked image (pictured above) that shows the device shrouded inside a black case.
Published by tech site BGR, the initial design appears to be a 4.7-inch display and, as we can see from the picture, a custom user interface based on Google's Android OS.

Amazon smartphone: Price

The first hint as to what Amazon's phone might cost emerged in December 2012. According to the Taiwan Economic Times, the phone was predicted to have a price tag of around $200 or £130. At that low price, chances are the phone wouldn’t win any awards for performance.
That said, the price point could be a completely moot point. If the latest reports are correct, the company may have completely dumped Foxconn as a production partner, opting instead to work with HTC.
Amazon has a history of low up-front costs for its devices which it sees as a portal to its digital and physical content delivery services - where the real money is made.

Amazon smartphone: specs and special features

Along with the leaked image above, several specifications appeared in April 2014 that, understandably, have not been confirmed or denied by Amazon.

Amazon smartphone: Release date, price, specs, news and rumours

First published by BGR, the 4.7-inch display will have a 300-320 ppi resolution while a 13MP camera will be featured on the back of the phone.
Amazon will reportedly be using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor - the same as that found in the Samsung Galaxy S5 and which could possibly influence the price.
Other rumoured specifications include 2GB of RAM and either a 2,000 or 2,400mAh battery.
As far as special features go, we'd expect something like Siri or Google Now to feature - especially considering Amazon purchased Evi, a digital assistant company, last year.
What is also a possibility is that the firm will include its Mayday service allowing users to receive live technical support at any point through the handset.
Most interestingly, according to the WSJ, the Amazon smartphone will feature 3D capabilities:
"Using retina-tracking technology, images on the smartphone would seem to float above the screen like a hologram and appear three-dimensional at all angles," - WSJ.
This appears a little far-fetched in T3's opinion but, then again, we are talking about the company that plans to deliver your products via drones in the near future.
Amazon could also offer free access to its Prime Instant Video film and TV streaming service to anyone who buys its phone. A source has told BGR that Amazon will offer 'Prime Data' to its phone customers – this would let them stream films and TV shows to their hearts' content without racking up any data costs, as Amazon would foot the bill. Amazon is also rumoured to launch a music streaming service similar to Spotify, which could also be given free through its smartphone.