I picked up one of the Amazon Fire phones and I have to say I really like it. The biggest frustration, however, is that it’s the same interface as the Kindle, which means that I have to dig to find my favorite apps. Is there a way to “pin” my fave apps to the front of the revolving app list?
The Amazon Fire phone. You are like a Marine, the few, the proud. Seriously, sales figures show that Amazon fumbled badly with this particular product in a way that’s quite unlike the company’s general approach to retail. Still, it’s a pretty neat phone and has some very interesting technology, including the exaggerated 3D effect and Firefly, the perfect camera for people who like to buy stuff. 🙂
The interface on the Android phone is definitely unlike any other Android device on the market though. On a Kindle, a device designed for people who don’t want to deal with the complexity of a standard touch interface, the interface works really well and makes it super easy to jump back into that ebook you’re reading after a quick surf to a favorite Web site or a check of the latest news in the BBC app or similar.
Take that same interface and put it on a smartphone, however, and it’s rather annoying. I know, I have an Amazon Fire phone myself and the user experience is definitely one of its weaknesses.
The center of the phone’s interface is the “carousel”, where the dozen most recently used apps are highlighted with spiffy 3D icons and additional information immediately below each app icon. swipe left to right and you can spin through them fairly quickly to find which one you seek. Or you can just be frustrated that things like a tweak to your settings has now stuck the “Settings” app in the list for the next few days.
Fortunately, you can redo the carousel by pinning specific apps to the head of the queue. And it’s really easy!
Find an app that’s on the carousel. I’ll use the Audible app for my demo (I’m listening to the audio book Command Decision, if it’s a bit confusing):
Now here’s the secret: tap and hold your finger on the app icon.
A menu pops up:
Now you can see that you can pin it to the home grid (the main app grid view if you switch to that because you just hate the Carousel view) but you can also “Pin to Front”. That’s it. Tap on it.
Solved. Now the app lives permanently at the head of the queue, as indicated by the tiny pushpin icon that’s now showing:
Oh, and “Command Decision”? Terrific. Check it out. 🙂