Amazon Fire Phone receives software update with new features

The Amazon Fire Phone was released as a follow up to the company's popular Amazon Fire tablets. Unfortunately its premium pricing and AT&T exclusivity made it a hard for the device to gain an audience.

Amazon went on to discount the Fire Phone to 99 cents with an AT&T contract, and even offered it for $199 unlocked in hopes of boosting its popularity. Now the online retailer is offering a new update for the device which brings several new features and enhancements.

Those with the AT&T version of the handset are receiving Fire OS 3.6.5, while the unlocked GSM model is the recipient of Fire OS 3.6.8. The Fire phone update will be pushed to your device OTA, but it will arrive in stages so it maybe a few days before its available for your handset. You can also manually check for the update by heading to Settings > Device > Install System update >Check now.

After installing the update, Firefly will be able to translate text from/to English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Additionally, Firefly will also be able to recognize 2000 famous paintings with historical information from Wikipedia.

Best Shot will allow the rear camera to take three quick photos when you click on the shutter. It is then up to you to decide which one is the best shot. The update will also allow you to enable and disable SMS/MMS settings. You can also select from seven different keyboard languages, block unwanted calls and change your custom ringtones. One of the most important things that the update brings Fire Phone users, is an improvement to the battery life of the phone. An issue that was also addressed in a previous update.

The update adds the WPS Office app to your Amazon Fire Phone. That means that you can view and edit your Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents right from your Fire Phone screen. The update will also allow you to view more information from the lock screen, and sync your Amazon calender across different Amazon devices. Auto-scroll will now let you read your Kindle books without having to touch the screen, and the update also takes care of bug fixes and UI improvements.